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

 

20)  Strategic approaches to set a company apart from rivals and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage are not likely to include

 

      
       A)   striving to be the industry's low-cost provider.
       B)   outcompeting rivals on the basis of differentiating features that will appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers.
       C)   developing a best-cost provider strategy that gives customers more value for the money.
       D)   focusing on a narrow market niche and serving buyers' special needs and tastes.
       E)   striving to be the industry's high-price provider.
      

 

21)  If you were advising Rebel Toad Brewing, a local brewpub, about how to set itself apart from rivals and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, you would most likely not recommend that Rebel Toad Brewing

 

      
       A)   strive to be the industry's low-cost provider, thereby aiming for a cost-based competitive advantage.    
       B)   outcompete rivals on the basis of differentiating features such as higher quality, wider product selection, added performance, better service, more attractive styling, technological superiority, or unusually good value for the money.
       C)   mimic the successful strategies of rivals.
       D)   focus on a narrow market niche to achieve a competitive edge by doing a better job than rivals of satisfying the needs and tastes of buyers composing the niche.
       E)   develop a cost advantage based on offering more value for its patrons' money.
      

 

22)  Soap is critical for hygiene, but it’s not always available in certain areas around the world. Pacha Soap is trying to change that via small production of all-natural handmade soap sold primarily through selected Whole Foods stores. For every bar of Pacha Soap purchased, Andrew and Abigail Vrbas, the company’s founders, donate a bar to someone in need. Pacha Soap, however, enjoys the least bargaining power with its suppliers because the company is

 

      
       A)   involved in mass production of its products to cater to an expanding customer base.   
       B)   actively catering to a broad, price-sensitive customer base.
       C)   manufacturing high-quality soap and related bath products from readily available raw materials for a broad customer base.
       D)   selling soap and related bath products deemed to be highly popular and easily available across most supermarkets.
       E)   offering high-cost specialized soap that could be purchased primarily by socially conscious customers in limited markets.
      

 

23)  Winning a sustainable competitive edge over competitors does not hinge on which of the following?

 

      
       A)   having a distinctive competitive product offering 
       B)   building competitively valuable expertise and capabilities not readily matched and offering distinctive products
       C)   building experience, know-how, and specialized capabilities that have been perfected over a long period of time
       D)   having hard-to-beat capabilities and impressive product innovation
       E)   building products and distributing them at low prices to a broad customer base irrespective of manufacturing cost