Exam 4: Business Level Strategy

The generalized forms of value that goods and services provide are either lower cost with acceptable features or highly differentiated features with acceptable cost.

A nationwide chain of pet stores wishes to identify the tradeoffs that its customers are willing to make between low-cost products such as generic pet foods and differentiated features such as pick-up and delivery of pets for grooming. The best technique for this firm to learn this information would be to use

A flexible manufacturing system is a computer-controlled process used to produce a variety of products in moderate, flexible quantities with minimal manual intervention.

The integrated cost leadership/differentiation strategy is superior to the other business-level strategies.

The benefit of a flexible manufacturing system is that

A risk of the differentiation strategy is that the firm's means of differentiation may eventually not provide value for which customers are willing to pay.

The differentiation strategy is effective for products that are expensive, luxury consumer goods. It is not effective for common, inexpensive products such as doughnuts.

Because of its focus on innovation and quality manufacturing, Total Quality Management is not useful for firms which follow a cost leadership strategy.

An English professor spends her summers writing low-brow romance novels that sell directly to paperback. She writes under a fictional name because she is embarrassed to admit to her colleagues and students how she earns the extra money for foreign vacations. The professor is correct in her concern that she is serving customer needs that are objectively inferior and bad.

Chico's is a clothing retailer that targets middle-aged women who want stylish and appealing clothes that are suitable for the mature figure. Chico's has an extensive customer list, a frequent-buyer discount card, and frequent sales promotions to Chico's customers based on their spending levels. Chico's uses a ____ strategy.

Although it is a cost leader, IKEA also offers differentiated features that appeal to its target customers, including its unique furniture designs, in-store playrooms for children, wheelchairs for customer use, and extended hours.

Amazon has built capabilities around Internet technology and e-commerce to facilitate information exchanges with its customers in a cost effective manner. This represents which of the three service dimension?

A firm successfully implementing a differentiation strategy would expect

Ever improving levels of efficiency enhance profit margins for a cost leader. This effects which of the five forces of industry structure most directly?

Counterfeit products are a serious problem for firms following the differentiation strategy.

Unlike a cost leadership and a differentiation strategy, both focus strategies are less dependent on the completion of various value chain and support activities in order to compete in a superior manner.

When selecting a business level strategy, the firm must determine all of the following EXCEPT

In general, firms can be most effective if they develop business-level strategies that will serve the needs of the "typical customer" in the industry.

According to the Chapter 4 Strategic Focus, The Li Ning Company entered the Chinese sportswear market using a __________________ strategy. As it seeks to expand into new market segments, however, its strategy has changed to ____________________.

Describe the additional risks undertaken by firms pursuing a focus strategy.