Why do you think production/operations managers are often not directly involved in strategy-formulation activities? Why can this be a major organizational weakness?
> What are the three basic objectives of a competitive intelligence program?
> Explain why prioritizing the relative importance of strengths and weaknesses to include in an IFE Matrix is an important strategic-management activity.
> If you and a partner were going to visit a foreign country where you have never been before, how much planning would you do ahead of time? What benefit would you expect that planning to provide?
> Compare and contrast the duties and responsibilities of a CIO with a CTO in a large firm.
> Think of an organization you are very familiar with. Rate that entity’s organizational culture on the 15 example dimensions listed in Table 4-2.
> Governments worldwide are turning to “protectionism” to cope with economic problems, imposing tariffs and subsidies on foreign goods and restrictions/incentives on their own firms to keep jobs at home. What are the strategic implications of this trend fo
> List six desirable characteristics of advertisements in recessionary times.
> Think of an organization you are very familiar with. List three resources of that entity that are empirical indicators.
> Governments worldwide are turning to “nationalization of companies” to cope with economic recession. What are the strategic implications of this trend for firms that compete with these nationalized firms?
> Why may it be easier in performing an internal assessment to develop a list of 80 strengths/weaknesses than to decide on the top 20 to use in formulating strategies.
> The migration of people has slowed from (1) region to region across the United States, from (2) city to suburb worldwide, and from (3) country to country across the globe. What are the strategic implications of these trends for companies?
> Give some key reasons why prioritizing strengths and weaknesses is essential.
> Draw a breakeven chart to illustrate lowering price.
> Do the advantages of a low value of the dollar offset the disadvantages for (1) a firm that derives 60 percent of its revenues from foreign countries and (2) a firm that derives 10 percent of its revenues from foreign countries? Justify your answer.
> The global recession forced thousands of firms into bankruptcy. Does this fact alone confirm that “external factors are more important than internal factors” in strategic planning? Discuss.
> Explain why it is best not to have more than 30 percent of the factors in an IFE Matrix be financial ratios.
> Describe the “process of performing an external audit” in an organization doing strategic planning for the first time.
> If your Competitive Profile Matrix has three firms and they all end up with the same Total Weighted Score, would the analysis still be useful? Why.
> In developing an EFE Matrix, would it be best to have 10 opportunities and 10 threats, or would 17 opportunities (or threats) be fine with 3 of the other to achieve a total of 20 factors as desired?
> Discuss how the nature of advertisements have changed in the last few years.
> Explain why “communication” may be the most important word in Management. What do you think is the most important word in Marketing? In Finance? In Accounting?
> Explain how Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace can represent a major threat or opportunity for a company.
> Explain Cost/Benefit analysis.
> Use Porter’s Five-Forces Model to evaluate competitiveness within the U.S. banking industry.
> In your opinion, what are the four major external threats facing PetSmart, and the four major opportunities? Realizing the importance of quantification in stating key factors, how could your factors be quantified? Identify specific estimates (#’s) for yo
> In the Joy’s Daycare BE example in the chapter, how would a $1,000 annual advertising expenditure impact the business break-even point?
> As value of the dollar rises, USA firms doing business abroad see their profits fall, so some firms raise prices of their products to offset the decrease in profits. What are some risks of raising price?
> What are the limitations of breakeven analysis?
> List some legal/ethical ways to gather competitive intelligence. List some illegal/unethical ways.
> If Priceline.com increases its advertising expenses by 30 percent while keeping its price and variable costs the same, does that mean the company’s breakeven point will increase 30 percent? Show this calculation for a hypothetical firm.
> In an IFEM, a critic may say there is no significant difference between a “weight” of 0.08 and 0.06. How would you respond?
> Describe union membership trends in the USA. What are implications for strategic planning in firms such as Boeing or Heinz or Caterpillar?
> Should firms take stances on political issues?
> S&P companies are on average today paying out 31 percent of their earnings in the form of dividends, but that is down from 52 percent of earnings in some years. What are the pro’s and con’s of reinvesting earnings as opposed to paying dividends?
> Draw a breakeven chart to illustrate closing stores.
> Should firms take stances on contentious social issues? Discuss.
> Define and explain value chain analysis (VCA).
> Define and discuss “empirical indicators.”
> Do you agree or disagree with RBV theorists that internal resources are more important than external factors for a firm in achieving and sustaining competitive advantage? Explain your and their position.
> After conducting an internal audit, a firm discovers a total of 100 strengths and 100 weaknesses. What procedures could be then used to determine the most important of these? Why is it important to reduce the total number of key factors?
> Describe the production/operations system in a police department.
> Develop a Competitive Profile Matrix for your university. Include six factors.
> Why is inclusion of about 20 factors recommended in the EFE Matrix, rather than about 10 factors or about 40 factors?
