Executive Decision Making Question
Bank
Course Introduction
Executive Decision Making explores the processes and frameworks used by leaders to make effective, strategic choices in complex organizational environments. The course examines key psychological principles, analytical tools, and ethical considerations that influence decision-making at the executive level, including risk assessment, problem-solving, and stakeholder analysis. Through case studies and practical simulations, students learn to navigate uncertainty, balance competing interests, and develop sound judgment to drive organizational success.
Recommended Textbook
Crafting and Executing Strategy Concepts and Cases 20th Edition by Arthur Thompson
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12 Chapters
1261 Verified Questions
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Chapter 1: What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important
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Sample Questions
Q1) A regional electric scooter manufacturer sells its scooter at a lower price than other two-wheeler manufacturers.What will make the product most attractive for customers?
A) low profit
B) high value
C) high cost
D) low value
E) low cost
Answer: B
Q2) A laptop manufacturing company acquires a microprocessors manufacturing company to gain a strong market position.Which of the five generic strategies has the laptop manufacturer used to gain competitive advantage?
Answer: The laptop manufacturing company has employed an integration strategy to gain more market share and also to manufacture products at a lower cost.It has employed a low-cost provider strategy that allows it to achieve a cost-based advantage over rivals.Wal-Mart and Southwest Airlines have earned strong market positions because of the low-cost advantages they have achieved over their rivals.Low-cost provider strategies can produce a durable competitive edge when rivals find it hard to match the low-cost leader's approach to driving costs out of the business.
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain why a company's strategy is really a collection of strategies. Answer: Ideally,the pieces of a company's strategy up and down the strategy hierarchy should be cohesive and mutually reinforcing,fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle.It is the responsibility of top executives to achieve this unity by clearly communicating the company's vision,objectives,and major strategy components to down-the-line managers and key personnel.Midlevel and frontline managers cannot craft unified strategic moves without first understanding the company's long-term direction and knowing the major components of the corporate and/or business strategies that their strategy-making efforts are supposed to support and enhance.Anything less than a unified collection of strategies weakens the overall strategy and is likely to impair company performance.Thus,as a general rule,strategy making must start at the top of the organization and then proceed downward from the corporate level to the business level and then from the business level to the associated functional and operating levels.Once strategies up and down the hierarchy have been created,lower-level strategies must be scrutinized for consistency with and support of higher-level strategies.Any strategy conflicts must be addressed and resolved,either by modifying the lower-level strategies with conflicting elements or by adapting the higher-level strategy to accommodate what may be more appealing strategy ideas and initiatives bubbling up from below.
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Chapter 3: Evaluating a Companys External Environment
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT a major question to ask in thinking strategically about industry and competitive conditions in a given industry?
A) How many companies in the industry have good track records for revenue growth and profitability?
B) What strategic moves are rivals likely to make next?
C) What are the industry's key factors for future competitive success?
D) Is the outlook for the industry conducive to providing attractive profitability?
E) What are the driving forces in the industry,and what impact will these changes have on competitive intensity and industry profitability?
Answer: A
Q2) Which of the following is generally NOT considered a barrier to entry?
A) Restrictive regulatory policies
B) High capital requirements
C) Strong brand preferences
D) Many industry patents in place
E) Weak "network effects" in customer demand
Answer: E
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Chapter 4: Evaluating a Companys Resources, Capabilities, and Competitiveness
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107 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A company's resources and capabilities represent:
A) the firm's net working capital and related determinants for measuring operating performance and capabilities.
B) the firm's competitive assets,which are considered determinants of its competitiveness and ability to succeed in the marketplace.
C) whether the firm has the industry's most efficient value chain.
D) the management's source of funding of new strategic initiatives.
E) positive trends with relevant cultural factors related to buyers' choices and product modifications
Q2) The most difficult part of benchmarking is:
A) the decision of whether to do it at all.
B) how to gain access to information regarding rivals' practices and costs.
C) when to initiate the process.
D) what information to utilize in the analysis process.
E) when to stop the process and move forward with strategy.
Q3) In conducting a SWOT analysis,is it enough to simply compile lists of the company's strengths,weaknesses,opportunities,and threats? Why or why not?
Q4) Explain why a weighted competitive strength assessment is important.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: The Five Generic Competitive Strategies
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Sample Questions
Q1) An example of how companies can revamp their value chain to reduce costs is to:
A) have suppliers locate their plants close to companies' own facilities.
B) continue to utilize traditional methods of distribution and sales.
C) not make any changes in product manufacturing but change end distribution methods.
D) increase extra services to increase staffing requirements.
E) facilitate the learning curve by providing superior training to new employees.
Q2) What are the five generic competitive strategies? Briefly describe each one and identify the type of competitive advantage that each strategy is aimed at achieving.
Q3) What are the distinctive features of a broad differentiation strategy? Under what circumstances is a broad differentiation strategy appealing?
Q4) The target market of a best-cost provider is:
A) value-conscious buyers.
B) brand-conscious buyers.
C) price-sensitive buyers.
D) middle-income buyers.
E) young adults (in the 18-35 age group).
Q5) What are the keys to sustaining a focused low-cost strategy?
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Chapter 6: Strengthening a Companys Competitive Position
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Sample Questions
Q1) When firms are involved in a mix of in-house and outsourced activity in any given stage of the vertical chain,it is called:
A) tapered integration.
B) partial integration.
C) full integration.
D) forward integration.
E) backward integration.
Q2) Vertical integration can lower costs by:
A) expanding supplier power.
B) facilitating the coordination of production flows and avoiding bottlenecks.
C) establishing the framework for operating.
D) creating control factors across the value chain.
