BUSN620 Quiz Week 2 (Chapters 3 & 4) A++++++

QuestionQuiz Week 2 (Chapters 3 & 4)1. A company’s cost competitiveness is largely a function ofhow efficiently it manages its internally performed value chain activities and the costs in the value chains of its suppliers and forward channel allies.whether it possesses more core competencies and competitive capabilities than rivals.how closely its internally performed activities are linked to the activities performed by suppliers and to the activities performed by forward channel allies.whether it does a good enough job of benchmarking its value chain activities against the value chains of competitors so that it knows exactly how low to drive its costs to be cost-competitive.whether it does a better job of building its resource strengths more cost effectively than rivals.2. Based on both the chapter discussion and the summary in Figure 3.4, competitive pressures stemming from substitute products are weaker whena number of customers buy in large volumes and are in a strong bargaining position to win concessions from sellers.buyer loyalty to the products they are currently purchasing is relatively low.the industry consists of a relatively large number of rival sellers that are fairly equal in size and competitive capability.entry barriers are moderately high but by no means prohibitive, and there is a fairly small pool of entry candidates.substitutes are higher-priced, buyers don’t believe substitute products have equal or better features, and buyers’ costs of switching to substitutes are relatively high.3. Which of the following statements is false?A dynamic capability is the ability to modify, deepen, or reconfigure the company’s existing resources and capabilities in response to changes in the environment or market.Managers must look toward correcting competitive weaknesses that make the company vulnerable, dampen profitability, or disqualify it from pursuing an attractive opportunity.A company’s internal strengths should always serve as the basis for its strategy.Managers need to keep close track of how cost effectively the company can deliver value to customers relative to its competitors.None of these.4. A company that is at a disadvantage in the marketplace because it lacks competitively valuable resources possessed by rivalsshould adopt a new competitive strategy that might better match the circumstances of the marketplace.should undertake efforts to develop a distinctive competence.is virtually blocked from using offensive strategies and must rely on defensive strategies.nearly always is relegated to a trailing position in the industry.should abandon strategy elements that have caused its weakness in the marketplace.5. Factors that weaken rivalry among competing sellers includeslow growth in buyer demand.standardized or else weakly differentiated products among rival sellers.the presence of one or more rivals that are dissatisfied with their current position and market share.low buyer switching costs.rapid growth in buyer demand, high buyer costs to switch brands, and so many industry rivals that any one company’s actions have little impact on the businesses of its rivals.6. Options for attacking the high costs of items purchased from suppliers do not includeintegrating backward into the business of high-cost suppliers and making the item in-house so as to better control the cost.pressuring suppliers for more favorable prices.raising prices to customers (so as to cover the high costs).collaborating closely with suppliers to identify mutual cost-saving opportunities.switching to lower-priced substitute inputs.7. Strategic actions to reduce the costs of internally performed value chain activities and improve a company’s cost competitivenessare likely to be most effective when they are aimed at lowering the costs of the value chain activities that a company performs internally.can aim at lowering costs (1) in the suppliers’ part of the industry value chain, (2) in a company’s own internally performed activities, and/or (3) in the forward channel portion of the value chain.are most likely to be successful when they involve efforts to concentrate more company resources and talents on those value chain activities in which the company already has the lowest costs.work best when aimed at increasing the amount of the company’s low-cost competitive assets and decreasing the amount of its high-cost competitive assets.work best when they aim at lowering the costs of performing those tasks and activities where the company has core competencies and distinctive competencies.8. Which of the following is not a relevant factor in conducting a PESTEL analysis?interest rates, exchange rates, unemployment rates, inflation rates, and economic growthhow frequently sellers alter their prices, how sensitive buyers are to price differences among sellers, whether an item being purchased is a good or a service, and whether buyers purchase frequently or infrequentlycultural, lifestyle, and demographic changesweather, climate change, and water shortagesthe birth of new industries, new knowledge, and disruptive technologies9. The task of driving forces analysis is tocollectively (1) identify the driving forces, (2) assess whether the drivers of change are acting individually or in concert to make the industry more or less attractive, and (3) determine what strategy changes are needed to prepare for the impact of the driving forces.determine which of the five competitive forces is the biggest driver of industry change.identify which companies are being driven to move from one strategic group to another strategic group.predict what new forces of competitive and market change will emerge next.identify all the underlying factors that can cause industry profitability to rise or fall in the years ahead.10. A strategic group map is a helpful analytical tool fordetermining who competes most closely with whom; evaluating whether industry driving forces and competitive pressures favor some strategic groups and hurt others; and ascertaining whether the profit potential of different strategic groups varies due to the strengths and weaknesses in each group’s respective market positions.determining which companies have how big a competitive advantage and how good their prospects are for increasing their market shares.determining which company is the most profitable in the industry and why it is doing so well.assessing why competitive pressures and driving forces usually impact the biggest strategic groups more so than the smaller groups.pinpointing which of the five competitive forces is the strongest and which is the weakest.11. According to both the text