Strategic Management MCQs

✅ The correct answer is option A.
Exploring future possibilities by looking at potential outcomes from particular causes and seeking to explain why things might occur best describes scenario planning. Scenario planning is making assumptions on what the future is going to be and how your business environment will change overtime inlight of that future. More precisely, Scenario planning is identifying a specific set of uncertainties, different “realities” of what might happen in the future of your business.

✅ The correct answer is option D.
Synergy criteria does not provide a means to assess strategic resources. Synergy is the concept that the combined value and performance of two companies will be greater than the sum of the separate individual parts. Synergy is a term that is most commonly used in the context of mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

✅ The correct answer is option A.
According to Schein (1985), Artifacts, values, underlying assumptions, and behaviors are the levels that make up a company’s culture. The first level is the characteristics of the organization which can be easily viewed, heard and felt by individuals collectively known as artifacts. The dress code of the employees, office furniture, facilities, behavior of the employees, mission and vision of the organization all come under artifacts and go a long way in deciding the culture of the workplace. The next level according to Schein which constitute the organization culture is the values of the employees. The values of the individuals working in the organization play an important role in deciding the organization culture. The thought process and attitude of employees have deep impact on the culture of any particular organization. What people actually think matters a lot for the organization? The mindset of the individual associated with any particular organization influences the culture of the workplace. The third level is the assumed values of the employees which can’t be measured but do make a difference to the culture of the organization. There are certain beliefs and facts which stay hidden but do affect the culture of the organization. The inner aspects of human nature come under the third level of organization culture. Organizations where female workers dominate their male counterparts do not believe in late sittings as females are not very comfortable with such kind of culture. Male employees on the other hand would be more aggressive and would not have any problems with late sittings. The organizations follow certain practices which are not discussed often but understood on their own. Such rules form the third level of the organization culture.

✅ The correct answer is option C.
The three stages of strategic management are strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation. Strategy formulation is the process of establishing the organization’s mission, objectives, and choosing among alternative strategies.

✅ The correct answer is option C.
The concept Core competence was developed by Prahalad and Gary. It can be defined as “a harmonized combination of multiple resources and skills that distinguish a firm in the marketplace” and therefore are the foundation of companies’ competitiveness.

✅ The correct answer is option B.
Longevity is not a strategic criteria for deciding which firms to retain in the organizational core. Longevity is most commonly used to describe the length of one’s lifetime, but it can also mean a long duration, such as one’s longevity working for a certain company for an extended period of time.

✅ The correct answer is option D.
Non-price competition refers to competition between companies that focuses on benefits, extra services, good workmanship, product quality.

✅ The correct answer is option B.
Acquisitions often fail to deliver the successes that were predicted prior to acquisition. Poor strategic leadership is the main reason for this failure. Strategic leaders act in ways that manage the tension between success in daily tasks and success in the long term. They facilitate other’s strategic actions, too, by providing a balance of direction and autonomy, of learning from actions and rewarding appropriate risk-taking.

✅ The correct answer is option A.
Good mission statements identify the utility of a firms products to its customers. A mission statement is a formal summary that explains what you do, how you do it and why you do it.

✅ The correct answer is option B.
In Porter’s generic strategies model, a focus strategy involves selling to a narrow customer segment. Porter’s generic strategies describe how a company pursues competitive advantage across its chosen market scope. There are three/four generic strategies, either lower cost, differentiated, or focus.