Strategic Management and Sustainability Insights
Strategic Management and Sustainability Insights
1. HewlettPackard's failure and success under the leadership first of Carly Fiorina and then of Mark Hurd
was said to be a direct result of the quality of leadership of each of these CEOs. According to the text,
this would be an example of the "romantic" perspective of leadership.
TRUE
2. Strategic management consists of the analyses, decisions, and actions an organization undertakes in
order to create and sustain competitive advantages.
TRUE
3. Strategic management is concerned with the analysis of strategic goals as stated in the vision, mission,
and strategic objectives of a firm.
TRUE
4. The three interrelated and principal activities of strategic management are: strategy analysis, strategy
formulation, and strategy implementation.
TRUE
5. Strategic management is not concerned with how to create competitive advantage in the marketplace.
FALSE
6. Management innovations such as total quality, justintime, benchmarking, business process
reengineering, and outsourcing are important, but not enough for building sustainable competitive
advantage.
TRUE.
7. Making tradeoff decisions between effectiveness and efficiency is central to the practice of strategic
management.
TRUE
8. Only shareholders in a publicly held company are stakeholders because they are the only group that has
a stake in the success of the organization.
FALSE
9. Strategic management is only concerned with shortterm perspectives.
FALSE
10. Focusing on a single stakeholder is a good strategic principle for managers to follow.
FALSE
11. According to Peter Senge, a leading strategic management author, creative tension results from the need
to incorporate both shortterm and longterm perspectives in strategic management.
TRUE
12. Shareholders expect only shortterm value and therefore good managers should only focus on meeting
shortterm performance targets.
FALSE
13. Focusing on the short term and efficiency is always a bad management principle.
FALSE
14. Ambidexterity refers to a manager's challenge to align resources, without having to take advantage of
existing product markets or to proactively explore new opportunities.
FALSE
15. According to a recent study involving 41 business units in 10 multinational companies, one
ambidextrous behavior exhibited by managers is that of being brokers who are always looking to build
internal networks.
TRUE
16. According to Henry Mintzberg, a management scholar, most firms realize their original intended
strategy.
FALSE
17. The final realized strategy of a firm is a combination of deliberate and emergent strategies.
TRUE
18. In the Mintzberg model, organizational decisions determined only by analysis are intended strategy.
TRUE
19. Strategy analysis is the study of the external environments of the firm.
FALSE
[Link] the internal and external environments of a firm must be analyzed as well as the goals of the firm
before managers can formulate and implement appropriate strategies.
TRUE
21. Strategy formulation involves decisions made by firms regarding investments, commitments, and other
aspects of operations that create and sustain competitive advantage.
TRUE
22. All successful firms compete and outperform their rivals by developing bases for competitive
advantage, which can be achieved only through cost leadership.
FALSE
23. Businesslevel strategy focuses on (1) what businesses to compete in and (2) the management of the
business portfolio to create synergy among its businesses.
FALSE
24. Corporatelevel strategy addresses how firms compete and outperform their rivals as well as achieve
and sustain competitive advantages.
FALSE
25. International strategy involves decisions concerning appropriate entry strategy and attaining competitive
advantage in international markets.
TRUE
26. Entrepreneurial activity aimed at new value creation is not a major engine for economic growth.
FALSE
27. Strategy implementation involves actions that carry out the formulated strategy including proper
strategic controls, organizational designs, and leadership.
TRUE
28. Effective leadership can play a large role in fostering corporate entrepreneurship. Corporate
entrepreneurship can have a very positive impact on the bottom line of a firm.
TRUE
29. Firms must exercise either informational control or behavioral control in order to assure proper strategy
implementation.
FALSE
30. Leaders are responsible for creating a learning organization so that the entire organization can benefit
only from the individual talents.
FALSE
31. The three primary participants in corporate governance are: (1) the shareholders, (2) the management
(led by the chief executive officer), and (3) the employees.
FALSE
32. Decisions by boards of directors are always consistent with shareholder interests.
FALSE
33. Ensuring effective corporate governance requires an effective and engaged board of directors,
uninvolved shareholders, and proper managerial rewards and incentives.
