Question 1

Quantitative measures of a company's competitive strength

Accepted Answer

A)  signal which competitor has the most distinctive competencies and which competitor has the fewest.
B)  provide useful indicators of how a company compares against key rivals, factor by factor and capability by capability-thus indicating whether the company has a net overall competitive advantage or disadvantage against each rival.
C)  reveal which competitors are in the best and worst strategic groups.
D)  show which industry rival has the best overall market opportunities and which competitor has the poorest market opportunities.
E)  pinpoint which industry rival is subject to the least amount of competitive pressures from the five competitive forces.

Question 2

The most difficult part of benchmarking is

Accepted Answer

A)  the decision of whether to do it at all.
B)  how to obtain access to information regarding rivals' practices and costs.
C)  when to initiate the process.
D)  what information to utilize in the analysis process.
E)  when to stop the process and move forward with strategy.

Question 3

Costs and price differences among competing companies can have origins in activities performed by

Accepted Answer

A)  the company's internally performed activities (its own value chain) compared to the cost structure of the internally performed activities of rival companies.
B)  value chains of the company's suppliers.
C)  value chains of a company's distributors and retail dealers and forward channel allies.
D)  the company's internally performed activities (its own value chain) , but also on costs in the value chain of its suppliers and distribution channel allies.
E)  whether the company has a longer or shorter value chain than its close rivals.

Question 4

The three main areas in the value chain where significant differences in the costs of competing firms can occur include

Accepted Answer

A)  age of plants and equipment, number of employees, and advertising costs.
B)  operating-level activities, functional area activities, and line of business activities.
C)  the nature and makeup of their own internal operations, the activities performed by suppliers, and the activities performed by wholesale distribution and retailing allies.
D)  human resource activities (particularly labor costs) , vertical integration activities, and strategic partnership activities.
E)  variable cost activities, fixed cost activities, and administrative activities.

Question 5

External threats may pose various degrees of adversity upon the company and can surface from many sources and examples, except for

Accepted Answer

A)  the advent of cheaper or better technologies.
B)  the entry of lower-cost foreign competitors and restrictive foreign trade policies.
C)  new burdensome regulations.
D)  higher overall unit costs relative to those of key competitors.
E)  rising prices on key inputs (such as energy costs) .

Question 6

Calculating competitive strength ratings for a company and comparing them against strength ratings for its key competitors helps indicate

Accepted Answer

A)  which weaknesses and vulnerabilities of competitors the company might be able to attack successfully.
B)  which competitors are in profitable strategic groups and which competitors are in unprofitable strategic groups.
C)  which competitors are employing offensive strategies and which competitors are employing defensive strategies.
D)  which competitors are likely to make money and which are likely to lose money in the years ahead.
E)  what the industry's key success factors are.

Question 7

Explain how SunPower used benchmarking to improve its competitive position in the U.S. solar power industry.

Accepted Answer

In 2008, SunPower-one of the largest sol...

Question 8

A core competence

Accepted Answer

A)  detracts from a company's arsenal of competitive capabilities and competitive assets and is not a resource strength considered to be genuine.
B)  is typically results-based, residing in a company's tangible physical assets on the balance sheet.
C)  is often grounded in a single department's set of knowledge and expertise.
D)  is an activity that a firm performs proficiently that is also central to its strategy and competitive success.
E)  is a proficiently performed external activity.

Question 9

________ cannot determine how effective a company's current strategy is working.

Accepted Answer

A)  Whether the company's sales are growing faster, slower, or about the same pace as the industry as a whole, thus resulting in a rising, falling, or stable market share
B)  Whether it has a larger number of competitive assets than competitive liabilities and whether it has a superior quality product
C)  The firm's image and reputation with its customers
D)  Whether its profit margins are rising or falling and how large its margins are relative to those of its rivals
E)  Evidence of improvement in internal processes such as defect rate, order fulfillment, delivery times, days of inventory, and employee productivity

Question 10

When a company has become proficient in modifying, upgrading, or deepening the company's resources and capabilities in response to its changing environment and market opportunities, it is called the company's

Accepted Answer

A)  dynamic capability.
B)  core competence.
C)  distinct competence.
D)  strategic assessment.
E)  benchmarking exercise.

Question 11

A company's competitive strength scores pinpoint its strengths and weaknesses against rivals and

Accepted Answer

A)  suggest the company use its strengths to exploit its own competitive liabilities.
B)  point directly to the kinds of offensive/defensive actions it can use to exploit its competitive strengths and reduce its competitive liabilities.
C)  point directly to the company to use its weaknesses as offensive moves to challenge rivals' weaknesses.
D)  suggest receptivity for astute companies to drive their operating practices if the strength scores are very low.
E)  point directly to accepting the competitive strength scores on face value.

Question 12

The market opportunities most relevant to a low-cost provider of mobile phones are those that

Accepted Answer

A)  offer the best prospects for growth and profitability in emerging markets.
B)  provide a strong defense against threats to the company's profitability.
C)  embrace the most potential for product innovation.
D)  provide differentiation features to take market share away from close rivals.
E)  hold the most potential to reduce dropped calls.

