,Chapter 1 What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important?
1) What is strategy and why is it important?
2) Briefly define each of the following terms:
● sustainable competitive advantage
● deliberate strategy
● emergent strategy
● realized strategy
● abandoned strategy
3) What are the three tests of a winning strategy?
4) Identify and briefly describe the five most frequently used strategic approaches to
achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Provide examples.
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,5) What is the connection between a company's strategy and its quest for sustainable
competitive advantage?
6) Provide at least two examples of a company's competitively valuable capabilities.
7) What are the three questions that managers can use to distinguish a winning strategy from
a so-so or flawed strategy? Briefly explain why each question is important.
8) Should a company's strategy be tightly connected to its quest for competitive advantage?
Why or why not? What difference does it make whether a company has a sustainable
competitive advantage or not?
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, 9) During a recession, a high-end beverage producer facing strong competition in a
saturated market has decided to phase out all its flagship products and introduce a new line of
second-label beverages at lower price points in reaction to its falling market share. Would this
type of a reactive strategy revive its position? Why or why not?
10) Compare the business models of Gillette and Epson.
11) Why are the capabilities needed to build a sustainable competitive advantage so
important to a winning business strategy? Cite one of the company examples in the chapter to
illustrate your answer.
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1) What is strategy and why is it important?
2) Briefly define each of the following terms:
● sustainable competitive advantage
● deliberate strategy
● emergent strategy
● realized strategy
● abandoned strategy
3) What are the three tests of a winning strategy?
4) Identify and briefly describe the five most frequently used strategic approaches to
achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Provide examples.
Version 1 1
,5) What is the connection between a company's strategy and its quest for sustainable
competitive advantage?
6) Provide at least two examples of a company's competitively valuable capabilities.
7) What are the three questions that managers can use to distinguish a winning strategy from
a so-so or flawed strategy? Briefly explain why each question is important.
8) Should a company's strategy be tightly connected to its quest for competitive advantage?
Why or why not? What difference does it make whether a company has a sustainable
competitive advantage or not?
Version 1 2
, 9) During a recession, a high-end beverage producer facing strong competition in a
saturated market has decided to phase out all its flagship products and introduce a new line of
second-label beverages at lower price points in reaction to its falling market share. Would this
type of a reactive strategy revive its position? Why or why not?
10) Compare the business models of Gillette and Epson.
11) Why are the capabilities needed to build a sustainable competitive advantage so
important to a winning business strategy? Cite one of the company examples in the chapter to
illustrate your answer.
Version 1 3
