This document provides information about budget analysis and creating a budget spreadsheet in Excel. Key points include: - Creating a worksheet in Excel with a title, months labeled in columns, and categories for income, expenses, totals, averages, and maximums. - Entering fictional data for sources of income and expenses over three months. - Calculating totals for income and expenses using the SUM function with cell ranges. - Creating a column chart to visualize the budget data. The purpose is to expose the individual to best practices for utilizing a spreadsheet application like Excel to analyze a fictional business budget over multiple periods. Formulas, functions, and charts are used to calculate and present key financial metrics.

1. 1
1. A creative, distinctive strategy that sets a company apart
from rivals and that gives it a
sustainable competitive advantage:
A. is a reliable indicator that the company has a profitable
business model.
B. is every company's strategic vision.
C. is a company's most reliable ticket to above-average
profitability—indeed, the tight
connection between competitive advantage and profitability
means that the quest for
sustainable competitive advantage always ranks center stage in
crafting a strategy.
D. signals that the company has a bold, ambitious strategic
intent that places the achievement of
strategic objectives ahead of the achievement of financial
objectives.
E. is the best indicator that the company's strategy and business
model are well-matched and
properly synchronized.
2. Which of the following is not a frequently used strategic
approach to setting a company
apart from rivals and achieving a sustainable competitive
advantage?
A. Striving to be the industry's low-cost provider, thereby
aiming for a cost-based competitive
advantage

2. B. Outcompeting rivals on the basis of such differentiating
features as higher quality, wider
product selection, added performance, better service, more
attractive styling, technological
superiority, or unusually good value for the money
C. Striving to be more profitable than rivals and aiming for a
competitive edge based on bigger
profit margins
D. Focusing on a narrow market niche and winning a
competitive edge by doing a better job
than rivals of satisfying the needs and tastes of buyers
comprising the niche
E. Developing expertise and resource strengths that give the
company competitive capabilities
that rivals can't easily imitate or trump with capabilities of their
own.
3. The strategy-making, strategy-executing process:
A.is usually delegated to members of a company's board of
directors so as not to infringe on the
time of busy executives.
B. includes establishing a company's mission, developing a
business model aimed at making the
company an industry leader, and crafting a strategy to
implement and execute the business
model.
C. embraces the tasks of developing a strategic vision, setting
objectives, crafting a strategy,
implementing and executing the strategy, and then monitoring
developments and initiating
corrective adjustments in light of experience, changing
conditions, and new opportunities.
D. is principally concerned with sizing up an organization's
internal and external situation, so
as to be prepared for the challenge of developing a sound

3. business model.
E. is primarily the responsibility of top executives and the
board of directors; very few
managers below this level are involved.
2
4. Business strategy, as distinct from corporate strategy, is
chiefly concerned with:
A. Deciding what new businesses to enter, which existing
businesses to get off, and which
existing business to remain in.
B. Forging actions and approaches to compete successfully in a
particular line of business.
C. making sure the strategic intent of a particular business is in
step with the company's overall
strategic intent and strategy.
D. Coordinating the competitive approaches of a company's
different business units.
E. What business model to employ in each of the company's
different businesses.
5. The competitive force of rival firms' jockeying for better
market positions, higher sales
and market shares, and competitive advantage:
A. is stronger when firms strive to be low-cost producers than
when they use differentiation
and focus strategies.
B. is typically a weaker competitive force than is the threat of
entry of new rivals.

4. C. is largely unaffected by whether industry conditions tempt
rivals to use price cuts or other
competitive weapons to boost unit sales.
D. tends to intensify when strong companies outside the
industry acquire weak firms in the
industry and launch aggressive, well-funded moves to transform
the acquired companies into
strong market contenders.
E. is weaker when more firms have weakly differentiated
products, buyer demand is growing
slowly, and buyers have moderate switching costs.
6. The competitive pressures from substitute products tend to be
stronger when:
A. buyers are relatively comfortable with using substitutes and
the costs to buyers of switching
over to the substitutes are low.
B. there are more than 10 sellers of substitute products.
C. the quality and performance of the substitutes is well above
what buyers need to meet their
requirements.
D. buyers have high psychic costs in severing existing brand
relationships and establishing new
ones.
E. demand for the industry's product is not very price sensitive.
3
7. The payoff of doing a thorough SWOT analysis is
A. identifying whether the company's value chain is cost

