Strategic Management MCQs

Question: Which of the following is not a characteristic of the Internet?
a) Provides information
b) Facilitates communication
c) Provides competitive advantage
d) Enables electronic trading
Answer: a

Question: Which of the following is not one of the contextual aspects that have a critical impact on strategic change?
a) Structural factors
b) Environmental factors
c) Personal factors
d) Financial factors
Answer: d

Question: ETOP stands for
a) Environmental threat and opportunity profile
b) Economic threat and Opportunity profile
c) Enhanced technology and opportunity profile
d) none of the options
Answer: a

Question: Which of these is a characteristic of soft human resource management?
a) Managers are responsible for employees
b) Teams provide increased productivity
c) Managers are responsible for deploying employees
d) Scientific management principles and systems should be used to deal with employees
Answer: b

Question: Which of the following lists is comprised of support activities:
a) human resource management, information systems, procurement, and firm infrastructure
b) customer service, information systems, technology development, and procurement
c) human resource management, technology development, customer service, and procurement
d) human resource management, customer service, marketing and sales, and operations
Answer: a

Question: International business has grown rapidly in recent decades for all the following reasons EXCEPT
a) rapid expansion of technology
b) liberalization of governmental policies on cross-border movement of trade and resources
c) development of institutions to support and facilitate international trade
d) increased cost of labor in both the lesser-developed and developing countries
Answer: d

Question: Which of the following is not one of Porters five competitive forces?
a) Bargaining power of suppliers
b) Threats of new entrants and barriers to entry
c) Threats of technological advances
d) Threats of substitutes
Answer: c

Question: Select the most accurate statement. Value
a) means value for money
b) is best described as the benefits the business chooses to give to customers through its product/service
c) is the benefits of a product/service as perceived by the customer
d) does not offer competitive advantage
Answer: c

Question: The corporate level is where top management directs:
a) all employees for orientation
b) its efforts to stabilize recruitment needs
c) overall strategy for the entire organization
d) overall sales projections
Answer: c

Question: Which of the following is NOT a major element of the strategic management process?
a) Formulating strategy
b) Implementing strategy
c) Evaluating strategy
d) Assigning administrative tasks
Answer: d

Question: Which of the following aptly describes the role of line managers and staff advisors namely HR professionals?
a) Staff advisors focus more on developing HR programmes while line managers are more involved in the implementation of those programmes
b) Line managers are concerned more about developing HR programmes whereas staff advisors are more involved in implementing such programmes
c) Staff advisors are solely responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating the HR programmes while line managers are not at all involved in any matters concerning HR
d) Line managers alone are responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating the HR programmes while staff advisors are not at all involved in any matters concerning HR
Answer: a

Question: Strategic Management handles:
a) external issues
b) management issues
c) internal issues
d) administrational issues
Answer: a

Question: What is the starting point of strategic intent?
a) Objectives
b) Goals
c) Mission
d) Vision
Answer: d

Question: Which one of the following does not influence organizational learning?
a) Awareness of wider environmental developments
b) Knowledge of competitor activity
c) Reflecting on past actions
d) Applying activity maps
Answer: d

Question: Two reasons for mergers and acquisitions are
a) to increase managerial staff and to minimize economies of scale
b) to reduce tax obligations and increase managerial staff
c) to create seasonal trends in sales and to make better use of a new sales force
d) to provide improved capacity utilization and to gain new technology
Answer: d

Question: Which of the following is not a limitation of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunity, Threats) analysis?
a) Organizational strengths may not lead to competitive advantage
b) SWOT gives a one-shot view of a moving target
c) SWOT’s focus on the external environment is too broad and integrative
d) SWOT overemphasizes a single dimension of strategy
Answer: c

Question: What is top-down planning?
a) This takes place in someone’s head, and the decisions may not be written down in any extensive form. It is often practiced by entrepreneurial managers with real flair
b) This requires managers to spend time discussing the future opportunities and threats and areas in which the organization might develop
c) This involves managers throughout the organization, and ensures that everyone involved in implementing plans will be consulted
d) This relates to decisions taken at the higher parts of the organization and passed onto other managers for implementation. These managers will have had little or no input into the planning process
Answer: d