FALSE
34. Auditors, banks, and analysts are external control mechanisms to ensure effective corporate
governance.
TRUE
35. Former Chrysler vice chairman Robert Lutz observed that companies exist to serve the shareholder and
create shareholder value. He insisted that the only person who owns the company is the person who paid
good money for it. This is an example of a symbiotic approach to stakeholder management.
FALSE
36. Stakeholders make various claims on a company. Their interests must be taken into account in the
strategic management process.
TRUE
37. Stockholders in a company are the only individuals with an interest in the financial performance of the
company.
FALSE
38. Stockholders, employees, and the communityatlarge are among the stakeholders of a firm.
TRUE
39. Symbiosis is the ability to recognize interdependencies among the interests of multiple stakeholders
within and outside an organization.
TRUE
40. Procter and Gamble developed a laundry detergent compaction technique that appeals to consumers,
retailers, shipping and wholesalers, and environmentalists. This is an example of stakeholder
symbiosis.
TRUE
41. Partnering with governments, communities, suppliers, customers, and rivals is a way to manage
conflicting stakeholder interests.
TRUE
42. The Higgs Index enables companies to compare environmental performance outcomes in order to
improve their environmental impact and is an example of how rivals work together to resolve complex
problems.
TRUE
43. As a stakeholder group, creditors are interested in taxes and compliance with regulations.
FALSE
44. As a stakeholder group, customers are interested in dividends and capital appreciation.
FALSE
45. As a stakeholder group, communities are interested in good citizenship behavior.
TRUE
46. Social responsibility is the idea that organizations are not only accountable to stockholders but also to
the communityatlarge.
TRUE
47. What constitutes socially responsible behavior changes over time.
TRUE
48. Shell, NEC, and Procter and Gamble have been measuring their performance according to what has
been called a triple bottom line. This technique involves an assessment of financial, social, and
environmental performance.
TRUE
49. Demands for greater corporate responsibility are decreasing today.
FALSE
50. A key stakeholder group that appears to be particularly susceptible to corporate social responsibility
(CSR) initiatives is customers.
TRUE
51. There is a positive influence of CSR on the consumer evaluation of companies and their purchasing
decisions, according to recent studies.
TRUE
52. Environmental sustainability is a value embraced by the most competitive and successful multinational
companies.
TRUE
53. For many successful firms, environmental values are not central to the company culture and
management processes.
FALSE
54. Sustainability is being increasingly recognized as a source of cost efficiencies and revenue growth.
TRUE
55. The ROIs on sustainability projects are often very difficult to quantify because the data necessary to
calculate ROI accurately are often not available when it comes to sustainability projects.
TRUE
56. Many of the benefits from sustainability projects are intangible, making it difficult to calculate the ROI.
TRUE
57. The intangible benefits of sustainability projects, such as reducing risks, staying ahead of regulations,
pleasing communities, and enhancing employee morale, are substantial even when they are difficult to
quantify.
TRUE
58. Sustainability projects often require shorterterm payback windows than other projects.
FALSE
59. Sustainability initiatives rarely have difficulty making it through the conventional approval process
within corporations because managers are not concerned about their return on investment.
FALSE
60. The ROI on a sustainability project generally is easy to quantify.
FALSE
61. Strategic management requires managers at all levels of the organization to take a segregated view of
the organization.
FALSE
62. The strategic management process should be addressed only by toplevel executives. Midlevel and
lowlevel employees are best equipped to implement the strategies of the organization.
FALSE
63. To develop and mobilize people and other assets, leaders are needed throughout the organization.
TRUE
64. In the strategic management process, only local line leaders and executive leaders are needed.
FALSE
65. Internal networks have great positional power and formal authority.
FALSE
66. Local line leaders have little profitandloss responsibility.
FALSE
67. Executive leaders champion and guide ideas.
TRUE
68. Local line leaders are key in setting the tone for the empowerment of employees.
FALSE
69. Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, is well known for creating an inclusive
organizational structure in which anybody in the organization can be involved in generating and
activating upon new business ideas.
TRUE
70. To inculcate a strategic management perspective, managers must often make a major effort to effect
transformational change.