5. effective vis-à-vis the value chains of
rivals.
B. helping strategy-makers benchmark the company's resource
strengths against industry key
success factors.
C. enabling a company to assess its overall competitive position
relative to its key rivals.
D. revealing whether a company's market share, measures of
profitability, and sales compare
favorably or unfavorably vis-à-vis key competitors.
E. assisting strategy-makers in crafting a strategy that is well-
matched to the company's
resources and capabilities, its market opportunities, and the
external threats to its future well-
being.
8. Which one of the following provides the most accurate
picture of whether a company is
cost competitive with its rivals?
A. How the costs of the company's internally performed
activities (its own value chain)
compare against the costs of the internally-performed activities
of rival companies

6. B. Costs in the value chains of the company's suppliers
C. Costs in the value chains of a company's distributors and
retail dealers and forward channel
allies
D. The costs of a company's internally performed activities,
costs in the value chains of both the
company's suppliers and forward channel allies, and how all
these costs compare against the
costs that make up the value chain systems employed by rival
firms
E. Whether the company has a longer or shorter value chain
than its close rivals
9. To succeed with a low-cost provider strategy, company
managers have to
A. pursue backward or forward integration to detour suppliers
or buyers with considerable
bargaining power and leverage.
B. move the performance of most all value chain activities to
low-wage countries.
C. sell direct to users of their product or service and eliminate
use of wholesale and retail
intermediaries.
D. do two things: (1) perform value chain activities more cost-

7. effectively than rivals and (2) be
proactive in revamping the firm's overall value chain to
eliminate or bypass "nonessential" cost-
producing activities.
E. outsource the biggest majority of value chain activities.
4
10. A strategy to be the industry's overall low-cost provider
tends to be more appealing than a
differentiation or best-cost or focus/market niche strategy when
A. there are many ways to achieve product differentiation that
buyers find appealing.
B. buyers use the product in a variety of different ways and
have high switching costs in
changing from one seller's product to another.
C. the offerings of rival firms are essentially identical,
standardized, commodity-like products.
D. entry barriers are high and competition from substitutes is
relatively weak.
E. the market is composed of many distinct segments with
varying buyer needs and

8. expectations.
11. Which of the following statements regarding global
competition is false?
A. In global competition, rivals vie for worldwide market
leadership.
B. In globally competitive industries, the power and strength of
a company's strategy and
resource capabilities in one country significantly enhance its
competitiveness in other country
markets.
C. In global competition, a firm's overall competitive advantage
(or disadvantage) grows out of
its entire worldwide operations.
D. In global competition, there's more cross-country variation in
industry conditions and
competitive forces than there is in industries where
multidomestic competition prevails.
E. In global competition, many of the same rival companies
compete against each other in many
different countries, but especially so in countries where sales
volumes are large and where
having a competitive presence is strategically important to
building a strong global position in

9. the industry.
12. The advantages of using a franchising strategy to pursue
opportunities in foreign markets
include
A. having franchisees bear most of the costs and risks of
establishing foreign locations and
requiring the franchiser to expend only the resources to recruit,
train, and support foreign
franchisees.
B. being particularly well suited to the global expansion efforts
of companies with
multidomestic strategies.
C. allowing a company to achieve scale economies.
D. being well suited to companies who employ cross-border
transfer strategies.
E. being well suited to the global expansion efforts of
manufacturers.
5
13. A company pursuing a related diversification strategy would
likely address the issue of

10. what additional industries/businesses to diversify into by
A. locating businesses with well-known brand names and large
market shares.
B. identifying industries with the least competitive intensity.
C. identifying an attractive industry whose value chain has good
strategic fit with one or more
of the firm's present businesses.
D. identifying businesses with the potential to diversify the
number and types of different
activities in the firm's value chain make-up.
E. locating new businesses with high degrees of financial fit
with its present businesses.
14. A diversified company has a parenting advantage when
A. it is more able than other companies to boost the combined
performance of its individual
businesses through high-level guidance, general oversight, and
other corporate-level
contributions.
B. it is more able than other companies to create an extensive
collaborative effort among
different specialties among different geographic locations.
C. it results in supporting short-term economic shareholder

11. value.
D. managing a set of fundamentally similar businesses
operations in fundamentally similar
industries and inert environments.
E. All of these.
15. The capability-building process
A. is first and foremost an activity in empowering employees,
putting them on a single team (or
in a single department), and giving them the tools and training
to perform the desired activity
with a high degree of proficiency.
B. is a one-step process built around properly training and
empowering employees to perform
their assigned activities in a tightly-prescribed manner.
C. can be a shortcut by weeding out underperforming employees
and replacing them with
people having stronger skills sets and know-how.
D. is best done by forming a new department charged with
developing the desired competence
or capability.
E. requires first developing the ability to do something,
however imperfectly or inefficiently;

