Question: In order of importance in your opinion,

> How could a strategist’s attitude toward social responsibility affect a firm’s strategy? On a 1 to 10 scale ranging from Nader’s view to Friedman’s view, what is your attitude toward social responsibility?

> As owner of a local, independent supermarket, explain how you would evaluate the firm’s strategy.

> Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? “Television viewers are passive viewers of ads, whereas Internet users take an active role in choosing what to look at – so customers on the Internet are tougher for marketers to reach.” Explain your

> Describe the business culture in Japan.

> Discuss bribery. Would actions such as politicians adding earmarks in legislation or pharmaceutical salespersons giving away drugs to physicians constitute bribery? Identify three business activities that would constitute bribery and three actions that w

> What are the major differences between U.S. and multinational operations that affect strategic management?

> What types of quantitative and qualitative criteria do you think Ellen Kullman, CEO of DuPont, uses to evaluate the company’s strategy?

> For companies in general, identify and discuss three opportunities and three threats associated with social networking activities on the Internet.

> How often should an organization’s vision/mission be changed in light of strategy evaluation activities?

> Explain how awareness of business culture across countries can enhance strategy implementation.

> Evaluating strategies on a continuous rather than a periodic basis is desired. Discuss the pros and cons of this statement.

> Compare the EEOC with the OCR in terms of mission and scope of operations.

> Show algebraically that the price earnings ratio formula is identical to the number of shares outstanding times stock price formula. Why are the values obtained from these two methods sometimes different?

> Ask an accounting professor at your college or university the following question and report back to class: “To what extent would my learning the IFRS standards on my own give me competitive advantage in the job market”?

> The chapter says HP has more $goodwill than the $book value of the firm. Explain what this means, how it could occur, and what can be done about this situation?

> Make a good argument for keeping the statutory corporate tax rate in the USA the highest in the world. Make the counter argument.

> Compare procedures in the corporate world versus a university setting in terms of how sexual harassment complaints are investigated outside the organization.

> Discuss the nature and implications of the upcoming accounting switch from GAAP to IFRS in the United States.

> Lowe’s Companies is aggressively buying its own stock. What are situations when this practice is recommended or especially beneficial?

> Exports from the USA comprise about 11 percent of GDP, compared to about 35 percent of Germany’s GDP. What are implications of this for American firms doing business globally?

> Compare tax rates in the USA versus other countries. What impact could these differences have on “keeping jobs at home?”

> Compare and contrast the British Bribery Law with the American Bribery Law.

> How does an organization know if it is pursuing “optimal” strategies?

> Bristol-Myers Squibb, a company with single-A investment credit ratings, recently sold $2 billion of bonds that paid 3.35 percent interest. What are the pro’s and con’s of this activity, compared to issuing stock or borrowing money from a bank in terms o

> Why is globalization of industries a common factor today?

> Give specifics regarding income tax rates and practices across countries, and associated strategic implications.

> Explain why whistle-blower payouts by the federal government to informants are becoming more and more common.

> Develop a perceptual map for the six colleges and universities closest to your institution. Illustrate a market segment and a demand void in your map. What are the strategic implications of your map?

> Give specifics regarding the nature and role of “Union Membership across Europe.” What are the strategic implications of these facts and figures?

> Explain why concern for wildlife is a strategic issue for firms.

> Do you agree with privacy advocates who contend that Facebook should provide ways for users to opt out of the mobile ad targeting? Why or why not?

> In China, feng shui is important in business, whereas in Japan, nemaswashio is important. What are analogous American terms and practices?

> Why are some American companies, such as Eaton, reincorporating in foreign countries, such as to Dublin, Ireland, as did Eaton? What are the pros and cons of that strategy?

> Discuss the ethics of workplace romance.

> If a firm has two regions and two products, develop a sample framework for measuring organizational performance.

> Why is it both important and necessary to segment markets and target groups of customers, rather than marketing to all possible consumers?

> Why is the Balanced Scorecard an important topic both in devising objectives and in evaluating strategies?

> In developing projected financial statements, what should you do if the $ amount you must put in the cash account (to make the statement balance) is far more (or less) than desired?

> Why should you be careful not to use historical percentages blindly in developing projected financial statements?

> Based on the financial statements provided in this chapter for the Litten Company, calculate the value of this company, if you know that their stock price is $20 and they have 1 million shares outstanding. Calculate 4 different ways and average.

> In your own words, list all the steps in developing projected financial statements.

> Under what conditions would Retained Earnings on the Balance Sheet decrease from one year the next?

> Explain how marketing, finance/accounting, R&D, and computer information systems managers’ involvement in strategy formulation can enhance strategy implementation.

> Explain and discuss the Balanced Scorecard.

> Explain why organizational structure is so important in strategy implementation.

> Compare strategy formulation with strategy implementation in terms of each being an art or a science.

> List reasons why it is important for an organization not to have a “glass ceiling”.

> List three resistance to change strategies. Give an example when you would use each method or approach.

> Compare and contrast profit sharing with gain sharing as employee performance incentives.

> What are the two major disadvantages of an SBU-type organizational structure? What are the two major advantages? At what point in a firm’s growth do you feel the advantages offset the disadvantages? Explain.

> Explain how to choose between a divisional-by-product and a divisional-by-region organizational structure.

> Explain why Chandler’s strategy-structure relationship commonly exists among firms.