TRUE
71. To effect transformational change in an organization, managers must communicate extensively and
provide incentives, training, and development.
TRUE
72. Nancy Snyder, corporate vice president of Whirlpool, shifted the reputation of the firm to that of an
innovator by investing financially in capital spending.
TRUE
73. Successful executives do not reward honesty and input and do not show their interest in learning what
others are thinking.
FALSE
74. According to the CEO of IDEO, Tim Brown, spotting and promoting at any level in the firm is
important.
TRUE
75. There are few benefits to having broad investment throughout the organization in the strategic
management process.
FALSE
76. Showing interest in learning what others are thinking is a leadership weakness.
FALSE
77. The vision of an organization is the top level of its hierarchy of organizational goals. The vision
statement should be massively inspiring, overarching, and long term.
TRUE
78. Strategic objectives are more specific than vision statements.
TRUE
79. According to the text, a mission statement is an overarching statement that is massively inspiring, long
term, and only discusses the purpose of the company.
FALSE
80. A mission statement encompasses both the purpose of the organization as well as its basis of
competition, and the basis of its competitive advantage.
TRUE
81. Strategic objectives should be measurable, specific, appropriate, and realistic, but not constrained by
time deadlines.
FALSE
82. Much research has supported the notion that individuals work much harder when they are asked to do
their best rather than when they are striving toward a specific goal.
FALSE
83. Objectives in organizations should be clear, stated, and known by employees throughout the
organization.
TRUE
84. Strategic management should only include shortterm objectives. Longterm objectives are covered in
the vision statement of the organization.
FALSE
85. Organizational goals and objectives should be vague in order to allow for changes in strategy.
FALSE
86. An idealistic vision can arouse employee enthusiasm and therefore is a good vision.
FALSE
87. One of the reasons a vision fails is that too much focus can lead to missed opportunities.
TRUE
88. Visions need to be anchored in reality in order to be successful.
TRUE
89. Effective mission statements incorporate the concept of stakeholder management, suggesting that
organizations must respond to a single constituency.
FALSE
90. A good mission statement, by addressing each principal theme, must communicate why an organization
is special and different.
TRUE
91. When formulating strategic objectives, managers need to remember that too many objectives can result
in a lack of focus and diminished results.
TRUE
Multiple Choice Questions
92. The text addresses two perspectives of leadership as well as their implications. These two perspectives
are
A. romantic and unromantic.
B. romantic and internal control.
C. external control and unromantic.
D. romantic and external control.
93. A CEO made a lot of mistakes in assessing the market and the competitive conditions and improperly
redesigning the organization into numerous business units. Such errors led to significant performance
declines. According to the text, this example illustrates the __________ perspective of leadership.
A. external control
B. romantic
C. internal mechanism
D. operational
94. According to the external control view of leadership, which of the following factors would not be
considered an external factor that might positively or negatively affect a firm's success?
A. economic downturns
B. governmental legislation
C. outbreak of war
D. company employee morale
95. Melvin Alexander, executive director of Principled Solutions Enterprise, a management consulting firm
specializing in health care, suggests that environmental changes oblige firms to make strategic changes
in order to survive. Which of the following is one of the strategic changes he foresees will occur in the
next three to five years?
