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

9) B

 

Mimicking the strategies of successful industry rivals—with either copycat product offerings or maneuvers to stake out the same market position—is certainly not the best at yielding successful results.

10) B

 

Developing new tracking technology would be a unique strategy to address the current issue of losing customers.

11) C

 

Attracting and pleasing customers through cost, quality, and brand image of a product is one of the "hows" to be considered while devising strategies that are dynamic and unique, and provide sustainable edge over competitors. Usually, only the management is involved in devising strategies.

12) D

 

A well-crafted, well-executed, constantly evolving strategy manages to please customers and shareholders by providing lasting competitive edge. In the process, managers have to take risks and provide concrete solutions in ever-changing markets.

13) E

 

A company achieves a competitive advantage whenever it has some type of edge over rivals in attracting buyers and coping with competitive forces. Strategy, at its essence, is about competing differently—doing what rival firms don't do or what rival firms can't do.

14) D

 

A company's strategy would include actions to gain sales and market share with lower prices based on lower costs, not higher costs.

15) C

 

A company might tailor a strategy to compete profitably in a new market that has few rivals for its business. But when rivals are already entrenched in a market, sustainable competitive advantage provides buyers with lasting reasons to prefer a company's products or services over its rivals' offerings—reasons that competitors are unable to nullify or overcome despite their best efforts.

16) A

 

There are many routes to competitive advantage, but they all involve either giving buyers what they perceive as superior value compared to the offerings of rival sellers or giving buyers the same value as others at a lower cost to the firm.

17) C

 

If a company's competitive edge holds promise for being   sustainable (as opposed to just temporary), then so much the better for both the strategy and the company's future profitability.

18) D

 

A powerful strategy leads to a durable competitive advantage that competitors are unable to nullify or overcome despite their best efforts. This involves balancing, and exceling in, both internal and external environments.

19) B

 

A best-cost provider strategy involves concentrating on a narrow buyer segment and outcompeting rivals by offering buyers more value for their money by providing customized attributes that meet their specialized needs but at a lower cost than rivals' products.

20) E

 

Basic strategic approaches for setting a company apart from rivals and winning a sustainable competitive advantage include a low-cost provider strategy, a broad differentiation strategy, a best-cost provider strategy, and a focused differentiation strategy. Charging the highest prices in an industry without offering additional value would not be a successful strategy.

21) C

 

Simply trying to mimic the strategies of the industry's successful companies never works. Rather, every company's strategy needs to have some distinctive element that draws in customers and produces a competitive edge.

22) E

 

Companies typically engage in mass production when the demand is high, which usually renders low-priced products. Mass production would also result in easy availability of products to customers. These are direct results of adopting a low-cost provider strategy. Companies that produce high-quality products for a large customer base use a broad differentiation strategy. Companies offering high-cost specialized products have a narrow market focus with lower volume generation, thereby reducing their bargaining power with suppliers who are supplying specialized materials.

23) E

 

Although the building of products that are sold at low prices achieves a cost-based advantage over rivals, it is highly dependent on low manufacturing cost of products. A cost-independent pricing would widen the gap between investments made and profits generated, leading to losses.