Assignment 8.1: Strategic Planning Due Fifth Day of the Week (Midnight CST) (20 Points) Select an existing business that utilizes short, medium, and long-term strategic planning. You may also use your own company. Consider how the organization’s operational-level planning differs from their corporate and/or business level planning. Prepare and post onto the discussion board information on: 1. Examples of the organization’s short, medium, and long-term strategic planning 1. A recent strategic decision from each level of strategic planning 1. Your analysis of what led to the strategic decision (please consider fiscal, market-based and other factors in your analysis) 1. How that strategic decision aligns or does not align with the organization’s purpose, mission, vision and strategic objectives Post at least one response preferentially to a student who has yet to benefit from a reply to their initial post. Responses should be substantive – state and support your response on their posting. A response such as “I agree” will not meet the assignment criteria. Each response should be a minimum of ten (10) well-structured sentences and posted as a “reply” to the original assignment posting. Your response posts are due on the seventh day of the week. In your response please review and critique the analysis of your colleague. Indicate what additional information would help to inform/justify their assessment of whether the strategic decision by the company aligns/does not align with the organization’s purpose, mission, vision and strategic objectives. Name:PRIVATE MGT 460 Business Strategy & Policy Exam Note that you cannot cut and paste from the Internet, I will fail anybody who does so. You can get the information from the Internet, but write the answers in your own words. I) Please select the most plausible alternatives from the choices given below (20 x 2 = 40 points): 1. Which of the following is an example of the resource-based view of the firm? a. Philip Morris diversified by purchasing Kraft foods, because they did not want to put money back in the high-risk cigarette business. b. Google hires employees by asking them to fill out a 200-item questionnaire; many of the questions have nothing to do with computers. c. Halliburton takes advantage of the US war budget to bill the government at over $5 per gallon of gasoline. d. Canon manufactures scanners, printers, copiers and cameras, all using its capability in imaging. 2. Apple has a unique ability to design products that are better looking than competition. IMacs often sell because of their looks as much as for their power and ease of use. This quality of Apple is a: a. Strength. b. Opportunity. c. Profitability. d. Efficiency. 3. Ford is considering moving its Taurus plant from Edison, NJ to Buenos Aires in Argentina, but is intimidated by the fact that the inflation rate in the nation is too high, and their dollar investments may be compromised. Which segme ...

1. Assignment 8.1: Strategic Planning
Due Fifth Day of the Week (Midnight CST) (20 Points)
Select an existing business that utilizes short, medium, and
long-term strategic planning. You may also use your own
company. Consider how the organization’s operational-level
planning differs from their corporate and/or business level
planning. Prepare and post onto the discussion board
information on:
1. Examples of the organization’s short, medium, and long-term
strategic planning
1. A recent strategic decision from each level of strategic
planning
1. Your analysis of what led to the strategic decision (please
consider fiscal, market-based and other factors in your
analysis)
1. How that strategic decision aligns or does not align with the
organization’s purpose, mission, vision and strategic objectives
Post at least one response preferentially to a student who has
yet to benefit from a reply to their initial post. Responses
should be substantive – state and support your response on their
posting. A response such as “I agree” will not meet the
assignment criteria. Each response should be a minimum of ten
(10) well-structured sentences and posted as a “reply” to the
original assignment posting. Your response posts are due on the
seventh day of the week.
In your response please review and critique the analysis of your
colleague. Indicate what additional information would help to
inform/justify their assessment of whether the strategic decision
by the company aligns/does not align with the organization’s
purpose, mission, vision and strategic objectives.

2. Name:PRIVATE
MGT 460
Business Strategy & Policy
Exam
Note that you cannot cut and paste from the Internet, I will fail
anybody who does so. You can get the information from the
Internet, but write the answers in your own words.
I) Please select the most plausible alternatives from the choices
given below (20 x 2 = 40 points):
1. Which of the following is an example of the resource-based
view of the firm?
a. Philip Morris diversified by purchasing Kraft foods, because
they did not want to put money back in the high-risk cigarette
business.
b. Google hires employees by asking them to fill out a 200-item
questionnaire; many of the questions have nothing to do with
computers.
c. Halliburton takes advantage of the US war budget to bill the
government at over $5 per gallon of gasoline.
d. Canon manufactures scanners, printers, copiers and cameras,
all using its capability in imaging.
2. Apple has a unique ability to design products that are better
looking than competition. IMacs often sell because of their
looks as much as for their power and ease of use. This quality
of Apple is a:

3. a. Strength.
b. Opportunity.
c. Profitability.
d. Efficiency.
3. Ford is considering moving its Taurus plant from Edison, NJ
to Buenos Aires in Argentina, but is intimidated by the fact that
the inflation rate in the nation is too high, and their dollar
investments may be compromised. Which segment of the
general environment does this statement refer to?
a. Corporate-financial
b. Business-exchange
c. Political-legal
d. Economic
4. Which of the following is an example of economies of scale?
a. Johnson & Johnson makes fourteen different varieties of
Band-Aid for various product segments.
b. Intel has a big plant making Centrino chips, reducing the per-
unit cost of each chip.
c. Mutual funds invest their stocks in several different
companies, to offset the risk of one company failing suddenly.
d. Wal-Mart sells certain products very economically, in order
to attract customers, while other products may be at par with, or
even more expensive than competition.