A. changes in the behavior of the health care consumers
B. reduction in the number of available medical doctors
C. increases in the number of locations of health care facilities
D. decreases in information technology investment
96. According to the text, the strategic management process entails three ongoing processes. They are
A. analyses, actions, and synthesis.
B. analyses, decisions, and actions.
C. analyses, evaluation, and critique.
D. analyses, synthesis, and decisions.
97. Management innovations such as total quality, benchmarking, and business process reengineering
cannot lead to sustainable competitive advantage because
A. companies that have implemented these techniques have lost money.
B. there is no proof that these techniques work.
C. they cost too much money and effort to implement.
D. every company is trying to implement them.
98. The organizational versus the individual rationality perspective suggests that objectives that are
A. good for a functional area are always good for the overall organization.
B. good for the overall organization are always best for a functional area.
C. best for a functional area may not be best for the overall organization.
D. best for one functional area will never be best for all functional areas.
99. The four key attributes of strategic management include the idea that strategy must
A. be directed toward overall organizational goals and objectives.
B. be focused only on longterm objectives.
C. be focused on only one specific area of an organization.
D. focus only on competitor strengths.
100. The four key attributes of strategic management include all of the following except
A. including multiple stakeholder interests in decision making.
B. incorporating both shortterm and longterm perspectives.
C. recognizing the tradeoffs between effectiveness and efficiency.
D. emphasis on the attainment of shortterm objectives.
101. Effectiveness is often defined as
A. doing things right.
B. stakeholder satisfaction.
C. doing the right thing.
D. productivity enhancement.
102. In choosing to focus on stakeholders, which of the following will not lead to success for a manager?
A. shareholders and employees
B. employees and suppliers
C. customers and the community at large
D. customers only
103. In strategic management, both the shortterm and longterm perspectives need to be considered because
A. shareholder value is only measured by shortterm returns.
B. shareholders only care about longterm returns.
C. longterm vision precludes the analysis of present operating needs.
D. the creative tension between the two forces managers to develop more successful strategy.
104. Strategic management involves the recognition of tradeoffs between effectiveness and
A. cost.
B. value.
C. return on investment.
D. efficiency
.
105. All of the following are ambidextrous behaviors except
A. taking initiative and being alert to opportunities beyond the job description.
B. being cooperative and seeking opportunities to combine personal efforts with that of others.
C. intensely focusing on the responsibilities of one individual and maximizing the output of the
department in the organization in which that individual works.
D. being brokers, always looking to build internal
linkages.
106. Ambidextrous behaviors in individuals illustrate how a dual capacity for _______ can be woven into the
fabric of an organization at the individual level.
A. alignment and adaptability
B. alignment and transparency
C. alignment and internal linkages
D. alignment and efficiency
107. According to Henry Mintzberg, the final realized strategy of a firm is
A. a combination of deliberate and emergent strategies.
B. a combination of deliberate and differentiation strategies.
C. not deliberate.
D. a result of unrealized intended strategy.
108. __________ may be considered the advance work that must be done in order to effectively formulate
and implement strategies.
A. Goal setting
B. Corporate entrepreneurship
C. Strategy
analysis
D. Organizational
design
109. Strategy analysis is the starting point of the strategic management process and consists of the
A. analysis only of the vision, mission, and objectives of the
firm.
B. analysis of the relevant internal and external environmental factors only.
C. analysis of relevant competitors only.
D. matching of vision, mission, and objectives with the relevant internal and external environmental
factors.
110. Strategy formulation at the business level addresses best how to compete in a given business:
A. to attain competitive advantage
B. to reduce costs
C. to decrease buyer power
D. to thwart entry of new rivals
111. Corporate level strategy focuses on what businesses to compete in and
A. how business can be managed to achieve synergy.
B. how business can be managed to reduce synergy.
C. how the firm can work as a standalone entity.
D. how the firm can create more value by operating alone.
112. Corporatelevel strategy looks at how to manage the ______ of its businesses to create synergies.
A. portfolio
B. stock prices
C. competitors
D. market pricing
113. Entering foreign markets requires firms to ascertain foremost how they will attain
A. market share.
B. low costs.
C. competitive advantage.
D. low returns on investment.
114. New value creation is a major engine for economic growth and is the main focus of _______________
strategy.
A. portfolio
B. corporatelevel
C. businesslevel
D. entrepreneurial
115. Two types of strategic control that firms must exercise for good strategy implementation are
A. informational and confrontational.
B. confrontational and behavioral.
C. behavioral and financial.
D. informational and behavioral.
116. Effective organizational design means that firms must have ________ that are consistent with their
strategy.
