Exam 3: Foundations of Planning

A fast growing area of environmental scanning is

Application of SWOT Analysis Terry had been told to reexamine the strategic niche their company held in the cosmetic industry. Top management did not want the company caught unaware of any changes occurring. Terry began reviewing a list of factors in his mind. There had been some negative publicity lately due to cosmetic testing on animals. The animals were well treated, but they were used to test new products. Positively, sales industry- wide was up 10%. Women were buying more cosmetics in general, which was nothing but good for the company. Another positive factor was their personnel. They had good people working in the company, particularly in research and development. The only other negative Terry could find was that the advertising campaign that was begun last year had not shown the results they had hoped for. Something needed to be done in that department. Terry began to compile his report. -Having a good research and development department is a real ___________ for the company.

Planning is concerned with defining an organization's goals and objectives and how to integrate and coordinate activities.

Application of MBO Kay was excited. She had just returned from a manager's retreat where MBO had been discussed. This had never been used in her organization before, and she was enthusiastic about implementing the program in her department. She received the OK from her manager, the division head, who vaguely remembered having heard of the program several years earlier. Kay looked over the handout she had received. She was still somewhat confused on who was to choose the goals for the employees. However, she knew that the goals once chosen needed to be specific and have explicit time periods attached. Even though there was a lot of work to do in order to implement the program, Kay was excited. She knew this would prove to be beneficial to the organization. -In order for MBO to work most effectively in Kay's department, which level of support does she still need to receive?

The Hummer television ads frequently show the company's SUVs being driven under very challenging off- road conditions and over difficult terrain in order to impress consumers with how well built the vehicles are and to create the impression that the Hummer Volvos are among the most rugged cars on the market. What type of competitive business strategy is Hummer using?

SWOT analysis determines the primary threats and opportunities an organization faces.

Strengths that represent unique skills or resources that can determine an organization's competitive edge are called its core competency.

Directional plans provide focus, but do not lock managers into specific objectives or specific courses of action.

___________ plans have clearly defined objectives.

Strategic plans describe how an organization's overall objectives are to be achieved.

Application of Porter's Competitive Strategy Stacie sighed. Her general manager had just left after giving her the latest assignment- readdress the competitive advantage of their company. By Friday's meeting, Stacie was to have developed three differing strategies the business could use in order to maintain its competitive advantage. Its computer business was slowly losing market share to its competitors, and everyone realized something needed to be done. Stacie glanced through the article by Michael Porter that her manager had left with her. According to Porter, there were three differing types of strategies they could choose from. Stacie began wondering if there was a way they could make their computers cheaper, which would allow them to then sell at a lower price. If they could reduce price by $100 a machine, they would be the industry leaders in price. Stacie wondered if they could find any lower- priced suppliers for the more expensive parts of their computers. She knew that their computers appealed particularly to small business owners due in part to price. They were able to offer the lower price because their computers were not as powerful or fast as some machines, but did contain the necessary word processing, database, and spreadsheet capabilities necessary for a typical small business owner. The lack of frills with the solid three program capabilities, plus their known reputation for quality had worked for them in the past. Stacie wondered if perhaps they needed to look at a smaller segment of the market, maybe small businesses with large accounts receivables that would fully utilize their specific database. She knew that would cut their market by 1/8 but maybe achieving a definite market niche would help. Stacie began compiling her report for Friday's meeting. -The competitive advantage based upon developing the market of small businesses that had a specific need for a database with the capability for a large accounts receivable billing, would be which of the following?

Once a plan is established, it should always be

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The S and W refer to the strengths and weaknesses of the current and future economy.

In what order should plans be developed?

Which of the following is not one of the steps in the Six Sigma 12- Step Process?

What is environmental scanning?

MBO links objectives at one level to which of the following?

MBO uses goals to control employees.

What factors regularly sit on the top of most lists that profile the entrepreneurial personality?

Application of MBO Kay was excited. She had just returned from a manager's retreat where MBO had been discussed. This had never been used in her organization before, and she was enthusiastic about implementing the program in her department. She received the OK from her manager, the division head, who vaguely remembered having heard of the program several years earlier. Kay looked over the handout she had received. She was still somewhat confused on who was to choose the goals for the employees. However, she knew that the goals once chosen needed to be specific and have explicit time periods attached. Even though there was a lot of work to do in order to implement the program, Kay was excited. She knew this would prove to be beneficial to the organization. -Kay knew that the research showed that MBO allows which of the following?