MGMT425 CH4

What are the company's most profitable geographic market segments?

Scanning the environment to determine a company's best and most profitable customers

Bench-pressing analysis

A. Resource and capability analysis B. SWOT analysis C. Value chain analysis D. Bench-pressing analysis (wrong/not one) E. Competitive strength analysis

is achieving its stated financial and strategic objectives, its financial performance is better than the industry average, and it is gaining customers and increasing market share.

the company is achieving its financial and strategic objectives and whether it is an above-average industry performer.

Alliance and partnerships as well as merger and acquisition growth strategies.

a desirable growth rate in new customer acquisition and favorable customer retention efforts for establishing a strong customer experience.

the firm's competitive assets, which are considered big determinants of its competitiveness and ability to succeed in the marketplace.

Resource and capability analysis

resource, and there are different types of resources at the firm's disposal that vary not only in kind but in quality as well.

a resource is a productive input or competitive asset, while a capability is the capacity of the firm to perform some internal activity competently.

divided into two main categories, tangible and intangible.

that all the different types of resources are included.

human assets.

technological assets such as patents, copyrights, and trade secrets.

resources assessment and the functional approach.

knowledge-based, residing in people and in the company's intellectual capital, or in organizational processes and systems, which embody tacit knowledge.

a resource bundle.

when a company has durable competitive assets that are central to its strategy and superior to those of rival firms.

the VRIN test, which asks if a resource is valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable.

what are the company's resource strengths and weaknesses and its external opportunities and threats.

The company's mission, strategic objectives, and financial objectives

A. The key functional strategies (R&D, supply chain management, production, sales and marketing, HR, and finance) a company is employing B. Management's planned, proactive moves to outcompete rivals (via better product design, improved quality or service, wider product lines, and so on) C. The company's mission, strategic objectives, and financial objectives (wrong answer) D. Moves to respond and react to changing conditions in the macro-environment and in industry and competitive conditions E. The strategic role of its collaborative partnerships and strategic alliances with others

the company is achieving its financial and strategic objectives and whether it is an above-average industry performer.

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.

Whether it has a larger number of competitive assets than competitive liabilities and whether it has a superior quality product

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 (incorrect) 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. How well the firm stacks up against rivals on technology, product innovation, customer service, product quality, price, speed in getting newly developed products to market, and other relevant factors on which buyers base their choice of which brand to purchase

signal whether it has the wherewithal to be a strong competitor in the marketplace.

Through deployment of a company's resources or some combination of its resources

Through deployment of a company's resources or some combination of its resources

A. By strengthening the traditions that company executives are committed to maintaining B. Through deployment of a company's resources or some combination of its resources (INCORRECT) C. By talking openly about the problems of the present company and determining how new behaviors will improve performance D. By shifting from decentralized to centralized decision-making E. By urging company personnel to search outside the company for work practices and operating approaches that may be an improvement over what the company is presently doing

Marketing and brand management

A. A company's brand B. A productive input that is owned by the firm C. Marketing and brand management (INCORRECT) D. R&D teams E. A productive input that is controlled by the firm

The capacity of a firm to perform some activity

Its human, physical and/or organization assets; its skills and competitive capabilities; and its achievements or attributes that enhance the company's ability to compete effectively

A. a skill, specialized expertise, or competitively important capability. B. valuable human assets and intellectual capital. C. an achievement or attribute that puts the company in a position of market advantage. D. competitively valuable alliances or cooperative ventures. E. All of these. (CORRECT)

having proven technological expertise and an ability to churn out new and improved products on a regular basis.

Having higher earnings per share and a higher stock price than key rivals

A. More intellectual capital and better e-commerce capabilities than rivals B. Fruitful partnerships or alliances with suppliers that reduce costs and/or enhance product quality and performance C. Having higher earnings per share and a higher stock price than key rivals (incorrect) D. A well-known brand name and enjoying the confidence of customers E. A lower-cost value chain than rivals

it may have a bundle of resources that can be leveraged to develop a distinctive competence.

ascertain which of a company's resources and capabilities are competitively valuable.

probing the caliber of a firm's competitive assets relative to those of rival firms.

competitive advantage over other companies.

