Strategic Management: A Competitive Advantage Approach Concepts and Cases 17th Edition Instructor ma
1-13. What strategies do you believe can save newspaper companies from extinction?
Answer: Newspaper companies could invest more in Internet technologies, including developing nice apps for smartphones, and charging for the apps. Also, they could charge for an online subscription. Perhaps they could shift to a business model of giving away newspapers, while simultaneously enticing advertisers to advertise more, given the expected increased circulation from “free at newsstands and nominal fee for delivery.” Free is a good price, if expenses can be exceeded by advertising revenue. But any strategies pursued should be determined after thorough analysis as described in this text, rather than haphazardly determined.
1-14. Distinguish between the concepts of mission and vision.
Answer: Mission statements are “enduring statements of purpose that distinguish one business from other similar firms.” Vision statements answer the question “What do we want to become?” A vision statement should be one sentence, whereas a mission statement is several sentences, but less than 200 words.
1-15. Your university has fierce competitors. List three external opportunities and three external threats that face your university.
Answer:
Opportunities – 1) The blackboard collaborating technology for online classes has become easier, more popular, and less expensive. 2) The USA economy and GDP is growing 6% annually. 3) Construction costs for building new buildings is declining 14% year-over-year.
Threats – 1) The local tech school has cheaper tuition and easier classes that transfer into our university. 2) Our rival firms all offer a BBA Degree online. 3) There is an 8% decline in population in the last few months in our county.
1-16. List three internal strengths and three internal weaknesses that characterize your university.
Answer:
Strengths – 1) Our College of Business is AACSB accredited at both the BBA and MBA levels.
2) Our average classroom size is 19 students. 3) Our university has a new Nursing Program and Building.
Weaknesses – 1) Only 50% of our business faculty hold a PhD in business. 2) Our university lacks sufficient dorm space for students. 3) Our university lacks sufficient parking for students and faculty.
1-17. List reasons why objectives are essential for organizational success.
Answer: Objectives are essential for organizational success because they state direction, aid in evaluation, create synergy, reveal priorities, focus coordination, and provide a basis for effective planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling activities.
1-18. Why are policies especially important in strategy formulation?
Answer: Policies, like annual objectives, are especially important in strategy implementation because they outline an organization’s expectations of its employees and managers. Policies allow consistency and coordination within and between organizational departments. Policies can be broad and include rules, regulations, and procedures.
1-19. What is a “retreat” and why do firms take the time and spend the money to have these?
Answer: Retreats are formal meetings conducted semiannually to discuss and update the firm’s vision/mission, opportunities/threats, strengths/weaknesses, strategies, objectives, policies, and performance. Retreats are commonly held off-premises to encourage more creativity and candor from participants. The feeling is that an off-premise retreat facilitates communication, shared understanding, and commitment.
1-20. Discuss the notion of strategic planning being more formal versus informal in an organization. On a 1 to 10 scale from formal to informal, what number best represents your view of the most effective approach? Why?
Answer: Formality refers to the extent that participants, responsibilities, authority, duties, and approach are specified. Application of the strategic-management process is typically more formal in larger and well-established organizations. Smaller businesses tend to be less formal. Firms that compete in complex, rapidly changing environments, such as technology companies, tend to be more formal in strategic planning. Firms that have many divisions, products, markets, and technologies also tend to be more formal in applying strategic-management concepts. Greater formality in applying the strategic-management process is usually positively associated with the cost, comprehensiveness, accuracy, and success of planning across all types and sizes of organizations. Informality too often invites guessing, laziness, politics, and emotion, which are generally not good in strategic planning.