How does mass customization support a business unit’s competitive strategy?
> How can a decision maker identify strategic factors in a corporation’s external international environment?
> Is Pepsi Cola a substitute for Coca Cola?
> How would you determine the level of competitive intensity in an industry?
> Reconcile the strategic decision-making process depicted in Fig. 1.5 with the strategic management model depicted in Fig. 1.2. Figure 1.5: Figure 1.2: FIGURE 1-5 3(a) 3(b) Strategic Decision- Making Process Scan and Assess Extemal Environment: An
> Discuss how a development in a corporation’s natural and societal environments can affect the corporation through its task environment.
> Given that people rarely use a company’s code of ethics to guide their decision making, what good are the codes?
> Are people living in a relationship-based governance system likely to be unethical in business dealings?
> Does a company have to act selflessly to be considered socially responsible? For example, when building a new plant, a corporation voluntarily invested in additional equipment that enabled it to reduce its pollution emissions beyond any current laws. Kno
> What is your opinion of Apple having a code of conduct for its suppliers? What would Milton Friedman say? Contrast his view with that of Archie Carroll’s.
> What is the relationship between corporate governance and social responsibility?
> How does STEEP analysis aid in the development of the strategy in a company?
> Should all CEOs be transformational leaders? Would you like to work for a transformational leader?
> What would be the impact if the only insider on a corporation’s board were the CEO?
> Should a CEO be allowed to serve on another company’s board of directors? Why or why not?
> What information is needed for the proper formulation of strategy? Why?
> Who should and should not serve on a board of directors? What about environmentalists or union leaders?
> When does a corporation need a board of directors?
> When is the planning mode of strategic decision making superior to the entrepreneurial and adaptive modes?
> How can you learn what date a case took place?
> When is inflation an important issue in conducting case analysis? Why bother?
> When should you gather information outside a case? What should you look for?
> What are common-size financial statements? What is their value to case analysis? How are they calculated?
> How does a company ensure that its code of ethics is integrated into the daily decision-making process of the company and is not just a symbolic trophy or plaque hanging on the wall?
> Why should one begin a case analysis with a financial analysis? When are other approaches appropriate?
> Is the evaluation and control process appropriate for a corporation that emphasizes creativity? Are control and creativity compatible? Explain. (This is an open question.)
> Does every business firm have business strategies?
> What issues affect your faith in a transfer price as a substitute for a market price in measuring a profit center’s performance?
> How does EVA improve our knowledge of performance over ROI, ROE, or EPS?
> What are some examples of behavior controls? Output controls? Input controls?
> Is Figure 12.1 a realistic model of the evaluation and control process? Figure 12.1: FIGURE 12–1 Evaluation and 三 Control Process 2 3 4 Does perfor- 5 No Determine what to Establish Take corrective action. Measure predetermined standards. mance mat
> Why is an understanding of national cultures important in strategic management?
> How can corporate culture be changed?
> What are some ways to implement a retrenchment strategy without creating a lot of resentment and conflict with labor unions?
> When should someone from outside a company be hired to manage the company or one of its business units?
> How has moral relativism led to criminal activities by some employees in companies?
> What skills should a person have for managing a business unit following a differentiation strategy? Why? What should a company do if no one is available internally and the company has a policy of promotion from within?
> What is meant by a hierarchy of strategy?
> How is the cellular/modular structure different from the network structure?
> Is reengineering just another management fad, or does it offer something of lasting value?
> How can a corporation keep from sliding into the decline stage of the organizational life cycle?
> How should an owner–manager prepare a company for its movement from Stage I to Stage II?
> How should a corporation attempt to achieve synergy among functions and business units?
> How does the issue of transfer pricing impact the results of an MNC?
> How can an expat program be improved to the benefit of the organization?
> What are the stages of international development?
> What is the relationship of policies to strategies?
> What are the issues that suggest the need for oversight of a particular company’s management team?
> Describe the triple bottom line.
> When should a corporation or business unit consider outsourcing a function or an activity?
