MGT434 : Midterm Revision Exam

[CH1] In the kernel of a strategy, the guiding policy tells managers exactly which steps to take to overcome the obstacles identified in the diagnosis.

[CH1] Mintzberg and Waters describe an intended strategy that is not carried out, for example because consumer tastes have changed, as an unrealized strategy.

[CH1] Corporate strategy, rather than business strategy, deals with mergers and acquisitions and the allocation of resources between strategic business units (SBUs).

[CH1] A business model explains how an organization can compete better than its rivals, whereas a business strategy describes how the organization's activities fit together.

[CH2] Weak signals are barely perceptible changes in the external environment whose impact has yet to be felt, and organizations monitor them to see whether they coalesce into a trend.

[CH2] According to Van Der Heijden (1996), structural uncertainties are situations where past performance of similar events allows managers to estimate the probabilities of future outcomes.

[CH2] Scenario planning is not a forecast; it is an internally consistent view of what the future might turn out to be, used to help the organization recognise weak signals.

[CH3] Buyer power increases when buyers pose a credible threat of forward integration.

[CH3] In Porter's five forces, the threat of substitutes refers to competition from new firms that enter the industry with the same product.

[CH3] Including complementors in Porter's framework recognises that a sustainable strategy can involve both cooperation and competition.

[CH4] In Porter's value chain, procurement and technology development are primary activities that are directly involved in creating the product.

[CH4] One limitation of SWOT analysis is that it does not differentiate between the weightings of different factors.

[CH5] The resource-based view is described as an inside-out perspective because the firm's internal capabilities determine the strategic choices it makes in its external environment.

[CH5] Reputation and intellectual or technological resources are classified as tangible resources.

[CH5] Teece, Pisano and Shuen (1997) define dynamic capabilities as the firm's ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competences to address rapidly changing environments.

[CH1] A Bahraini bank's strategy team studies a confusing situation and concludes that the one critical issue is that younger customers see its branches as slow and outdated. In the kernel of a strategy, this step is the:

[CH1] A retailer planned in detail to expand into Saudi Arabia, but a shift in consumer tastes meant the plan was never carried out. Meanwhile, store managers' day-to-day decisions to sell online gradually became the firm's main approach. The online approach is best described as:

[CH1] Which statement correctly distinguishes an organization's core values from its vision?

[CH1] A Bahraini food group acquires a hotel chain so that it can enter the hospitality industry, where it previously had no presence. This decision belongs to which type of strategy?

[CH1] A company's managers have finished analysing the environment and choosing a strategy, and are now converting the chosen strategy into specific moves and actions across departments. Which element of strategic management is this?

[CH2] An airline notices that fuel price rises have followed a similar pattern in many past cycles, so it can estimate the probability of a further rise next year. Under Van Der Heijden's classification, this is:

[CH2] A Bahraini telecom firm's environmental analysis lists falling interest rates, rising disposable income, and changes in exchange rates. These items belong to which PEST factor?

[CH2] A consultant advises a hotel group to focus most of its attention on the industry and market in which it competes, rather than on broad national trends, because this usually has the greatest impact on the group. Which environment is the consultant referring to?

[CH2] During scenario building, a planning team gathers all the positive trends and uncertainties into one broad scenario and all the negative ones into another. Which step is the team carrying out?

[CH2] Which statement describes a recognised limitation of PEST analysis?

[CH3] A café chain in Bahrain buys its coffee beans from only two roasters. The roasters' beans are highly differentiated, and both have threatened to open their own cafés. Which force is strong in this situation?

[CH3] Which of the following is a characteristic of a hypercompetitive market?

[CH3] Which of the following is NOT one of the main barriers to entry identified in Porter's threat of new entrants?

[CH3] Games console makers sell more consoles when independent studios release popular games for their platforms. In the extended five forces framework, these game studios are best described as:

[CH3] Several luxury car makers follow almost identical strategies, and budget car makers in the same industry find it very costly to move into this cluster. The obstacles facing the budget makers are best called:

[CH3] A small start-up offers a cheap, simple product to customers that market leaders have neglected. Over time, mainstream customers adopt the product in volume and the leaders lose their position. This process describes:

[CH4] A furniture maker invests more in product design and quality, which reduces the maintenance and repair costs it faces later. This value-chain linkage is an example of:

[CH4] The principal-agent problem in assessing organizational performance refers to:

[CH4] A Bahraini hospital compares its patient waiting times with those of the most efficient hospitals in the GCC so that it can imitate, or improve upon, their practices. This is an example of:

[CH4] Which statement best reflects the stakeholder model of organizational performance?

[CH5] A Bahraini aluminium firm's expertise in alloy processing allows it to supply car makers, construction companies, and packaging producers. This illustrates which test of a core competence?

[CH5] A firm owns a valuable capability that only a few competitors possess and that is costly to imitate, but its structure and systems prevent it from exploiting this capability. Which VRIO attribute is missing?

[CH5] A logistics company's long-standing relationships of trust with its employees, suppliers, and partners give it an advantage that rivals cannot easily copy. According to Kay (1993), this source of distinctive capability is:

[CH5] In Grant's (1991) five-stage framework for strategy formulation, which stage comes immediately after identifying the organization's capabilities?

[CH5] Which of the following is a criticism of the resource-based view of strategy?

[CH1] A good strategy has an essential logical structure called the kernel. Define and explain the three elements of the kernel of a strategy.

[CH1] List and explain the three types of strategy discussed in the course, showing who is usually responsible for each.

[CH2] List and explain the three types of uncertainty identified by Van Der Heijden (1996), and then explain the main differences between risk and uncertainty.

[CH2] List the ten steps for building scenarios and briefly explain any four of them.

[CH2] List and explain the four PEST factors with an example of each, and then outline the limitations of PEST analysis.

[CH3] List and explain Porter's five forces, and then discuss the main criticisms of the five forces framework.

[CH4] Explain the value chain by listing its primary and support activities, and then explain how linkages within the value chain can create competitive advantage.

[CH5] Explain the VRIO framework (Barney 1991) as a means of achieving sustainable competitive advantage, and explain why possessing resources alone does not create value.

[CH3] Using Porter's five forces, analyse the strength of buyer power, the threat of new entrants, and the intensity of rivalry in SwiftBite's industry. What does this suggest about the industry's profit potential?

[CH3] Would you describe SwiftBite's market as hypercompetitive? Support your answer with characteristics of hypercompetition and evidence from the case.

[CH2] Classify the wider changes facing SwiftBite using PEST, and explain how scenario planning could help Fatima prepare for the next three years.

[CH4] Identify the primary activities described in the case and explain the two types of value-chain linkage shown by the packaging and forecasting decisions.

[CH5] Apply the VRIO framework to Dilmun Dates' relationships with local farmers. Does this resource provide a sustainable competitive advantage?

[CH1] Using Mintzberg and Waters' approaches to strategy formulation, classify the Europe export plan and the corporate gift-box business, and identify Dilmun Dates' realized strategy.