Exam 6: Strengthening a Companys Competitive Position

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Three factors that can aid companies in ...

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A) Whether to focus on building competitive advantages
B) Whether to employ the element of surprise as opposed to doing what rivals expect and are prepared for
C) Whether to employ a market share leadership strategy
D) Whether to display a strong bias for swift,decisive,and overwhelming actions to overpower
E) Whether to create and deploy company resources to cause rivals to defend themselves

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A) the cheapest means of developing new technologies and getting new products to market quickly.
B) collaborative formal arrangements where two or more companies join forces and agree to work cooperatively toward some strategically relevant objective.
C) a proven means of reducing the costs of performing value chain activities.
D) best used to insulate a company from the impact of the five competitive forces.
E) the best way to help insulate a firm from the adverse impacts of industry driving forces.

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A) extend a company's competitive scope within the same industry by expanding its operations across multiple segments or stages of the industry value chain.
B) are one of the best strategic options for helping companies win the race for global market leadership.
C) offer good potential to expand a company's lineup of products and services.
D) are particularly effective in boosting a company's ability to expand into additional geographic markets,particularly the markets of foreign countries.
E) area good strategy option for helping a company revamp its value chain and bypass low value-added activities.

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A) gain better access to end users and better market visibility.
B) achieve the same scale economies as wholesale distributors and/or retail dealers.
C) control price at the retail level.
D) bypass distributors and dealers and sell direct to consumers at the company's website.
E) build a core competence in mass merchandising.

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A) builds,sustains,or enhances a core competence or competitive advantage.
B) blocks a competitive threat.
C) increases the bargaining power of alliance members over suppliers or buyers.
D) opens up important new market opportunities.
E) contracts out certain value chain activities that are normally performed in-house to outside vendors.

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A) an activity can be performed better or more cheaply by outside specialists.
B) it allows a company to focus its entire energies on its core business.
C) it restricts a company's ability to assemble diverse kinds of expertise speedily and efficiently.
D) it reduces the company's risk exposure to changing technology and/or changing buyer preferences.
E) it allows a company to leverage its key resources.

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There are circumstances when other organ...

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A) new industry or market segments are yet to be developed and create altogether new consumer demand.
B) fast followers find it easy to leapfrog the pioneer with even better next-generation products of their own.
C) the market depends on the development of complementary products or services that are currently not available,buyers have high switching costs,and influential rivals are in position to derail the efforts of a first-mover.
D) entry barriers are high,substitute products or services are readily available,and buyers are prone to negotiate aggressively for better terms and lower prices.
E) there are nearly always big advantages to being a slow mover rather than an early mover,especially in regards to avoiding the "mistakes" of first or early movers.

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A) a market penetration curve,and this typically has an inflection point where the business model falls into place.
B) an opportunity to achieve first-mover status,which depends on analyzing the competitive status curve where all the potential rivals are encoded.
C) an emerging pitfall that is a counterpoint to the intended growth.
D) a normal curve scenario which signifies the average growth curve will be opportunistic.
E) an intense competition that constrains the company's prospects for rapid growth and superior profitability.

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A) The range of activities the firm performs externally and its social responsibility activities
B) To gain competitive advantage based on where it locates its various value chain activities
C) The firm's capability to employ vertical integration strategies
D) The range of activities the firm performs internally and the breadth of its product offerings,the extent of its geographic market,and its mix of businesses
E) To prevent foreign competition from affecting the market

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A) Vertical integration boosts a firm's capital investment in the industry,thus increasing business risk if the industry becomes unattractive later.
B) Vertical integration backward into parts and components manufacturing can impair a company's operating flexibility when it comes to changing out the use of certain parts and components.
C) Vertical integration reduces the opportunity for achieving greater product differentiation.
D) Forward or backward integration often calls for radically different skills and business capabilities than the firm possesses.
E) Vertical integration poses all kinds of capacity-matching problems.

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A) exploiting a company's strongest competitive assets-its most valuable resources and capabilities.
B) instigating and executing the chosen strategy efficiently and effectively.
C) scoping and scaling an organization's internal and external situation.
D) molding an organization's character and identity.
E) satisfying the buyer's needs that the company seeks to meet.

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Horizontal scope is the range of product...

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A) establishing strong interpersonal relationships to facilitate communication.
B) incorporating contractual safeguards.
C) making opportunities for learning a routine management process.
D) establishing a system to manage alliances in a systematic fashion.
E) creating organizational learning barriers across boundaries.

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A) ensuring more costly components or services.
B) improving the company's inability to innovate by allying with "best-in-class" suppliers.
C) reducing the company's risk exposure to changing technology and/or changing buyer preferences.
D) increasing the firm's inability to assemble diverse kinds of expertise speedily and efficiently.
E) reducing its information technology and operational costs so that organizational flexibility is maintained.

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A) whether it can limit the performance of strategy-critical activities in ways that increase cost,build expertise,protect proprietary know-how,or increase differentiation.
B) the impact on investment costs,flexibility,and response times.
C) the administrative costs of coordinating operations across more vertical chain activities.
D) how difficult it will be for the company to acquire the set of skills and capabilities needed to operate in another stage of the vertical chain.
E) whether competitors outsource any of their value chain activities.

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A) horizontal scope.
B) vertical integration.
C) vertical scope.
D) product outsourcing.
E) joint venture partnership.

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