Question: Which of the following is a key external factor that should be taken into account by a corporate strategy?
a) economic conditions
b) political conditions
c) legal environments
d) competition
Answer: d

Question: Which of the following is a force in the Porter’s five forces model of industry attractiveness?
a) opportunity for new entrants
b) opportunity for substitutes
c) bargaining power of suppliers
d) sustainable competitive advantage for customers
Answer: c

Question: Which of the following is not a way in which organizations can behave more ethically and socially responsibly?
a) By avoiding discrimination and improving working conditions
b) By lowering prices to their targeted market, to stimulate demand and increasing profit by increases in productivity to meet customer demands
c) By ensuring product safety
d) By avoiding pollution and safely disposing of waste
Answer: b

Question: What do you understand by the term ’a prospector organisation’?
a) An organisation that represents a good prospect for a firm looking to make an acquisition
b) An organisation with good growth prospects
c) An organisation that has recently been founded as an entrepreneurial start-up
d) An organisation that actively seeks new opportunities and change
Answer: d

Question: refers to the strategies and counterstrategies of a firm that compete in a shared market place
a) Retrenchment strategy
b) Competitive gaming
c) Business strategy
d) Corporate strategy
Answer: b

Question: Which of the following is not one of the four key strategic elements linked to corporate objectives?
a) Competitive environment
b) Stakeholder expectations
c) Research and development
d) Organization structure
Answer: c

Question: Although firm infrastructure is quite frequently viewed only as overhead expense, it can become a source of competitive advantage. Examples include all of the following except:
a) negotiating and maintaining ongoing relations with regulatory bodies
b) marketing expertise increasing a firm’s revenues and enabling it to enter new markets
c) effective information systems contributing significantly to a firm’s overall cost leadership strategy
d) top management providing a key role in collaborating with important customers
Answer: b

Question: What is likely to be the effect of a logical corporate strategy but poor strategy implementation.
a) Strategic weaknesses and underachievement
b) Fragmented performance through strategic and structural flaws
c) Structural and stylistic flaws
d) Effectiveness but little efficiency
Answer: c

Question: Which would be classified as a stakeholder?
a) Communities
b) Banks
c) Suppliers
d) Communities Banks Suppliers
Answer: d

Question: Which of the following is not a competence recognized by Richardson and Thompson (1994)?
a) Strategic thinking
b) Managing paradoxes
c) Innovative climate
d) Providing excellent quality
Answer: b

Question: Robert Kalpan and David developed the balanced score card in the early as a performance measurement system
a) 1991
b) 1990
c) 1992
d) 1995
Answer: b

Question: Which one of the following is not a form of non-price competition?
a) Branding
b) Innovation
c) Advertising
d) None all of the options increase nonprice competition
Answer: d

Question: Which of the following is not a key theme in market development?
a) Identifying new uses for existing products and services
b) Strategic positioning
c) Developing new products for new markets and segments
d) Identifying new markets and segments
Answer: c

Question: Marketing current products with possible modifications and range increases is also known as what?
a) Retrenchment
b) Market penetration
c) Product development
d) Market development
Answer: d

Question: Technological advancements can create which of the following advantage besides many other existing powerful advantages for the businesses?
a) Economic
b) Social
c) Environmental
d) Competitive
Answer: d

Question: and are outcomes from a study of the external environment
a) Threats and Weaknesses
b) Strengths and Weaknesses
c) Weights and Measures
d) Opportunities and Threats
Answer: d

Question: In order for a culture to generate success, what does it need to be?
a) Stable and secure
b) Flexible and adaptive
c) Innovative and resourceful
d) Flexible and resourceful
Answer: b

Question: If a business is blinkered, technology shy, and ’impoverished’, what does this signal?
a) A weak strategic plan
b) A planning gap
c) A lack of innovation and vision
d) Weak strategic leadership
Answer: d

Question: Who can be considered as the main stakeholders for London Zoo?
a) Research groups
b) Visitors
c) The government
d) Private investors
Answer: b

Question: The process of developing a mission statement includes which of these as the first activity?
a) A request to modify the current document
b) Ask managers to read selected articles about mission statements
c) Ask managers to prepare a mission statement for the organization
d) A merging of several mission statements into one document
Answer: b

