Dear student, Below are the questions for your exam. There are in total 40 multiple choice questions and 2 open ended questions. You have to answer all questions. Make sure that when you have finished the exam, this document is returned! I wish you all the best and thank you very much for participating on this course. Good luck! 1 . According to De Wit and Meyer (2010); there are three processes that enable strategies to be developed. Which of the underlying processes is not a process as specified by De Wit and Meyer? A. Strategic planning B. Strategic thinking C. Strategy formation D. Strategic change 2.
When managers develop a strategy, what are the four stages according De Wit and Meyer (2010) that shape a firm’s strategy? Remember that they must be in the correct order! A. Identifying, Diagnosing, Conceiving, Realizing B. Identifying, Diagnosing, Evaluating, Realizing C. Identifying, Conceiving, Diagnosing, Evaluating D. Diagnosing, Identifying, Conceiving, Evaluating 3. What do strategic issue diagnosing activities exists of according De Wit and Meyer (2010)? A. External and internal assessment B. Agenda setting and mission setting C. Option generation and selection D. Performance control and action taking .
What do strategic realization activities exists of according the Wit and Meyer (2010)? A. Agenda setting and mission setting B. Option generation and selection C. External and internal assessment 5. Which two strategies according Michael Porter cannot be combined in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantage? A. Product differentiation and segmentation strategies C. Product differentiation and cost leadership D. All of the above are not possible 6. What is the inside-out approach? A. Organizations are studied internally and a strategy is developed on the basis of the capabilities that a firm has.
B. Organizations are studies externally and the strategy is a reflection of the threats and opportunities in a specific market. C. Organizations first only determine their strengths and then decide on the basis of the threats and opportunities in a market what is the best strategy to pursue. 7. What are the components of a business system according de Wit and Meyer (2010) A. Resource base, Activity system, Product offering B. Stock of Assets, Value chain, Employee workforce C. Stock of Assets, Production, Product Offering D. Stock of Assets, Resources are regarded as a Black Box, Value Proposition E.
All statements above are false 8. Of the factors described below what are not bases for competitive advantage according De Wit and Meyer (2010)? A. Price and Features B. Features and Bundling C. Quality and Availability D. Image and Relations E. All of the above are true 9. What is customer intimacy? A. Meeting the buyers’ need for a tailored solution to their particular problem B. Meeting the buyer’s need and satisfying with a standardized solution their demands C. Public relations in order to maintain or build a long-lasting relationship D. www. relatieplanet. nl 10.
What is not a generic category of primary activities identified by Porter for organizations? A. Inbound logistics B. Operations C. Marketing and Sales D. Service E. Firm infrastructure 11. Intangible resources of a firm consists of: reputation, knowledge, capabilities, attitude C. Relationships, materials, attitude, capabilities D. Knowledge, land, buildings, attitude, and relationships 12. Which of the following statements is true? l. Competitive defendability deals with a firm’s competitive advantage and argues that it is sustainable when a company has the capacity to stay one step ahead of its rivals.
II. Competitive defendability is related with sustainable competitive advantage of a firm, because it looks at the easiness of copying a firm’s resources or capabilities that a potential competitors can do. A. Statement I is true, Statement II is not true B. Statement II is true, Statement I is not true C. Both statements are true D. Both statement are not true 13. The following picture represents two perspectives on shaping a business system. Is the following picture correct? A. Yes B. NO 14. According Day (1990; 1994) in the book by De Wit and Meyer (2010), capabilities cannot be related to: A.
Outside-in processes B. Inside-out processes C. Spanning processes D. Organization Processes 15. Which statement is not true about the inside-out perspective according de Wit and Meyer (2010)? A. Successful companies build up a strong resource base over an extended period of time that offers them access to unfolding market opportunities in the medium and short term. B. The fundamental strategic issue is which difficult-to- imitate competences and exclusive assets should be acquired and/ or further refined according the inside-out perspective. C.
Positioning of an organization is not related o short term opportunistic behavior, but requires a inside-out strategic perspective because superior market positions are difficult to attain. D. It is important that an organization commits itself to the long-term development of only a limited set of proponents of the dynamic capabilities argument. 16. Which of the following statements are true? l. Strategic development, pricing and purchasing are types of inside-out processes. II. Market sensing can be a distinctive capability A. Statement I is true, statement II is false B. Statement I is false, statement II is true C.
Both statements are false D. Both statements are true 17. What is not a distinctive characteristic of a specific resource that helps an organization to achieve a competitive advantage according Barney (1991) as described in the book by De Wit and Meyer (2010)? A. Resources must be imitable B. Resources must be valuable C. Resource must be rare D. Resources must be difficult to be substituted 18. Which statement about deliberate strategies is incorrect according De Wit and Meyer 2010? A. Deliberate strategy is intentional and can influence the pattern of actions that a firm undertakes B.
Deliberate strategies are intentional and can rovoke an entire new strategy C. Deliberate strategies are always realized strategies D. Deliberateness refers to the quality of acting intentionally 19. What is not a relational actor according de Wit and Meyer (2010)? A. Buyers B. Suppliers C. Employees D. Lobbyists 20. By collaborating, organizations can achieve specific cooperative objectives. What is not a main objective according de Wit and Meyer (2010)? A. By collaborating firms can leverage their resources. B. By collaborating firms can integrate activities. C. By collaborating firms can learn from each other. D.
