Strategic Management

"According to Wheelen and Hunger, what is 'Strategic Management'?"

"A set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-term performance of a corporation."

"What are the five types of organizational resources mentioned in Unit 1?"

"People, money, technology, time, and information."

"The historical development of practices and frameworks to achieve long-term objectives is known as the _____ of strategic management."

"Evolution"

"Which era of strategic management evolution focused on Michael Porter's Five Forces and competitive advantage?"

"The Growth of Competitive Strategy (1970s)."

"What is the primary focus of the 'Modern Strategic Management' era (2010s–Present)?"

"Sustainability, stakeholder engagement, digital transformation, and data analytics."

"Define strategic management in one line."

"Continuous process of formulating, implementing, and evaluating cross-functional decisions to achieve long-term goals."

"What are the four basic elements of the strategic management process?"

"Environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and evaluation & control."

"Define 'vision' in strategic management."

"A forward-looking statement of what an organization aspires to become in the long term."

"State any two importance of vision."

"Provides direction and inspires/motivates employees toward common long-term goals."

"Define 'mission' statement."

"A statement of the organization's purpose — what it does, for whom, and why it exists."

"Differentiate vision from mission."

"Vision is future aspiration (where)

"What is strategic mission?"

"A declaration of an organization's core purpose and scope of operations guiding strategy."

"Define 'objectives' in strategy."

"Specific measurable end results an organization plans to achieve within a time frame."

"What is meant by 'goals'?"

"Broad open-ended statements of desired outcomes the organization wants to attain."

"Differentiate goals from objectives."

"Goals are broad and qualitative

"What is strategy?"

"A unified, integrated plan of action to achieve organizational objectives and gain competitive advantage."

"What is policy?"

"A broad guideline for decision-making that links strategy formulation to implementation."

"What is a program in strategy implementation?"

"A statement of activities or steps needed to accomplish a single-use plan."

"What is a budget in strategic context?"

"A statement of programs in monetary terms used for planning and control."

"Define 'procedure' in implementation."

"Sequential steps describing how a particular task is to be performed."

"Show the relationship between leadership and management."

"Management focuses on planning, organizing, and controlling

"What is strategic leadership?"

"Ability to anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility, and empower others to create strategic change."

"Enlist any three leadership capabilities supporting strategy implementation."

"Visionary thinking, effective communication, and ability to motivate/empower employees."

"What are the three levels of strategy?"

"Corporate level, business level, and functional level."

"What is corporate-level strategy?"

"Strategy that determines the overall scope and direction of the corporation — what businesses to be in."

"What is business-level strategy?"

"Strategy that focuses on how to compete successfully in a particular market or industry."

"What is functional-level strategy?"

"Strategy focused on specific functional areas like marketing, HR, finance, and operations to support business strategy."

"Define 'competitive advantage'."

"An attribute or capability that allows a firm to outperform its competitors and create superior value."

"Define 'distinctive competency'."

"A unique strength or capability that a firm possesses which competitors cannot easily imitate."

"What is 'core competency'?"

"Collective learning and skills that distinguish a firm and provide competitive advantage across multiple products."

"Define 'hypercompetition'."

"A condition of rapidly escalating competition based on price-quality, know-how, and deep pockets where advantages are quickly eroded."

"What is the resource-based view (RBV) of strategy?"

"View that competitive advantage stems from a firm's unique, valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable resources."

"List the VRIO framework criteria."

"Value, Rarity, Imitability, Organization."

"What is environmental scanning?"

"Process of monitoring, evaluating, and disseminating information from external and internal environments to key people in the firm."

"Why is environmental scanning important?"

"Helps identify opportunities/threats, anticipate change, and make informed strategic decisions."

"Name two commonly used techniques for environmental analysis."

"PESTLEG (PESTEL) analysis and SWOT analysis."

"Define PESTLEG analysis."

"Framework analyzing Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental, and Global factors of the external environment."

"What does SWOT stand for?"

"Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats."

"Differentiate general and task environment."

"General environment affects all firms broadly (PESTLEG)

"Name two components of task environment."

"Customers and suppliers (also competitors, regulators)."

"What are components of the internal environment of a firm?"

"Structure, culture, resources (human, financial, physical, informational), and capabilities."

"What is scenario planning?"

"A strategic technique of developing multiple plausible future scenarios to prepare flexible strategies."

"Explain briefly about benchmarking."

"Process of comparing a firm's processes/performance with industry best practices to identify improvements."

"What are types of benchmarking?"

"Internal, competitive, functional, and generic benchmarking."

"What is competitor analysis?"

"Process of identifying competitors' objectives, strategies, strengths, weaknesses, and likely responses."

"Why is competitor analysis important in strategic management?"

"Helps anticipate competitor moves, exploit weaknesses, defend against threats, and position effectively."

"What is Porter's Five Forces model used for?"

"To analyze industry attractiveness and competitive intensity to inform strategy."

"Enlist Porter's Five Forces."

"Threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitutes, and rivalry among existing competitors."

"How can Porter's Five Forces evaluate attractiveness of a new industry?"

"Assessing each force reveals profit potential

"What is value chain analysis?"

"Framework breaking firm activities into primary and support activities to identify sources of value and competitive advantage."

"List Porter's primary value chain activities."

"Inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing & sales, and service."

"List Porter's support activities in value chain."

"Firm infrastructure, human resource management, technology development, and procurement."

