1 | Page
Strategic Mgmt EXAM QUESTIONS AND
VERIFIED ANSWERS
What is Business Strategy starting point ? Ans: A vision, an
ambition, a business Idea
Vision Ans: what does the company want to become ultimately ?
Future state, a dream
Strategy starting point Ans: Business Idea
Lead innovation with the Big Idea
Change paradigm
Create value
Desire for a future state
It is a destination
Company's vision Ans: A vision is very often articulated into a
Mission, a statement intended for internal and external publics
Mission Statement answers 2 types of questions
« Why we exist and what we want to be »
« What we believe in and how we will behave »
• States a position and principles / values = company's culture
Strategy Definition Ans: Choice of the firm's future, its « future
state »in the medium to long term and the roadmap to get from
current state to desired future state
• A unifying theme that gives direction to decisions and actions to
get there
• Future state : coherent picture of markets and segments,
technology, industry, organisation, people antd their capabilities
© 2025 All rights reserved
, 2 | Page
The strategy is a looking-forward process, It aims at designing the
road to reach the desired future of the firm
This is done in 3 steps
1- Define objectives based on today's situation and vision of the
desired future,
2 - Identify key drivers to achieve objectives
3 - Develop capabilities required to support the process
classical 5 steps approach Ans: 1. Define Scope - industry, region,
years
2. Identify Key Drivers - PESTEL, forecasts, cube
3. Develop distinct scenario stories - name scenarios
4. Identify Impacts - check & adapt strategies
5. Monitor Progress - early warning indicators
Global Firm perspective Ans: On existing
On surviving
On long term success of the organization
• Involves all areas that can have a lasting effect on the
organization
Structure, competition, personnel, technology, production,
regulation, etc.
What is Strategy Ans: the art and science of developing and
employing instruments of national power in a synchronized and
integrated fashion to achieve theater, national, and/or
multinational objectives
the AIDA Model Ans: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
The winning strategy
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• Be different from competitors
• Create interest
• Create value for customers
The 3 ingredients for a winning strategy Ans: Be different from
competitors
• Create value for customers
• In a durable fashion
The 2 Strategy Levels Ans: Ultimate goal :
« generate profit in a durable way»
• Corporate level: which industries do we want to be operating in
• New product or service
• Acquisition
• Divestement
• Business level: in a given industry, how can we beat competition
è competitive advantage
The Corporate Strategy aims at identifying in which sectors the
firm wants to operate and how to combine all activities to generate
the best profitability
emergence of Strategic Business Units (SBUs)
The Business Strategy aims at creating and maintaining a
competitive advantage for the firm in a specific SBU
A Strategic Business Unit (SBU) is an activity or a subset of
activities that has the following characteristics :
• specific clients,
© 2025 All rights reserved
, 4 | Page
• specific markets,
• specific distribution networks,
• specific competitors,
• specific technologies,
• specific skills,
• a specific cost structure
The Concept of Rivalry Ans: Objective is to get to unsurpassed
postion
• Rivals must be outperformed
• Only if the company can establish a difference that it can
preserve either by delivering greater value, or by creating
comparable value at lower cost
Michael Porter's Strategy Concepts Ans: Michael Porter is an
economist, researcher, teacher at Harvard Business School He has
brought economic theory and strategy concepts to bear on many
of the most challenging problems facing corporations. His classic
work on competitive strategy is "The Five Competitive Forces That
Shape Strategy"
The concept of Industry Ans: Michael Porter defined the term as "a
group of companies offering products or services that are close
substitutes for each other, that is, products or services that satisfy
the same basic customers' needs."
• It emphasizes the importance of industry borders and industry's
role as a market supplier or producer of goods and service`
• It distinguished it from a market, defined as a consumer of
goods and services.
Industry = activity defined by a group of firms that supply a
market
© 2025 All rights reserved
Strategic Mgmt EXAM QUESTIONS AND
VERIFIED ANSWERS
What is Business Strategy starting point ? Ans: A vision, an
ambition, a business Idea
Vision Ans: what does the company want to become ultimately ?
Future state, a dream
Strategy starting point Ans: Business Idea
Lead innovation with the Big Idea
Change paradigm
Create value
Desire for a future state
It is a destination
Company's vision Ans: A vision is very often articulated into a
Mission, a statement intended for internal and external publics
Mission Statement answers 2 types of questions
« Why we exist and what we want to be »
« What we believe in and how we will behave »
• States a position and principles / values = company's culture
Strategy Definition Ans: Choice of the firm's future, its « future
state »in the medium to long term and the roadmap to get from
current state to desired future state
• A unifying theme that gives direction to decisions and actions to
get there
• Future state : coherent picture of markets and segments,
technology, industry, organisation, people antd their capabilities
© 2025 All rights reserved
, 2 | Page
The strategy is a looking-forward process, It aims at designing the
road to reach the desired future of the firm
This is done in 3 steps
1- Define objectives based on today's situation and vision of the
desired future,
2 - Identify key drivers to achieve objectives
3 - Develop capabilities required to support the process
classical 5 steps approach Ans: 1. Define Scope - industry, region,
years
2. Identify Key Drivers - PESTEL, forecasts, cube
3. Develop distinct scenario stories - name scenarios
4. Identify Impacts - check & adapt strategies
5. Monitor Progress - early warning indicators
Global Firm perspective Ans: On existing
On surviving
On long term success of the organization
• Involves all areas that can have a lasting effect on the
organization
Structure, competition, personnel, technology, production,
regulation, etc.
What is Strategy Ans: the art and science of developing and
employing instruments of national power in a synchronized and
integrated fashion to achieve theater, national, and/or
multinational objectives
the AIDA Model Ans: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
The winning strategy
© 2025 All rights reserved
, 3 | Page
• Be different from competitors
• Create interest
• Create value for customers
The 3 ingredients for a winning strategy Ans: Be different from
competitors
• Create value for customers
• In a durable fashion
The 2 Strategy Levels Ans: Ultimate goal :
« generate profit in a durable way»
• Corporate level: which industries do we want to be operating in
• New product or service
• Acquisition
• Divestement
• Business level: in a given industry, how can we beat competition
è competitive advantage
The Corporate Strategy aims at identifying in which sectors the
firm wants to operate and how to combine all activities to generate
the best profitability
emergence of Strategic Business Units (SBUs)
The Business Strategy aims at creating and maintaining a
competitive advantage for the firm in a specific SBU
A Strategic Business Unit (SBU) is an activity or a subset of
activities that has the following characteristics :
• specific clients,
© 2025 All rights reserved
, 4 | Page
• specific markets,
• specific distribution networks,
• specific competitors,
• specific technologies,
• specific skills,
• a specific cost structure
The Concept of Rivalry Ans: Objective is to get to unsurpassed
postion
• Rivals must be outperformed
• Only if the company can establish a difference that it can
preserve either by delivering greater value, or by creating
comparable value at lower cost
Michael Porter's Strategy Concepts Ans: Michael Porter is an
economist, researcher, teacher at Harvard Business School He has
brought economic theory and strategy concepts to bear on many
of the most challenging problems facing corporations. His classic
work on competitive strategy is "The Five Competitive Forces That
Shape Strategy"
The concept of Industry Ans: Michael Porter defined the term as "a
group of companies offering products or services that are close
substitutes for each other, that is, products or services that satisfy
the same basic customers' needs."
• It emphasizes the importance of industry borders and industry's
role as a market supplier or producer of goods and service`
• It distinguished it from a market, defined as a consumer of
goods and services.
Industry = activity defined by a group of firms that supply a
market
© 2025 All rights reserved
