Update 2025/2026
What is involved with defining strategy? - Answers look to the future and make decisions based
on what you believe the future will look like; very intentional; involves complexity that requires a
deeper understanding and level of thinking
What does it mean to look forward, reason back? - Answers see potential future outcomes that
exist and plan the outcome you want; then think of what you have to do prior to the outcome to
achieve the goal
Why are strategic decisions intentional? - Answers the things you do are purposeful because
you thought out each step to reach the future outcome
What is involved in making complex decisions as a part of strategy? What does it involve and
what percentage of time does each step take? - Answers fitting multiple puzzle pieces together;
starts at analysis (60-70% of time), then goes to combining the pieces (10% of time), and then
finally planning (20-30% of time)
What are the 2 main components of strategy? - Answers analysis and planning
What is the definition of strategy? What 2 components does it involve? What does it use this
info for? - Answers a forward thinking and highly intentional process of analysis and planning
that deals with complex decisions, including factors that involve other's actions playing a role in
the success of strategy; involves internal and external factors; uses that info to set long term
goals
What is competitive sustainable advantage and how does it occur? - Answers the ability to
perform well as a business compared to others in the long term; occurs when the competition
can't replicate your product/service
What does the MaCC acronym mean in regards to competitive sustainable analysis? - Answers
Maintain: be able to retain the advantage in a way that's sustainable, capitalize on: use the thing
that gives you the advantage, and create: constantly create new competitive advantages so that
when one goes away, you'll have an advantage to fall back on
What are 4 important components to sustainable analysis? - Answers a high caliber production
process; a high quality of outputs and inputs compared to competitors; a more advanced
process of innovation; an unrivaled customer centric focus
What does PQIC stand for? - Answers production, quality, innovation, customers
What should you focus on in a VRIO analysis? What are the 3 viewpoints? What does VRIO stand
for? - Answers resources: tangible assets of the firm; capabilities: activities and abilities of the
firm; viewpoints: resource based view, knowledge based view, and core competencies ; VRIO