BMAL 590 GLOBAL DIMENSIONS OF BUSINESS
MASTER EXAM COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
2026
◉ global strategy
Answer: a firm's intention to provide standardized products and/or
services on a world-wide basis. Another definition suggests that
global strategy is any strategy outside one's home country.
However, the best definition is that "global strategy" is each firm's
theory about how to compete successfully in whatever global
markets the firm chooses to compete.
◉ "strategy as plan"
Answer: The first school of thought
This school is the oldest and is based on the work of Carl von
Clausewitz, a Prussian (German) military strategist. This school
suggests that strategy is embodied in the same explicit rigorous
formal planning as in the military.
◉ "strategy as action"
,Answer: suggests that strategy is most fundamentally reflected by
firms' patterns of action.
The planning school has been challenged by Liddell Hart, a British
military strategist. Hart argues that the key to strategy is a set of
flexible goal-oriented actions. He favored an indirect approach,
which seeks rapid flexible actions to avoid clashing with opponents
head-on.
◉ emergent strategy
Answer: Henry Mintzberg, a Canadian scholar, posited that in
addition to the intended strategy that the planning school
emphasizes, there can be an emergent strategy that is not the result
of "top-down" planning, but that is the outcome of a stream of
smaller decisions from the "bottom up."
◉ "strategy as integration"
Answer: Although the debate between the planning school and
action school is difficult to resolve, many scholars and managers
have realized that the essence of strategy is likely to be a
combination of both planned deliberate actions and unplanned
emergent activities
defines strategy as "a firm's theory about how to compete
successfully." In other words, if we have to define strategy with one
,word, our choice is neither plan nor action - it is theory. A theory
serves two purposes: explanation and prediction.
◉ Strategy as a theory
Answer: describes how to compete successfully in a global market.
Firms have both intended and emergent strategies, meaning, some
strategies are defined from the outset while others develop with the
firm's participation in the marketplace.
It is often difficult to change strategy so firms must guard against
total adherence to a strategy because to do so would hamper
adaptation in new situations. Strategy should continue to give
coherence to decisions and actions. Managers must exert effective
strategic leadership both in a global and a local perspective.
Theory building and development requires replication and
experimentation to establish the temporal (time-related) and
geographic limits of an existing theory. The strategy as theory
perspective helps us understand why it is often difficult to change
strategy.
◉ Why do firms differ?
Answer: The largest influences are a reflection of the cultural
differences between Western and Japanese companies.
, In Western firms, the competition among companies drives the
process. In other companies, like the Japanese, networks of
relationships have powerful effects.
◉ Where does most of our knowledge of firms come from?
Answer: Anglo-American capitalism
◉ keiretsu
Answer: Japanese firms extensively employ a network form of
supplier management, giving rise to the term keiretsu (inter-firm
network).
◉ guanxi
Answer: The Chinese favor guanxi (interpersonal networks),
cultivated by managers, that may serve as informal substitutes for
formal institutional support. In other words, interpersonal
relationships among managers are translated into an inter-firm
strategy of relying on networks and alliances to grow the firm,
which, in the aggregate, contributes to the growth of the economy.
◉ How do firms behave?
Answer: Companies that embrace the industry-based view focus on
competitive forces within an industry that impact all firms.
MASTER EXAM COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE
2026
◉ global strategy
Answer: a firm's intention to provide standardized products and/or
services on a world-wide basis. Another definition suggests that
global strategy is any strategy outside one's home country.
However, the best definition is that "global strategy" is each firm's
theory about how to compete successfully in whatever global
markets the firm chooses to compete.
◉ "strategy as plan"
Answer: The first school of thought
This school is the oldest and is based on the work of Carl von
Clausewitz, a Prussian (German) military strategist. This school
suggests that strategy is embodied in the same explicit rigorous
formal planning as in the military.
◉ "strategy as action"
,Answer: suggests that strategy is most fundamentally reflected by
firms' patterns of action.
The planning school has been challenged by Liddell Hart, a British
military strategist. Hart argues that the key to strategy is a set of
flexible goal-oriented actions. He favored an indirect approach,
which seeks rapid flexible actions to avoid clashing with opponents
head-on.
◉ emergent strategy
Answer: Henry Mintzberg, a Canadian scholar, posited that in
addition to the intended strategy that the planning school
emphasizes, there can be an emergent strategy that is not the result
of "top-down" planning, but that is the outcome of a stream of
smaller decisions from the "bottom up."
◉ "strategy as integration"
Answer: Although the debate between the planning school and
action school is difficult to resolve, many scholars and managers
have realized that the essence of strategy is likely to be a
combination of both planned deliberate actions and unplanned
emergent activities
defines strategy as "a firm's theory about how to compete
successfully." In other words, if we have to define strategy with one
,word, our choice is neither plan nor action - it is theory. A theory
serves two purposes: explanation and prediction.
◉ Strategy as a theory
Answer: describes how to compete successfully in a global market.
Firms have both intended and emergent strategies, meaning, some
strategies are defined from the outset while others develop with the
firm's participation in the marketplace.
It is often difficult to change strategy so firms must guard against
total adherence to a strategy because to do so would hamper
adaptation in new situations. Strategy should continue to give
coherence to decisions and actions. Managers must exert effective
strategic leadership both in a global and a local perspective.
Theory building and development requires replication and
experimentation to establish the temporal (time-related) and
geographic limits of an existing theory. The strategy as theory
perspective helps us understand why it is often difficult to change
strategy.
◉ Why do firms differ?
Answer: The largest influences are a reflection of the cultural
differences between Western and Japanese companies.
, In Western firms, the competition among companies drives the
process. In other companies, like the Japanese, networks of
relationships have powerful effects.
◉ Where does most of our knowledge of firms come from?
Answer: Anglo-American capitalism
◉ keiretsu
Answer: Japanese firms extensively employ a network form of
supplier management, giving rise to the term keiretsu (inter-firm
network).
◉ guanxi
Answer: The Chinese favor guanxi (interpersonal networks),
cultivated by managers, that may serve as informal substitutes for
formal institutional support. In other words, interpersonal
relationships among managers are translated into an inter-firm
strategy of relying on networks and alliances to grow the firm,
which, in the aggregate, contributes to the growth of the economy.
◉ How do firms behave?
Answer: Companies that embrace the industry-based view focus on
competitive forces within an industry that impact all firms.
