MIS 375 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Why are vision statements important? Who cares about them? What can they
influence? - Answer -- Vision statements reflect reputational aspirations and operational
focus on an organization.
- Why are they important? These statements can influence outside investing, employee
recruiting, etc.
What strategy considerations are important for the internal and external environment? -
Answer -- An organization has a lot of control over an internal environment
- An organization has little control over an external environment
- Example question: A strategy is really the product of which of the following?
- A process to gather ideas & create actions
- Creating and updating a detailed budget is a good way for a company to keep their
organizational strategy refreshed: False
- Which of the following is an external force that should be monitored and considered by
a company's strategic plan?: Technologies
What is the breakdown of the types of strategies to consider when identifying the
details? - Answer -R&D, Production, Supply Chain, Sales/Marketing, Admin/Finance,
MIS
What are (Porter's) four generic strategies? What factors do we think about when
classifying them? - Answer -- Market Advantage: deals with gaining market share
--Cost Leadership: gaining market share through low prices
--Differentiation: gaining market share through unique or specialized offerings
- Market Focus: deals with what type of market
--Broad: total available market
--Narrow: smaller, niche market
Is it important for an organization to identifying a competitive strategy? - Answer -- The
fundamental challenge of competition is "how to be the best":
--False
-When thinking about a "strategic grouping" we are:
--Thinking about the products, services, and geographies that compose an
organization's complimentary strategic market offering
-Most organizations are deliberate and thoughtful in identifying and communicating their
unique value propositions and activities
--False
In this class, what are the key components that need to be defined to articulate market
positioning? - Answer --When talking about market positioning, we are focusing on 3
elements:
--Products - physical goods
--Services - labor-based offerings
, --Geography - Primary locations where organizations provide services/products
What is adjacency? - Answer --After an organization has come up with its strategic
groupings of products, services, and geographies, it can add adjacency (complementary
offerings)
-Adjacency is identifying new products/services or geographies that would add
complementary offerings based on needs
What is competitive benchmarking? - Answer -- The process of establishing and
monitoring an organization's strategy should also include a healthy dose of competitive
benchmarking. A wide array of industry sources, research offerings, search results, and
trade reporting can produce useful data to build a competitive benchmark worksheet. In
addition, a review of a competitor's website or shareholder disclosures can also be a
rich source of comparative data.
- Once assembled, the analysis can determine The differences in pricing and features.
The comparative coverage across service offerings. Head-to-head matchups and
geographic coverage gaps. Adjacency product availability or opportunities. Competitor
blind spots.
What does market trade-offs mean in this class? - Answer -- Trade-offs: process of
choosing which customers to serve and which to let go
--This helps with positioning
Why is it important to identify market segments? - Answer --Trade-offs involve
segmentations. We can define market segments by:
--Demographic (income, age, etc.)
--Industry (pricing, benefits, etc.)
--Geographic (country,state)
--Lifestyle (values, interests)
What is a sales channel? - Answer -Each segment identified is listed along with the
potential sales channel that will be used for marketing, sales, and transactions
Sales channel: communicating and transacting a sale with a customer.
ex) sales rep, retail, ecommerce
Things to consider when looking at channels:
1) How are we going to reach segment to raise awareness?
2) How are we going to sell to that segment?
Why is it important to identify potential unique activities within an organization? -
Answer -- A competitive strategy is creating the ability to offer different
products/services from rivals or to perform similar activities in different ways
- Finding activities that provide differentiation and competitive advantage in a unique or
innovative way can create a competitive strategy for a new company
What were the key take-aways from the Zoom case? - Answer -WebEx
In the beginning, the CEO of Zoom primarily focused on which strategy?
Why are vision statements important? Who cares about them? What can they
influence? - Answer -- Vision statements reflect reputational aspirations and operational
focus on an organization.
- Why are they important? These statements can influence outside investing, employee
recruiting, etc.
What strategy considerations are important for the internal and external environment? -
Answer -- An organization has a lot of control over an internal environment
- An organization has little control over an external environment
- Example question: A strategy is really the product of which of the following?
- A process to gather ideas & create actions
- Creating and updating a detailed budget is a good way for a company to keep their
organizational strategy refreshed: False
- Which of the following is an external force that should be monitored and considered by
a company's strategic plan?: Technologies
What is the breakdown of the types of strategies to consider when identifying the
details? - Answer -R&D, Production, Supply Chain, Sales/Marketing, Admin/Finance,
MIS
What are (Porter's) four generic strategies? What factors do we think about when
classifying them? - Answer -- Market Advantage: deals with gaining market share
--Cost Leadership: gaining market share through low prices
--Differentiation: gaining market share through unique or specialized offerings
- Market Focus: deals with what type of market
--Broad: total available market
--Narrow: smaller, niche market
Is it important for an organization to identifying a competitive strategy? - Answer -- The
fundamental challenge of competition is "how to be the best":
--False
-When thinking about a "strategic grouping" we are:
--Thinking about the products, services, and geographies that compose an
organization's complimentary strategic market offering
-Most organizations are deliberate and thoughtful in identifying and communicating their
unique value propositions and activities
--False
In this class, what are the key components that need to be defined to articulate market
positioning? - Answer --When talking about market positioning, we are focusing on 3
elements:
--Products - physical goods
--Services - labor-based offerings
, --Geography - Primary locations where organizations provide services/products
What is adjacency? - Answer --After an organization has come up with its strategic
groupings of products, services, and geographies, it can add adjacency (complementary
offerings)
-Adjacency is identifying new products/services or geographies that would add
complementary offerings based on needs
What is competitive benchmarking? - Answer -- The process of establishing and
monitoring an organization's strategy should also include a healthy dose of competitive
benchmarking. A wide array of industry sources, research offerings, search results, and
trade reporting can produce useful data to build a competitive benchmark worksheet. In
addition, a review of a competitor's website or shareholder disclosures can also be a
rich source of comparative data.
- Once assembled, the analysis can determine The differences in pricing and features.
The comparative coverage across service offerings. Head-to-head matchups and
geographic coverage gaps. Adjacency product availability or opportunities. Competitor
blind spots.
What does market trade-offs mean in this class? - Answer -- Trade-offs: process of
choosing which customers to serve and which to let go
--This helps with positioning
Why is it important to identify market segments? - Answer --Trade-offs involve
segmentations. We can define market segments by:
--Demographic (income, age, etc.)
--Industry (pricing, benefits, etc.)
--Geographic (country,state)
--Lifestyle (values, interests)
What is a sales channel? - Answer -Each segment identified is listed along with the
potential sales channel that will be used for marketing, sales, and transactions
Sales channel: communicating and transacting a sale with a customer.
ex) sales rep, retail, ecommerce
Things to consider when looking at channels:
1) How are we going to reach segment to raise awareness?
2) How are we going to sell to that segment?
Why is it important to identify potential unique activities within an organization? -
Answer -- A competitive strategy is creating the ability to offer different
products/services from rivals or to perform similar activities in different ways
- Finding activities that provide differentiation and competitive advantage in a unique or
innovative way can create a competitive strategy for a new company
What were the key take-aways from the Zoom case? - Answer -WebEx
In the beginning, the CEO of Zoom primarily focused on which strategy?
