MGMT 4513 MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE 2026
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS GRADED A+
◉ Vision Answer: Crystallization of what leaders want firm to be
◉ Strategic Plan Answer: How to beat present and potential competitors
◉ Stakeholders Answer: individuals and groups who can affect, and are
affected by, the strategic outcomes achieved and who have enforceable
claims on a firm's performance
◉ Capital Market Stakeholders Answer: Shareholders
Major suppliers of capital.
Expect the firm to preserve and enhance the wealth they have entrusted
to it
◉ Product Market Stakeholders Answer: Primary Customers- demand
reliable products at low prices
Suppliers- seek loyal customers willing to pay highest sustainable prices
for goods and services
Host Communities- want companies willing to be long-term employers
and providers of tax revenues while minimized demands on public
support services
Unions- want secure jobs and desirable work conditions
,◉ Organizational Stakeholders Answer: Employees- expect a dynamic,
stimulating and rewarding work environment
Managers
Non-managers
◉ General Environment Answer: Focused on the future.
Little ability to predict them
Even less ability to control them
Can vary across industries
◉ Industry environment Answer: focused on factors and conditions
influencing a firm's profitability within an industry
◉ Competitor environment Answer: focused on predicting the dynamics
of competitors' actions, responses and intentions
◉ General Environment Examples Answer: Demographic
Sociocultural
Political/Legal
Technological
Economic
Global
,◉ Industry Environment Answer: Threat of new entrants
Power of suppliers
Power of buyers
Product Substitutes
Intensity of Rivalry
◉ Porter's Five Forces Model of Industry Competition Answer:
Potential Entrants (threat of new entrants)
Buyers (bargaining power of buyers)
Suppliers (bargaining power of suppliers)
Substitutes (threat of substitute products and services)
◉ Threat of New Entrants Answer: profits of established firms in the
industry may be eroded by new competitors
◉ Threat of new entrants: Barriers to entry Answer: High barriers of
entry in an industry reduces threat of new entrants:
Economics of scale
Product differentiation
Capital requirements
Switching costs
Access to distribution channels
Cost disadvantages independent of scale
Government policy
, Expected retaliation
◉ Barriers to Entry Answer: Economics of scale: marginal
improvements as it incrementally increases its size
◉ Product differentiation Answer: unique products
customer loyalty
products at competitive prices
◉ Capital requirements Answer: physical facilities
inventories
marketing activities
availability of capital
◉ Switching costs Answer: one-time customers incur when they buy
from a different supplier
new equipment
retraining employees
psychic costs of ending a relationship
◉ Access to distribution channels Answer: stocking or shelf space
price breaks
cooperative advertising allowances
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS GRADED A+
◉ Vision Answer: Crystallization of what leaders want firm to be
◉ Strategic Plan Answer: How to beat present and potential competitors
◉ Stakeholders Answer: individuals and groups who can affect, and are
affected by, the strategic outcomes achieved and who have enforceable
claims on a firm's performance
◉ Capital Market Stakeholders Answer: Shareholders
Major suppliers of capital.
Expect the firm to preserve and enhance the wealth they have entrusted
to it
◉ Product Market Stakeholders Answer: Primary Customers- demand
reliable products at low prices
Suppliers- seek loyal customers willing to pay highest sustainable prices
for goods and services
Host Communities- want companies willing to be long-term employers
and providers of tax revenues while minimized demands on public
support services
Unions- want secure jobs and desirable work conditions
,◉ Organizational Stakeholders Answer: Employees- expect a dynamic,
stimulating and rewarding work environment
Managers
Non-managers
◉ General Environment Answer: Focused on the future.
Little ability to predict them
Even less ability to control them
Can vary across industries
◉ Industry environment Answer: focused on factors and conditions
influencing a firm's profitability within an industry
◉ Competitor environment Answer: focused on predicting the dynamics
of competitors' actions, responses and intentions
◉ General Environment Examples Answer: Demographic
Sociocultural
Political/Legal
Technological
Economic
Global
,◉ Industry Environment Answer: Threat of new entrants
Power of suppliers
Power of buyers
Product Substitutes
Intensity of Rivalry
◉ Porter's Five Forces Model of Industry Competition Answer:
Potential Entrants (threat of new entrants)
Buyers (bargaining power of buyers)
Suppliers (bargaining power of suppliers)
Substitutes (threat of substitute products and services)
◉ Threat of New Entrants Answer: profits of established firms in the
industry may be eroded by new competitors
◉ Threat of new entrants: Barriers to entry Answer: High barriers of
entry in an industry reduces threat of new entrants:
Economics of scale
Product differentiation
Capital requirements
Switching costs
Access to distribution channels
Cost disadvantages independent of scale
Government policy
, Expected retaliation
◉ Barriers to Entry Answer: Economics of scale: marginal
improvements as it incrementally increases its size
◉ Product differentiation Answer: unique products
customer loyalty
products at competitive prices
◉ Capital requirements Answer: physical facilities
inventories
marketing activities
availability of capital
◉ Switching costs Answer: one-time customers incur when they buy
from a different supplier
new equipment
retraining employees
psychic costs of ending a relationship
◉ Access to distribution channels Answer: stocking or shelf space
price breaks
cooperative advertising allowances