Question 13

Resource and capability analysis is designed to

Accepted Answer

A)  ascertain the internal marketplace of non-distinct divisions of the company.
B)  ascertain which of a company's resources and capabilities are competitively valuable.
C)  stimulate demand for a product.
D)  ascertain to what extent a competitor can sustain a competitive advantage.
E)  stimulate economic growth for companies within the industry.

Question 14

What is meant by the term "best practices"? Why does it matter whether a company utilizes best practices in performing the activities comprising its value chain?

Accepted Answer

A best practice is a method of performin...

Question 15

A dynamic capability is the

Accepted Answer

A)  ongoing capacity to modify existing resources and capabilities to create new ones.
B)  improvement evaluation process for eliminating waste in the firm.
C)  functional and operating resources management process.
D)  ongoing capability to understand and establish a commitment to resource alignment.
E)  improvement evaluation process for repurposing waste in the firm.

Question 16

If you were asked to conduct a SWOT analysis for Nike, you would not evaluate which of these market opportunities?

Accepted Answer

A)  serving additional customer groups or market segments.
B)  growing buyer preferences for substitutes for the industry's product.
C)  acquiring rival firms or companies with attractive technological expertise or capabilities.
D)  expanding into new geographic markets.
E)  demographic trends that favor increased repeat purchases and/or higher volume purchases of the company's product.

Question 17

The best quantitative evidence of whether a company's present strategy is working well is

Accepted Answer

A)  whether the company has more competitive assets than it does competitive liabilities.
B)  whether the company is in the industry's best strategic group.
C)  the caliber of results the strategy is producing, specifically whether the company is achieving its financial and strategic objectives and whether it is an above-average industry performer.
D)  whether the company has a shorter value chain than close rivals.
E)  whether the company is in the Fortune 500.

Question 18

The payoff of doing a thorough SWOT analysis is

Accepted Answer

A)  identifying whether the company's value chain is cost-effective vis-à-vis the value chains of rivals.
B)  helping strategy makers benchmark the company's resource strengths against industry key success factors.
C)  enabling a company to assess its overall competitive position relative to its key rivals.
D)  revealing whether a company's market share, measures of profitability, and sales compare favorably or unfavorably vis-à-vis key competitors.
E)  assisting strategy makers in crafting a strategy that is well-matched to the company's resources and capabilities, its market opportunities, and the external threats to its future well-being.

Question 19

Assigning a weight to each measure of competitive strength assessment is generally analytically superior because

Accepted Answer

A)  a weighted ranking identifies which competitive advantages are most powerful.
B)  an unweighted ranking does not discriminate between companies with high and low market shares.
C)  it singles out which competitor has the most competitively potent core competencies.
D)  weighting each company's overall competitive strength by its percentage share of total industry profits produces a more accurate measure of its true competitive strength.
E)  all of the various measures of competitive strength are not equally important.

Question 20

You have chosen as a course project to review CannaCraft, a Northern California integrated manufacturer and marketer of medical cannabis products. What indicators would you examine to determine whether or not CannaCraft's present strategy is working well?

Accepted Answer

The three most important indicators of h...

Exam 4: Evaluating a Companys Resources, Capabilities, and Competitiveness

________ cannot determine how effective a company's current strategy is working.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

External threats may pose various degrees of adversity upon the company and can surface from many sources and examples, except for

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

What is meant by the term "best practices"? Why does it matter whether a company utilizes best practices in performing the activities comprising its value chain?

Correct AnswerverifiedA best practice is a method of performin...View AnswerShow Answer

Resource and capability analysis is designed to

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The three main areas in the value chain where significant differences in the costs of competing firms can occur include

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The market opportunities most relevant to a low-cost provider of mobile phones are those that

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

If you were asked to conduct a SWOT analysis for Nike, you would not evaluate which of these market opportunities?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

When a company has become proficient in modifying, upgrading, or deepening the company's resources and capabilities in response to its changing environment and market opportunities, it is called the company's

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A core competence

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Assigning a weight to each measure of competitive strength assessment is generally analytically superior because

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The payoff of doing a thorough SWOT analysis is

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

You have chosen as a course project to review CannaCraft, a Northern California integrated manufacturer and marketer of medical cannabis products. What indicators would you examine to determine whether or not CannaCraft's present strategy is working well?

Correct AnswerverifiedThe three most important indicators of h...View AnswerShow Answer

The best quantitative evidence of whether a company's present strategy is working well is

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Quantitative measures of a company's competitive strength

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Costs and price differences among competing companies can have origins in activities performed by

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Calculating competitive strength ratings for a company and comparing them against strength ratings for its key competitors helps indicate

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A dynamic capability is the

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A company's competitive strength scores pinpoint its strengths and weaknesses against rivals and

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Explain how SunPower used benchmarking to improve its competitive position in the U.S. solar power industry.

Correct AnswerverifiedIn 2008, SunPower-one of the largest sol...View AnswerShow Answer

The most difficult part of benchmarking is

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

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A best practice is a method of performin...
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The three most important indicators of h...
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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Correct Answer
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In 2008, SunPower-one of the largest sol...
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Correct Answer
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