Executive Decision Making
Study Guide Questions
Course Introduction
Executive Decision Making explores the principles, frameworks, and real-world practices that guide high-level choices in complex organizational environments. The course examines how senior leaders identify problems, evaluate alternatives, and implement decisions that affect entire enterprises. Topics include cognitive biases, risk assessment, ethical considerations, group dynamics, and data-driven strategies for improving judgment. Through case studies, simulations, and interactive discussions, students develop critical thinking skills and gain insights into making sound, timely decisions under uncertainty, pressure, and ambiguity.
Recommended Textbook
Strategic Management and Business Policy 13th Edition by Thomas L. Wheelen
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12 Chapters
1260 Verified Questions
1260 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Basic Concepts in Strategic Management
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109 Verified Questions
109 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Strategic management is one decision that determines the short-term performance of a corporation.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Which theory proposes that once an organization is successfully established in a particular environmental niche, it is unable to adapt to changing conditions?
A)population ecology
B)institution
C)citizenship
D)strategic choice
E)organizational learning
Answer: A
Q3) Mintzberg's entrepreneurial mode is sometimes referred to as "muddling through" since this decision- making mode tends to be more reactive than proactive in the search for new opportunities.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Corporate Governance
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97 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements is true regarding the board of directors?
A)The board is charged by law to act with due care.
B)If a director or the board as a whole fails to act with due care and, as a result, the corporation is in some way harmed, the careless director or directors can be held personally liable for the harm done.
C)Director liability insurance is often needed to attract people to become members of boards.
D)Directors must be aware of the needs of various constituent groups to balance all their interests.
E)all of the above
Answer: E
Q2) According to ________ theory, _______ directors tend to identify with the corporation.
A)agency, inside
B)corporate governance; inside
C)stewardship; inside
D)corporate governance; affiliated
E)stewardship; outside
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: Ethics and Social Responsibility in Strategic Management
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97 Verified Questions
97 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to a survey by the Ethics Resource Center, which was not cited as one of the most common questionable behaviors that employees engage in?
A)cutting corners on quality
B)covering up incidents
C)abusing or lying about sick days
D)surfing the web on company time
E)lying to or deceiving customers
Answer: D
Q2) "Let the buyer beware" is a traditional saying in free market capitalism.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) The theory of vital responsibility proposes that a private corporation has responsibilities to society that extend beyond making a profit.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Environmental Scanning and Industry Analysis
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116 Verified Questions
116 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT a major force in the societal environment?
A)political-legal forces
B)labor forces
C)economic forces
D)technological forces
E)sociocultural forces
Q2) A buyer may be powerful when changing suppliers' costs a great deal.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A consolidated industry is dominated by a few large firms, each of which struggles to differentiate its products from the competition.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Statistical modeling is a quantitative forecasting technique that attempts to discover causal or at least explanatory factors that link two or more time series together.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Describe Porter's approach to industry analysis.
Q6) Distinguish between a fragmented and consolidated industry.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Internal Scanning and Organizational Analysis
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109 Verified Questions
109 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT a function of corporate culture?
A)conveys a sense of identity for employees
B)adds to the stability of the organization as a social system
C)helps generate employee commitment to something greater than themselves
D)keeps people guessing about what to do next
E)serves as a frame of reference for employees to use as a guide for appropriate behavior
Q2) When a company's core competencies are superior to those of competitors, these are known as
A)resources.
B)distinctive competencies.
C)core competencies.
D)critical success factors.
E)key performance factors.
Q3) According to Porter, a manufacturing firm's support activities usually begin with inbound logistics, go through an operations process in which a product is manufactured, and continue on to outbound logistics and finally to service.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Strategy Formulation: Situation Analysis and Business Strategy
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104 Verified Questions
104 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) If it is to be successful, Porter advises that a division possess strong marketing abilities, product engineering, a creative flair, strong capability in basic research and a corporate reputation for quality or technological leadership, for which one of the following generic competitive strategies?
A)focus
B)differentiation
C)overall cost leadership
D)vertical growth
E)concentration
Q2) Most entrepreneurial ventures follow
A)differentiation strategies.
B)focus strategies.
C)no strategies.
D)cost leadership strategies.
