Chapter 1
Why is strategy implementation often considered the most difficult stage in the strategic-management process?
Why is it so important to integrate intuition and analysis in strategic management?
Explain the importance of a vision and mission statement.
Discuss relationships among objectives, strategies, and policies.
Why do you think some chief executive officers fail to use a strategic-management approach to decision making?
Compare business strategy and military strategy.
List four financial and four nonfinancial benefits of a firm engaging in strategic planning.
How can a firm best achieve sustained competitive advantage?
Chapter 2
What are some different names for “mission statement”, and where will you likely find a firm’s mission statement?
If your company does not have a vision or mission statement, describe a good process for developing these documents.
Explain why a mission statement should not include monetary amounts, numbers, percentages, ratios, goals, or objectives.
Compare and contrast vision statements with mission statements in terms of composition and importance.
How would the mission statements of a for-profit and a nonprofit organization differ?
List at least seven characteristics of a mission statement.
List eight benefits of having a clear mission statement.
Chapter 3
Describe the “process of performing an external audit” in an organization doing strategic planning for the first time.
Compare and contrast the duties and responsibilities of a CIO with a CTO in a large firm.
What are the three basic objectives of a competitive intelligence program?
Let’s say you work for McDonald’s and you applied Porter’s Five-Forces Model to study the fast-food industry. Would information in your analysis provide factors more readily to an EFE Matrix, a CPM, or to neither matrix? Justify your answer.
Explain why it is important for ratings in an EFE Matrix to be 1, 2, 3, or 4 for any opportunity or threat
In developing an EFE Matrix, would it be best to have 10 opportunities and 10 threats, or would 17 opportunities (or threats) be fine with 3 of the other to achieve a total of 20 factors as desired?
Could/should critical success factors in a CPM include external factors? Explain.
Explain how to conduct an external strategic-management audit.
Construct an EFE Matrix for an organization of your choice.
Do you agree with I/O theorists that external factors are more important than internal factors in a firm achieving competitive advantage? Explain both your and their position.
Develop a Competitive Profile Matrix for your university. Include six factors.
List the 10 external areas that give rise to opportunities and threats.
Chapter 4
List three firms you are familiar with and give a distinctive competence for each firm.
List the three ways that financial ratios should be compared/utilized. Which of the three comparisons do you feel is most important? Why?
Illustrate how value chain activities can become core competencies and eventually distinctive competencies. Give an example for an organization you are familiar with.
Why do you believe cultural products affect all the functions of business?
Do you agree or disagree with the RBV theorists that internal resources are more important than external factors for a firm in achieving and sustaining competitive advantage? Explain your and their position.
Define and explain value chain analysis (VCA).
Explain benchmarking
Chapter 5
In order of importance, list six “characteristics of objectives”.
In order of importance, list six “benefits of objectives”.
List four major benefits of forming a joint venture to achieve desired objectives.
Give examples of market penetration, market development, and product development.
Give examples of forward integration, backward integration, and horizontal integration
Give examples of related and unrelated diversification
What are the major advantages and disadvantages of diversification?
Compare and contrast financial objectives with strategic objectives. Which type is more important in your opinion? Why?
List 11 types of strategies. Give a hypothetical example of each strategy listed.
Define and explain “first mover advantages”
Define and explain “outsourcing.”
