Exam 3: Foundations of Planning

MBO makes objectives ___________ by devising a process in which they cascade down through the organization.

Tactical and strategic plans differ in all of the following ways except

It appears that specific plans are always preferable to directional, or loosely guided plans, because specific plans have clearly defined objectives.

In informal planning, the organization's objectives are rarely verbalized.

Which of the following is not an argument that has been made against formal planning?

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 long- term success of any competitive strategy Stacie develops requires that the advantage be which of the following?

When planning involves specific objectives (covering a period of years)that are then written down and made available to organization members with specific action programs for achieving the goal, which of the following types of planning was used?

The greater the uncertainty, the more plans should be of the___________ variety.

How can you set employee objectives in MBO?

The starting point in strategic management process is usually

Which of the following is not true about strong organizational culture?

The premise behind___________ is to design in quality as the product is being made.

At Quest Diagnostics, a Medical Blood Testing Company, every test must be performed in exactly the same way to meet Federal Health and Regulatory Guidelines. The plans for conducting these tests are called___________ plans

What is the difference between strategic plans and tactical plans?

___________ plans specify the details of how an organization or business will achieve its objectives.

Lila's Luscious Lips produces a cherry flavored lipstick and is targeting the "teen" girl who is between 12 and 14 years old. The strategy pursued is

Which of the following is a nine- step process that involves strategic planning, implementation, and evaluation?

Choose two grand strategies and describe those strategies, giving an example of each.