Question and options | # | Ans. |
Strategy is all about:
a. foresight and a holistic view of the firm
b. the short-term objectives of the firm and ways of meeting them
c. defining marketing goals and targets
d. enhancing sales performance | 1 | a |
What makes strategizing necessary?
a. rapid changes in the business landscape
b. more sophisticated organizational structures
c. pressure to innovate
d. all of these | 2 | d |
Which of the following was a strategist?
a. Machiavelli
b. Sun-Tzu
c. Herodotus
d. all of these | 3 | d |
How do modern conceptions of strategy relate to classical conceptions?
a. they are the same
b. there is no relation
c. as legitimations for current views
d. none of these | 4 | c |
Machiavelli’s contribution to strategy suggests that:
a. remaining powerful is the highest priority
b. listening to your employees’ needs is of utmost importance
c. delegation of authority enhances team performance
d. none of these | 5 | a |
Based on Clausewitz’s arguments, we can infer that:
a. Strategy is based on a pre-determined wisdom and rational thinking.
b. Strategy unfolds sequentially yet rationally.
c. Strategy has a non-rationalistic element in it, induced by passions and feelings.
d. Both strategy is based on a pre-determined wisdom and rational thinking and strategy unfolds sequentially yet rationally. | 6 | c |
The establishment of modern-day strategy as a discipline can be traced back to:
a. the 1960–70s, drawn from economics
b. the industrial revolution in north-west England
c. the 1980s, with the advent of large US multinational corporations
d. the 1930s, drawn from social psychology | 7 | a |
Modern conceptions of strategy as planning played a major role in:
a. the First World War
b. the Peloponnesian Wars
c. the Second World War
d. the Vietnam War | 8 | c |
Which of the following was a crucible of early strategy thinking?
a. Marks & Spencer’s
b. Zara
c. West Point
d. Ancient Greece | 9 | c |
In Cummings and Daellenbach’s study, reviewing papers in Long Range Planning, what are the recurring themes that constitute the baseline of strategy research in the last 40 years?
a. corporate
b. technology
c. mergers and acquisitions
d. all of these | 10 | d |
According to Cummings and Daellenbach’s study, reviewing papers in Long Range Planning what is NOT part of the emerging trends in the future of strategy?
a. Strategists are becoming more politically astute.
b. Strategists are becoming more sensitive to environmental conservation issues.
c. Strategists are becoming more aesthetically aware.
d. Case studies will flourish, as opposed to prescriptions. | 11 | b |
Chandler is famous for:
a. seeing strategy as leading to structure
b. seeing structure as leading to strategy
c. seeing strategy and structure as co-evolving
d. none of these | 12 | a |
Which of the following does NOT feature in Igor Ansoff’s levels of action towards planning?
a. operational
b. inter-organizational
c. administrative
d. strategic | 13 | b |
A main feature of Ansoff’s logic is that strategy is the exclusive territory of:
a. marketing managers
b. top management
c. sales managers
d. the founder of the company | 14 | b |
A definition of the firm following Edith Penrose focuses on the role of:
a. technology
b. capital
c. resources
d. network | 15 | c |
Sustained competitive advantage depends on firms developing unique combinations of ______, providing competencies that allow for flexible development in an uncertain and changing environment.
a. resources
b. capital
c. technologies
d. people | 16 | a |
Which of the following themes in strategy has/have been influenced by Penrose?
a. dynamic capabilities
b. resource-based view
c. knowledge-based perspectives on strategy
d. all of these | 17 | d |
According to Michael Porter, firm profitability is dependent on ______.
a. industry structure
b. people
c. the initial capital employed
d. the economy | 18 | a |
With which of the following would you associate these words: ‘the environment determines success, not the resources controlled’?
a. Penrose
b. Machiavelli
c. Pericles
d. Porter | 19 | d |
A behavioural perspective on strategy argues that ______ influence the unfolding of strategy.
a. cognitive processes of bounded rationality
b. rapid changes and external phenomena
c. both cognitive processes of bounded rationality and rapid changes and external phenomena
d. none of these | 20 | a |
Who developed Transaction Cost Economics?
a. Michael Porter
b. Edith Penrose
c. Karl Marx
d. Oliver Williamson | 21 | d |
Porter is best known for work on which of the following?
a. the organization man
b. strategy as practice
c. competitive advantage
d. all of these | 22 | c |
What is a principle of revolutionary strategy, according to Hamel?
a. Strategic planning may be planning but it is not strategic.
b. Revolutionaries exist in every company.
c. none of these
d. Both strategic planning may be planning but it is not strategic and revolutionaries exist in every company. | 23 | d |
In Furrer, Thomas and Goussevskaia’s research, the most frequent keyword associated with strategy was:
a. process
b. dynamics
c. performance
d. environment | 24 | c |
In the aforementioned study, which topic/concept was found to have an increased frequency of occurrence in the years 2001–05?
a. marketing research and metrics
b. operational efficiency
c. IT
d. innovation | 25 | d |
The first strategy as practice theory was written by ______.
a. Porter
b. Knights and Morgan
c. Marx & Engels
d. Machiavelli | 26 | b |
Marks & Spencer is a ______.
a. successful model for fashion retailing
b. model example of organization learning
c. firm challenged by newer models such as Zara
d. firm with a weak leadership team | 27 | c |
Zara owes its strategic success to ______.
a. advertising
b. a fast-fashion business model
c. its monorail
d. its long-standing traditions | 28 | b |
A ______ problem is a problem that is hard to define, has many inter-related causes and no criteria for evaluating solutions.
a. complex
b. historical
c. sensemaking
d. wicked | 29 | d |
According to ______, resources that are not easily copied by competitors are the real source of innovation and value for a firm.
a. Porter
b. Penrose
c. Chandler
d. Ansoff | 30 | b |
What constitutes a key concept in the industry analysis viewpoint promoted by Porter?
a. money
b. network
c. market power
d. corporate culture | 31 | c |
______ focuses on the processes and practices constituting the everyday activities of organizational life and relating to strategic outcomes.
a. Resource-based view
b. Strategy as practice
c. Industry analysis
d. Stakeholder theory | 32 | b |
A ______ is a set of normalized assumptions about how the world works and how to generate knowledge that frames thinking within a community.
a. theoretical tool
b. concept
c. phenomenon
d. paradigm | 33 | d |
Which of the following has played the major role in shaping contemporary views of strategy?
a. economics
b. philosophy
c. sociology
d. psychology | 34 | a |
What is the Red Queen effect?
a. bureaucracy
b. fracking
c. when competitors constantly evolve together to reach what is only ever a provisional and uneasy balance of top management
d. socialist women in charge | 35 | c |
Strategic ______ are the opposite of norms of predictability and routine.
a. cases
b. surprises
c. evolutions
d. capabilities | 36 | b |