Whether the resource or capability is competitively valuable and/or is something that rivals lack

Whether the resource or capability is hard to copy and/or can be trumped by different types of resources and capabilities

A. how hard it is for competitors to copy. B. whether it is rare and something rivals lack. C. whether it is really competitively valuable and has the potential to contribute to a competitive advantage. D. how easily it can be trumped by the substitute resources/capabilities of rivals. E. All of these. (CORRECT)

Social complexity and causal ambiguity

enabling foundation of its business model.

be hard to copy, be rare and something rivals lack, be competitively valuable, and not be easily trumped by substitute resource strengths possessed by rivals.

Is the resource strength something that a company does internally rather than in collaborative arrangements with outsiders?

sustain its competitiveness and help drive improvements in its performance.

A. be in sync with changes in the company's own strategy. B. be in sync with its efforts to achieve a resource-based competitive advantage. C. fully support company efforts to attract customers. D. combat competitors' newly launched offensives to win bigger sales and market shares. E. All of these. (CORRECT)

An ability to keep antiquated resources by disregarding innovative capabilities

A. A capacity to improve existing resources and capabilities B. Upgrades to R&D resources to drive product innovation C. A capacity to add new resources and capabilities to the competitive asset portfolio D. An ability to replace degraded resources with acquired capabilities

is the ongoing capacity to modify existing resources and capabilities to create new ones.

a SWOT analysis.

sizing up a company's resources and capabilities, strengths and deficiencies, its market opportunities, and the external threats to its future well-being.

they represent the quality of its competitive assets that enhance its competitiveness in the marketplace.

a competence.

a distinctive competence

a company competence.

a company competence represents real proficiency in performing an internal activity, whereas a core competence is a competitively and strategically relevant activity.

a core competence is a competitively and strategically relevant activity that a firm performs well compared to its other activities, whereas a distinctive competence is a competitively relevant activity a firm performs well compared to other rival firms.

is an activity that a firm performs proficiently that is also central to its strategy and competitive success.

is a more competitively valuable strength than a competence because of the key role the activities play in the company's strategy.

a distinctive competence.

Having a wider product line than rivals

A. Skills in manufacturing a high-quality product at a low cost B. Know-how in creating and operating systems for cost-efficient supply chain management C. The capability to fill customer orders accurately and swiftly D. Having a wider product line than rivals (INCORRECT) E. The capability to speed new or next-generation products to the marketplace

A. is a competitively important activity that a company performs better than its rivals. B. gives a company a competitively valuable capability that is unmatched by rivals. C. is a basis for sustainable competitive advantage. D. qualifies as a superior internal strength. E. All of these. (CORRECT)

A distinctive competence is typically less restrictive for rivals to copy than a core competence.

how hard it is to copy and how easily it can be trumped by substitute resource strengths and competitive capabilities of rivals.

are shortcomings that constitute competitive liabilities.

A. inferior or unproven skills, expertise, or intellectual capital in competitively important parts of the business. B. something that it lacks or does poorly in comparison to rivals. C. deficiencies in competitively important physical, organizational, or intangible assets. D. missing or competitively inferior capabilities in key areas. E. All of these. (CORRECT)

is akin to constructing a "strategic balance sheet" where strengths represent competitive assets and weaknesses represent competitive liabilities.

match up well with the firm's competitive assets, offer the best prospects for growth and profitability, and present the most potential for competitive advantage.

offer the best prospects for growth and profitability.

Those market opportunities that match up well with the firm's competitive assets, offer the best prospect for growth and profitability, and present the most potential for competitive advantage

first movers willing to accept business risk.

The lack of a distinctive competence

B. New legislation that entails burdensome and costly government regulations C. Slowdowns in market growth D. More intense competitive pressures E. The introduction of restrictive trade policies in countries where the company does business

The lack of a well-known brand name with which to attract new customers and help retain existing customers

A. The likely entry of potent new competitors B. The lack of a well-known brand name with which to attract new customers and help retain existing customers (incorrect) C. Shifts in buyer needs and tastes away from the industry's product D. Costly new regulatory requirements E. Growing bargaining power on the part of the company's major customers and major suppliers

demographic shifts that can curtail product innovation.

provides a good overview and conclusions about the company's overall situation.

drawing conclusions from the SWOT listings about the company's overall situation and translating these conclusions into strategic actions.

Are the company's activities and dynamic capabilities adequate for capitalizing on the opportunities?

placing heavy reliance on the company's best competitive assets is the soundest route to attracting customers and competing successfully against rivals.

the compatibility of the pending threats to the company's competitive assets.

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.