Crafting & Executing Strategy The Quest for Competitive Advantage Concepts and Cases 21st Edition By Arthur A. Thompson Jr -Test Bank

1.

Which of the following is NOT one of the managerial considerations in determining how to compete successfully?

A.  How can a company attract, keep, and please customers?

B.  How can a company modify its entire product line to emphasize its internal service attributes?

C.  How should a company respond to changing economic and market conditions?

D.  How should a company be competitive against rivals?

E.  How should a company position itself in the marketplace?

Managerial considerations for successful strategies serve consumers better while increasing performance. Internal attributes are modified to meet product line changes based on changes in the market rather than vice versa.

AACSB: Analytical ThinkingAccessibility: Keyboard NavigationBlooms: RememberDifficulty: 1 EasyLearning Objective: 01-01 What we mean by a company’s strategy.Learning Objective: 01-02 The concept of a sustainable competitive advantage.Topic: Strategic management

2.

A pharmaceutical company functioning in France for the last 10 years has moderate sales in a crowded market with competitors offering drugs with similar efficacy and safety precautions, but with better sales. The greatest challenge is to increase the prescription of their drugs. What would be the MOST effective strategy to improve sales performance in the existing market?

A.  modifying marketing communication to increase brand familiarity within key physician segments

B.  relocating all the existing drug manufacturing facilities to developing countries to reduce operational costs

C.  employing hiring plans that aim at acquiring drug designers from rival companies

D.  exiting the market and entering a new unexplored geographical location

E.  engaging in new contract talks with suppliers about price breaks

Modifying marketing communication to target the most preferred set of physicians would help increase the prescription of drugs, boosting sales and performance, and increasing market share. Relocation or reduced supplier costs might improve profits but would not affect sales performance. Employing drug designers does not add value as the rivals, too, offer drugs with similar efficacy and safety precautions.

AACSB: Reflective ThinkingAccessibility: Keyboard NavigationBlooms: ApplyDifficulty: 3 HardLearning Objective: 01-01 What we mean by a company’s strategy.Topic: Strategic management

3.

A company’s strategy consists of the action plan management takes to

A.  stake out a unique market position and achieve superior profitability.

B.  compete against rivals and establish a transitory competitive advantage.

C.  concentrate on improving the existing product offering irrespective of the changing and turbulent markets.

D.  develop a more appealing business model than rivals.

E.  identify its strategic vision, its strategic objectives, and its strategic intent.

A company’s strategy is the set of actions that its managers take to outperform the company’s competitors with a unique market position and sustained competitive advantage.

AACSB: Analytical ThinkingAccessibility: Keyboard NavigationBlooms: RememberDifficulty: 2 MediumLearning Objective: 01-01 What we mean by a company’s strategy.Topic: Strategic planning

4.

__________ is the set of actions that its managers take to outperform the company’s competitors and achieve superior profitability.

A.  A strategy

B.  A mission statement

C.  Strategic intent

D.  A cost-price framework

E.  A market vision

A company’s strategy is the set of actions that its managers take to outperform the company’s competitors and achieve superior profitability. Achieving this entails making a managerial commitment to a coherent array of well-considered moves about how to compete.

AACSB: Analytical ThinkingAccessibility: Keyboard NavigationBlooms: RememberDifficulty: 1 EasyLearning Objective: 01-01 What we mean by a company’s strategy.Topic: Strategic management

5.

Strategy, at its essence, is about

A.  matching rival businesses’ products and quality dimensions in the marketplace.

B.  building profits for short-term success.

C.  realigning the market to provoke change in rival companies.

D.  developing lasting success that can support growth and secure the company’s future over the long term.

E.  re-creating a business model with regularity.

Strategy at its essence is about setting a company apart from its rivals and staking out a market position that is not crowded with strong competitors. It aims doing what rivals cannot or do not do.

AACSB: Analytical ThinkingAccessibility: Keyboard NavigationBlooms: UnderstandDifficulty: 2 MediumLearning Objective: 01-01 What we mean by a company’s strategy.Topic: Strategic management

6.