> Considering avoidance, defusion, confrontation, which method of conflict resolution do you prefer most? Why? Which do you prefer least? Why?

> In stating objectives, why should terms such as increase, minimize, maximize, as soon as possible, adequate, and decrease be avoided?

> The chapter says strategy formulation focuses on effectiveness, whereas strategy implementation focuses on efficiency. Which is more important, effectiveness, or efficiency? Give an example of each concept.

> List the five labor cost-saving activities that you believe would be most effective for Best Buy. Give a rationale for each activity.

> Discuss three ways for linking performance and pay to strategies.

> Describe a conflict situation in which to resolve the problem you would use 1) Avoidance, 2) Defusion, and 3) Confrontation.

> College football coaches get paid millions, presumably because there is so much money involved in college football the need to win is paramount. However, head coaches are often fired when a season goes badly, such as Gene Chizik at Auburn University in l

> Women comprise only 6 percent of corporate board seats in Asia, compared to 17 percent in Europe and 15 percent in the USA. Why is this a problem globally for 1) companies with a low percent and 2) countries with a low percent?

> List seven guidelines to follow in developing an organizational chart.

> Discuss recent trends of firms downsizing family-friendly programs.

> Discuss recent trends among women and minorities becoming top executives in the USA.

> List the advantages and disadvantages of a functional versus a divisional organizational structure.

> List the different types of organizational structure. Diagram what you feel is the most complex of these types of structure and label your chart clearly.

> Advertising agencies are an example industry transitioning from specialist Hispanic, African American, and Asian firms to multicultural, generalist agencies. Why is this occurring? What other industries or institutions may follow suit? Why?

> What are the advantages and disadvantages of decentralizing the wage and salary function of an organization? How could this be accomplished?

> Think of a company that would operate best in your opinion in a division-by-services organizational structure. Explain your reasoning.

> What do you especially like and dislike about Halliburton’s organizational chart shown in the chapter? What would you change if anything? Why?

> Discuss the glass ceiling in the United States, giving your ideas and suggestions.

> Would the angle or degrees of the vector in a SPACE Matrix be important in generating alternative strategies? Explain.

> For the following three firms using the given factors, calculate a reasonable Stability Position (SP) coordinate to go on the SPACE Matrix axis, given what you know about the nature of those industries.

> List three limitations of the SWOT Matrix and analysis.

> List six drawbacks of using only subjective information in formulating strategies.

> Many multidivisional firms do not report revenues or profits by division or segment in their Form 10K or Annual Report. What are the pros and cons of this management practice? Discuss.

> Walt Disney’s Board of Directors consists of eight men and five women. Why should a Board not consist of all men, or all women, or all whites, or all minorities?

> Overlay a BCG Matrix with a Grand Strategy Matrix and discuss similarities in terms of format and implications.

> Why is it important to work row by row instead of column by column in preparing a QSPM?

> Rank Business Week’s “principles of good governance” from 1 to 14 (1 being most important and 14 least important) to reveal your assessment of these new rules.

> How does the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 impact boards of directors?

> Make up an example to show clearly and completely that you can develop an IE Matrix for a 3-division company, where each division has $10, $20, and $40 in revenues, and $2, $4, and $1 in profits. State other assumptions as needed. Label axes and quadrant

> List 4 limitations of a BCG Matrix.

> How are the SWOT Matrix, SPACE Matrix, BCG Matrix, IE Matrix, and Grand Strategy Matrix similar? How are they different?

> Explain why cultural factors should be an important consideration in analyzing and choosing among alternative strategies.

> Discuss the limitations of various strategy-formulation analytical techniques.

> What do you think is the appropriate role of a board of directors in strategic management? Why?

> How would you develop a set of objectives for your school of business?

> In developing a SPACE Matrix, what would you expect the SP average to be for 1) Apple, 2) Heinz, 3) Verizon, 4) Amazon, and 5) Kroger.

> Explain the steps involved in developing a QSPM.

> Given the information in the table below, develop a BCG Matrix and an IE Matrix. Divisions 1 2 3 $10 $100 $15 $50 $25 $100 0.8 Profits Sales Relative Market Share 0.2 0.5 Industry Growth Rate IFE Total Weighted Success EFE Total Weighted Success +.2

> Given the following information, develop a SPACE Matrix for the XYZ Corporation: FP = +2; SP = -6; CP = -2; IP = +4.

> Develop a 2x2x2x2x2 QSPM for an organization of your choice (i.e., two strengths, two weaknesses, two opportunities, two threats, and two strategies). Follow all the QSPM guidelines presented in the chapter.

> In an IE Matrix, do you believe it is more advantageous for a division to be located in quadrant II or IV? Why?

> Would a BCG Matrix and analysis be worth performing if you do not know the profits of each segment? Why?

> In a BCG Matrix, would the Question Mark quadrant or the Cash Cow quadrant be more desirable? Explain.

> Develop a BCG Matrix for your university. Because your college does not generate profits, what would be a good surrogate for the pie slice values? How many circles do you have and how large are they? Explain.

> Describe a situation where the SPACE analysis would have no vector. In other words, describe a situation where the SPACE analysis coordinate would be (0,0). What should an analyst do in this situation?

> On the competitive position (CP) axis of a SPACE Matrix, what level of capacity utilization would be necessary for you to give the firm a negative 1? Negative 7? Why?

> Why should one avoid putting double 4’s in a row in preparing a QSPM?

> What strategies are best for turbulent, high-velocity markets?