> If a firm has zero debt in its capital structure, is that always an organizational strength? Why or why not?
> Define, compare, and contrast the weights versus ratings in an EFE Matrix.
> Draw a breakeven chart to illustrate an increase in advertising expenses.
> Would you ever pay out dividends when your firm’s annual net profit is negative? Why? What effect could this have on a firm’s strategies?
> Do you agree with I/O theorists that external factors are more important than internal factors in a firm achieving competitive advantage? Explain both your and their position.
> Discuss the ethics of cooperating with rival firms.
> Discuss the ethics of gathering competitive intelligence.
> Explain how you would motivate managers and employees to implement a major new strategy.
> Let’s say your boss develops an EFE Matrix that includes 62 factors. How would you suggest reducing the number of factors to 20?
> Do you think aggregate R&D expenditures for American firms will increase or decrease next year? Why?
> Illustrate how value chain activities can become core competencies and eventually distinctive competencies. Give an example for an organization you are familiar with.
> What is your forecast for interest rates and the stock market in the next several months? As the stock market moves up, do interest rates always move down? Why? What are the strategic implications of these trends?
> Draw a breakeven chart to illustrate a drop in labor costs.
> Explain why it is important for ratings in an EFE Matrix to be 1, 2, 3, or 4 for any opportunity or threat.
> Who are the major stakeholders of the bank that you do business with locally? What are the major claims of those stakeholders?
> Discuss the meaning of the following statement: “Good mission statements identify the utility of a firm’s products to its customers.”
> Explain why a mission statement should not include monetary amounts, numbers, percentages, ratios, goals, or objectives.
> In your opinion, what are the three most important components that should be included when writing a mission statement? Why?
> Drucker says that the most important time to seriously reexamine the firm’s vision/mission is when the firm is very successful. What is this?
> Explain how developing a mission statement can help resolve divergent views among managers in a firm.
> If your company does not have a vision or mission statement, describe a good process for developing these documents.
> What are some different names for “mission statement,” and where will you likely find a firm’s mission statement?
> How do you think an organization can best align company mission with employee mission?
> Some excellent nine-component mission statements consist of just two sentences. Write a two-sentence mission statement for a company of your choice.
> Explain how a firm such as J. Crew can be doing well, but does not have an effective vision or mission statement.
> Discuss the meaning of the following statement: “Good mission statements identify the utility of a firm’s products to its customers.”
> List four components and four guidelines that the J. Crew mission statement fails to exhibit. Write a new and improved mission for J. Crew.
> Why is it not adequate to simply obtain competitive advantage?
> Explain the principal value of a vision and mission statement.
> List four financial and four nonfinancial benefits of a firm engaging in strategic planning.
> Why is it important for all business majors to study strategic management since most students will never become a chief executive officer or even a top manager in a large company?
> Compare business strategy and military strategy.
> In your opinion, what is the single major benefit of using a strategic-management approach to decision making? Justify your answer.
> What do you believe are some potential pitfalls or risks in using a strategic-management approach to decision making?
> Would strategic-management concepts and techniques benefit foreign businesses as much as domestic firms? Justify your answer.
> Who are the major competitors of your college or university? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What are their strategies? How successful are these institutions compared to your college?
> Give an example of a recent political development that changed the overall strategy of an organization.
> Compare a company’s strategic plan with a football team’s game plan.
> How can strategist’s best ensure that strategies will be effectively implemented?
> Explain why a mission statement should not include strategies and objectives.
> Discuss the importance of feedback in the strategic-management model.
> Why do you think some chief executive officers fail to use a strategic-management approach to decision making?
> Why is it so important to integrate intuition and analysis in strategic management?
> What aspect of strategy formulation do you think requires the most time? Why?
> How often do you feel a firm’s vision and mission statement should be changed?
> List eight benefits of having a clear mission statement.
> List what you feel are the five most important lessons for business that can be garnered from THE ART OF WAR book.
> List seven characteristics of a mission statement.
> List ten guidelines for making the strategic-planning process effective. Arrange your guidelines in prioritized order of importance in your opinion.
> Explain why a mission statement should not include monetary amounts, numbers, percentages, ratios, goals, or objectives.
> Why do you think organizations that have a comprehensive mission statement tend to be high performers? Does having a comprehensive mission cause high performance?
> Who are the major stakeholders of the bank that you do business with locally? What are the major claims of those stakeholders?
> Discuss the notion of strategic planning being more formal versus informal in an organization. On a 1 to 10 scale from formal to informal, what number best represents your view of the most effective approach? Why?
> In your opinion, what are the three most important components that should be included when writing a mission statement? Why?
> Explain the principal value of a vision and mission statement.
> List three internal strengths and three internal weaknesses that characterize your university.
> Your university has fierce competitors. List three external opportunities and three external threats that face your university.
