Exam 6: Strengthening a Companys Competitive Position: Strategic Moves, Timing, and Scope of Operations

A) discouraging deep price discounting on the part of ambitious rivals seeking to capture additional sales and market share.
B) lowering the risk of being attacked by rivals,weakening the impact of any attack that occurs,and influencing challengers to aim their offensive efforts at other rivals.
C) insulating a company from the impact of competitive pressures and industry driving forces.
D) weakening competitors in ways that make them largely irrelevant.
E) widening a company's competitive advantage over rivals.

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B

A) Market leaders that are vulnerable
B) Runner-up firms with weaknesses in areas where the offensive-minded challenger is strong
C) Small local and regional companies with limited capabilities
D) Struggling enterprises that are on the verge of going under
E) Other offensive-minded companies with a sizable war chest of cash and marketable securities

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A) Granting volume discounts or better financing terms to dealers/distributors and providing discount coupons to buyers to help discourage them from experimenting with other suppliers/brands
B) Signaling challengers that retaliation is likely in the event they launch an attack
C) Publicly committing the company to a policy of matching a competitors' terms or prices
D) Maintaining a war chest of cash and marketable securities
E) Challenging struggling runner-up firms that are on the verge of going under

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A) To acquire or improve access to new markets
B) To expedite the development of promising new technologies or products
C) To enable greater vertical integration
D) To improve supply chain efficiency
E) To overcome deficiencies in technical and manufacturing expertise and to create desirable new skill sets and capabilities

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A) have considerable expertise in supply chain management,transportation logistics,and inventory control techniques.
B) be able to achieve the same scale economies as outside suppliers and also match or beat suppliers' production efficiency with no drop in quality.
C) have large state-of-the-art production facilities so that it can fully capture all economies of scale in producing parts and components.
D) have core competences in R&D,product design and engineering,and distribution logistics so that it will have adequate capabilities to produce and distribute parts and components in a timely and cost-effective manner.
E) have a distinctive competence in production process technology and at least a core competence in manufacturing R&D.

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A) whether and when to go on the offensive and initiate aggressive strategic moves to improve the company's market position.
B) whether to outsource certain value chain activities or perform them in-house.
C) whether to form strategic alliances and collaborative partnerships to add to its accumulation of resources and competitive capabilities.
D) whether to integrate forward or backward into more stages of the industry value chain.
E) All of these

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A) Granting volume discounts or better financing terms to dealers/distributors and providing discount coupons to buyers to help discourage them from experimenting with other suppliers/brands
B) Signaling challengers that retaliation is likely in the event they launch an attack
C) Making an occasional strong counter-response to the moves of weak competitors to enhance the firm's image as a tough defender
D) Maintaining a war chest of cash and marketable securities
E) All of these

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A) causing the company to become partially integrated instead of being fully integrated.
B) hollowing out a firm's own capabilities and losing touch with activities and expertise that contribute fundamentally to the firm's competitiveness and market success.
C) hurting a company's R&D capability.
D) putting the company in the position of being a late mover instead of an early mover.
E) increasing the firm's risk exposure to both supply chain management failures and shifts in the composition of the industry value chain.

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A) are nearly always a more attractive strategic option than merger and acquisition strategies.
B) carry the substantial risk of raising a company's costs.
C) carry the substantial risk of making a company overly dependent on its suppliers.
D) increase a company's risk exposure to changing technology and/or changing buyer preferences.
E) involve farming out value chain activities presently performed in-house to outside specialists and strategic allies.

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A) an activity can be performed better or more cheaply by outside specialists.
B) it allows a company to focus on its core business and leverage its key resources.
C) outsourcing won't adversely hollow out the company's technical know-how,competencies,or capabilities while it improves organizational flexibility and speeds time to market.
D) it improves organizational flexibility and speeds time to market.
E) All of these.

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A) expedite the development of new technologies.
B) overcome deficits in their operation.
C) improve supply chain efficiency.
D) acquire or improve market access.
E) All of these.

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A) Adding new features or models and otherwise broadening the product line to close off vacant niches and gaps to opportunity-seeking challengers
B) Thwarting the efforts of rivals to attack with lower prices by maintaining economy-priced options of its own
C) Engaging in a preemptive strike strategy in an effort to discourage rivals from being aggressive
D) Signaling challengers that retaliation is likely in the event that they launch an attack
E) Making early announcements about impending new products or price changes to induce potential buyers to postpone switching

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C

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Mergers and acquisitions are often a bet...

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A) refers to initiatives by a market leader to steal customers away from unsuspecting smaller rivals.
B) involves a preemptive strike to secure an advantageous position in a fast-growing market segment.
C) entails attacking rivals head-on with deep price discounts and continuous product innovation.
D) involves abandoning efforts to beat out competitors in existing markets and,instead,inventing a new industry or new market segment that renders existing competitors largely irrelevant and allows a company to create and capture altogether new demand.
E) involves the use of surprise hit-and-run guerrilla tactics to harass money-losing rivals and drive them into bankruptcy.

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D

A) Leapfrogging competitors by being the first adopter of next-generation technologies or being first to market with next-generation products
B) Offering an equally good or better product at a lower price
C) Blocking the avenues open to challengers
D) Attacking the competitive weakness of rivals
E) Capturing unoccupied or less contested territory by maneuvering around

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A) whether and when to employ defensive strategies to protect the company's market position.
B) whether to integrate backward or forward into more stages of the industry value chain.
C) whether to employ a preemptive strike type of green ocean strategy.
D) whether and when to go on the offensive and initiate aggressive strategic moves to improve the company's market position.
E) whether to bolster the company's market position via acquisition or merger and/or whether to enter into strategic alliances or partnership arrangements with other enterprises.

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