To improve performance, there are many different avenues for outcompeting rivals such as

A.  realizing a higher cost structure and lower operating profit margins than rivals in order to drive sales growth.

B.  creating products analogous with competitors so as to be competitive in the same markets.

C.  pursuing similar personalized customer service or quality dimensions as rivals.

D.  being undecided whether or not to concentrate operations on local versus global markets.

E.  strengthening competitiveness by pursuing strategic alliances and collaborative partnerships.

Strategy is about competing differently from rivals—doing what competitors don’t do or doing what they can’t do. Sometimes companies enter strategic alliances and collaborative partnerships to strengthen their market position and competitiveness.

AACSB: Analytical ThinkingAccessibility: Keyboard NavigationBlooms: UnderstandDifficulty: 2 MediumLearning Objective: 01-01 What we mean by a company’s strategy.Topic: Strategic positioning

7.

A multinational pharmaceutical company enters a new geographical location, considered an emerging market, with its established product line: generic antibiotics. Which of the following would NOT serve as a good strategic move to enhance profits?

A.  creating a sales plan that aims to enhance initial sales and market penetration with low prices based on high operational costs

B.  devising a marketing plan that aims at mass customer segments with attractive advertisements and offers on products

C.  implementing a diversification plan that aims at adding non-generic prescription medications to the existing line of products

D.  charting an acquisition plan that aims at acquiring local smaller-scale pharmaceutical manufacturers that seek funding and offer a complementary product lineup

E.  establishing a distribution plan to set up more supply outlets than any other rivals in the location

A sales plan that is based on a low price, high cost model usually does not work as it creates a wide gap between investment and realized profits, whereas an attractive mass market plan, diversification of products, positive acquisition, and more visibility in a market are moves to enhance profits.

AACSB: Analytical ThinkingAACSB: TechnologyAccessibility: Keyboard NavigationBlooms: ApplyDifficulty: 2 MediumLearning Objective: 01-01 What we mean by a company’s strategy.Topic: Strategic planning

8.

Every strategy needs

A.  a distinctive element that attracts customers and produces a competitive edge.

B.  to include similar characteristics to rival company strategies.

C.  to pursue conservative growth built on historical strengths.

D.  to employ diverse and sundry operating practices for producing greater control over sales growth targets.

E.  to mimic the plans of the industry’s most successful companies.

Every company’s strategy needs to have some distinctive and unconventional element that draws in customers and produces a competitive edge. Mimicking the strategies of successful industry rivals and employing diverse practices, not necessarily aligned to a strategy, rarely work.

AACSB: Analytical ThinkingAccessibility: Keyboard NavigationBlooms: RememberDifficulty: 1 EasyLearning Objective: 01-01 What we mean by a company’s strategy.Topic: Competitive intelligence

9.

A company’s strategy is NOT concerned with management’s choices about how to

A.  attract and please customers.

B.  stake out the same market position as successful rival companies.

C.  grow the business.

D.  compete successfully.

E.  conduct operations and improve the company’s financial and market performance.

Mimicking the strategies of successful industry rivals—with either copycat product offerings or maneuvers to stake out the same market position—is certainly not the best at yielding successful results.

AACSB: Reflective ThinkingAccessibility: Keyboard NavigationBlooms: UnderstandDifficulty: 2 MediumLearning Objective: 01-01 What we mean by a company’s strategy.Topic: Strategic management

10.

FaberRoad, a respected courier brand, is fast losing its market share to competitors who do overnight deliveries of packages or offer lower prices. The company’s research department has found that many customers care more about knowing exactly when a package will arrive than getting it the next day. Which strategy would best address the current state of FaberRoad and help it regain its market?

A.  employing night delivery drivers at a high cost and maintenance charges

B.  developing radio tags that could be attached to packages to allow for real-time tracking by customers’ PCs and mobile phones

C.  diversifying the different types of packages that can be transported and enabling booking through calls

D.  acquiring small transportation companies with cheaper trucks and tempos, rebranding, and using them for deliveries

E.  engaging in expensive advertising with new tag lines and famous celebrities to enhance its brand image in the market

Developing new tracking technology would be a unique strategy to address the current issue of losing customers.