12. second, translating this ability into a competence and/or
capability by learning to do the
activity consistently well and at an acceptable cost; and then
continuing to polish and refine its
know-how in an effort further improve its performance, ideally
striving to match or beat rivals
in performing the activity.
6
16. The rationale for making strategy-critical value chain
activities the primary building
blocks in a company's organizational scheme is based on
A. the much shorter time it takes to build core competencies and
competitive capabilities.
B. the benefit such an organizational scheme has in reducing
costs.
C. the benefit such an organizational scheme has in improving
the productivity of
geographically-scattered organizational units.
D. the thesis that if activities crucial to strategic success are to
have the resources, decision-

13. making influence, and organizational impact they need, they
have to be centerpieces in the
organizational scheme.
E. the benefit such an organizational scheme has in making the
empowerment of employees
more effective.
17. A company's ability to marshal adequate resources in
support of new strategic initiatives
and steer them to the appropriate organizational units is
important to the strategy execution
process because
A. changes in strategy often require resource reallocation and
organizational units need the
proper funding to carry out their part of the strategic plan
effectively and efficiently.
B. accurate budgets are the key to exercising tight financial
controls over what organization
units can and cannot do in carrying out management's directives
to execute the chosen strategy
proficiently.
C. tight budget control is management's most powerful tool for
first-rate strategy execution.
D. lean, carefully managed budgets protect the company's

14. financial condition and eliminate
wasteful use of cash.
E. lean, strictly enforced budgets are management's best and
most used means of getting
organizational units to exercise the fiscal discipline needed to
execute the chosen strategy in a
cost-efficient manner.
18. The idea behind benchmarking and best practices is to
A. identify which companies are the best performers of a
strategically-relevant activity and then
exactly copy their methods.
B. search the world for a company that performs a strategically
relevant task or value chain
activity at the lowest possible cost and then use business
process reengineering techniques to
try to meet or beat the costs of the world's low-cost performer
of that activity.
C. perform each activity in the industry value chain according
to standard industry practice and
then regularly benchmark the company's performance to see if it
is actually achieving the
industry standard.

15. D. identify companies that are the best performers of an activity
and then modify and adapt
their practices to fit the company's own specific circumstances
and operating requirements.
E. determine whether a company has a "world-class" value
chain.
7
19. The two culture-building roles of a company's stated values
and ethical standards are to
A. communicate the company's good intentions and establish a
corporate conscience.
B. confirm the integrity of company personnel and signal the
above-board nature of the
company's business principles and operating methods.
C. steer company personnel toward doing the right thing and
convince outsiders that the
company is socially responsible.
D. help create a work climate where company personnel share
common and strongly held
convictions about how the company's business is to be
conducted and to signal employees that

16. they are to display the company's core values in their actions
and uphold the company's ethical
standards.
E. provide a basis for designing culture-supportive incentive
compensation plans.
20. Which one of the following statements about a weak
company culture is true?
A. In a weak culture company, there is virtually no employee
support for the company's
strategic vision and strategy.
B. Weak culture companies do not usually have a code of ethics
and have little regard for high
ethical standards.
C. Weak cultures provide little assistance in executing strategy
because there are no traditions,
values, or behavioral norms that management can use as levers
to mobilize commitment to
executing the chosen strategy.
D. Weak culture companies are fairly receptive to change and to
people who champion new
ways of doing things.
E. In a weak culture company, there is usually little teamwork,
a dearth of intellectual capital,

17. and inattention to building core competencies.
Instructions
For this assignment, you will create a budget analysis for a
fictitious business of your choice utilizing the Microsoft Excel
application. You will input your own unique business data into
an Excel spreadsheet, calculate various values obtained from
your data, and then utilize the calculated values to create a
column-style chart. The purpose of this assignment is for you to
be exposed to best practices for utilizing a spreadsheet software
application (e.g., Excel).
Excel Workbook Requirements
· Start by creating and saving your workbook in .xlsx format.
· The budget data and a column-style chart are to be placed on a
single worksheet.
Data Entry
1. In Row 1, type your worksheet title in bold font (e.g. 'My
Business' Budget).
2. Leave Row 2 empty.
3. In Row 3, beginning with Column B, label the cells in three
consecutive columns (B3, C3, D3) with the names of the three
months of any yearly quarter (i.e. Jan, Feb, Mar) in bold font.
4. Label the cells in the next three consecutive columns (E3, F3,
G3) with the following: 'Qtrly Total,' 'Qtrly Average,' and 'Qtrly
Maximum' in bold font.
5. In Row 4 in Column A (Cell A4), label the cell 'Income' in
bold font.
6. List two sources of income in Column A in the rows

