MASTERING STRATEGY: ART AND SCIENCE
True/False Questions
1. Strategy is a complex concept that involves many different processes and activities
within an organization.
True; Easy
2. Developing a viable business model requires that a firm sell goods or services for more
than it costs the firm to create and distribute those goods.
True; Easy
3. One important aspect of a business model is providing customers with a good or service
more cheaply than they can create it themselves.
True; Easy
4. Strategic plans are irrelevant for individuals.
False; Easy
5. A firm is bound to fail if it maintains flexibility in formulating strategies.
False; Easy
6. Unexpected twists and turns in the external as well as the internal environment place
limits on the value of strategic planning.
True; Easy
7. Strategy is more about a plan and less about making adjustments to a shifting situation.
, False; Easy
8. Strategic ploys can be especially beneficial when facing much stronger opponents.
True; Easy
9. Most strategic ploys are illegal.
False; Easy
10. Viewing strategy as position involves only the actions of a single firm.
False; Easy
11. Strategy as plan considers the actions of the firm as well as its competitors.
False; Easy
12. Intended strategies are usually described in detail within an organization’s strategic
plan.
True; Easy
13. Realized strategies are a product of a firm’s intended strategy, the firm’s deliberate
strategy, and its emergent strategy.
True; Easy
14. The demands of strategic management are simple enough to be handled alone by the
chief executive officer.
False; Easy
15. The idea of “stratego,” from which the word strategy is derived, refers to the idea of
defeating an enemy by effectively using resources.
, True; Easy
16. Sometimes good strategies simply cannot overcome a stronger adversary.
True; Easy
17. Executives who make assumptions about what an adversary can and cannot do put their
organizations’ performance in jeopardy.
True; Easy
18. The history of strategic management can be traced back several thousand years.
True; Easy
19. The book, “The Principles of Scientific Management,” was a response to Taylor’s
observation that most tasks within organizations were organized in a haphazard way.
True; Easy
20. Strategic management is a process that involves building a careful understanding of
how changes in the world might affect a particular firm.
True; Easy
21. Strategic management is neither an art nor a science.
False; Easy
22. Strategic management involves a single conceptualization of the concept of strategy
drawn from recent history.
False; Easy
23. Trends and events of the external environment seldom affect the overall state of an
, organization.
False; Easy
24. Firms must evaluate their own resources to understand how they might react to
changes in the environment.
True; Easy
25. Strategy formulation involves developing specific strategies and actions.
True; Easy
26. Strategy implementation entails crafting an effective organizational structure and
corporate culture.
True; Easy
27. There is only one single established method of conceptualizing the concept of strategy.
False; Easy
28. The study of strategic management involves knowing how and when to apply creative
thinking.
True; Easy
Multiple-choice Questions
29. _____ examines how actions and events involving top executives, firms, and industries
influence a firm’s success or failure.
a. Developmental counseling
b. Disparate impact