BMAL 590 ACTUAL CERTIFICATION
PAPER 2026 QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
FULL SOLUTION.
■ emergent strategy. Ans: 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". Ans: 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. Ans: 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? Ans: 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? Ans: Anglo-
American capitalism
,■ keiretsu. Ans: Japanese firms extensively employ a network form of
supplier management, giving rise to the term keiretsu (inter-firm
network).
■ guanxi. Ans: 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? Ans: Companies that embrace the industry-
based view focus on competitive forces within an industry that impact
all firms.
According to this perspective, a firm's success in the Indian IT industry
depends on the unique attributes of the IT industry, its knowledge-
intensive nature, and non-location based boundaries.
■ resource-based (capabilities). Ans: Those firms that adhere to the
resource-based (capabilities) view focus on internal strengths and
weaknesses, that is, firm-specific resources and capabilities.
For example, successful Indian IT firms tend to have capabilities that are
valuable, unique, and hard for rivals to imitate or replicate.
, ■ institution-based view. Ans: focus on government and societal forces.
For example, the pro-market reforms in India have opened the door for
many Indian IT companies to win foreign contracts, while at the same
time, legislation by various states in the U.S. has banned Indian IT firms
from winning contracts.
■ Triad markets. Ans: North America, Europe, and Japan
If a firm wants to become a true "global leader," it is necessary to create
a strong competitive position in each of the Triad markets
■ BRIC. Ans: Brazil, Russia, India, and China are the four fast-growing
markets that represent important opportunities
■ how do the three views lead to a strategy that ultimately must address
the firm's performance? Ans: Industry-based competition, firm specific
resources and capabilities, and institutional conditions and transitions-->
strategy--> performance
■ What determines the scope of the firm? Ans: A firm's scope pertains
to its growth as well as its contraction, that is, the way it curtails and
alters its business practices through downsizing, downscoping, and
withdrawals. Obviously, though, the primary focus is on the growth of
the firm
PAPER 2026 QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
FULL SOLUTION.
■ emergent strategy. Ans: 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". Ans: 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. Ans: 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? Ans: 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? Ans: Anglo-
American capitalism
,■ keiretsu. Ans: Japanese firms extensively employ a network form of
supplier management, giving rise to the term keiretsu (inter-firm
network).
■ guanxi. Ans: 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? Ans: Companies that embrace the industry-
based view focus on competitive forces within an industry that impact
all firms.
According to this perspective, a firm's success in the Indian IT industry
depends on the unique attributes of the IT industry, its knowledge-
intensive nature, and non-location based boundaries.
■ resource-based (capabilities). Ans: Those firms that adhere to the
resource-based (capabilities) view focus on internal strengths and
weaknesses, that is, firm-specific resources and capabilities.
For example, successful Indian IT firms tend to have capabilities that are
valuable, unique, and hard for rivals to imitate or replicate.
, ■ institution-based view. Ans: focus on government and societal forces.
For example, the pro-market reforms in India have opened the door for
many Indian IT companies to win foreign contracts, while at the same
time, legislation by various states in the U.S. has banned Indian IT firms
from winning contracts.
■ Triad markets. Ans: North America, Europe, and Japan
If a firm wants to become a true "global leader," it is necessary to create
a strong competitive position in each of the Triad markets
■ BRIC. Ans: Brazil, Russia, India, and China are the four fast-growing
markets that represent important opportunities
■ how do the three views lead to a strategy that ultimately must address
the firm's performance? Ans: Industry-based competition, firm specific
resources and capabilities, and institutional conditions and transitions-->
strategy--> performance
■ What determines the scope of the firm? Ans: A firm's scope pertains
to its growth as well as its contraction, that is, the way it curtails and
alters its business practices through downsizing, downscoping, and
withdrawals. Obviously, though, the primary focus is on the growth of
the firm