Question: of an organization deals with investigation of organizational strengths and weaknesses by focusing on factors which are relevant to it
a) External analysis
b) Internal analysis
c) Industry analysis
d) Business analysis
Answer: b

Question: Situation analysis allows the organization to examine:
a) external factors only
b) internal factors only
c) the organization’s top management only
d) both external and internal factors
Answer: d

Question: What are core competences?
a) Resources which critically underpin competitive advantage and that others cannot obtain
b) Activities and processes needed to meet customers’ minimum requirements and therefore to continue to exist
c) Key skills required for success in a particular business
d) Activities that underpin competitive advantage and are difficult for competitors to imitate or obtain
Answer: d

Question: Which of these is not a key stakeholder that an organization must seek to satisfy?
a) Managers
b) Shareholders
c) Employees
d) Customers
Answer: a

Question: What does the acronym SMART refer to?
a) Superiority, Measurement, Appropriability, Replicability, Transparency
b) Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timescale
c) Substitutability, Measurement, Appropriability, Replicability, Transparency
d) Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely
Answer: b

Question: Explosive growth cannot be maintained indefinitely. Sooner or later, the rate of growth slows and the industry enters the
a) Embryonic stage
b) Growth stage
c) Shakeout stage
d) Maturity stage
Answer: c

Question: The merging of analysis of internal and external factors influencing the organizations strategy is known as
a) complete studies
b) organizational behavior and theory
c) definitional analysis
d) SWOT analysis
Answer: d

Question: Managers should study international business because
a) international business comprises a large and growing portion of the world’s total business
b) global events and competition affect almost all companies
c) a company operating internationally will engage in modes of business that differ from those it is accustomed to domestically
d) all of the options
Answer: d

Question: Cash cows are SBUs that typically generate:
a) problems for product managers
b) paper losses in the long run
c) large awareness levels but few sales
d) a lot of competition
Answer: d

Question: Which one of the following are considered to be synergistic benefits for LVMH?
a) Joint ventures
b) Similarity of portfolio
c) Commercial exploitation
d) Name association
Answer: d

Question: The primary benefit brought from restructuring is:
a) employee involvement
b) cost reduction
c) increased morale
d) increased number and organizational hierarchy
Answer: b

Question: A ______ is a limitation or deficiency in resources, skills and capabilities that seriously impede effective performance.
a) Strength
b) Threat
c) Opportunity
d) Weakness
Answer: d

Question: The understanding of what key element is essential for successful strategic planning?
a) Understanding the needs and expectations of stakeholders
b) Understanding competencies
c) Understanding the processes of strategic change
d) Understanding how to plan
Answer: c

Question: Strategy involves adopting a combined approach of low costs and high local responsiveness simultaneously by the firms for their products and services.
a) Global
b) Multidomestic
c) International
d) Transnational
Answer: d

Question: In business, generally ______ refers to the fight for market share which serves the same basic customer needs.
a) Competition
b) Composition
c) Rivalry
d) None of the above
Answer: a

Question: What form of strategy formation would be expected to be found in Defender organizations?
a) Formal planning
b) Visionary
c) Adaptive
d) Incremental
Answer: a

Question: The BCG matrix is based on
a) Industry attractiveness and Business strength
b) Industry Growth rate and Business strength
c) Industry Attractiveness and Relative Market share
d) Industry growth rate and relative market share
Answer: d

Question: The means by which long term objectives will be achieved are
a) mission statements
b) strategies
c) vision statements
d) long term goals
Answer: b

Question: The three organizational levels are:
a) corporate level, business level, functional level
b) corporate level, business unit level, functional level
c) corporate strategy level, business unit level, functional level
d) corporate strategy level, business level, specialist level
Answer: a

Question: The two internal elements of SWOT analysis are
a) weaknesses and threats
b) opportunities and threats
c) strength and weaknesses
d) strengths and threats
Answer: c

Question: When does horizontal integration occur?
a) When a firm acquires or merges with a major competitor
b) When a firm acquires or merges with an unrelated business
c) When a firm acquires or merges with a distributor
d) When a firm acquires or merges with a supplier firm
Answer: a

