A company's mission statement typically addresses what?
"Who are we, what do we do, and why are we here?"
The task of stitching together a strategy...
entails addressing a series of hows: how to attract and please customers, how to compete against rivals, how to position the company in the marketplace and capitalize on attractive opportunities to grow the business, how best to respond to changing economic and market conditions, how to manage each functional piece of the business, and how to achieve the company's performance targets.
Which of the following is NOT among the principal managerial tasks associated with implementing and executing a company's strategy?
- Ensuring that policies and procedures facilitate rather than impede effective execution
- Installing information and operating systems that enable company personnel to better carry out their strategic roles day in and day out
- Allocating ample resources to those activities critical to strategic success
- Pushing employees to work hard, do their very best, and meet or beat the established
- Exerting the internal leadership needed to drive implementation forward and keep improving on how the strategy is being executed
What are questions you need to consider (external and internal) in deciding on a company's future direction?
- How well is the company faring vis-a-vis key competitors; is the company gaining ground or losing ground, and why?
- Which emerging market opportunities should the company pursue and which ones should not be pursued?
- Does sticking with the company's present strategic course present attractive opportunities for growth and profitability?
- Is the company competing in too many markets or product categories where profits are skimpy or nonexistent?
The primary role of a functional strategy is to...
flesh out the details of a company's business strategy; a functional strategy adds power and support to the overall business strategy by specifying what actions, approaches, and practices will be employed in managing a particular functional department or business process or key activity within a business.
Which one of the following approaches to objective-setting should definitely be avoided?
Setting unspecific targets like maximize profits, reduce costs, become more efficient or increase revenues
A company's strategy is at full power...
only when its many pieces are united, cohesive, and mutually reinforcing, fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle.
A company's strategic vision concerns...
a company's long-term direction and what product-customer-market-business mix seems optimal for the road ahead.
Effectively communicating the strategic vision to company personnel is important because...
if company personnel do not understand or accept the rationale for heading in the direction top management has charted, they are unlikely to mobilize behind managerial efforts to get the organization moving in the intended direction.
List the common shortcoming's of company vision statements?
- Bland or uninspiring
- Too generic-could apply to most any company (or at least several others in the same industry)
- Dwells on the present rather than "where we are going"
- Too reliant on superlatives (being the best, the most successful, a recognized leader, or global leader)
A company's values relate to such things as...
fair treatment, honor and integrity, ethical behavior, innovativeness, teamwork, a passion for top-notch quality or superior customer service, social responsibility, and community citizenship.
The primary roles/obligations of a company's board of directors in the strategy-making, strategy-executing process include...
critically appraising the company's direction, strategy, and business approaches and evaluating the caliber of senior executives' strategy-making and strategy-executing skills.
corporate strategy for a diversified or multi-business enterprise...
concerns strategy initiatives to establish business positions in different industries, whether to hold or divest existing businesses, strategic actions to boost the combined performance of the set of businesses the company has diversified into, and how to capture cross-business synergies and turn them into a competitive advantage.
Which of the following are key tasks in the strategy-making, strategy-executing process?
Developing a strategic vision, mission, and core values; setting objectives; and crafting a strategy to achieve the objectives and the company vision
Strategy-making is...
more of a collaborative group effort that involves, to some degree, all managers and sometimes key employees, as opposed to being the function and responsibility of a few high-ranking executives.
Perhaps the most reliable way for a company to improve its financial performance over time is to
recognize that a balanced scorecard approach to measuring company performance has much to recommend because pursuing and achieving strategic outcomes that boost a company's competitiveness and strength in the marketplace puts it in better position to improve its future financial performance.
Which of the following is the best example of a well-stated strategic objective?
Reduce production costs per unit by 10% within 12 months
Strategic intent refers to a situation where a company...
relentlessly pursues an ambitious strategic objective, concentrating the full force of its resources and competitive actions on achieving that objective.
The managerial purpose of setting objectives is to...
convert the strategic vision and mission into specific performance targets--the results and outcomes management wants to achieve; objectives function as yardsticks for measuring how well the company is doing.
In a single-business company, the strategy-making hierarchy consists of...
Business strategy, functional area strategies, and operating strategies.
Which one of the following questions is NOT something company managers should consider in choosing to pursue one strategic course or directional path versus another?
- Do we have a better business model than key rivals?
- Is the company competing in too many markets or product categories where profits are skimpy or nonexistent?
- How well is the company faring vis-a-vis key competitors--are we gaining ground or losing ground and why?
- Does sticking with the company's present strategic course present attractive opportunities for growth and profitability?
- What emerging market opportunities should the company pursue and which ones should not be pursued?
A company with strategic intent is one that...
concentrates the full force of its resources and competitive actions on achieving an ambitious strategic outcome.
The primary roles/obligations of a company's board of directors in the strategy-making, strategy-executing process include...
critically appraising the company's direction, strategy, and business approaches and evaluating the caliber of senior executives' strategy-making and strategy-executing skills.
A company's overall strategy...
is really a collection of strategic initiatives and actions devised by managers (and sometimes key employees) up and down the whole organizational hierarchy.
A company needs financial objectives...
because without adequate profitability and financial strength, a company's pursuit of its strategic vision, as well as its long-term health and ultimate survival is jeopardized.
Business strategy, as distinct from corporate strategy, concerns...
the actions and approaches being employed to produce successful performance in one specific line of business.
Operating strategies concern...
the relatively narrow strategic initiatives and approaches for managing key operating units (plants, distribution centers, geographic units) and strategically significant operating tasks (quality control, advertising campaigns, the management of specific brands, supply chain-related activities, and Web site sales and operations).
Perhaps the most reliable way for a company to improve its financial performance over time is to...
recognize that a balanced scorecard approach to measuring company performance has much to recommend because pursuing and achieving strategic outcomes that boost a company's competitiveness and strength in the marketplace puts it in better position to improve its future financial performance.
A company's strategic plan consists of...
a vision of where it is headed, a set of performance targets, and a strategy to achieve them.
The task of effectively communicating the strategic vision to organization members is made easier by...
capturing the essence of the vision in a catchy or easily remembered slogan and then using the slogan repeatedly as a reminder of "where we are going and why."
Developing a strategic vision for a company entails...
prescribing a strategic direction for the company to pursue in developing and strengthening its business--a strategic vision lays out the company's strategic course in preparing for the future.