New Thompson and Strickland Essay Questions
9/11/02
Chapter 1
1.What are the five
tasks of strategic management and what does each one involve?
2.Who is responsible
for doing the five tasks of strategic management?
3.What is the role of
a company's CEO in the strategic management process?
4.What is the role of
a company's board of directors in the strategic management process?
5.Why is it
appropriate to argue that good strategy-making and good strategy-implementing
are valid signs of good management?
6.Why does crafting
strategy have a strongly entrepreneurial character?
7.What are the kinds
of things to look for in identifying the components of an organization's
strategy?
8.An organization's
strategic plan consists of the actions which management plans to take in the near
future. True or false. Explain and justify your answer.
9.Why is the task of
strategizing an ongoing exercise rather than a one-time exercise?
10.
Define and briefly explain what is meant by each of the following terms:
·
business model
·
strategic vision
·
strategic objective
·
strategy
·
strategic plan
·
strategy implementation
·
stretch objectives
11.
Is it more accurate to think of strategy as being "crafted" or
"planned?" Why?
12.
Why does it make sense for all managers to be personally involved in the
strategy-making and strategy-implementing process?
13.
Explain the difference between a company's business model and a company's
strategy.
14.
Why does an organization need both financial and strategic objectives?
15.
A well-conceived strategic vision prepares a company for the future. True
or false. Explain and justify your answer.
16.
Powerful execution of a powerful strategy is a proven recipe for business
success. True or false. Explain your answer.
17.
Explain the difference between financial objectives and strategic objectives.
Give examples of each.
18.
Explain why a company's strategy cannot be planned out in advance. Why do
company strategies evolve?
19.
Explain why an organization needs a strategic vision.
20.
What is the difference between a mission statement and a strategic
vision?
21.
What are the risks and pitfalls of defining a company's business in broad
terms?
22.
What managerial purpose does the establishment of long-term objectives
have?
23.
What is the managerial value of a well-conceived, well-said strategic
vision?
24.
What is meant by stretch objectives? How important is it that companies
establish stretch objectives?
25.
What are the qualities of a "well-stated" objective? Give an example of a well-stated objective.
26.
Explain the difference between strategic objectives and financial
objectives. Which is more
important? Why?
27.
Discuss the meaning and areas of focus for each of the following levels
of strategy:
·
corporate strategy
·
business strategy
·
functional area strategy
·
operating strategy
28.
What is the difference between corporate strategy and business strategy?
29.
How can one identify the corporate strategy of a diversified company?
30.
Discuss what is involved in crafting corporate strategy.
31.
Discuss what is involved in crafting business strategy.
32.
What are the principal elements that help identify what a company's
business strategy is?
33.
Explain why a company's strategy is really a collection of strategies.
34. What is the
"strategy pyramid" for a diversified company? How does it differ from
the strategy pyramid for a single business company?
35. Discuss what is
involved in crafting functional strategies.
36.
Why is sustainable competitive advantage so important to a winning
business strategy?
37.
What are the seven key questions which form the framework of industry and
competitive analysis?
38.
Explain the meaning and significance of each of the following:
·
driving forces
·
strategic group mapping
·
the experience curve
·
key success factors
·
long-term industry attractiveness
·
environmental scanning
·
competitive strategy
39.
Draw and briefly describe the five forces model of competition.
40.
Identify and briefly discuss any four of the factors that influence the
strength of competitive rivalry among member firms.
41.
Competitive markets are economic battlefields. True or False. Explain.
42.
Not all buyers of an industry's product are likely to possess the same
degree of bargaining power or leverage over the terms and conditions under
which they purchase the product. True
or False. Explain.
43.
Discuss the conditions that tend to make potential entry a strong
competitive force.
44.
Identify and briefly describe any five of the major sources of entry
barriers.
45.
What conditions cause substitute products to be a strong competitive
force?
46.
What conditions cause suppliers to be a strong competitive force?
47.
What conditions tend to give customers a high degree of bargaining power?
48.
What is the analytical value of constructing a strategic group map?
49.
What is the analytical value of studying competitors and trying to
predict what moves rivals will make next?
50.
What is the strategy-making value of identifying an industry's key
success factors?
51.
What are some of the major factors that enter into an assessment of
whether an industry does or does not have long-term attractiveness?
52.
Can an industry be attractive to one company and unattractive to another
company? Why or why not?
53.
Difficulty Discuss how the strategy-making effort is coordinated.
54.
Identify and briefly discuss the relevance of each of the six broad
factors that shape strategy.
55.
What determines whether a company's strategy is "ethical"?
56.
What are the criteria for determining whether a company has a winning
strategy?
57.
A company's strategy is really a collection of layered strategies. True or false. Discuss and explain.
58.
Discuss how business philosophies, values, and ethical considerations
enter into strategy-making.
59.
What is the difference between a strategic objective and a financial
objective? Give three examples of each
type of objectives to illustrate the difference.
60.
How can one tell an "ethical" strategy from an
"unethical" strategy?
61.
How can one tell a winning strategy from a strategy that is mediocre or a
loser?
Chapter 4
63.
Identify and briefly discuss the relevance of each of the five questions
that form the framework of company situation analysis.
64.
Briefly discuss the meaning and significance of each of the following
terms:
·
SWOT analysis
·
core competence
·
strategic cost analysis
·
company value chain
·
industry value chain
·
a weighted competitive strength assessment
·
distinctive competence
·
benchmarking
·
activity-based costing
65.
How can one tell whether a company's present strategy is working well?
66.
What is the value of SWOT analysis?
How does it contribute to the task of crafting strategy?
67.
What is the difference between a company competence and a core
competence? What is the difference between a core competence and a distinctive
competence? How do a company's core and distinctive competencies fit into the
strategy-making picture?
68.
Why do rival companies not incur the same costs in producing the same
product?
69.
If a firm is at a cost disadvantage with rivals because its internal
costs are higher than rivals, what strategic moves can it make to restore cost
parity? Use the concepts of value chain
analysis to support your answer.
70.
Draw a typical company value chain and briefly discuss its analytical
value in the strategy-making process.
71.
Explain how a company develops a competitive capability.
72.
Explain why a weighted competitive strength assessment is conceptually
superior to an unweighted one.
73.
What is benchmarking and why is it a strategically important analytical
tool? Is it ethical? Why or why not?
74.
The ability of a company to perform competitively crucial value chain
activities better than rivals is one of the keys to sustainable competitive
advantage. True or False? Explain and defend your answer.
75.
In determining the various strategic issues that a company needs to
address, managers need to consider both the results of industry and
competitive analysis and the results of company situation analysis. True or False? Explain and defend your
answer.