BSG Comprehensive Exam (Fall 2019), Answered

BSG Comprehensive Exam (Fall 2019), Answered The benefits of pursuing a strategy of social responsibility and corporate citizenship include • The positive impact that such a strategy has on the company's image rating, provided the company spends a meaningful amount on socially responsible activities and such spending is sustained over a multi-year period If a company's managers want to succeed in creating a differentiation-based competitive advantage (And a potential cost advantage in achieving the differentiation) that is difficult for rivals to quickly or easily copy (because every strategic move a company makes to outcompete rivals and gain a competitive advantage is not apparent from information contained in the FIR and the competitive intelligence Report), then the managers have to • Do a better job then rivals in identifying and implementing ways to become very cost-efficient in producing and marketing 350-500 models/styles of branded footwear that also have the highest S/Q rating in the industry Valid reasons to consider building a new plant in Latin America include • Low tariff costs on footwear sales in Latin America (because no import tariffs are paid on footwear produced at the Latin American plant and shipped to the distribution warehouses in Latin America) A company stands a better chance of achieving a sustainable cost-based competitive advantage over rivals if its managers • Pursue a number of cost-reducing initiatives that can be concealed from rivals (because such initiatives are not part of the information contained in the FIR and the competitive intelligence report) Which of the following actions does not help a company's social responsibility strategy result in a higher image rating? • Reducing the prices, the company charges its customers for branded footwear What does help a company's social responsibility strategy and results in a higher image rating • Using environmentally friendly or 'Green' materials in producing footwear at the company's plants • Using recycled packaging materials to box each pair of athletic footwear at the company's distribution centers • Making donations to charities and charitable causes • Investing to improve energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources at company facilities. It makes good economic sense for company managers to consider investing $3.5 million per million pairs of capacity for a plant facilities upgrade that will boost labor productivity by 25%. • At a plant that currently has labor productivity of 3,200 pairs per worker and total employee compensation of $20,000 annually because the upgrade will cause labor costs per pair produced to decline from $6.25 to $5.00 o Labor cost per pair = Compensation/Productivity o Labor cost per pair initially = 20,000/3,200 = $6.25 o After increase in productivity = 20,000/ (3,200*1.25) = $5.00 o Reduction = 6.25 * 5.00 = $1.25 Which of the following combinations of actions will likely provide the biggest competitive benefits in helping a company achieve a differentiation-based competitive advantage over some/many of its rivals? • Offering 400 or more models/styles to buyers in all four geographic regions, maintaining a celebrity appeal rating of 200 or higher in all four geographic regions, selling branded footwear with a 7-star or higher S/Q rating in all four geographic regions, and offering a rebate of $9 in all four geographic regions It is both reasonable and wise for a company to consider shifting away from pursuit of a strategy to strongly differentiate its branded footwear from the offerings of rival companies and sell its footwear at a premium price when • A big percentage of industry rivals are trying to outcompete each other with copycat differentiation strategies that include high S/W ratings, many models/styles, high celebrity appeal ratings, and above-average advertising expenditures Which of the following is NOT of much significance to company manager in deciding whether profitable opportunity exist to build (or purchase) additional plant capacity in the upcoming decision round? • Information in the most recent FIR indicates that more than half of the companies in the industry have expanded their plant capacity since year 10 What IS significant to company managers in deciding whether profitable opportunity exist to build (or purchase) additional plant capacity in the upcoming decision round? • The growth in branded demand and private-label demand over the next 3 years (as reported in each year FIR) • How branded pairs available for sale in each geographic region in the past year compared with projected branded demand and private label demand in each geographic region over the next three years as shown in each year FIR • The size of beginning inventories of branded footwear in each geographic region reported in the most recent FIR • Whether the most recent years FIR shows that the industry already has more than enough production capacity worldwide to supply the combined demand for branded footwear and private-label footwear worldwide for each of the next three years If a company's actual results for revenues, net profits, EPS, and ROE turn out to be worse than projected then it is usually because • The competitive efforts exerted by rival companies to capture sales and market share for themselves in one or more geographic regions proved stronger than company manager anticipated, given the estimates they entered for the various industry averages affecting internet sales and branded wholesale sales on the sales forecast screen Which of the following are affective ways for manager to try to boost a company's stock price? • Increase the company's dividend payment to shareholders, each year by at least $ per share, repurchase shares of common stock, and make every effort to achieve annual increases in earnings per share. Which of the following is an advantage of having plants to manufacture athletic footwear in all four geographic regions? • Reduced exposure to adverse exchange rate cost adjustments (because having plants in all four geographic regions typically enables a company to reduce cross region shipments of pairs that are subject to unfavorable shifts in exchange rates) One of the lessons about competing in a globally competitive marketplace that comes from "playing" the Business strategy game is that • The dynamic, ever evolving nature of competition makes it advisable for managers to make strategic adjustments of one kind or another on an ongoing basis to improve the companies competiveness vis-à-vis rivals and boost its overall performance One of the benefits of contracting with celebrities to endorse the company's brand of athletic footwear is • The assist that celebrity endorsement provides in increasing a company's sales and market share of branded footwear Which one of the following is NOT a way to reduce costs and strive to achieve a competitive advantage based on lower overall costs per pair sold than rival companies? Avoiding the use of overtime at the company's plants Which one of the following is IS a way to reduce costs and strive to achieve a competitive advantage based on lower overall costs per pair sold than rival companies? • Searching for the lowest cost way to achieve the target S/Q rating • Spending (but also taking care not to overspend) on best practices training for workers in all of the companies' plants • Striving to operate at full production capacity so as to help spread fixed costs over more pairs of footwear. • Investing in one or more plant upgrades that have the effect of lowering manufacturing costs per pair produced It is reasonable for a company's management team to abandon efforts to win contract to supply private label footwear to chain retailers in a given year when. • It believes the company has good prospect to profitably sell all the branded pairs it can produce at its existing plants (including full use of overtime)