Question: One key to effective implementation is setting:
a) schedule of events
b) deadlines
c) milestones
d) good managers in motion
Answer: d

Question: McDonalds is deciding whether to expand into manufacturing kitchen equipment in China. At what level is this decision likely to be made?
a) Business
b) Corporate
c) Functional
d) International
Answer: b

Question: The five forces model developed by ______ has been the most commonly used analytical tool for examining competitive environment.
a) Michnal E Porter
b) Lewis Charter
c) Barrywell
d) Schwiz
Answer: a

Question: Research into diversification and acquisition can be divided into 4 schools. Which of the following is not one of the schools?
a) Environmental
b) Financial
c) Accounting
d) Economic
Answer: a

Question: Cost efficiency is determined by which of the following drivers?
a) Supply Costs, Experience, Product/Process Design and Economies of Scale
b) Supply Costs & Economies of Scale
c) Product/Process Design and Economies of Scale
d) Experience
Answer: a

Question: The word tactics is most likely to be associated with
a) Business strategy
b) Corporate strategy
c) Operational strategy
d) all of the options
Answer: c

Question: What does Question mark symbolize in BCG matrix?
a) Remain Diversified
b) Invest
c) Stable
d) Liquidate
Answer: a

Question: Internal audit is done:
a) Before external audit
b) After external audit
c) Parallel to external audit
d) Vertical to external audit
Answer: c

Question: In strategy, assumptions are made that consumers’ needs are similar worldwide.
a) Global
b) Multidomestic
c) International
d) Transnational
Answer: a

Question: Disney is in the business of:
a) theme parks or movies
b) creating entertainment, fun and fantasy
c) building theme parks
d) designing new imaginative characters
Answer: b

Question: Which one of the following is not an aspect of the MOST analysis?
a) Mission
b) Strategies
c) Tactics
d) Organization
Answer: d

Question: Relative deficiency or superiority is important information in performing which activity?
a) External audit
b) Allocating resources
c) Internal audit
d) Evaluating strategies
Answer: c

Question: Which of the following is not suggested by Markides (1999) as a factor for competitive and strategic success?
a) Synergy
b) Careful evaluation of strategic options
c) Ensure consistency between desired strategic position and the chosen strategy
d) Active opportunity searching
Answer: c

Question: Which of the following is one of the factors related to the issue of the feasibility of a strategy?
a) Skills and resources, available and needed
b) Levels of return expected
c) Finance and other resource availability
d) Effect on strategic perspective
Answer: c

Question: How many cells are in a SWOT matrix?
a) 9
b) 6
c) 3
d) 2
Answer: a

Question: In military analogy, what is the outcome if in strategy creation the organization has both capability and intent?
a) Capacity
b) Credibility
c) Emergent strategy
d) Intended strategy
Answer: b

Question: If unprepared, what strategic pressures are recognized as key factors that can weaken the organization?
a) Competitive and environmental pressures
b) Control at the expense of flexibility
c) Lack of planners
d) Competitive and environmental pressures, and excessive control
Answer: d

Question: Strategy creation involves three strands. Which of the following is not one of the three strands?
a) Planning
b) Vision
c) Entrepreneurship
d) Emergent strategies
Answer: c

Question: This is the last stage in the conflict management lifecycle.
a) Environmental scanning
b) Risk communication
c) Image restoration
d) Issues management
Answer: c

Question: Which one of the following is not a future pattern identified by Courtney et al.?
a) A limited and definable number of discrete alternatives which can be evaluated and judged by strategic managers
b) A limited and definable number of alternatives which cannot be evaluated nor judged with any great certainty
c) A limited but undefinable number of discrete alternatives which can be evaluated and judged
d) A limited but undefinable number of discrete alternatives that cannot be evaluated nor judged at all
Answer: a

Question: ______ is called as a bundle of resources.
a) Industry
b) Unit
c) Organization
d) Management
Answer: c

Question: Which of the following is not an element of the growth/market options matrix developed by Ansoff (1987)?
a) Market development
b) Diversification
c) Product development
d) Market segmentation
Answer: d