E) accommodating shifting buyer preferences.
Q3) The range of product and service segments that the firm serves within its market is known as the firm's:
A) horizontal scope.
B) vertical integration.
C) vertical scope.
D) product outsourcing.
E) joint venture partnership.
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Chapter 7: Strategies for Competing in International Markets
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why does a U.S.company exporting wooden furniture manufactured in Malaysia to the European Union benefit from the decline in the value of ringgit against the euro?
A) Because decline in the value of ringgit against euro raises the cost of furniture manufactured in Malaysia,making it less competitive in European markets
B) Because decline in the value of ringgit against euro reduces the cost of furniture manufactured in Malaysia,making it more competitive in European markets
C) Because decline in the value of ringgit against euro has no impact on the cost of furniture manufactured in Malaysia,both in Malaysian or European markets
D) Because decline in the value of ringgit against euro makes European goods more competitive as compared to Malaysian goods
E) Because decline in the value of ringgit against euro makes Malaysian goods less competitive in the U.S.market
Q2) Explain the differences between a "think global,act global" strategy and a "think global,act local" strategy.
Q3) When should a company choose to set up operations from the ground up?
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Corporate Strategy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The decision to pursue diversification requires management to resolve which industries to enter and whether to enter,and includes such decisions as the following,EXCEPT:
A) selecting the appropriate value chain operating practices to improve the financial outlook.
B) starting a business from the ground up.
C) acquiring a company already established in the target industry.
D) forming a joint venture or partnership with another company.
E) structuring a strategic alliance with another company to take advantage of the opportunity.
Q2) Which of the following is a diversified business with one major "core" business and a collection of small related or unrelated businesses?
A) A broadly diversified enterprise
B) A narrowly diversified enterprise
C) A multi-business enterprise
D) A high compensation/low risk enterprise
E) A dominant business enterprise
Q3) What does the industry attractiveness test involve in evaluating a diversified company's business lineup? Why is it relevant?
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility,
Environmental-Sustainability, and Strategy
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Q1) Which of the following is true of ethical relativism?
A) Concepts of ethically right and ethically wrong are relative across countries and cultures but are universal within countries or cultures.
B) Individuals and businesses have a basic right to "moral free space" and it is inappropriate to specify ethically permissible and ethically impermissible actions and behaviors.
C) There are important occasions when local cultural norms and morality and the circumstances of the situation determine whether certain behaviors are right or wrong,for there are no absolutes when it comes to business ethics.
D) Concepts of right and wrong as applied to business situations are always a function of each company's own set of values,beliefs,and ethical convictions (as stated in the company's code of ethical conduct).
E) Standards of what is ethically right and ethically wrong as applied to business behavior are determined solely by whatever business norms prevail in a particular company's home country and are applicable to its operations in all other countries.
Q2) Define and discuss the programs commonly included under a company's corporate social responsibility strategy.
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Page 11
Chapter 10: Building an Organization Capable of Good
Strategy Execution
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Sample Questions
Q1) In formulating an action agenda to implement and execute a new or different strategy,the place for managers to begin is with:
A) the task of revising and enhancing the company's core competencies.
B) choosing which leadership style to employ in trying to carry out the strategy successfully.
C) evaluating whether existing policies and procedures are adequately strategy-supportive.
D) allocating more resources to strategy-critical parts of the business.
E) a probing assessment of what the organization must do differently and better to carry out the strategy successfully.
Q2) A company must do all of the following to match structure to strategy EXCEPT:
A) choose a basic organizational design and modify it to fit the company's particular business.
B) supplement the design structure with coordinating mechanisms.
C) institute networking and communication arrangements to support strategy execution.
D) set up "ideal" organizational arrangements despite having to disturb existing relationships.
E) knit the efforts of outsourced groups together.
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Chapter 11: Managing Internal Operations
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Sample Questions
Q1) A useful guideline in designing strategy-facilitating policies and operating procedures is:
A) to prescribe enough policies to give organizational members clear direction in implementing strategy and to place reasonable boundaries on their actions.This then empowers them to act within these boundaries in pursuit of company goals.
B) that strictly enforced policies work better than loosely enforced policies.
C) that more policies/procedures work better than fewer policies/procedures,and that strict enforcement always beats lax enforcement.
D) to let individuals act in an empowered and self-directed way,subject only to the constraint that their actions and behavior be ethical and in step with the corporate culture.
E) to prescribe enough policies and procedures that little is left to chance in performing value chain activities,and employees should have no leeway to do things in a manner that deviates from the company's best-practices standard.
Q2) The use of incentives and rewards is the single most powerful tool at management's disposal to win strong employee commitment to carrying out the strategic plan.True or false? Explain.
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Corporate Culture and Leadership
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Sample Questions
Q1) A company's culture is in part defined and identified by:
A) its internal work climate and personality-as shaped by its shared values,work practices,traditions,and ingrained attitudes and behaviors that define "how we do things around here."
B) whether it employs a low-cost provider,best-cost provider,differentiation,or focused strategy.
C) whether decision making is centralized or decentralized and whether it is a single-business company or a diversified company.
D) how strongly its strategic vision is linked to its core values.
E) whether it is a well-known industry leader,an up-and-coming company that is gaining market share,a middle-of-the-pack company unlikely to move up in the industry ranks,or an industry also-ran that may or may not survive.
Q2) Identify the characteristics of an unhealthy culture and briefly describe three types of unhealthy cultures that adversely impact the corporate climate and performance.
Q3) What are the distinctive features of high-performance corporate cultures?
Q4) Identify and briefly discuss four steps that managers can take to change a culture that is out of step with the company's strategy.
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