4. 5. The term strategy can be defined as:
a. A company’s market share, which allows it to outperform
competition.
b. A coordinated deployment of a firm’s resources to achieve
competitive advantage.
c. The sum total of a company’s financial, organizational,
physical and human resources.
d. All of the above.
6. EB Company sells a large pack of “Cutie” diapers for $20.
One pack of diapers requires two pounds of raw material and
one hour of direct labor for manufacture. Raw material costs $3
per pound and direct production labor is paid $4 per hour. Fixed
supervisory costs are $2,000 per month and EB rents its factory
for $4,000 per month. How many packs of diapers should EB
sell every month to break even?
a. 500.
b. 400.
c. 600.
d. 800.
7. Cynthia Buchelli, the Vice President (Sales) of MGT 460 Inc.
manages a portfolio of three products in the computer division.
The new Intel M ULV 773 processor-based Sleekline model has
a low market share of around 5%, but has just been introduced,
and since the market is booming, Cynthia is hopeful that it will
grow into maturity. Stallion, the Xenon-based system, has a

5. market share of 88% in the industry segment it operates in, but
the market is stable and not growing too fast. Finally, there is
the Pentium4-based Thunderbird, which only sells in discount
markets in rural areas.
Which of the following describes the product portfolio under
Cynthia?
a. Sleekline-question mark, Stallion-star, Thunderbird-cash cow
b. Sleekline-question mark, Stallion-cash cow, Thunderbird-dog
c. Sleekline-Star, Stallion-cash cow, Thunderbird-dog
d. Sleekline-question mark, Stallion-dog, Thunderbird-cash cow
8. Ned Micic, Microsoft's CFO finds that the company has a
current ratio of 3.7. He would conclude that the firm is
a. Over-leveraged
b. Too-liquid
c. Undercapitalized
d. Profitable
9. Which ones of the four examples below is an example of
value-migration?
a. No one buys typewriters anymore, but they buy PCs even to
type.
b. HP now produces laser printers that can accept emailed
inputs as well.
c. Honda used its expertise in small engines to enter the lawn-

6. mower market
d. Sony lost share in the video recorder market, but gained the
camcorder market.
10. Benetton is a brand name that is supplied by a variety of
firms that operate in a network. These firms not only compete
with each other, but also collaborate and share resources at
times. This phenomenon represents:
a. a white-space opportunity
b. a business ecosystem
c. lowered transaction costs
d. asset specificity
11. An industry is defined as:
a. A collection of firms that compete with one another in a
single product market.
b. A collection of firms that exist in a particular geographical
area (e.g. Spain).
c. A collection of firms that use similar distribution channels.
d. All of the above.
12. Which of the following is a stock market?
a. Dow Jones.
b. NYSE.
c. Standard and Poors.

7. d. All of the above.
13. Which of the following is not a good core competence?
a. Logistics management.
b. Large cash resources.
c. Skill in acoustic technology.
d. The ability to produce hybrid automobiles.
14. Michael Porter’s five-forces model does not include
a. Bargaining power of suppliers.
b. Competitive Rivalry.
c. Stock Market Fluctuations.
d. Threat of Substitutes.
15. Which of the following is not an example of the
sociocultural segment of the general environment?
a. People are getting health conscious
b. Minimum wages are rising
c. More people are telecommuting
d. More women work, so more families eat out
16. An organizational resource would include
a. The brand names an organization has trademarked.
b. A firm’s formal reporting structure.
c. Patents and copyrights.
d. All of the above.

8. 17. A defining attribute of a core competence is that it is
a. Ethical and sustainable
b. In-house and can be outsourced
c. A source of globalization
d. Rare and valuable
18. Who are the primary stakeholders of a corporation?
a. There is no such thing as a primary stakeholder.
b. Bankers who lend money to a corporation.
c. Customers, who are the source of all revenue.
d. An employee, without whom value addition is impossible.
19. What is a good example of inbound logistics in a value
chain?
a. Coordinating the receipt of raw materials
b. Material handling and warehousing
c. Inventory control
d. All of the above
20. Which of these business leaders is still the CEO of their
company?
a. Bill Gates/Microsoft.

9. b. Jack Welch/GE.
c. Warren Buffet/Berkshire Hathaway.
d. Bernie Ebbers/Worldcom
Answer any five of the following in about a sentence each (5 x
5 = 25 points).
1) What is a strategic group?
2) Define "economies of scale".
3) Starbucks had a Total Assets Turnover (TAT) ratio of 1.2 in
2007, which was an improvement over a TAT of 0.96 in 2006.
If Starbucks had the exact same level of sales, debt, and profit
in 2007 as they did in 2006, how did their TAT improve?
4) What does “outsourcing” mean?
5) Give me an original example of a disruptive technology in a
current business scenario.
6) Give me an original example of a barrier to entry.
III) Answer the following question with a short essay
(suggested length 200 words). 35 points.
Consider the following quote based on the firm Rubbermaid.
Rubbermaid has experienced major increases in the cost of resin
(an important raw material... ) and attempted to pass on these
costs with large price increases to its customers. Wal-Mart was
particularly angered by the large price increases... Wal-Mart
refused to stock a number of Rubbermaid products and deleted
Rubbermaid's products from its promotional materials... Instead,
Wal-Mart featured Sterilite, one of Rubbermaid's prominent new
competitors... When Rubbermaid passed on the huge price
increases to its customers, the competitors had only small price

10. increases, deciding instead to reduce their profits rather than
pass on the full cost of the raw materials.
The quote illustrates three of Porter's five forces. Which three?
How does it illustrate each of them?