A. designs and plans
B. organizational structures and designs
C. adopters and designs
D. adopters and plans
117. Learning organizations permit the entire organization to benefit from ____________ talents.
A. internal and external
B. individual and
collective
C. internal and collective
D. external and individual
118. Effective leaders set a direction and develop an organization so that it is committed to excellence and
___________ behavior.
A. performant
B. strategic
C. ethical
D. positive
119. Strategies should be formulated that enhance foremost the ____________ capacity of a firm.
A. innovative
B. learning
C. implementation
D. businesslevel
120. The three participants in corporate governance are the shareholders,
A. board of directors, and employees.
B. labor unions, and employees.
C. board of directors, and management.
D. banks and lending institutions, and management.
121. While working to prioritize and fulfill their responsibilities, members of the board of directors of an
organization should
A. represent their own interests.
B. represent the interests of the shareholders.
C. direct all actions of the
CEO.
D. emphasize the importance of shortterm goals.
122. Members of boards of directors are
A. appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
B. elected by the shareholders as their representatives.
C. elected by the public.
D. only allowed to serve one term of four years.
123. An organization is responsible to many different entities. In order to meet the demands of these groups,
organizations must participate in stakeholder management. Stakeholder management means that
A. interests of the stockholders are not the only interests that matter.
B. stakeholders are second in importance to the stockholders.
C. stakeholders and managers inevitably work at crosspurposes.
D. all stakeholders receive financial rewards.
124. Stakeholders are
A. a new way to describe stockholders.
B. individuals, groups, and organizations who have a stake in the success of the organization.
C. creditors who hold a lien on the assets of the organization.
D. attorneys and their clients who sue the organization.
125. Procter and Gamble has perfected a technique for compacting cleaning powder into a liquid
concentration. Consumers, retailers, shipping and wholesalers, and environmentalists all have benefited
from the resulting change in consumer shopping habits and the revolution in industry supplychain
economics. According to the text, this is an example of
A. zerosum relationship among stakeholders.
B. stakeholder symbiosis.
C. rewarding stakeholders.
D. emphasizing financial returns.
126. There are several perspectives of competition. One perspective is zerosum thinking. Zerosum thinking
means that
A. all parts of the organization gain at no loss.
B. in order for someone to gain others must experience no gain or benefit.
C. one can only gain at the expense of someone else.
D. everyone in the organization shares gains and losses equally.
127. Managers should do more than focus on shortterm financial performance. One concept that helps
managers do this is stakeholder symbiosis. This means that
A. stakeholders are dependent on each other for their success.
B. stakeholders look out for their individual interests.
C. one can only gain at the expense of someone else.
D. all stakeholders want to maximize shareholder returns.
128. Employee stakeholders are concerned with
A. taxes, warranties, and regulations.
B. wages, benefits, and job security.
C. good citizenship behavior.
D. dividends.
129. Stockholders as a stakeholder group are interested primarily by
A. payment of interest and repayment of principal.
B. value and warranties.
C. dividends and capital appreciation.
D. taxes and compliance with regulations.
130. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition accounts for more than onethird of the global
A. apparel and washing product industry.
B. consumer product industry.
C. refinery industry.
D. apparel and footwear industry.
131. Wall Street executives have received excessive bonus pay in the past. This concerns which of the
following stakeholder groups most directly?
A. government
B. suppliers
C. creditors
D. stockholders
132. Supplier stakeholders are concerned with
A. assurance of a continued relationship with the firm.
B. employee benefits.
C. safe working conditions.
D. capital appreciation.
133. Community stakeholders are concerned primarily with
A. product warranties.
B. corporate citizenship behavior.
C. capital appreciation.
D. repayment of principal.
134. Firms must be aware of goals other than shortterm profit maximization. One area of concern should be
social responsibility, which is the
A. expectation that business will strive to improve the overall welfare of society.
B. idea that organizations are solely responsible to local citizens.
C. fact that court costs could impact the financial bottom line.
D. idea that businesses are responsible for maintaining a healthy social climate for their employees.
135. According to the text, the triple bottom line approach to corporate accounting includes which three
components?
A. financial, environmental, and customer
B. financial, organizational, and customer
C. financial, environmental, and social
D. financial, organizational, and
psychological
136. Demands for greater corporate responsibility have accelerated today. They focus on issues such as
A. labor standards and environmental sustainability.
B. taxation.
C. product benefits.
D. service benefits.
137. A key stakeholder group that is particularly susceptible to corporate social responsibility (CSR)
initiatives is
A. suppliers.
B. rivals
.
