Test Bank For
Essentials of Strategic Management The Quest for Competitive Advantage 8th Edition By John
Gamble, Arthur Thompson and Margaret Peteraf
Chapter 1-10 Answers are at the End of Chapter
Chapter 1
Student name:__________
1) Managers in all types of businesses must develop a clear answer for which of the following
questions?
A) Where are we now?
B) Where do we want to go from here?
C) What is the set of actions that we need to take to outperform the company’s
competitors and achieve superior profitability?
D) When will we know we are there?
E) What moves and approaches do we need to gain advantage in the marketplace?
2) A company’s strategy consists of
A) actions to develop a more appealing business model than rivals.
B) plans involving alignment of organizational activities and strategic objectives.
C) offensive and defensive moves to generate revenues and increase profit margins.
D) competitive moves and approaches that managers have developed to grow the
business, attract and please customers, conduct operations, and achieve targeted
objectives.
E) its strategic vision, its strategic objectives, and its strategic intent.
3) The competitive moves and business approaches a company’s management is using to grow
the business, compete successfully, attract and please customers, conduct operations, respond
to changing economic and market conditions, and achieve organizational objectives is
referred to as its
A) strategy.
B) moves to imitate key rivals.
C) strategic mission.
D) business model.
E) strategic vision.
,4) The essence of strategy is
A) developing lasting success that can support growth and secure the company’s future
over the long term.
B) re-creating a business model with regularity.
C) matching rival businesses’ products and quality dimensions in the marketplace.
D) building profits for short-term success.
E) realigning the market to provoke change in rival companies.
5) A company’s strategy has a chance of succeeding only when it is predicated on
A) building revenues, controlling costs, and generating an attractive profit.
B) actions, business approaches, and competitive moves aimed at appealing to buyers
and setting the company apart from rivals.
C) management’s concepts of “where we have been,” “where we are headed,” and
“where we need to go.”
D) the approval of a business model by a company’s board of directors that spells out
how to outcompete with rivals and make the company profitable.
E) educated choices that management has made regarding which financial and operating
plans to pursue.
6) Under Armour, a multinational sports apparel company, plans entry into a new geographical
location, Vietnam, considered an emerging market, with its established and best-selling
product line: women’s running shorts. How should Under Armour not craft a strategy to
enhance future profits in Vietnam?
A) create a sales plan that aims to enhance initial sales and market penetration with low
prices based on high operational costs
B) devise a marketing plan that aims at mass customer segments with attractive
advertisements and offers on products
C) implement a diversification plan that aims at adding health and fitness centers to its
existing line of products
D) chart an acquisition plan that aims at acquiring local smaller-scale sports apparel
manufacturers that seek funding and offer a complementary product lineup
E) establish a distribution plan to set up more supply outlets than any other rivals in the
location
,7) Which of the following is not an element of a company’s business strategy?
A) actions to respond to changing market conditions or other external factors
B) actions to strengthen competitiveness via strategic alliances and collaborative
partnerships
C) actions to strengthen internal capabilities and competitively valuable resources
D) actions to manage the functional areas of the business
E) actions to revise the company’s financial and strategic performance targets
8) Pizza Port, a craft brewing and pizza chain in southern California, manufactures thin-crust
pizzas and offers one free pint of beer with the purchase of four large pizzas. Which of the
following actions would you be most unlikely to advise Pizza Port’s owners in formulating a
strategy in order to enhance its future profits?
A) Create a sales plan that aims to enhance initial sales and market penetration with low
prices based on high operational costs.
B) Devise a social media marketing plan that aims at mass customer segments, providing
them with updates on new releases of beer, attractive advertisements, and offers on
products.
C) Implement a diversification plan that aims at eventually adding regions outside of
southern California to its existing line of products.
D) Chart an acquisition plan that aims at rebranding and creating franchises with local
smaller-scale pizza restaurants and craft beer taprooms that seek funding and offer
attractive locations.
