E3 E3 Strategic Management Questions and Answers

TTT is a software design company which has grown successfully over the last 8 years. It has been highly innovative and often collaborates with a number of external partners to produce high quality, innovative software for a wide range of customers.

TTT's owner, K, has been a driving force behind its success. He spends a great deal of time analysing what is happening in the marketplace and trying to predict what customers need from TTT, through a network of industry contacts. He has a strong vision for TTT and communicates this, with conviction, to his staff in regular face to face meetings. He recognises and rewards his staff when new developments are undertaken and completed successfully and believes that if staff feel appreciated, then they will be more motivated to succeed. 

Which THREE of the following skills for a leader in a change adept Organization does K demonstrate?

Which of the following statements are consistent with an effective strategic approach to supply chain management within a manufacturing Organization?

Select ALL that apply.

Your management team is considering using Porter's Value Chain to assist it in developing a new competitive strategy for the business.

Which THREE of the following statements would inform your management team about Porter's Value Chain?

PPP wishes to increase shareholder value using the Seven Value Drivers identified in Shareholder Value Analysis (SVA). Place the correct direction of change next to each driver.

Place the correct label against each of the descriptors for the main principles of the UK Corporate Governance Code.

BBB is a manufacturer that has been criticized in the financial press because it does not have a policy for sustainability.

Which THREE of the following elements would be crucial to BBB successfully embedding sustainability into its activities? (Choose three.)

STU is a hospital that is wholly funded by its national government. In the last five years it has seen its funding cut by over 30% due to budgetary pressure on the government, caused by a global recession. As a result, the senior management team of STU has had to make some very difficult decisions about prioritizing how it spends the funds it receives from the government. Its main strategies have been to reduce the number of administration staff and nursing staff by 20%, in order to reduce its costs. It has also stopped providing a number of services to patients, including its counselling services and its physiotherapy unit.

Which of the following strategies has STU adopted to manage its reduced funding? (Choose all that apply.)

VWX is a successful airline with a proven record in successfully exploiting the resources it obtains. Which of the following might create an additional Core Competence for VWX?

AB is a global car manufacturer. Management has agreed to spend $20 million on researching a new type of engine that uses liquid hydrogen to power the car. It believes it is important for AB to take a first step in developing this radical and uncertain new technology.

The $20 million will finance the research only and the program will last two years. Providing the research is successful, after two years it would cost a further $40 million to develop a car to sell. This development would take a further three years. Management is concerned that the international car market may not be willing to buy hydrogen powered cars for at least six years from now.

Which of the following options would NOT be available to AB after two years?

QR is a conglomerate with two divisions, A and B. Given the information below, select the most appropriate strategy for each division to implement.

CCC has been given permission by the local government authority to build 500 houses and this will be a very profitable project for CCC. An animal charity is opposed to the building of the houses as fields where animals live will be built on.  Some people living nearest to the area of the proposed building are in favour because it will stimulate the local economy. Other people living near the area of the proposed development are opposed to it because their view will be spoiled. Which of the following activities should CCC undertake to resolve the stakeholders' competing objectives?

Which THREE of the following are valid reasons to follow a Corporate Social Responsibility strategy?

HHH is a teaching Organization. HHH has begun to employ virtual reality to train the customers on its courses in how to perform complex manual tasks such as repairing machinery.

Which activity in Porter's Value Chain has been impacted by HHH's use of virtual reality?

Rosabeth Kanter suggested that Organizations which managed change successfully ('change adept' Organizations) share three key attributes.

Which THREE of the following are the key attributes of change adept Organizations, suggested by Kanter?

PQR is a charity which has an excellent reputation within its home country. PQR employs over 300 highly experienced staff and has 200 skilled volunteers. PQR's funding mainly comes from donations from the public but its public profile is low compared to larger, more publicized charities.

Due to a recent recession, public donations to PQR have fallen in the last five years, but demand for its services continues to grow.

The government of the country in which PQR operates is encouraging greater collaboration between charities and there have been several recent successful mergers within the charity sector. PQR has recently been approached by a high profile and well funded charity, DDD, with a merger proposal. DDD offers complementary services to those offered by PQR.

Which TWO of the following factors would most likely be considered as an ’opportunity’ for PQR? (Choose two.)

Which of the following is NOT a key attribute of a successful stretch target?

The Board of a supermarket chain has decided that to compete more effectively against its competitors, it needs to change its strategy and pursue a differentiation-focus strategy. The Board's aim is to pursue differentiation to attract customers who have a higher disposable income and want to buy luxury food and other goods.

Which statements are valid for this differentiation-focus strategy? 

Select ALL that apply.

PQR is evaluating the use of scenario planning to improve its organisational foresight.

Which THREE of the following are advantages of scenario planning?

YC is a government funded hospital specialising in degenerative hearing conditions YC is renowned for it's pioneering work resolving chronic ear problems and has, in the last year, conducted a record number of operations and achieved high levels of success. The excellent reputation of YC has led to high demand and a considerable strain on resources

Although last year the average cost per patient fell, and success rates far exceeded targets, overall spend increased significantly. YC hospital is expected to provide value for money (VFM). Which aspect of VFM has YC NOT managed to achieve in the last year?

Which of the following correctly defines Information Systems (IS) strategy?

According to Porter's Five Forces model, which of the following would be evidence of high buyer power?