"What is product feature analysis?"

"Technique evaluating attributes of a product against competitors to identify differentiation opportunities."

"How does product feature analysis help businesses?"

"Helps improve design, target customer needs, differentiate offerings, and guide R&D priorities."

"Define strategic information system (SIS)."

"Information system designed to support and shape a firm's competitive strategy and decision-making."

"What is industry life cycle?"

"Stages an industry passes through: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline."

"Describe the stages of the industry life cycle."

"Introduction (slow growth), Growth (rapid expansion), Maturity (slow growth, intense rivalry), Decline (falling demand)."

"What is strategy formulation?"

"Process of developing long-term plans for managing environmental opportunities and threats given organizational strengths and weaknesses."

"Why is strategy formulation important?"

"Provides direction, allocates resources efficiently, aligns goals, and builds competitive advantage."

"What is SWOT analysis?"

"A strategic tool evaluating internal Strengths and Weaknesses with external Opportunities and Threats."

"What is the TOWS matrix?"

"An extended SWOT matching tool generating SO, ST, WO, and WT strategies."

"Explain Porter's generic competitive strategies."

"Cost leadership, differentiation, and focus (cost focus & differentiation focus) — strategies firms use to gain competitive advantage."

"What is cost leadership strategy?"

"Strategy of becoming the lowest-cost producer in the industry while maintaining acceptable quality."

"What is differentiation strategy?"

"Offering unique products or services valued by customers that justify a premium price."

"What is focus strategy?"

"Concentrating on a narrow market segment with either cost focus or differentiation focus."

"What is 'stuck in the middle'?"

"A firm that fails to pursue any one generic strategy clearly, resulting in below-average performance."

"What is the BCG matrix?"

"A portfolio analysis tool plotting business units on market growth vs. relative market share into four cells: Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks, Dogs."

"Describe 'Stars' in BCG matrix."

"High market share in high-growth markets

"Describe 'Cash Cows' in BCG matrix."

"High market share in low-growth markets

"Describe 'Question Marks' in BCG matrix."

"Low market share in high-growth markets

"Describe 'Dogs' in BCG matrix."

"Low market share in low-growth markets

"How does BCG matrix contribute to strategy formulation?"

"Helps allocate resources across business units by classifying them on growth-share and choosing build/hold/harvest/divest strategies."

"What is GE Nine-Cell Matrix?"

"Portfolio analysis tool plotting business units on industry attractiveness vs. business strength."

"What are directions for strategy development?"

"Growth (concentration, diversification), stability, and retrenchment (turnaround, divestment, liquidation)."

"What is concentration strategy?"

"Growth strategy of focusing on a single product line or market — vertical or horizontal integration."

"What is vertical integration?"

"Acquiring control over suppliers (backward) or distributors (forward) in the value chain."

"What is horizontal integration?"

"Acquiring or merging with competitors at the same value chain stage."

"What is diversification strategy?"

"Growth strategy of entering new products or markets — related (concentric) or unrelated (conglomerate)."

"Differentiate related and unrelated diversification."

"Related diversification enters businesses with synergies/shared capabilities

"What is conglomerate diversification?"

"Diversifying into entirely unrelated industries with no strategic link to existing businesses."

"What is stability strategy?"

"Strategy of continuing current activities without major changes — pause/proceed-with-caution."

"What is retrenchment strategy?"

"Reducing operations to address declining performance — turnaround, captive, sell-out, divestment, or liquidation."

"What is turnaround strategy?"

"Retrenchment strategy aimed at reversing declining performance through cost cutting and restructuring."

"What is internal development as a method of strategic development?"

"Growing through internal resources — building new capabilities, products, or markets organically."

"What are mergers and acquisitions?"

"Strategic moves where firms combine (merger) or one buys another (acquisition) for growth, synergy, or market entry."

"Critically compare internal development vs. M&A."

"Internal development is slower, lower risk, builds capability

"What is strategic alliance?"

"A cooperative agreement between two or more firms to pursue shared objectives while remaining independent."

"What are types of strategic alliances?"

"Joint ventures, equity strategic alliances, non-equity alliances, and consortia."

"State two reasons for forming strategic alliances."

"Access to new markets/technology and sharing of risks and costs."

"What is a joint venture?"

"A strategic alliance where two or more firms create a separate, jointly-owned entity."

"What is strategy implementation?"

"Process of putting formulated strategies into action through programs, budgets, and procedures."

"What are key elements of strategy implementation?"

"Structure, leadership, culture, resources, programs, budgets, and procedures."

"Examine the process of strategy implementation."

"Allocate resources, design organizational structure, develop policies, motivate employees, lead change, and align culture with strategy."

"Which structure is most appropriate for successful strategy implementation?"

"Depends on strategy — generally a structure aligned to strategy (Chandler's 'structure follows strategy')

"Enlist four types of organizational structure."

"Simple, Functional, Divisional, and Matrix (also SBU and network)."

"What is functional structure?"

"Structure grouping employees by specialized functions like marketing, finance, operations."

"What is divisional structure?"

"Structure organizing units by product, market, or geography with each division operating semi-autonomously."

"What is matrix structure?"

"Dual-reporting structure where employees report to both functional and project/product managers."

"What is SBU structure?"

"Strategic Business Unit structure grouping related divisions under a single SBU head for diversified firms."

"What is organizational culture?"

"Shared values, beliefs, norms, and assumptions that shape members' behavior in an organization."