Crafting & Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases 23th edition

MULTIPLE CHOICE - Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.
1)    Managers of all types of business organizations must develop a clear answer for which of the following questions?

 

      
       A)   What approaches do we need to take in order to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace?  
       B)   What is the set of actions that we need to take to outperform competitors and achieve superior profitability?
       C)   Where are we now?
       D)   Where do we go from here?
       E)   When will we know that we are there?
      

 

2)    Sanofi, a pharmaceutical company selling prescription drugs in France for the past 10 years, has had moderate sales in a crowded market while its rivals manufacture and market drugs having similar efficacy and safety precautions, but with superior market share. This particular pharmaceutical company's greatest challenge is to increase prescriptions of their drugs by French doctors. What would be the most effective strategy for Sanofi to improve sales performance in its existing market?

 

      
       A)   modifying marketing communication to increase brand familiarity within key physician segments  
       B)   relocating all the existing drug manufacturing facilities to developing countries to reduce operational costs
       C)   employing hiring plans that aim at acquiring drug designers from rival companies
       D)   exiting the market and entering a new unexplored geographical location
       E)   engaging in new contract talks with suppliers about price breaks
      

 

3)    You have been hired as a consultant by SandCloud, a venture-backed established company in the beachwear and toweling markets. SandCloud’s owners are weighing a decision to donate a part of its profits to a children's charity to improve its market image. Your advice to SandCloud regarding strategy is that it will consist of the action plan management takes to

 

      
       A)   develop a more appealing business model than rival beachwear and toweling companies.  
       B)   compete against rivals in the beachwear and toweling industry and establish a transitory competitive advantage.
       C)   concentrate on improving its existing product offering irrespective of its decision to donate a percentage of its profits to a children’s charity.
       D)   stake out a unique market position in beachwear and toweling markets and achieve superior profitability.
       E)   identify its strategic vision, its strategic objectives, and its strategic intent.
      

 

4)    Keurig, the coffee machine manufacturer, sells high-quality espresso machines at a very low price and also provides low-cost refills of varietal coffee pods at a relatively higher price than rivals. The action steps that Keurig’s managers take to outperform the company's competitors and achieve superior profitability are known as its

 

      
       A)   strategy.   
       B)   mission statement.
       C)   strategic intent.
       D)   value-cost-price framework.
       E)   market visioning statement.
      

 

5)    Strategy, at its essence, is about

 

      
       A)   matching rival businesses' products and quality dimensions in the marketplace.