What strategies are best for turbulent, high-velocity markets?
> Explain why cultural factors should be an important consideration in analyzing and choosing among alternative strategies.
> Discuss the limitations of various strategy-formulation analytical techniques.
> What do you think is the appropriate role of a board of directors in strategic management? Why?
> How would you develop a set of objectives for your school of business?
> In developing a SPACE Matrix, what would you expect the SP average to be for 1) Apple, 2) Heinz, 3) Verizon, 4) Amazon, and 5) Kroger.
> Explain the steps involved in developing a QSPM.
> Given the information in the table below, develop a BCG Matrix and an IE Matrix. Divisions 1 2 3 $10 $100 $15 $50 $25 $100 0.8 Profits Sales Relative Market Share 0.2 0.5 Industry Growth Rate IFE Total Weighted Success EFE Total Weighted Success +.2
> Given the following information, develop a SPACE Matrix for the XYZ Corporation: FP = +2; SP = -6; CP = -2; IP = +4.
> Develop a 2x2x2x2x2 QSPM for an organization of your choice (i.e., two strengths, two weaknesses, two opportunities, two threats, and two strategies). Follow all the QSPM guidelines presented in the chapter.
> In an IE Matrix, do you believe it is more advantageous for a division to be located in quadrant II or IV? Why?
> Would a BCG Matrix and analysis be worth performing if you do not know the profits of each segment? Why?
> In a BCG Matrix, would the Question Mark quadrant or the Cash Cow quadrant be more desirable? Explain.
> Develop a BCG Matrix for your university. Because your college does not generate profits, what would be a good surrogate for the pie slice values? How many circles do you have and how large are they? Explain.
> Describe a situation where the SPACE analysis would have no vector. In other words, describe a situation where the SPACE analysis coordinate would be (0,0). What should an analyst do in this situation?
> On the competitive position (CP) axis of a SPACE Matrix, what level of capacity utilization would be necessary for you to give the firm a negative 1? Negative 7? Why?
> Why should one avoid putting double 4’s in a row in preparing a QSPM?
> Discuss the nature as well as the pros and cons of a “friendly merger” versus “hostile takeover” in acquiring another firm. Give an example of each.
> Give some advantages and disadvantages of cooperative versus competitive strategies.
> List 11 types of strategies. Give a hypothetical example of each strategy listed.
> What do you believe are the five most important benefits of outsourcing?
> Kroger is adding clothing to its line of products. Give two reasons why this may be a good strategy and two reasons why it may be a bad strategy.
> The number and dollar value of hostile takeovers are on the rise. Give two reasons for this trend.
> How do the levels of strategy differ in a large firm versus a small firm?
> Compare and contrast financial objectives with strategic objectives. Which type is more important in your opinion? Why?
> What conditions, externally and internally, would be desired/necessary for a firm to diversify?
> What are the pros and cons of a firm merging with a rival firm?
> Give recent examples of forward integration, backward integration, and horizontal integration.
> Consumers can purchase tennis shoes, food, cars, boats, and insurance on the Internet. Are there any products today that cannot be purchased online? What is the implication for traditional retailers?
> Give recent examples of market penetration, market development, and product development.
> Discuss how important it is for a college football or basketball team to have a good game plan for the big rival game this coming weekend. How much time and effort do you feel the coaching staff puts into developing that game plan? Why is such time and e
> List five reasons why many merger/acquisitions historically have failed.
> List six major benefits of acquiring another firm to achieve desired objectives.
> List four major benefits of forming a joint venture to achieve desired objectives.
> Could a firm simultaneously pursue focus, differentiation, and cost leadership? Should firms do that? Discuss.
> Called de-integration, there appears to be a growing trend for firms to become less backward integrated. Discuss why.
> In order of importance, list six “benefits of objectives.”
> How are for-profit firms different from nonprofit firms in terms of business? What are the implications for strategic planning?
> Define and give an example of a dividend recapitalization. List some pros and cons of doing this in a business.
> Why is it not advisable to pursue too many strategies at once?
> How does strategic management differ in profit and nonprofit organizations?
> What are the major advantages and disadvantages of an integrative strategy?
> What are the major advantages and disadvantages of diversification?
> Do you think hostile takeovers are unethical? Why or why not?
> Give recent examples of joint venture, retrenchment, divestiture, and liquidation.
> Define and give an example of a secondary buyout. Why did secondary buyouts triple in total dollar value in 2012 versus 2011?
> Give recent examples of related and unrelated diversification.
> If a company has $1 million to spend on a new strategy and is considering market development versus product development, what determining factors would be most important to consider?
> Define and give an example of reshoring. What are three reasons why reshoring is becoming more popular? What are three reasons many companies expect “never” to reshore (as Steve Jobs once told President Obama)?
> Which of the three basic functions of finance/accounting do you feel is most important in a small electronics manufacturing concern? Justify your position.
> Construct an EFE Matrix for an organization of your choice.
> As the owner of a small business, explain how you would organize a strategic-information scanning system. How would you organize such a system in a large organization?
> When someone says dividends paid are double taxed, what are they referring to?
> Explain how to conduct an external strategic-management audit.
> Could/should critical success factors in a CPM include external factors? Explain.
