BUS-478X > EXAM #1 > STUDY GUIDE.
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Strategic Management - Answer: - The process by which a firm manages the
formulation and implementation of its strategy.
- An integrative management field that combines analysis, formulation, and
implementation
In the quest for competitive advantage.
Strategy - Answer: - The set of goal-directed actions a firm takes
To gain and sustain superior performance relative to competitors.
Good Strategy - Answer: Enables a firm to achieve superior performance relative to its
competitors.
What are the 3 elements of a Good Strategy? - Answer: (1) DIAGNOSIS of the
competitive challenge
(2) GUIDING POLICY to address the competitive challenge
(3) SET OF COHERENT ACTIONS to implement the firm's guiding policy
For each of the elements of a "Good Strategy": give the part of the AFI Framework each
relates to. - Answer: (1) DIAGNOSIS of the competitive challenge > AFI Framework
Part #1: Analyze
(2) GUIDING POLICY to address the competitive challenge > AFI Framework Part #2:
Formulate
(3) SET OF COHERENT ACTIONS to implement the firm's guiding policy > AFI
Framework Part #3: Implement
In a "Good Strategy", how is a diagnosis of the competitive challenge accomplished? -
Answer: This element is accomplished through analysis of the firm's external and
internal environments.
1
APPHIA - Crafted with Care and Precision for Academic Excellence.
,In a "Good Strategy", how is a guiding policy to address the competitive challenge
accomplished? - Answer: This element is accomplished through strategy formulation,
resulting in the firm's corporate, business, and functional strategies.
In a "Good Strategy", how is a set of coherent actions to implement the firm's guiding
policy accomplished? - Answer: This element is accomplished through strategy
implementation.
Types of Strategies - Answer:
Strategic Management Process - Answer: - Lays the foundation for sustainable
competitive advantage.
- A process by strategic leaders to formulate and implement strategy.
Strategic Management Process:
When setting the strategy process, strategic leaders rely on what three approaches and
what type of planning approaches are they? - Answer: (1) Strategic Planning (Formal,
Top-Down)
(2) Scenario Planning (Formal, Top-Down)
(3) Strategy as Planned Emergence (Begins with a Strategic Plan but
Offers a less formal and less stylized approach)
Top-Down Strategic Planning - Answer: - A rational, data-driven strategy process
through which top management attempts to program future success.
- All strategic intelligence and decision making responsibilities are concentrated in the
office of the CEO.
2
APPHIA - Crafted with Care and Precision for Academic Excellence.
, Scenario Planning - Answer: Strategy planning activity in which top management
envisions different what-if scenarios to anticipate plausible futures in order to derive
strategic responses.
Black Swan Events - Answer: Incidents that describe highly improbable but are high-
impact events
Dominant Strategic Plan - Answer: The strategic option that top managers decide most
closely matches the current reality and which is then executed
Intended Strategy - Answer: The outcome of a rational and structured top-down
strategic plan
Realized Strategy - Answer: Generally formulated through a combination of its top-
down strategic intentions and bottom-up emergent strategy.
Emergent Strategy - Answer: any unplanned strategic initiative bubbling up from deep
within the organization
Strategic initiatives can bubble up from deep within a firm through what 3 things?
Describe each. - Answer: (1) Autonomous Actions:
Strategic initiatives undertaken by lower level employees on their own volition and often
in response to unexpected situations.
(2) Serendipity:
Random events, pleasant surprises, and accidental happenstances that can have a
profound impact on a firm's strategic initiatives.
(3) Resource-Allocation Process (RAP):
Determines the way it allocates its resources and can be critical in shaping its realized
strategy
3
APPHIA - Crafted with Care and Precision for Academic Excellence.
Trusted by students across multiple disciplines!
Strategic Management - Answer: - The process by which a firm manages the
formulation and implementation of its strategy.
- An integrative management field that combines analysis, formulation, and
implementation
In the quest for competitive advantage.
Strategy - Answer: - The set of goal-directed actions a firm takes
To gain and sustain superior performance relative to competitors.
Good Strategy - Answer: Enables a firm to achieve superior performance relative to its
competitors.
What are the 3 elements of a Good Strategy? - Answer: (1) DIAGNOSIS of the
competitive challenge
(2) GUIDING POLICY to address the competitive challenge
(3) SET OF COHERENT ACTIONS to implement the firm's guiding policy
For each of the elements of a "Good Strategy": give the part of the AFI Framework each
relates to. - Answer: (1) DIAGNOSIS of the competitive challenge > AFI Framework
Part #1: Analyze
(2) GUIDING POLICY to address the competitive challenge > AFI Framework Part #2:
Formulate
(3) SET OF COHERENT ACTIONS to implement the firm's guiding policy > AFI
Framework Part #3: Implement
In a "Good Strategy", how is a diagnosis of the competitive challenge accomplished? -
Answer: This element is accomplished through analysis of the firm's external and
internal environments.
1
APPHIA - Crafted with Care and Precision for Academic Excellence.
,In a "Good Strategy", how is a guiding policy to address the competitive challenge
accomplished? - Answer: This element is accomplished through strategy formulation,
resulting in the firm's corporate, business, and functional strategies.
In a "Good Strategy", how is a set of coherent actions to implement the firm's guiding
policy accomplished? - Answer: This element is accomplished through strategy
implementation.
Types of Strategies - Answer:
Strategic Management Process - Answer: - Lays the foundation for sustainable
competitive advantage.
- A process by strategic leaders to formulate and implement strategy.
Strategic Management Process:
When setting the strategy process, strategic leaders rely on what three approaches and
what type of planning approaches are they? - Answer: (1) Strategic Planning (Formal,
Top-Down)
(2) Scenario Planning (Formal, Top-Down)
(3) Strategy as Planned Emergence (Begins with a Strategic Plan but
Offers a less formal and less stylized approach)
Top-Down Strategic Planning - Answer: - A rational, data-driven strategy process
through which top management attempts to program future success.
- All strategic intelligence and decision making responsibilities are concentrated in the
office of the CEO.
2
APPHIA - Crafted with Care and Precision for Academic Excellence.
, Scenario Planning - Answer: Strategy planning activity in which top management
envisions different what-if scenarios to anticipate plausible futures in order to derive
strategic responses.
Black Swan Events - Answer: Incidents that describe highly improbable but are high-
impact events
Dominant Strategic Plan - Answer: The strategic option that top managers decide most
closely matches the current reality and which is then executed
Intended Strategy - Answer: The outcome of a rational and structured top-down
strategic plan
Realized Strategy - Answer: Generally formulated through a combination of its top-
down strategic intentions and bottom-up emergent strategy.
Emergent Strategy - Answer: any unplanned strategic initiative bubbling up from deep
within the organization
Strategic initiatives can bubble up from deep within a firm through what 3 things?
Describe each. - Answer: (1) Autonomous Actions:
Strategic initiatives undertaken by lower level employees on their own volition and often
in response to unexpected situations.
(2) Serendipity:
Random events, pleasant surprises, and accidental happenstances that can have a
profound impact on a firm's strategic initiatives.
(3) Resource-Allocation Process (RAP):
Determines the way it allocates its resources and can be critical in shaping its realized
strategy
3
APPHIA - Crafted with Care and Precision for Academic Excellence.