C. government agencies.
D. consumers.
138. According to the Corporate Citizenship poll conducted by Cone Communications, most Americans say
they would be likely to switch brands to one associated with a good cause, if there are similarities
between
A. price and
availability.
B. availability and
quality.
C. price and quality.
D. price and durability.
139. According to a CEO survey by Accenture, __________________ are not mutually exclusive corporate
goals.
A. quality and profitability
B. sustainability and profitability
C. ROI and
quality
D. availability and
ROI
140. The Clorox Green Works line of plantbased cleaning materials captured 42 percent of the natural
cleaning products market in its first year. This is an example of the benefit of
A. sustainability efforts.
B. cost reduction efforts.
C. marketing programs.
D. process management.
141. Northrup Grumman saved $2 million in energy costs at a single facility by installing reflective roofs and
fluorescent lighting, replacing old equipment, and making minor temperature and humiditylevel
adjustments. This is an example of the benefit of
A. increasing revenue efforts.
B. marketing programs.
C. sustainability efforts.
D. process management.
142. The Fairmont Royal York in Toronto invested $25,000 in an energy conservation program to replace
leaky steam traps and fix leaks, which resulted in an annual savings of over $200,000. This is an
example of a sustainability effort to
A. increase innovation.
B. decrease revenue.
C. lower costs.
D. increase customers.
143. The ROI on sustainability efforts can be difficult to quantify because
A. an excess of necessary data for accurate calculation is readily available.
B. benefits from such projects are tangible.
C. the payback period is on a different time frame.
D. the payback period is on the same time frame.
144. Sustainability programs often find their success beyond company boundaries, thus ______ systems and
_____ metrics cannot capture all of the relevant numbers.
A. external; bio
B. internal; process
C. external; external
D. internal; internal
145. Traditional financial models are built around relatively easytomeasure, monetized results; whereas, the
benefits of sustainability projects involve
A. clear tangibles.
B. clear intangibles.
C. fuzzy
tangibles.
D. fuzzy
intangibles.
146. The case for sustainability projects needs to be made on the basis of a more holistic and comprehensive
understanding of all the _____________ benefits.
A. measurable and unmeasurable
B. financial and
physical
C. tangible and intangible
D. measurable and physical
147. Some benefits of sustainability projects include
A. reducing
risks.
B. lagging behind regulations.
C. displeasing communities.
D. ignoring employee morale.
148. Many organizations have a large number of functional areas with very diverse and sometimes
competing interests. Such organizations will be most effective if
A. each functional area focuses on achieving their own goals.
B. goals are defined at the bottom and implemented at the top.
C. functional areas work together to attain overall goals.
D. management and employees have separate goals.
149. Strategy formulation and implementation is a challenging ongoing process. To be effective, it should
not involve
A. the CEO and the board of directors.
B. the board of directors, CEO, and
CFO.
C. rivals
.
D. line and staff managers.
150. The text argues that a strategic perspective in an organization should be emphasized
A. at the top of the organization.
B. at the middle of the organization.
C. throughout the organization.
D. from the bottom up.
151. Peter Senge, of MIT, recognized three types of leaders. __________ are individuals that, although
having little positional power and formal authority, generate their power through the conviction and
clarity of their ideas.
A. Local line
leaders
B. Executive leaders
C. Internal networkers
D. Shop floor leaders
152. Peter Senge, of MIT, recognized three types of leaders. These individuals champion and guide ideas,
create a learning infrastructure, and establish a domain for taking action.
A. local line leaders
B. executive leaders
C. internal networkers
D. shop floor leaders
153. Leadership is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for organizational success. Leaders should
emerge at which level(s) of an organization?
A. only at the top
B. in the middle
C. throughout the organization
D. only during times of change
154. Local line leaders have __________ responsibility.
A. loca
l
B. executive
C. profitandloss
D. no
155. Internal networks generate their power through the _____________ of their ideas.
A. validity and correctness
B. conviction and
clarity
C. validation and recognition
D. approval and awareness
156. Executive leaders champion and guide ideas by
A. reinforcing ideas that did not work.
B. creating a learning infrastructure.
C. validating their formal authority.
D. increasing their personal power.
157. Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, empowers his companies through a(n) _______
structure in which anyone can bring forth new ideas.