> Do you believe that penetration pricing or skim pricing will be better at raising a company’s or a business unit’s operating profit in the long run?
> Are functional strategies interdependent, or can they be formulated independently of other functions?
> How is corporate parenting different from portfolio analysis? How is it alike? Is it a useful concept in a global industry?
> Is stability really a strategy or just a term for no strategy?
> What are the tradeoffs between an internal and an external growth strategy? Which approach is best as an international entry strategy?
> How does horizontal growth differ from vertical growth as a corporate strategy? From concentric diversification?
> Why are many strategic alliances temporary?
> How can a company achieve a sustainable competitive advantage when its industry becomes hypercompetitive?
> What are the pros and cons of using the strategic audit as a framework for case analysis?
> What are the roles and responsibilities of an effective and active board of directors?
> What does a business have to consider when trying to follow a cost leadership strategy and a differentiation strategy simultaneously? Can you name a company doing this?
> What industry forces might cause a propitious niche to appear or disappear?
> How might a firm’s management decide whether it should continue to invest in current known technology or in new, but untested, technology? What factors might encourage or discourage such a shift?
> What are the five crucial steps to follow in basic financial analysis?
> What ratios would you use to begin your analysis of a case?
> What are the best methods for evaluating the top management team?
> Explain why ROI might not be the best measure of firm performance?
> What are the unique impacts on a company that must staff in international settings?
> What are the critical issues that a company must consider when trying to match its staffing to its strategy?
> Why are goal displacement and short-run orientation likely side effects of the monitoring of performance? What can a corporation do to avoid them?
> What issues would you consider to be the most important for a company that is considering the use of a functional structure?
> Organizational strategy can be divided roughly into two categories: a) formulation and b) implementation. Although there is legitimate crossover between the two, how would you characterize the issues involved in each effort?
> How do timing tactics impact the strategy implementation efforts of a company?
> What are the advantages of using a strategic alliance when operating in a new country?
> What are the nine means by which a company can enter a new international market?
> How are corporate scenarios used in the development of an effective strategy?
> How can an operations strategy be used to understand and exploit a particular product offering?
> Evaluate the types of retrenchment strategies that might be used by companies in stagnant industries.
> List the means available to a company for horizontal growth and explain why a company might pursue one over another.
> What is the value of portfolio analysis? Its dangers?
> Must a corporation have a common thread running through its many activities in order to be successful? Why or why not?
> How does transaction cost economics apply to vertical growth? To concentric versus conglomerate diversification?
> How can a company overcome the limitations of being in a fragmented industry?
> Why should information systems be included in the analysis of a corporation’s strengths and weaknesses?
> What kind of internal factors help managers determine whether a firm should emphasize the production and sales of a large number of low-priced products or a small number of high-priced products?
> What recommendations would you make to improve the effectiveness of today’s boards of directors?
> Is benchmarking just another fad or is it really useful for all firms? Why?
> Why bother with shareholder value or a stakeholder scorecard? Isn’t it simpler to evaluate a corporation and its SBUs just by using standard measures such as ROI or earnings per share?
> How can MBO help improve the implementation of strategy?
> How does a hypercompetitive environment change the strategic approach for a company?
> What value does a total quality management program have in implementing strategy?
> Compare and contrast action planning with management by objectives.
> Does culture follow strategy or does strategy follow culture? Why?
> How might manager–strategy fit be accomplished short of firing current managers?
> Does structure follow strategy or does strategy follow structure? Why?
> Japanese corporations typically involve many more organizational levels and people in the development of implementation plans than do U.S. corporations. Is this appropriate? Why or why not?
> Should functional strategies be categorized under strategy formulation or under strategy implementation?
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of the devil’s advocate, dialectical inquiry, and consensus approaches to making strategic choices?
> What are the pros and cons of technological leader versus technological follower as a functional strategy?
> What concepts or assumptions underlie the BCG growth-share matrix? Are these concepts valid? Why or why not?
> Explain how using an IFAS Table impacts the understanding of a company’s internal resources and capabilities.
