Strategy: Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Strategy, at its essence, is about......building profits for short-term success....matching rival businesses' products and quality dimensions in the marketplace....developing lasting success that can support growth and secure the company's future over the long term....realigning the market to provoke change in rival companies....re-creating a business model with regularity.

Every strategy needs......to include similar characteristics to rival company strategies....to employ diverse and sundry operating practices for producing greater control over sales growth targets....to mimic the plans of the industry's most successful companies....a distinctive element that attracts customers and produces a competitive edge....to pursue conservative growth built on historical strengths.

A company's strategy stands a better chance of succeeding when......managers copy the strategic moves of successful companies in its industry....it is predicated on competitive moves aimed at appealing to buyers in ways that set the company apart from rivals....managers employ conservative strategic moves based on past experience and form an underlying basis of control....it is developed through a collaborative process involving all managers and staff from all levels of the organization....managers focus on meeting or beating shareholder expectations.

In crafting a company's strategy, managers......need to come up with a sustainable competitive advantage that draws in customers and produces a competitive edge over rivals.... are wise not to decide on concrete courses of action in order to preserve maximum strategic flexibility....have comparatively little freedom in choosing the "hows" of strategy....face the biggest challenge of how closely to replicate strategies of successful companies in the industry....are well-advised to be risk-averse and develop a "conservative" strategy—"dare-to-be-different" strategies are rarely successful.

A company achieves a competitive advantage when it......has a profitable business model....provides buyers with superior value compared to rival sellers or offers the same value at a lower cost....is consistently able to achieve both its strategic and financial objectives....is able to maximize shareholder wealth....has a strategy well-matched to its business model.

A winning strategy is one that......fits the company's internal and external situation, builds sustainable competitive advantage, and improves company performance....can pass the ethical standards test, the strategic intent test, and the profitability test....results in a company becoming the dominant industry leader....is highly profitable and boosts the company's market share.... builds strategic fit, is socially responsible, and maximizes shareholder wealth.

Crafting and executing a strategy is a top-priority managerial task because......it allows all company personnel, and especially senior executives, to know the answer to "who are we, what do we do, and where are we headed?"...it establishes how well executives perform these tasks and are the key determinants of executive compensation....it is management's prescription for doing business, its roadmap to competitive advantage, a game plan for pleasing customers, and its formula for improving performance....it helps management create tight fits between a company's strategic vision and business model....it provides clear guidance as to what the company's business model and strategic intent are, and helps keep managerial decision-making from being rudderless.

Troopline Inc., an online laptop retailer, sells laptops of similar range and features as other online laptop retailers. Which of the value propositions would NOT benefit the company?

Which of the following consumer goods companies does NOT pursue the same business model?

Consider the following three companies and their strategies. Company A is an established database management company that acquires a well-reputed but small publishing house to enter the booming publishing industry. Company B, a sports management house, declared bankruptcy during a recent recession but now has created a television network that airs regional sports events. Company C, a package delivery business, is a startup based on delivery efficiency models created by a few students, and delivers almost all kinds of packages. Which of the following describes the use of strategies by these companies accurately?

The strategy-making, strategy-executing process is shaped by

Management's strategic vision for an organization

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of an effectively worded strategic vision statement?

The primary difference between a company's mission statement and the company's strategic vision is that

Which of the following is the best example of a well-stated financial objective?

Which of the following is NOT an example of a strategic objective

Business strategy concerns

In the strategy-making, strategy-executing process, effective corporate governance requires a company's board of directors to

In a single-business company, the strategy-making hierarchy consists of

The key duties of a company's board of directors in the strategy-making, strategy-executing process include

The strategically relevant factors outside a company's industry boundaries—economic conditions, political factors, sociocultural forces, technological factors, environmental factors, and legal/regulatory conditions—are known as

Which of the following is LIKELY to have the biggest strategy-shaping impact on on-demand transportation providers such as Uber and Lyft?

Rivalry among competing sellers decreases

Potential entrants are more likely to be deterred from actually entering an industry when

The bargaining leverage of suppliers is greater when

A competitive environment where there is strong rivalry among sellers, low entry barriers, strong competition from substitute products, and considerable bargaining leverage on the part of both suppliers and customers

The task of driving-forces analysis is to

Which of the following driving forces would have the LEAST impact on the attractiveness of the automobile industry?

Competitive intelligence can be gleaned from

The key success factors in an industry

Which of the following is NOT an analytical tool for revealing a company's competitiveness and for helping to match the strategy to the company's own particular circumstances?

Key "functional" strategies of a company include all of the following EXCEPT

Which one of the following is NOT an intangible resource?

For a particular company resource/capability to have real competitive power and perhaps qualify as a basis for competitive advantage, it should

When a company has become proficient in modifying, upgrading, or deepening the company's resources and capabilities in response to its changing environment and market opportunities, it is called

Which of the following is NOT accurate as concerns a distinctive competence?

Which of the following is NOT something that can be gleaned from a company's SWOT?

Benchmarking involves

Strategy, at its essence, is about......

Every strategy needs......

A company's strategy stands a better chance of succeeding when......

In crafting a company's strategy, managers......

A company achieves a competitive advantage when it......

A winning strategy is one that......

Crafting and executing a strategy is a top-priority managerial task because......

The means to enhance differentiation through activities at the forward end of the value chain system do NOT include

A company's value-creating activities can offer a competitive advantage in one of two ways