18. immediately following 'Income' in a non-bold font (Cells A5,
A6).
7. In Row 7 in Column A (Cell A7), label the cell 'Total
Income' in bold font .
8. Leave Row 8 empty.
9. In Row 9 in Column A (Cell A9), label the cell 'Expenses' in
bold font.
10. List four expenses in Column A in the rows immediately
following 'Expense' in a non-bold font (Cells A10, A11, A12,
A13) (e.g. Rent, Utilities, etc.).
11. In Row 14 in Column A (Cell A14), label the cell 'Total
Expenses' in bold font .
12. Leave Row 15 empty.
13. In Row 16 in Column A (Cell A16), label the cell 'Net
Income' in bold font .
14. Apply bottom border lines just above Total Income and
Expense.
15. Enter values for the income and expenses. These are made
up by you.
Apply Functions
1. Determine the 'Total Income' values and 'Total Expenses'
values using the 'SUM' function.
· Use 'cell ranges' to input data into the formulas.
· For example, input data using a 'cell range' format such as
'B10:B13,' not 'B10+B11+B12+B13.'
2. Determine the 'Qtrly Total,' 'Qtrly Average,' and 'Qtrly
Maximum'values for each source of income and each expense
using the 'SUM,' 'AVERAGE,' and 'MAX' functions.
· Use 'cell ranges' to input data into the formulas.
· For example, input data using a 'cell range' format such as
'B5:D5,' not 'B5+C5+D5.'
3. Determine the 'Net Income' values in columns B through D
for the three month periods using subtraction formulas (Total
Income - Total Expenses).
4. Apply the Accounting Number formatting to add dollar signs
and limit to two decimal places.

19. Chart Requirements
· Create a two-dimensional 'column-style' chart for the quarterly
period once you have completed entering the budget data into
your worksheet.
· Provide only the 'Net Income' values in cells B16, C16, and
D16 in the chart.
· Provide a unique chart title and appropriate axes titles.
· Provide the 'Month' category data on the X-axis (horizontal).
· Provide the 'Net Income' value data on the Y-axis (vertical).
· Provide the monthly 'Net Income' data values at the top of
each column.
Create the Chart Using Excel (the installed application - see
below for Office 365)
To insert and format your chart in the worksheet, complete the
following steps:
1. Select and highlight the cells (B3, C3, D3) in Row 3 that
contain the names of the months by holding down the left mouse
cursor and 'dragging' it across the cells.
2. Hold down the 'Ctrl' key with your left hand and highlight the
cells (B16, C16, D16) in Row 16 that contain the 'Net Income'
data by holding down the left mouse cursor and 'dragging' it
across the cells. Both ranges of cells will stay highlighted.
3. Select a 'Column' chart from the 'Insert' category of the Excel
toolbar at the top of the application window. A chart will be
presented in the worksheet with three columns.
4. Left-click anywhere on the chart.
5. Left-click on the green '+' sign that 'pops up' just off the right
side of the chart.
6. Check five boxes: 'Axes,' 'Axis Titles,' 'Chart Title,' 'Data
Labels,' and 'Gridlines.' The default data 'Chart Title,' 'Axis
Title,' 'Axis Title,' and the numerical 'Net Income' values for
each column along with the gridlines are presented in the chart.
7. Double-left-click on the 'Chart Title' and each 'Axis Title'
and type over the default data with the appropriate label data.
Label the chart with a unique title. Label the horizontal axis
'Month.' Label the vertical axis 'Net Income.'

