Exam 9: Control of Global Business

In meeting its strategic goals, Keegan Enterprises plans to buy trailer hitches manufactured in Croatia over the next six months. This business idea is best identified as which one of the following?

Organizational change in a business is almost always most effective when pushed from the bottom by the company's rank-and-file employees.

The large oil exploration company, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, takes a(n)______ toward strategy formulation, placing a very clear emphasis in strategy formulation upon how its business decisions will help deliver and ongoing and competitive rate of return to its owners.

An operational plan is

Scenario - Keegan Enterprises Keegan Enterprises is owned by Stanley Keegan of Wichita, Kansas.  Stanley started Keegan Enterprises in 1990 and has watched his company grow to become the second largest producer of van trailers in the world.  Keegan Enterprises earned $60 million in profit last year and currently has over 17,000 workers around the globe. In order to achieve its stated mission and goals, Keegan Enterprises has implemented several changes to its business strategy over the past few years.  While accomplishing the necessary changes has not been easy or without challenge, Keegan Enterprises appears to be stronger and more unified today than ever before.  Stanley Keegan is looking forward to facing future challenges and watching the forward growth of his business.  He would like to see his company in the number one spot as the world's largest producer of van trailers in the world. Keegan Enterprises acknowledges it has undertaken changes within the company's strategy.  This organizational change can involve the implementation of a different business or cultural path for the organization.  Which one of the following is least likely to be true regarding Keegan's organizational change?    

Smithfield Foods Company, the world's largest pork producer, has set the clear organizational goal of getting 10 cents profit for each pound of its processed pork products that is sold. This is an example of an output control and measurement.

Altria Group, Inc., may feel that the importance of "fiscal discipline" in its stated mission mandates that it reduce its operations and concentrate upon making its existing U.S.-based Marlboro operations as efficient and profitable as possible. In short, Altria will be most concerned with maintaining its existing strategic position. This is an example of Miles and Snows' _____ typology.

An organizational initiative that aims to limit defects or problems to 3.4 per million is a(n)

In the banking industry, a particular bank's efficiency ratio is a closely monitored metric. If one bank can achieve a profit of $2 million per year with 90 employees, and another bank needs to employ 200 employees to achieve the same level of profits, the first bank's employees are more efficient than the second. Which of the following output controls and measurement is the banking industry using?

For generations there has been a norm of "highest quality in journalism" at the New York Times newspaper. In this context, the newspaper's reporters don't require close supervision to do great journalistic work. This is an example of the organizational _____ at the New York Times.

A rule that all employees in the organization (including the CEO)must fly coach when they travel on commercial airlines represents a consistent _____ control within an organization.

If Keegan Enterprises was characterized as an analyzer by Miles and Snow, which one of the following would not be true of this company?    

The president of a small company makes a point to touch base with every employee each day; this is an example of an interpersonal control.

Starbucks Corporation takes more of a _____ approach toward strategy formulation.

Target Corporation is often accused of being a defender in terms of its market strategies and strategic implementation.

Tacit knowledge is easier to communicate than explicit knowledge.

ABC Manufacturing focuses on implementing a basic market strategy of concentrating upon existing operations and protecting their home turf.  ABC can be described as a _____.

In a(n)_______, a global business explains why it exists and what it plans to accomplish.

________ refers to the ability of organizations to recognize, assimilate and apply new knowledge.

_____controls involve establishing specific goals given metrics and then measuring to what extent these goals are being achieved at certain time intervals.