Exam 3: Evaluating the External Environment

Factors in the general environment can have different effects depending on the industry type. Give two examples.

Describe how bottled water producers have benefited from the general environment but also been threatened by it. (Be sure to point out multiple factors of PESTEL).

Which of the following segments of PESTEL analysis includes cultural trends such as attitudes toward obesity and consumer activism?

Moore's Law suggests that the performance of alternative energy technology roughly doubles every four years.

Breadmakers, Inc. produces and supplies fresh sandwich breads to various sandwich businesses. Breadmakers has recently decided to open its own stores for selling sandwiches to consumers. This is an example of:

Backward vertical integration involves a supplier entering the industry that it supplies inputs to.

Buyers are more likely to be powerful relative to the firms from which they purchase goods and services if:

A few organizations wield such power and influence that they can shape some elements of the general environment.

PESTEL analysis differs from the five forces analysis in that PESTEL analysis is used for:

Textbook publishers can charge high prices because students enrolled in a class must purchase the specific book that the professor has selected. Used copies are sometimes a lower-cost option, but textbook publishers have cleverly worked to undermine the used textbook market by releasing new editions after very short periods of time. According to Porter what "force" do textbook publishers represent?

_____ analysis is an important tool that executives can rely upon to organize factors within the general environment and identify how these factors influence industries and the firms within them.

Concentrated industries differ from fragmented industries in that in concentrated industries:

Suppliers tend to be powerful if the supplier's industry is concentrated.

Rivalry tends to be fierce among an industry's competitors if fixed costs in the industry are low.

Describe four scenarios that help to predict the likelihood that fierce rivalry will erupt between an industry's competitors.

Textbook publishers can charge high prices because students enrolled in a class must purchase the specific book that the professor has selected. Used copies are sometimes a lower-cost option, but textbook publishers have cleverly worked to undermine the used textbook market by releasing new editions after very short periods of time. According to Porter what "force" do college students represent?

Why would an executive in charge of an organization want to understand the environment surrounding that organization?

The likelihood of new entrants joining an industry is low if capital requirements to enter the industry are high because:

Which of the following is one of the five forces of Michael Porter's five forces analysis?

Which of the following is an example of forward vertical integration?