20. 8. Save your spreadsheet in .xlsx format.
Create the Chart Using Excel Online (with Office 365)
1. Type in the names of the months in cells (B15, C16, D16) in
Row 15, which are the cells above the Net Income values.
2. Select and highlight the cells (B15, C16, D16) in Row 15 and
at the same time, also select cells (B16, B17, B18) in row 16
that contain the Net Income values. To select, click and hold the
mouse button to select these 6 cells.
3. Select 'Insert' in the menu at the top of the page.
4. From the Charts group, select 'Column' and then the 2-
Dimensional 'Clustered Column'.
5. Select the chart on the page and a 'Chart' menu will appear at
the top of the page.
6. In the Chart Tools data group, select 'Switch Row/ Column'.
This will swap the data over the axis and place the month names
under each column.
7. Select Chart Tools and under 'Legend', select 'None'.
8. Add a unique 'Chart Title' along with 'Axis Titles'. The Axis
Titles would be 'Months' and 'Net Income'.
Instructions
For this assignment, you will create a budget analysis for a
fictitious business of your
choice utilizing the Microsoft Exc
el application. You will input your own unique
business data into an Excel spreadsheet, calculate various
values obtained from your
data, and then utilize the calculated values to create a column
-
style chart. The
purpose of this assignment is for you to be
exposed to best practices for utilizing a
spreadsheet software application (e.g., Excel)

21. .
Excel Workbook Requirements
·
Start by cr
eating and
saving
your workbook in .xlsx format.
·
The budget data and a column
-
style chart are to be placed on a single
worksheet.
Data Entry
1.
In Row 1, type your
worksheet title in
bold
font
(e.g.
'My Business' Budget

22. )
.
2.
Leave Row 2 empty.
3.
In Row 3, beginni
ng with Column B, label the cells in three consecutive
columns (B3, C3, D3) with the names of the three months of any
yearly
quarter (i.e.
Jan
,
Feb
,
Mar
) in bold font.
4.
Label the cells in the next three consecutive columns (E3, F3,
G3) with the
following: '
Qtrly Total
,' '
Qtrly Average
,' and '
Qtrly Maximum
' in bold

23. font.
5.
In Row 4 in Column A (Cell A4), label the cell '
Income
' in bold
font
.
6.
List two sources of income in Column A in the rows
immediately following
'Income' in a non
-
bold font (Cells A5, A6).
7.
In R
ow 7 in Column A (Cell A7), label the cell '
Total Income
' in bold
font
.
8.
Leave Row 8 empty.
9.

24. In Row 9 in Column A (Cell A9), label the cell '
Expenses
' in bold
font
.
10.
List four expenses in Column A in the rows immediately
following 'Expense' in
a non
-
bold font (Cells A10, A11, A12, A13) (e.g. Rent, Utilities, etc.).
11.
In Row 14 in Column A (Cell A14), label the cell '
Total Expenses
' in
bold
font
.
12.
Leave Row 15 empty.
13.
In R
ow 16 in Column A (Cell A16), label the cell '
Net Income
' in bold

25. font
.
14.
Apply bottom border lines just above Total Income and
Expense.
Instructions
For this assignment, you will create a budget analysis for a
fictitious business of your
choice utilizing the Microsoft Excel application. You will input
your own unique
business data into an Excel spreadsheet, calculate various
values obtained from your
data, and then utilize the calculated values to create a column-
style chart. The
purpose of this assignment is for you to be exposed to best
practices for utilizing a
spreadsheet software application (e.g., Excel).
Excel Workbook Requirements
ing your workbook in .xlsx format.

26. -style chart are to be placed on
a single
worksheet.
Data Entry
1. In Row 1, type your worksheet title in bold font (e.g. 'My
Business' Budget).
2. Leave Row 2 empty.
3. In Row 3, beginning with Column B, label the cells in three
consecutive
columns (B3, C3, D3) with the names of the three months of any
yearly
quarter (i.e. Jan, Feb, Mar) in bold font.
4. Label the cells in the next three consecutive columns (E3, F3,
G3) with the
following: 'Qtrly Total,' 'Qtrly Average,' and 'Qtrly Maximum'
in bold font.
5. In Row 4 in Column A (Cell A4), label the cell 'Income' in
bold font.
6. List two sources of income in Column A in the rows
immediately following
'Income' in a non-bold font (Cells A5, A6).
7. In Row 7 in Column A (Cell A7), label the cell 'Total
Income' in bold font .
8. Leave Row 8 empty.
9. In Row 9 in Column A (Cell A9), label the cell 'Expenses' in
bold font.
10. List four expenses in Column A in the rows immediately
following 'Expense' in
a non-bold font (Cells A10, A11, A12, A13) (e.g. Rent,
Utilities, etc.).
11. In Row 14 in Column A (Cell A14), label the cell 'Total
Expenses' in
bold font .
12. Leave Row 15 empty.
13. In Row 16 in Column A (Cell A16), label the cell 'Net
Income' in bold font .

27. 14. Apply bottom border lines just above Total Income and
Expense.