Question: Which of these is not a role for a planner as discussed by Robinson?
a) To help managers make decisions regarding strategic changes
b) To enable good managers to plan
c) To state objectives
d) To concentrate on understanding the future
Answer: c

Question: The impact of strategies on the general direction and basic character of a company is
a) short range
b) medium range
c) long range
d) minimal
Answer: c

Question: Which of these is not an activity associated with restructuring?
a) Acquiring unrelated businesses
b) Intervening in business processes
c) Hoarding new businesses
d) Value optimization
Answer: c

Question: Middle level managers typically are responsible for ______ strategies.
a) business
b) organizational
c) operational
d) corporate
Answer: a

Question: The goal of the cost leader is to:
a) start a price war
b) minimize wages
c) charge the lowest price
d) make high margins
Answer: d

Question: Which of these is not an identified form of organizational structure?
a) Intrapreneurial
b) Functional
c) Divisional
d) Matrix
Answer: a

Question: Which one of the following would not be considered a functional strategy?
a) Financial
b) Marketing
c) Product-market
d) Operations
Answer: c

Question: What or who are Reactors?
a) Innovative and entrepreneurial organizations
b) Organizations which follow industry trends
c) Conservative and low-risk organizations
d) Organizations with limited change and measured steps
Answer: b

Question: Aggregating prospective buyers into groups is called:
a) market categorization
b) market segmentation
c) modeling
d) BCG matrix analysis
Answer: b

Question: What is synergy?
a) When the organization is providing a product to the customer that perfectly suits their requirements
b) When the parts of an organization are combined and managed in such a way that the drawbacks exceed those which would result if the parts were operating separately
c) When the parts of an organization are combined and managed in such a way that the benefits exceed those which would result if the parts were operating separately
d) When the parts of an organization are combined and managed in such a way to reduce costs
Answer: c

Question: Which of the following statements best describes scenario planning?
a) Exploring future possibilities by looking at potential outcomes from particular causes and seeking to explain why things might occur
b) Considering three likely scenarios for future developments, and devising a strategy according to the likeliest outcome
c) Helping managers come to terms with the threats and opportunities within the company by devising a possible scenario to eliminate the threats and capitalize on the opportunities
d) Planning the best way to secure the scenario outcome that would benefit the company most
Answer: a

Question: In a large organization, strategic management activities occur at what level(s)?
a) Corporate and divisional
b) Functional, business and corporate
c) Strategic business unit
d) Divisional
Answer: b

Question: Strategic stretch involves:
a) The fit between the organisation and its environment
b) Creating new opportunities by stretching and exploiting capabilities in new ways
c) The skills of the senior management
d) Utilising all the resources of an organisation to their full capacity
Answer: b

Question: ______ arises when a firm is able to perform an activity that is distinct from competitors.
a) Competitive advantage
b) Focus
c) Cost leadership
d) Logic
Answer: a

Question: are the resources, skills or other advantages a firm enjoys relative to its competitors.
a) Weakness
b) Strength
c) Threat
d) Opportunities
Answer: b

Question: The ______ has its own business strategy, objectives and competitors and these are often different from the parent company.
a) Strategic Business Unit structure
b) Matrix structure
c) Divisional structure
d) None of given option
Answer: a

Question: A company’s ability to meet its short-term financial obligations is measured by which of the following categories?
a) Liquidity ratios
b) Profitability ratios
c) Activity ratios
d) Leverage ratios
Answer: a

Question: A stability strategy is particularly appropriate when:
a) the firm is facing rapid growth opportunities
b) the industry is in a state of rapid upheaval
c) an organization is not meeting its goals
d) an organization’s performance is declining
Answer: b

Question: ______ strategy may require a firm to redefine its business and may involve divestment of a major product line or an SBU, abandon some markets or reduce its functions.
a) Expansion Strategy
b) Retrenchment Strategy
c) Combination Strategy
d) Stability Strategy
Answer: b

Question: What must the strategic visionary leader avoid in order to ensure the prolonged success of a strategy?
a) Becoming blinkered by the success of one strategy to the detriment of others
b) Depending too heavily on colleagues
c) Becoming too ambitious
d) Being adaptable
Answer: a