discussion and the summary in Figure 3.7, which of the following is not among the factors that determine whether competitive rivalry among industry members is strong, moderate, or weak?whether customers’ costs to switch brands are low or highwhether there are few or many rival sellers, and whether there are big differences in their sizes and competitive capabilitieshow active industry rivals are in initiating fresh competitive moves and in using the various weapons of competition to improve their market standing and business performancewhether industry members are vertically integrated and whether the industry is characterized by significant scale economies and rapid technological changewhether buyer demand for the product is growing rapidly or slowly12. In a company’s broader macro-environment, which of the following have strategic significance?the threat of additional entry into the industry and what the industry’s key success factors aremarket size and growth rate, the number of buyers, the scope of competitive rivalry, the number of rivals, demand-supply conditions, product innovation, the presence of scale economies and/or learning or experience curve effects, and the pace of technological changethe strength of competitive pressures from producers of substitute products and which competitors are in which strategic groupsgeneral economic conditions, societal values and cultural norms, political and legal/regulatory factors, technological factors, and ecological considerationsthe extent and importance of seller-supplier collaborative partnerships, the extent and importance of seller-buyer collaborative partnerships, and the bargaining leverage of sellers and buyers13. The procedure for constructing a strategic group map involvesselecting variables for the map’s axes that are highly correlated.Two of the answers are correct: identifying the competitive characteristics that differentiate firms’ market positions and competitive approaches; and plotting the firms on a two-variable or two-dimensional map, drawing circles around those firms occupying about the same strategy space, and making the size of the circles for each strategic group proportional to the size of its members’ share of total industry sales revenues.identifying the competitive characteristics that differentiate firms’ market positions and competitive approaches.using only variables for the map’s axes that are quantitative in nature (qualitative measures of market positions and competitive approaches are too subjective and unreliable).plotting the firms on a two-variable or two-dimensional map, drawing circles around those firms occupying about the same strategy space, and making the size of the circles for each strategic group proportional to the size of its members’ share of total industry sales revenues.14. Which of the following is not an example of an external threat to a company's future business prospects (see Table 4.2)?vulnerability to unfavorable industry driving forces and adverse demographic changes that are likely to curtail demand for the industry’s productgrowing bargaining power on the part of customers and/or suppliersshifts in buyer needs and preferences away from using the industry's productweaker brand image and a smaller network of retailer dealers than rivals haveincreasing intensity of competition among industry rivals and costly new regulatory requirements15. The rivalry among competing sellers in an industry intensifieswhen buyer demand for the product is growing rapidly.as the number of rivals increases and as they become more equal in size and competitive capability.when the products of rival sellers are highly differentiated products and the industry consists of so many rivals that any one company’s actions have little direct impact on rivals’ business.when buyer demand is strong and sellers have little or no excess capacity and only minimal inventories.when customers are brand loyal and their costs to switch to competing brands or substitute products are relatively high.16. A company's value chain consists ofthose activities a company performs that represent "best practices."the collection of activities it performs in the course of designing, producing, marketing, delivering, and supporting its product or service.the activities that a company performs in developing a distinctive competence.the activities a company performs in converting its resource weaknesses into resource strengths.the activities that represent a company’s competencies, core competencies, distinctive competencies, and competitive capabilities.17. The industry or market opportunities that are most relevant to a company and those that its strategy should aim at capturing include opportunitiesthat offer important avenues for growth.that the company has the financial resources to pursue.that are well-matched to the company’s competitive capabilities and resource strengths.where the company has the greatest potential for competitive advantage.All of the these choices are correct.18. Which one of the following is not something that can be learned from doing a competitive strength assessment?whether a company has a net competitive advantage or a net competitive disadvantage relative to key rivals (as indicated by the differences among the companies’ competitive strength scores)which rival company is competitively weakest and the areas where it is most vulnerable to competitive attackidentifying the competitive factors where a company is strongest and weakest vis-à-vis key rivals and the kinds of offensive/defensive actions the company can use to exploit its competitive strengths and reduce its competitive vulnerabilitiesthe extent to which a company’s customer value proposition is superior to its rivals’which of the rated companies is competitively strongest and what magnitude competitive advantage it enjoys19. Every organization has many resources, capabilities, and routines; however, those few things the company does really well and are performed with a very high proficiency are termeddistinct capabilities.distributive factors.sustainable activities.socially complex activities.core competencies.20. Evaluating a company’s resources, capabilities, and competitive strength relative to its rivals using VRIN tests does not include developing answers to which one of the following questions?Is the resource or capability competitively valuable?Is the resource or capability inimitable or hard to copy?Is the resource or capability rare?How good is the company’s value chain?Is the resource or capability nonsubstitutable, or is it vulnerable to the threat of substitution from different types of resources and capabilities?