E) Establish a distribution plan to set up more rapid pizza and beer delivery than any
other rivals in the region.
9) The most important aspect(s) of a company’s business strategy
A) are the actions and moves in the marketplace that managers take to gain a sustainable
competitive advantage.
B) is figuring out how to maximize profits and shareholder value.
C) concerns how to improve the efficiency of its business model.
D) deals with how management plans to maximize profits while, at the same time,
operating in a socially responsible manner.
E) is figuring out how to become the industry’s low-cost provider.
, 10) A creative, distinctive strategy that delivers a sustainable, competitive advantage is important
because
A) without a proven strategy, a company is likely to fall into bankruptcy.
B) without a competitive advantage, a company cannot have a profitable business model.
C) a strategy that yields a competitive advantage over rivals is a company’s most reliable
means of achieving above-average profitability and financial performance.
D) a competitive advantage is what enables a company to achieve its strategic objectives.
E) how a company goes about trying to please customers and outcompete rivals is what
enables senior managers to choose an appropriate strategic vision for the company.
11) You are a strategic consultant to Danielle and Casey, partners in a local upscale coffee
roasting and retail business. In counselling the partners about how to achieve a sustainable
competitive advantage, you most likely would advise them to
A) allow worthy rivals to match or surpass any elements of your current competitive
advantage.
B) have some distinctive strategic element that draws in customers and produces a
competitive edge.
C) utilize copycat product offerings or pursue similar approaches as rivals in order to
stake out the same market position.
D) engage in stealth practices to beat competitors at their own game.
E) maintain their business model even at the expense of long-term profits.
12) A company’s business model
A) specifies the goals of above-average profitability and outstanding financial
performance.
B) is unrelated to its customer value proposition and profit formula.
C) has nothing to do with whether it can execute its customer value proposition
profitably.
D) is management’s blueprint for delivering a valuable product or service to customers in
a manner that will yield an attractive profit.
E) specifies exactly how it intends to outcompete rivals to achieve its strategic vision.
Essentials of Strategic Management The Quest for Competitive Advantage 8th Edition By John
Gamble, Arthur Thompson and Margaret Peteraf
Chapter 1-10 Answers are at the End of Chapter
Chapter 1
Student name:__________
1) Managers in all types of businesses must develop a clear answer for which of the following
questions?
A) Where are we now?
B) Where do we want to go from here?
C) What is the set of actions that we need to take to outperform the company’s
competitors and achieve superior profitability?
D) When will we know we are there?
E) What moves and approaches do we need to gain advantage in the marketplace?
2) A company’s strategy consists of
A) actions to develop a more appealing business model than rivals.
B) plans involving alignment of organizational activities and strategic objectives.
C) offensive and defensive moves to generate revenues and increase profit margins.
D) competitive moves and approaches that managers have developed to grow the
business, attract and please customers, conduct operations, and achieve targeted
objectives.
E) its strategic vision, its strategic objectives, and its strategic intent.
3) The competitive moves and business approaches a company’s management is using to grow
the business, compete successfully, attract and please customers, conduct operations, respond
to changing economic and market conditions, and achieve organizational objectives is
referred to as its
A) strategy.
B) moves to imitate key rivals.
C) strategic mission.
D) business model.
E) strategic vision.
,4) The essence of strategy is
A) developing lasting success that can support growth and secure the company’s future
over the long term.
B) re-creating a business model with regularity.
C) matching rival businesses’ products and quality dimensions in the marketplace.
D) building profits for short-term success.
E) realigning the market to provoke change in rival companies.
5) A company’s strategy has a chance of succeeding only when it is predicated on
A) building revenues, controlling costs, and generating an attractive profit.
B) actions, business approaches, and competitive moves aimed at appealing to buyers
and setting the company apart from rivals.
C) management’s concepts of “where we have been,” “where we are headed,” and
“where we need to go.”
D) the approval of a business model by a company’s board of directors that spells out
how to outcompete with rivals and make the company profitable.