By collaborating firms can align positions. 1 . Organizations are able to achieve sustainable competitive advantages by collaborating. When organizations collaborate they are in the position to conduct leaning and lobbying of businesses. These two aspects reap mutual benefits. To Integrating activities B. Aligning positions C. Leveraging resources D. Accessing knowledge and innovation 22. Organizations are able to achieve sustainable competitive advantages by linking and lumping of businesses. These two aspects reap mutual benefits. To which inter-organizational cooperation objective do these two factors belong? A.
Integrating activities D. Accessing knowledge and innovate 23. What is not a category for relational factors as mentioned in the book by de Wit and Meyer (2010)? A. Legitimacy B. Urgency C. Frequency D. Hostility E. Power 24. When a small firm is ” locked in” in an alliance with a large partner (a competitor) and they both cannot easily leave the alliance without serious repercussions? How would you categorize this relationship? A. Mutual dependence B. Mutual independence C. Unbalanced independence D. Unbalanced dependence 25. What is not a non-contractual arrangement? A. Lobbying coalition B. Communities of practice C.
New product equity Joint venture D. Cross-selling deal 26. What is not an ex ante governance process in strategic alliances? : A. Negotiations between partners B. Searching for a partner C. Managing the business 27. Which two main roles does a board of directors do in a Joint venture? A. Monitoring and advising B. Monitoring and reviewing C. Controlling and monitoring D. Advising and reviewing A. Misappropriation of knowledge (stealing of knowledge) B. Shirking (not doing the Job that was initially negotiated) C. Providing inferior products/ knowledge D. Witholding/ distorting sensitive information E. Cancelling the collaboration 29.
Which of the following statement(s) is/are true with regards to the paper by Harzing (2002): “Acquisition versus Greenfield investments: International strategy and management of entry modes”? A. Compared to Greenfields, acquisitions were allowed to operate more independently with lower levels of control exercised. B. A lower number of expatriates was observed in Greenfield operations. C. The results show that Greenfields are displaying a higher level of local responsiveness in the form of local production and R and the modifications of products compared to acquisitions. D. All of the above statements are false.
E. All of the above statements are true. 30. Harzing (2002) in her paper “Acquisition versus Greenfield investments: International strategy and management of entry modes” discusses the following. In an international setting, subsidiaries are confronted with an external environment that could include parent and host government, local interest groups and other organizations, which may be subsidiaries of other MNCs, but also with pressures from within the organization. These subsidiaries experience a degree of homogenization in which they adapt to the pressures in the local market and intra- organizational pressures.
How do we call such a process? A. Isomorphism B. Absorptive capacity C. Due diligence D. Firm specific advantage adaptation processes E. Crowding out effects 31 . Hill, Hwang and Kim (1990) in their paper “An eclectic theory of the choice international entry mode’ argue that firms have more control when they use a entry mode. Which statement below is ranked from low control to high control according the opinion of the authors? A. Exporting, Licensing, Wholly Owned Subsidiary B. Joint venture, Exporting, Wholly Owned Subsidiary C. Licensing, Wholly Owned Subsidiary, Exporting D.
Joint Venture, Wholly Owned Subsidiary, Exporting nternational entry mode’ argue that the risk to lose proprietary information (risk of dissemination) is highest when firms undertake a specific entry mode. What is this entry mode? A. Licensing B. Wholly Owned Subsidiary C. Exporting D. None of the Above 33. What is corporate diversification? A. A corporation enters another line of business by starting up new activities via internal growth or acquisitions. B. A corporation enters a new product and so ‘diversifies’ its product portfolio C. A corporation decides to expand the cultural diversity of the management team to become more innovative.
D. A corporation ecides to split itself up and serves two different markets. 34. What is not a key integration mechanism according to De Wit and Meyer (2010): A. Centralizing B. Coordinating C. Standardizing D. Controlling 35. What are the two organizational means available to secure effective deployment of integration mechanisms according De Wit and Meyer (2010)? A. Control and Cooperation B. Control and Standardization C. Centralization and Cooperation D. Centralization and Control 36. What does the ‘better-off-test’ do according to Porter (1987)? A. Firms should only enter new businesses if it is possible to create significant synergies.
If this is not done, they are not better off. B. Firms should not overpay for a specific business, otherwise they should do the activity themselves. If this is not the case, they are better off. C. Firms should only enter businesses where there is a possibility to build up a competitive position. Otherwise they are not better off. D. Firms should choose a successful collaborating partner. If they cannot find such a partner they should pursue the activity themselves, otherwise they are not better off. 37. What is indirect exporting? A. Indirect exporting is selling your products directly to the end consumer B.
Indirect exporting implies that there is not a direct link between the customer and the producer. C. Indirect exporting is selling and delivering a product in a particular country (e. g. India) but shipping the product first to China first and then to India to avoid corporate taxes. D. Indirect exporting is buying a product from an agent in a 38. What is not a strategic alliance? A. Buyer / supplier partnerships B. Technical collaborations C. Joint research projects D. Joint Ventures E. An acquisition ofa business unit. 39. What is not an international strategy as identified by Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989)? A.
Multi-domestic strategy B. Transnational strategy C. Segmentation strategy D. Global strategy E. International Strategy 40. An international strategy implies? A. Low cost pressures, but high local responsiveness B. High cost pressures, but low local responsiveness C. Low cost pressures, low local responsiveness D. High cost pressures, high local responsiveness Open ended questions: 1 . Conduct a strategic analysis of the PC division for Apple Inc and develop and argue your conclusions. (20 pts) 2. Develop strategic options and develop a long term future strategy for the PC division for Apple Inc. (5 pts) -THE END –