> List the three ways that financial ratios should be compared/utilized. Which of the three comparisons do you feel is most important? Why?
> Let’s say you work for McDonald’s and you applied Porter’s Five-Forces Model to study the fast-food industry. Would information in your analysis provide factors more readily to an EFE Matrix, a CPM, or to neither matrix? Justify your answer.
> Are you more organized than the person sitting beside you in class? If not, what problems could that present in terms of your performance and rank in the class? How analogous is this situation to rival companies?
> Distinguish between market commonality and resource similarity. Apply these concepts to two rival firms that you are familiar with.
> Even though planning is considered the foundation of management, why do you think it is commonly the task that managers neglect most?
> What are the three basic objectives of a competitive intelligence program?
> Explain why prioritizing the relative importance of strengths and weaknesses to include in an IFE Matrix is an important strategic-management activity.
> If you and a partner were going to visit a foreign country where you have never been before, how much planning would you do ahead of time? What benefit would you expect that planning to provide?
> Compare and contrast the duties and responsibilities of a CIO with a CTO in a large firm.
> Think of an organization you are very familiar with. Rate that entity’s organizational culture on the 15 example dimensions listed in Table 4-2.
> Governments worldwide are turning to “protectionism” to cope with economic problems, imposing tariffs and subsidies on foreign goods and restrictions/incentives on their own firms to keep jobs at home. What are the strategic implications of this trend fo
> List six desirable characteristics of advertisements in recessionary times.
> Think of an organization you are very familiar with. List three resources of that entity that are empirical indicators.
> Governments worldwide are turning to “nationalization of companies” to cope with economic recession. What are the strategic implications of this trend for firms that compete with these nationalized firms?
> Why may it be easier in performing an internal assessment to develop a list of 80 strengths/weaknesses than to decide on the top 20 to use in formulating strategies.
> The migration of people has slowed from (1) region to region across the United States, from (2) city to suburb worldwide, and from (3) country to country across the globe. What are the strategic implications of these trends for companies?
> Give some key reasons why prioritizing strengths and weaknesses is essential.
> Draw a breakeven chart to illustrate lowering price.
> Do the advantages of a low value of the dollar offset the disadvantages for (1) a firm that derives 60 percent of its revenues from foreign countries and (2) a firm that derives 10 percent of its revenues from foreign countries? Justify your answer.
> The global recession forced thousands of firms into bankruptcy. Does this fact alone confirm that “external factors are more important than internal factors” in strategic planning? Discuss.
> Explain why it is best not to have more than 30 percent of the factors in an IFE Matrix be financial ratios.
> Describe the “process of performing an external audit” in an organization doing strategic planning for the first time.
> If your Competitive Profile Matrix has three firms and they all end up with the same Total Weighted Score, would the analysis still be useful? Why.
> In developing an EFE Matrix, would it be best to have 10 opportunities and 10 threats, or would 17 opportunities (or threats) be fine with 3 of the other to achieve a total of 20 factors as desired?
> Discuss how the nature of advertisements have changed in the last few years.
> Explain why “communication” may be the most important word in Management. What do you think is the most important word in Marketing? In Finance? In Accounting?
> Explain how Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace can represent a major threat or opportunity for a company.
> Explain Cost/Benefit analysis.
> Use Porter’s Five-Forces Model to evaluate competitiveness within the U.S. banking industry.
> In your opinion, what are the four major external threats facing PetSmart, and the four major opportunities? Realizing the importance of quantification in stating key factors, how could your factors be quantified? Identify specific estimates (#’s) for yo
> In the Joy’s Daycare BE example in the chapter, how would a $1,000 annual advertising expenditure impact the business break-even point?
> As value of the dollar rises, USA firms doing business abroad see their profits fall, so some firms raise prices of their products to offset the decrease in profits. What are some risks of raising price?
> What are the limitations of breakeven analysis?
> List some legal/ethical ways to gather competitive intelligence. List some illegal/unethical ways.
> If Priceline.com increases its advertising expenses by 30 percent while keeping its price and variable costs the same, does that mean the company’s breakeven point will increase 30 percent? Show this calculation for a hypothetical firm.
> In an IFEM, a critic may say there is no significant difference between a “weight” of 0.08 and 0.06. How would you respond?
> Describe union membership trends in the USA. What are implications for strategic planning in firms such as Boeing or Heinz or Caterpillar?
> Should firms take stances on political issues?
> S&P companies are on average today paying out 31 percent of their earnings in the form of dividends, but that is down from 52 percent of earnings in some years. What are the pro’s and con’s of reinvesting earnings as opposed to paying dividends?
> Draw a breakeven chart to illustrate closing stores.
> Should firms take stances on contentious social issues? Discuss.
> Define and explain value chain analysis (VCA).
> Define and discuss “empirical indicators.”
> Do you agree or disagree with RBV theorists that internal resources are more important than external factors for a firm in achieving and sustaining competitive advantage? Explain your and their position.
> After conducting an internal audit, a firm discovers a total of 100 strengths and 100 weaknesses. What procedures could be then used to determine the most important of these? Why is it important to reduce the total number of key factors?
> Describe the production/operations system in a police department.
