Which one of the following is an example of an offensive strategy?

Pursuing disruptive product innovation to create new markets

Which one of the following is not a defensive option for protecting a company's market share and competitive position?

Deliberately attacking those market segments where a key rival makes big profits

Which of the following is not one of the strategic options that companies have for using their websites?

Creating as much channel conflict as possible so as to quickly learn whether all customer-related transactions should be conducted at the company's website or whether the company needs to continue selling through traditional wholesalers, distributors, and retailers

Which of the following is not a potential advantage of backward vertical integration?

Reduced business risk because of controlling a bigger portion of the overall industry value chain

For backward vertical integration into the business of suppliers to be a viable and profitable strategy, a company

must be able to achieve the same scale economies as outside suppliers and match or beat suppliers’ production efficiency with no drop-off in quality.

Based on Figure 6.1, which one of the following is not a strategic action that a company can take to complement its choice of one of the five generic competitive strategies and maximize the power of its overall strategy?

Exerting additional efforts to achieve strong product differentiation

The two best reasons for investing company resources in vertical integration (either forward or backward) are to

strengthen the company's competitive position and/or boost its profitability.

Which of the following is not a typical strategic objective or benefit that drives mergers and acquisitions?

To facilitate a company's shift from a one competitive strategy approach to another

A blue ocean type of offensive strategy

involves abandoning efforts to beat out competitors in existing markets and, instead, inventing a new industry or distinctive market segment that renders existing competitors largely irrelevant and allows a company to create and capture altogether new demand.

Because when to make a strategic move can be just as important as what move to make, a company's best option with respect to timing is

to carefully weigh the first-mover advantages against the first-mover disadvantages and act accordingly.

Which of the following conditions do not constitute a late-mover advantage (or first-mover disadvantage)?

When buyer demand for a late-mover's product offering is rising

Which of the following is not among the potential benefits that a company can gain by outsourcing value chain activities presently performed in-house?

Improving a company's ability to strongly differentiate its product, lowering the costs of integrating both forward and backward, and transferring the risk of adverse changes in buyer demand for the company's product to outside vendors.

Which of the following is not a typical reason that many alliances are short-lived or break apart?

Disagreement over how to divide the profits gained from joint collaboration

A strategic alliance

is a collaborative arrangement where two or more companies join forces to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

The best strategic alliances

are highly selective, focusing on particular value chain activities and on obtaining a particular competitive benefit; they tend to enable a firm to build on its strengths and learn.