Exam 5: Business-Level Strategy: Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantages

Aldi,a discount supermarket retailer,has grown from its German base to the rest of Europe,Australia,and the United States by replicating a simple business format.Aldi limits the number of products in each category to ensure product turn,to ease stocking shelves,and to increase its power over supplier.This is an example of an overall cost leadership strategy because it

Research shows that which one of the following is not a strategy used by firms engaged in successful turnarounds?

Mass customization permits companies to manufacture unique products in relatively ________ quantities at ________ costs.

A need for turnaround occurs only during the maturity or declining stage of the life cycle.

The text discusses three approaches to combining overall cost leadership and differentiation competitive advantages.Which of the following is not one of these three approaches?

Value-chain support activities that involve excellent applications engineering support (technology development)and facilities that promote a positive firm image (firm infrastructure)characterize which generic strategy?

A platform business such as Airbnb leverages data analytics to differentiate its offer from that of competitors such as VRBO.

Which of the following is not a potential pitfall of a differentiation strategy?

When Cindy Grossman turned around HSN successfully in 2014,which of the following was not one of the practices she used?

A pitfall of integrated overall cost leadership and differentiation is underestimating the expenses associated with coordinating value-creating activities in the extended value chain.

Overall cost leadership is a generic strategy unlike others that does not require a tight set of interrelated tactics.

The Yoox algorithm permits it to predict which products will sell at which times and where,thus allowing effective stocking to meet customer needs.This a result of

The market life cycle should be used for short-run forecasting because it provides a conceptual framework for understanding what changes typically occur over the life of an industry.

Atlas Door created competitive advantage by reducing the time to receive and process an order and through installing a just-in-time logistics operation.Which of the following is not a reason for their favorable position relative to the five forces of industry competition?

Rivals would find it difficult to challenge Atlas Door in the short run because of

Zulily,an online retailer,competes with Amazon and other online retailers by

High product differentiation is generally accompanied by

Outright sales or sale and leaseback free up considerable cash and improve returns.This is an example of which turnaround strategy used by successful companies?

Once established,competitive advantages last forever whether the firm is in a high technology environment or not.

Which of the following is not a potential pitfall of a focus strategy?