A. formal
B. hierarchal
C. multi
level
D. informal
158. Transformational change involves
A. extensive communication.
B. little training.
C. no employee development.
D. few incentives.
159. Whirlpool's transformation under corporate vice president Nancy Snyder included financial investments
in
A. shareholder dividends.
B. capital spending.
C. community development.
D. paying down borrowed debt.
160. Methods by which successful executives show their interest in learning what others are thinking
include
A. holding town hall meetings and consulting employees on what they would do if in charge.
B. holding town hall meetings and consulting bankers on what they would do if in charge.
C. holding retreats and consulting rivals on what they would do if in charge.
D. consulting rivals and consulting investment bankers.
161. Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, believes that the ________ of a person should not dictate the level of
influence their ideas should be accorded.
A. age
B. Seniorit
y
C. Position
D. education
162. The hierarchy of organizational goals is in this order (least specific to most specific):
A. vision statements, strategic objectives, mission statements
B. mission statements, strategic objectives, vision statements
C. vision statements, mission statements, strategic objectives
D. mission statements, vision statements, strategic objectives
163. Vision statements are used to create a better understanding of the overall purpose and direction of the
organization. Vision statements
A. are very
specific.
B. provide specific
objectives.
C. set organizational structure.
D. evoke powerful and compelling mental images.
164. Effective vision statements include
A. all strategic directions of the organization.
B. a brief statement of the company's direction.
C. strategic posturing and future objectives.
D. financial objectives and projected figures.
165. WellPoint Health Network states: WellPoint will redefine our industry: through a new generation of
consumerfriendly products that put individuals back in control of their future. This is an example of a
A. strategic objective.
B. vision statement.
C. vague statement of direction.
D. line manager's individual
goal.
166. Although such visions cannot be accurately measured by a specific indicator of how well they are being
achieved, they do provide a fundamental statement of the __________ of an organization.
A. values, aspirations, and goals
B. expected returns and limitations
C. outstanding debt
D. credibilit
y
167. In contrast to the vision of an organization, its mission should
A. be shorter in length.
B. encompass both the purpose of the company as well as the basis of competition.
C. encompass all the major rules and regulations of the corporate work force.
D. be less detailed.
168. The vision and mission statements of a company set the overall direction of the organization. Strategic
objectives serve what role?
A. operationalize the mission statement
B. modify the mission statement
C. are a shorter version of the mission statement
D. are only clarified by the board of directors
169. Successful organizations are effective in motivating people. Employees work best when
A. they are asked to do their best.
B. work requirements are vague and unclear.
C. they are striving toward specific goals.
D. they are guided by an abstract mission statement.
170. Fortune Brands states they will cut corporate overhead costs by $30 million a year. This is an example
of a
A. nonfinancial strategic objective.
B. financial strategic objective.
C. vision statement.
D. mission statement.
171. We want to be the topranked supplier to our customers. (PPG) This is an example of a
A. nonfinancial strategic objective.
B. financial strategic objective.
C. vision statement.
D. mission statement.
172. In large organizations, conflicts can arise between functional areas. In order to resolve these conflicts,
strategic objectives
A. put financial objectives above human considerations.
B. align departments toward departmental goals.
C. help resolve conflicts through their common purpose.
D. cause debate and increase conflict.
173. Which of the following is not an example of a financial strategic objective?
A. Increase sales growth 6 percent to 8 percent and accelerate core net earnings growth from 13 percent
to15 percent per share in each of the next 5 years. (Procter & Gamble)
B. Reduce volatile air emissions 15 percent by 2015 from 2010 base year, indexed to net sales. (3M)
C. Generate Internetrelated revenue of $1.5 billion. (AutoNation)
D. Cut corporate overhead costs by $30 million per year. (Fortune Brands)
174. In large organizations, the potential exists for different parts of an organization to pursue its own goals
rather than the overall company goals. Proper _______ can help to resolve conflicts when they arise.
A. mission statements
B. vision statements
C. organization structure
D. objectives