E) educated choices that management has made regarding which financial and operating
plans to pursue.
6) Under Armour, a multinational sports apparel company, plans entry into a new geographical
location, Vietnam, considered an emerging market, with its established and best-selling
product line: women’s running shorts. How should Under Armour not craft a strategy to
enhance future profits in Vietnam?
A) create a sales plan that aims to enhance initial sales and market penetration with low
prices based on high operational costs
B) devise a marketing plan that aims at mass customer segments with attractive
advertisements and offers on products
C) implement a diversification plan that aims at adding health and fitness centers to its
existing line of products
D) chart an acquisition plan that aims at acquiring local smaller-scale sports apparel
manufacturers that seek funding and offer a complementary product lineup
E) establish a distribution plan to set up more supply outlets than any other rivals in the
location
,7) Which of the following is not an element of a company’s business strategy?
A) actions to respond to changing market conditions or other external factors
B) actions to strengthen competitiveness via strategic alliances and collaborative
partnerships
C) actions to strengthen internal capabilities and competitively valuable resources
D) actions to manage the functional areas of the business
E) actions to revise the company’s financial and strategic performance targets
8) Pizza Port, a craft brewing and pizza chain in southern California, manufactures thin-crust
pizzas and offers one free pint of beer with the purchase of four large pizzas. Which of the
following actions would you be most unlikely to advise Pizza Port’s owners in formulating a
strategy in order to enhance its future profits?
A) Create a sales plan that aims to enhance initial sales and market penetration with low
prices based on high operational costs.
B) Devise a social media marketing plan that aims at mass customer segments, providing
them with updates on new releases of beer, attractive advertisements, and offers on
products.
C) Implement a diversification plan that aims at eventually adding regions outside of
southern California to its existing line of products.
D) Chart an acquisition plan that aims at rebranding and creating franchises with local
smaller-scale pizza restaurants and craft beer taprooms that seek funding and offer
attractive locations.
E) Establish a distribution plan to set up more rapid pizza and beer delivery than any
other rivals in the region.
9) The most important aspect(s) of a company’s business strategy
A) are the actions and moves in the marketplace that managers take to gain a sustainable
competitive advantage.
B) is figuring out how to maximize profits and shareholder value.
C) concerns how to improve the efficiency of its business model.
D) deals with how management plans to maximize profits while, at the same time,
operating in a socially responsible manner.
E) is figuring out how to become the industry’s low-cost provider.
, 10) A creative, distinctive strategy that delivers a sustainable, competitive advantage is important
because
A) without a proven strategy, a company is likely to fall into bankruptcy.
B) without a competitive advantage, a company cannot have a profitable business model.
C) a strategy that yields a competitive advantage over rivals is a company’s most reliable
means of achieving above-average profitability and financial performance.
D) a competitive advantage is what enables a company to achieve its strategic objectives.
E) how a company goes about trying to please customers and outcompete rivals is what
enables senior managers to choose an appropriate strategic vision for the company.
11) You are a strategic consultant to Danielle and Casey, partners in a local upscale coffee
roasting and retail business. In counselling the partners about how to achieve a sustainable
competitive advantage, you most likely would advise them to
A) allow worthy rivals to match or surpass any elements of your current competitive
advantage.
B) have some distinctive strategic element that draws in customers and produces a
competitive edge.
C) utilize copycat product offerings or pursue similar approaches as rivals in order to
stake out the same market position.
D) engage in stealth practices to beat competitors at their own game.
E) maintain their business model even at the expense of long-term profits.
12) A company’s business model
A) specifies the goals of above-average profitability and outstanding financial
performance.
B) is unrelated to its customer value proposition and profit formula.
C) has nothing to do with whether it can execute its customer value proposition
profitably.
D) is management’s blueprint for delivering a valuable product or service to customers in
a manner that will yield an attractive profit.
E) specifies exactly how it intends to outcompete rivals to achieve its strategic vision.
