Strategic Management Revision Questions for Final Exam

Prepared by: Assistant Professor Dr. Khaled Bekhet, 2018

1. Distinguish between the three Corporate Directional Strategies giving examples of strategies
in each direction.
2. Which factors increase the likelihood of a company to use vertical integration strategies?
distinguish between the different levels of vertical integration (Full, Taper, Quasi, and long term
contracts) with example of each.
3. Write a short note on concentric diversification and conglomerate diversification.
4. Discuss main reasons why 60% -80% of mergers or acquisitions fail.
5. What is meant by the term “Multipoint competition”, give example?
6. Developing and implementing a portfolio strategy for each business unit and a corporate
policy for managing all the alliances of the entire company are crucial to the success or failure
of the company. Comment on this statement to explain the tasks necessary for Managing a
Strategic Alliance Portfolio
7. Discuss the differences between a merger, acquisition and hostile takeover.
8. Discuss what is meant by corporate parenting, what are the required steps for a company to
develop a corporate parenting strategy?
9. The BCG (Growth-Share) Matrix is old but has stood the test of time. How significant and
practicably usable is it today, explain the limitation of using this technique.
10. Financial strategies should be carefully planned, distinguish between Leveraged buyout and
Reverse stock split.
11. There are many choices for a company to deal with R&D strategy; it can be either a
technological leader, or a technological follower, or an open innovation company. Comment on
this statement to enumerate the difference between each approach.
12. What is the difference between outsourcing and offshoring?
13. What is the difference between Multiple sourcing, Sole sourcing, and Parallel sourcing?
14. Enumerate the Errors & Disadvantages of Outsourcing?
15. Several strategies that could be considered corporate, business or functional are very
dangerous. Managers who have made poor analyses or lack creativity may be trapped into
considering some of the strategies to avoid. Comment on this statement.
16. If there is little fit between corporate strategy and corporate culture, what are the critical
decisions the management must investigate?
17. A common misbelief is that downsizing action is a response of a failing organization,
downsizing is associated with the idea of business process reengineering and can be used to
sustain competitive advantage? Comment on this statement.
18. What are the Common Strategy Implementation Problems?
19. Tactics are Specific operating plans detailing how a strategy is to be implemented in terms
of when and where it is to be put into action. What are the different timing and market location
tactics?
20. What are the different offensive tactics a company can use to attack a competitor’s
position?
21. According to Goold and Campbell, synergy can take place in one of six forms. Explain
22. In a classic study of large U.S. corporations such as DuPont, General Motors, Sears and
Standard Oil, Alfred Chandler concluded that structure follows strategy—that is, changes in
corporate strategy lead to changes in organizational structure. In light of this statement
enumerate What is the particular sequence proposed by Chandler of what occurs?
23. Successful, large conglomerate organizations have tended to follow a pattern of structural
development as they grow and expand. What are the different patterns of the development of
corporate structure? What are the external and internal challenges that may block this
development?
24. Entrepreneurs who start businesses generally have four tendencies that work very well for
small new ventures but become Achilles’ heels for these same individuals when they try to
manage a larger firm with diverse needs, departments, priorities and constituencies. Comment
on this statement
25. What is meant by the term “Business Process Re-Engineering”, and what are the principles
that support this process?
26. What is synergy? According to Goold and Campbell, what are the six forms it can take?
27. What are Hofstede's dimensions of national culture?
28. Executives with a particular mix of skills and experiences may be classified as an executive
type and paired with a specific corporate strategy. What are the different executive types that
might change with the development stage of the company?
29. What are some of the approaches a company can take to identify and prepare its people for
important positions?
30. Distinguish between behavior and output controls. Provide examples of each
31. List the five-step feedback model of the evaluation and control process
32. What is the most commonly used measure of corporate performance (in terms of profits)?
Discuss the limitations of using this measure.
33. What is executive succession? Discuss the hiring of insiders versus outsiders
34. What is ERP? What are the three reasons why ERP could fail?
35. What is the balanced scorecard? What are the four areas to be addressed?
36. Discuss the guidelines for proper control.
37. What is the difference between EVA and MVA?
38. Discuss the steps of benchmarking process.