Chapter 11

This activity contains 12 questions.

Emergent strategy comes about through:

A) Implementing new ideas.

B) Leveraging core competences into new markets.
C) Strategic plans.
D) Everyday routines, activities and processes in organisations.

Organisations in complex situations are most likely to succeed if

they use:
A) Top down strategic planning.
B) Strategies which have been successful in the past.
C) Different processes for different purposes.
D) Different processes for different purposes and different strategy
development roles at different organisational levels.

The Bower-Burgelman explanation of strategy development is:

A) Strategy develops as the outcome of the taken-for-granted

assumptions and behaviours in organisations.
B) Strategy develops as the outcome of processes of bargaining an
negotiation among powerful internal or external interest groups (or
stakeholders).
C) Strategy develops as the outcome of logical incrementalism - the
deliberate development of strategy by experimentation and learning from
partial commitments.
D) Strategy develops as the outcome of resource allocation routines in
organisations.

Externally imposed strategy is:

A) Reacting to threats in the environment.

B) Reacting to opportunities in the environment.
C) Reacting to threats and opportunities in the environment.
D) The imposition of strategy by powerful external stakeholders.

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 Chapter 11

Strategies most often develop in organisations through:

A) Formal strategic planning processes.

B) Through a process of learning by doing, often known as "logical
incremental".
C) As the outcome of cultural and political processes in the organisation.
D) Through multiple processes which vary according to the type of
organisation and the context of that organisation.

An organisational paradigm is:

A) The cultural equivalent of the intended strategy of the organisation.

B) The taken for granted assumptions and beliefs of members of the
organisation.
C) The aspects of the culture of the organisation as described by the
cultural web.
D) The mission or vision of the organisation.

The term 'strategic drift' means:

A) The loss of market share of an organisation.

B) The organisation's strategy has gradually moved away from being
relevant to the forces at work in the environment.
C) A downturn in financial performance of the organisation.
D) The over-diversification of an organisation.

In terms of strategy development logical incrementalism refers

to:
A) The deliberate development of strategy by experimentation and
learning from partial commitments.
B) The utilization by top managers of a mixture of formal and informal
social and political processes to draw together an emerging pattern of
strategies from these subsystems.
C) Systematized, step-by-step, chronological procedures to develop or
coordinate an organisation's strategy.
D) Experimentation with side bet ventures and allowing developments to
emerge from subsystems.

Which of the following best describes an 'intended' strategy?

A) An expression of desired strategic direction deliberately formulated or

planned by managers.
B) A strategic direction that emerges from a stream of decisions.
C) An expression of desired strategic direction deliberately formulated or
planned by managers that is realised in the fullness of time.
D) A strategy that is the product of competitive pressure.

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The purpose of strategic planning systems are:

A) To assist in the communication, co-ordination and control of strategy.

B) Develop ownership of the strategy.
C) To provide a structured means of analysing and thinking about complex
strategic problems and expanding the planning horizons of strategists.
D) All of the above.

One of the dangers in the formalisation of strategic planning is:

A) That it stifles communication, coordination and control of strategy.

B) That it often does not take sufficiently into account cultural and political
dimensions in the development of strategy.
C) It does not facilitate the most efficient allocation of resources.
D) Planning systems result in too many new ideas being promoted in the
organization.

A learning organisation requires:

A) A stable hierarchy.
B) A questioning culture.
C) A shared vision and culture which is challenging and questioning.
D) Knowledge management systems

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