You have been asked to advise a junior member of your team what qualities they should look for when identifying a coach or mentor to work with.

Place the qualities associated with effective coaching and mentoring next to the relevant statements below.

E is a company run by a well balanced Board of Directors. E is performing well, but is looking to reduce costs in the current year Which of the following activities would lack integrity'' Select ALL that apply.

Information regarding two potential investments, that do not provide initial, valuable positive NPV opportunities, is outlined below:

• Y is a telecoms company, considering paying a premium for a Chinese telecoms company which has exclusive rights to service a large segment of the Chinese market, currently worth $123 billion in total The exclusive rights cover 25% of the market

• Z is a developed market retailer, considering paying a premium for an Indian retail company in the belief that the market is going to continue to be

lucrative and grow by 8% per annum for the foreseeable future The current market is worth $600 billion and the company currently has 12% of the total market.

Which of the following statements regarding sustainable excess returns for the above real options is true1?

A is a private healthcare organization aiming to provide affordable and accessible high quality patient services. A is introducing Big Data, which has not yet been adopted by the competition. A's database will store a huge amount of information about its patients. Clear access to wide sources of accurate information will enable patients to make more informed choices. Patients will be able to compare not only the prices of drugs, treatments and physicians but also their relative effectiveness.

Which of the following concerns should A have about its use of Big Data?

Which THREE of the following issues relate to the Corporate Strategy of an organization? (Choose three.)

CIMA has described the two roles of enterprise governance as 'preventing failure' and 'ensuring success'. CIMA sees 'preventing failure' as being related to having proper risk management and corporate governance procedures in place. CIMA sees 'ensuring success' as being concerned with the practise of strategic management.

Which THREE of the following responsibilities of senior management are essential to 'ensuring success' for the Organization?

S is a hybrid car manufacturer. S relies on strong social media presence and online marketing campaigns to drive customers to its website. S prioritises measuring and improving active usage metrics.

Which of the following metrics does S prioritise?

Select ALL that apply.

PPP is a state owned national railway operator. It has many divisions, each focusing on specific areas of the country.

PPP's mission statement is 'to provide a safe, punctual and reliable public transport service at lowest cost to its passengers and the government'.

Which THREE of the following divisional performance measures should PPP adopt?

A large sporting event is due to take place in Country P next year and a project team has been set up to market the event.  The project team recognises that a focus upon effective relationships with a range of key customer markets is critical to the success of the event. These key relationships need to be developed with the spectators, the broadcasting companies televising the event,  the agents who are selling the tickets for the event and the key human resource providers such as the security companies involved in ensuring the overall security of the event.

Which of the following would be the correct classification of the broadcasting companies televising the sporting event, using Payne's 'six markets model' classifications?

Which of the following techniques is concerned with evaluating the interrelationships between the competitive moves of a set of competing organisations?

In order to implement a knowledge management strategy, an Organization must acquire suitable hardware and software so that knowledge can be stored and communicated. Which of the following would be appropriate systems to use in a knowledge management strategy?

Select ALL that apply.

Which of the following is a direct external change trigger?

Which of the following distinguishes a learning curve effect from a learning Organization?

BCD is an independent training provider in Country P. It provides training to a wide range of corporate customers in business related subjects. All of its tutors must possess a nationally accredited training qualification before they are allowed to teach. Also, all of its courses follow nationally accredited programs and are externally monitored. This is considered to be a critical aspect of its business reputation.

BCD  has one major competitor, JKL, within Country P. JKL offers similar courses to BCD but its tutors do not have to have an accredited training qualification. In addition its courses do not follow the national accredited programs and the content and style of courses varies significantly between JKL centres. 

There are a number of universities which offer nationally accredited courses within Country P. BCD does not consider these as competitors, as they typically attract students wishing to undertake degree courses. The average university pass rate for nationally accredited programs is currently higher than BCD's

Which of the following types of benchmarking would be most useful for BCD?

XYZ is a manufacturer of garden tools.  It has defined 'Excellence of Manufacture' as a Critical Success Factor. Which THREE of the following would be appropriate to use as Key Performance Indicators in respect of this Critical Success Factor?.

RRR is a medium sized company, which has built family homes in Country В for twenty years. The Board of RRR wishes to expand company operations and start building homes in the neighboring country. The Board of RRR wishes to undertake a position audit to help in this decision.

Which of the following strategic analysis tools would be used in a position audit for RRR?

Porter suggests that competitive advantage can be attained by organising value-adding activities in support of the generic strategies which he identified.

Place the appropriate generic strategy against each of the value-adding activities.

ZZZ recently hired a new Chief Executive, Q, to lead it through a period of major change. Q immediately set up a change management team which consisted of several senior managers and directors from across the Organization. Together, they formulated an overall goal for change and then spent several weeks presenting the need for change to all of the staff  through a series of staff meetings. At these meetings Q involved staff and built their ideas into the final change strategy.

Q also set a series of interim goals to encourage ongoing performance throughout the change process. When the Organization reached these goals, she widely publicised these achievements to help motivate staff. 

However, after six months, ZZZ had failed to reach most of the interim goals that had been set. Most of the members of the change management team had not maintained a significant interest in the change process and many of the staff felt that there had been a lack of communication and reward following the initial few weeks of the change process.

Kotter suggested that there were eight steps required to successfully lead change.

Which TWO of the following of these eight steps did Q fail to achieve?