E)all of the above
Q3) Explain the four combination strategies that may be generated from the TOWS Matrix.
Q4) What is a propitious niche? Provide an example of a firm that has been able to successfully occupy a propitious niche.
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Chapter 7: Strategy Formulation: Corporate Strategy
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103 Verified Questions
103 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Vertical integration is going backward on an industry's value chain.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What are the more popular options for international entry?
Q3) According to the text, 75% of a company's market value is derived from its
A)employees.
B)intangible assets.
C)plant assets.
D)joint ventures.
E)licensing agreements.
Q4) Which kind of corporate strategy deals with the manner in which the firm coordinates activities and transfers resources and cultivates capabilities among product lines and business units?
A)portfolio strategy
B)directional strategy
C)parenting strategy
D)cooperative strategy
E)functional strategy
Q5) What are the three key issues that corporate strategy deals with?
Q6) Discuss the two basic growth strategies.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Strategy Formulation: Functional Strategy and Strategic Choice
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105 Verified Questions
105 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Corporate scenarios are pro forma balance sheets and income statements that forecast the effect each alternative strategy and its various programs will likely have on division and corporate return on investment.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Fujitsu demonstrated a strategy to avoid when it imitated IBM's strategy in 1990.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A flexible manufacturing system is defined by the text as
A)one-of-a-kind production using skilled labor.
B)highly automated assembly lines making one mass-produced product using little human labor.
C)the grouping of parts into manufacturing families to produce a wide variety of mass-produced items.
D)a process utilizing the just-in-time (JIT)method of manufacturing.
Q4) What are the strategies to avoid proposed by the authors?
Q5) Discuss W.Edward Deming's position on sole sourcing.
Page 10
Q6) Distinguish between a market development and a product development strategy.
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Chapter 9: Strategy Implementation: Organizing for Action
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Sample Questions
Q1) Job enlargement is the movement of workers through several jobs to increase variety.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The concept that structure follows strategy was developed by Mintzberg.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A crisis of control may develop in the Stage III divisional structure.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Stage IV of a corporation could involve a pressure-cooker crisis.
A)True
B)False
Q5) How can a corporation's life cycle be extended?
Q6) What is reengineering? What are the principles for reengineering proposed by Michael Hammer?
Q7) Discuss the network structure.
Q8) The first stage of corporate development is simple structure. A)True B)False
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Chapter 10: Strategy Implementation: Staffing and Directing
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107 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What three general practices were identified by Black and Gregersen in companies which do a good job of managing foreign assignments?
Q2) If a planned strategy is NOT compatible with the current culture, but the culture can be easily modified to make it more compatible with the new strategy, what should the organization do?
A)Find a joint-venture partner or contract with another company to carry out the strategy.
B)Implement the new strategy and identify how it is superior to the old strategy.
C)Move forward very carefully by introducing a set of culture-changing activities.
D)Manage around the culture by establishing a new structural unit to implement the new strategy.
E)Move ahead with the incompatible strategy anyway.
Q3) A good retrenchment strategy can be implemented well in terms of organizing, but poorly in terms of staffing.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is executive succession? Discuss the hiring of insiders versus outsiders.
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Chapter 11: Evaluation and Control
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105 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The German company SAP AG originated the concept of ERP with its A)activity-based costing.
B)transfer pricing.
C)spreadsheet software.
D)R/3 software system.
E)transnational software integrator.
Q2) ACB is an accounting method for allocating direct and fixed costs to individual products.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Corporations will emphasize output controls when they are following a strategy of A)conglomerate diversification.
B)concentric diversification.
C)retrenchment.
D)divestment.
E)vertical integration.
Q4) International transfer pricing is primarily used to evaluate performance.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: Suggestions for Case Analysis
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which financial indicator is calculated by the ratio of annual dividends per share to current market price per share?
A)return on equity
B)dividend payout ratio
C)dividend yield on common stock
D)price/earnings ratio
E)debt to equity ratio
Q2) Which financial ratio measures the company's ability to pay off its short-term obligations from current assets, excluding inventories?
A)quick ratio
B)current ratio
C)cash ratio
D)strategic ratio
E)inventory ratio
Q3) One way to adjust for inflation for global operations outside the United States is to use the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
A)True
B)False
Q4) What are constant dollars and why are they important?
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