Course Exercise Questions - Course Exercise Doc. (Part 3)

1) How do the three elements of Globalization, Innovation, and Sustainability impact your

understanding of Strategy?

2) Organizational strategy can be divided roughly into two categories: a) formulation and b)

implementation. While there is legitimate crossover between the two, how would you

characterize the issues involved in each effort?

3) What is meant by a

hierarchy of strategy

?

4) What are the roles and responsibilities of an effective and active Board of Directors? What

are the issues that suggest the need for oversight of a particular company's management

team?

5) What recommendations would you make to improve the effectiveness of today's boards of

directors?

6) How has moral relativism led to criminal activities by some employees in companies?

7) Using Carroll's list of four responsibilities, should a company be concerned about

discretionary responsibilities? Why or why not?

8) How does STEEP analysis aid in the development of the strategy in a company?

9) Why is environmental uncertainty an important concept in strategic management?

10) Explain how using an IFAS Table impacts the understanding of a company's internal

resources and capabilities.

11) What kind of internal factors help managers determine whether a firm should emphasize

the production and sales of a large number of low-priced products or a small number of

high-priced products?

12) Explain how our understanding of the three generic strategic approaches available to

companies can be used to direct the efforts of all employees at those companies.

13) What does a business have to consider when trying to follow a cost leadership strategy and

a differentiation strategy simultaneously? Can you name a company doing this?

14) How does horizontal growth differ from vertical growth as a corporate strategy? From

concentric diversification?

15) Compare and contrast a SWOT approach with portfolio analysis.

16) What concepts or assumptions underlie the BCG growth-share matrix? Are these concepts

valid? Why or why not?

17) Should functional strategies be categorized under strategy formulation or under strategy

implementation?

18) How do timing tactics impact the strategy implementation efforts of a company?

19) How can a corporation keep from sliding into the decline stage of the organizational life

cycle?

20) Does structure follow strategy or does strategy follow structure? Why?

21) How can corporate culture be changed?

22) Why is an understanding of national cultures important in strategic management?

Culture is extremely impacting and can result in the success or failure of a company.

23) Why bother with shareholder value or a stakeholder scorecard? Isn't it simpler to evaluate

a corporation and its SBUs just by using standard measures like ROI or earnings per

share? What are the pros and cons of using the strategic audit as a framework for case

analysis?

24) More generally, what are the pros and cons of using the strategic audit as a framework for

determining strategy formulation and implementation for a company.

25) What ratios would you use to begin your analysis of a case? What are the five crucial steps

to follow in basic financial analysis?

Five crucial steps to follow in a basic financial analysis are: