Deck 8: Evaluation and Control in Strategic Planning

Question 1

Strategy evaluation and control process needs to be decided and installed so that the organization can formulate and implement strategies.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Strategy evaluation and control process needs to be a continuous monitoring process.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Under strategy evaluation and control, the actual performance is compared with respect to the desired performance and corrective action might be taken if needed.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

According to Henry Mintzberg, intended strategies that get realized may be called emergent strategies.

Question 5

According to Henry Mintzberg, realized strategies that were never intended may be called deliberate strategies.

Question 6

The intended and realized strategies may differ due to failure in leadership to motivate employees to pursue the intended strategy.

Question 7

Strategy evaluation is more difficult in the present times due to increasing difficulty of predicting the future with accuracy.

Question 8

Interactive control systems are organization's brakes like racing cars. The fastest companies need the best brakes.

Question 9

Beliefs systems can be thought of as the yang to the yin of boundary systems.

Question 10

Comparing the company's performance to competitors' is one of the three comparisons that strategist do using quantitative strategic evaluation techniques.

Question 11

Expanding globally is a popular corrective action used by retailing firms.

Question 12

Taking corrective actions always involves abandoning existing strategies and formulating new strategies.

Question 13

Corrective actions in a strategy evaluation process should not have a proper time horizon but an appropriate amount of risk.

Question 14

"Compare the performance to the standards. How well does the actual match the plan?" is the first step in the evaluation and control model.

Question 15

Actual performance within the tolerance band does lead to taking corrective actions in any situation.

Question 16

Limited types of measurements taken for control purposes are based on some form of historical standard.

Question 17

While determining the reasons for the deviations, in operational control, the primary concern is focused on finding the external causes that need to be changed.

Question 18

The reason for the deviation has different implications on the kinds of corrective action taken.

Question 19

Deciding on internal changes and taking corrective action may involve changes in only objectives and targets.

Question 20

Evaluation is more about directly ordering and assessing what tasks should be done, when, and how in any dynamic environment rather than wasting resources on building influence and trust.

Question 21

If changes in the external environment are so severe that revising the objectives or even the corporate mission are mandated, then the changes can be directly implemented.

Question 22

High-performing employees are not facilitators of the implementation of the organization's strategies.

Question 23

The strategic planning process stops only when an organization ceases to exist.

Question 24

Strategic evaluation and control needs to be a continuous monitoring process throughout the __________ and ___________ stages of the SPP.

A) Designing and planning
B) Formulation and implementation
C) Implementation and monitoring
D) Planning and budgeting

Question 25

_____________ is the process of evaluating strategic plans and monitoring organizational performance.

A) Strategy evaluation and control
B) Strategic planning and formulating
C) Strategic planning and budgeting
D) Strategic evaluation and planning

Question 26

Different types of strategies are proposed by Henry Mintzberg except _____________.

A) Intended strategies
B) Deliberate strategies
C) Budget strategies
D) Unrealized strategies

Question 27

Intended strategies that do not get realized may be called _____________.

A) Intended strategies
B) Deliberate strategies
C) Emergent strategies
D) Unrealized strategies

Question 28

The intended and realized strategies may differ due to _____________.

A) Unrealistic strategic decisions
B) Managerial incompetence in implementing the strategic decisions
C) Uncontrollable changes in the external environment
D) All of the above

Question 29

Strategy evaluation is becoming increasingly difficult for all the following reasons _____________.
(i) Domestic and world economies were more stable in the past;
(ii) Product life cycles were shorter in the past;
(iii) Product development cycles were shorter in the past;
(iv) Technological advancement was faster in the past;
(v) Fewer competitors in the past.

A) All of the above
B) i, ii, iii and iv
C) i and ii only
D) i, iii and v
E) i, iii, iv and v

Question 30

___________ track the uncertainties that keep senior managers awake at night.

A) Interactive control systems
B) Diagnostic control systems
C) Beliefs systems
D) Boundary systems

Question 31

In the "Beliefs Systems," the primary organizational block is ___________.

A) Uncertainty about purpose
B) Pressure or temptation
C) Lack of focus or of resources
D) None of the above

Question 32

"Specify and enforce rules of the game" is the main managerial solution to ___________.

A) Interactive control systems
B) Diagnostic control systems
C) Beliefs systems
D) Boundary systems

Question 33

In a strategy evaluation, corrective actions are almost always needed, except when ___________.
(i) External and internal factors have not significantly changed;
(ii) External factors have significantly changed, but internal ones have not:
(iii) The firm is progressing satisfactorily toward achieving stated objectives;
(iv) Internal factors have significantly changed, but external ones have not.

A) iii and iv
B) only ii
C) i and iii
D) None of the above
E) All of the above

Question 34

Numerous external factors that can prohibit firms from achieving annual and long-term objectives include all except ___________.

A) Actions by competitors
B) Changes in demand
C) Ineffective competitors' strategies
D) Demographic shifts

Question 35

______________ includes comparing expected results to actual results, investigating deviations from plans, evaluating individual performance, and examining progress being made toward meeting stated objectives.

A) A strategy-evaluation framework
B) Measuring organizational performance
C) Managerial communication
D) Taking corrective actions

Question 36

Potential problems associated with using quantitative criteria for evaluating strategies include all of the following but ______________.

A) Different accounting methods can provide different results on many quantitative criteria
B) Most quantitative criteria are geared to long-term objectives rather than annual objectives
C) Intuitive judgments are almost always involved in deriving quantitative criteria
D) Both (a) and (c)
E) (a), (b), (c)

Question 37

The final strategy-evaluation activity is _________.

A) Measuring performance
B) Comparing performance to standards
C) Determining the reasons for the deviations
D) Taking corrective actions

Question 38

An organizational objectives should be _________.

A) Specific
B) Measurable
C) Time-phased
D) Achievable
E) All of the above

Question 39

In setting the control standards, which of the following is not a necessary step taken by the organization _________?

A) Identify the targets
B) Identify employee satisfaction
C) Determine the tolerances around the targets
D) Specify the timing of specific standards

Question 40

_________ are often thought as statistical confidence intervals.

A) Tolerances
B) Objectives
C) Strategy evaluation
D) Quantitative evaluation techniques

Question 41

____________ is a step in which there is a substantial difference between strategic control and operational control.

A) Measuring performance
B) Comparing performance to standards
C) Determining the reasons for the deviations
D) Taking corrective actions

Question 42

In the model of evaluation and control, assessment of cause and effect involves/leads to ____________.

A) Determining objectives, targets, and tolerances only
B) Change desired outcome, objectives, targets or tolerances, mission, behavior strategy, implementation plan, policies
C) Time and performance outcome only
D) Performance outcome and deviations only

Question 43

Which of the following are internal factors that prohibit firms from achieving long-term and annual objective?

A) Actions by competitors
B) Changes in demand
C) Demographic shifts
D) None of the above

Question 44

Which of the following is not an example of financial ratios?

A) Return on investment
B) Asset growth
C) Expert judgement
D) Earnings per share

Question 45

"Strategy evaluation enhances an organization's ability to adapt successfully to changing circumstances." Brown and Agnew refer to this idea as ____________.

A) Corporate social responsibility
B) Competitive advantage
C) Corporate agility
D) Code of ethics

Question 46

Taking corrective actions involve rooting innovative and changed behavior, and this might be resisted due to all the following reasons except ____________.

A) Fear of failure in the new situation
B) Annoyance at not being consulted
C) Understanding the need for change
D) Insecurity in changing from well-known and fixed methods
E) Both (a) and (b) f. (a), (b), (c)
G) All of the above

Question 47

The six qualitative questions which are useful in evaluating strategies are suggested by ____________.

A) Henry Mintzberg
B) Seymour Tilles
C) Marios Katsioloudes
D) Michael Porter

Question 48

"In many organizations, strategy evaluation is simply an appraisal of how well an organization has performed." Comment with examples.

Question 49

Why is it essential to weigh the quantitative and qualitative factors in strategy evaluation? What purpose does either of them serve to the organization?

Question 50

Failure of a strategy is incumbent upon the poor performance of the mangers alone. Do you agree? Use Mintzberg's theory to justify your opinion.

Question 51

Considering that the business environment is always going to be dynamic, is it realistic for an organization to set out a specific strategy and expect it to work out until the end? What factors determine the success or failure of such an approach?

Question 52

Among many benefits of strategy evaluation stated in this chapter, list the top three in your opinion and justify the ranking with examples.

Question 53

Erez and Kanfer state that "Individuals accept change best when they have a cognitive understanding of the changes, a sense of control over the situation, and an awareness that necessary actions are going to be taken to implement the changes." Comment and elaborate in light of Alvin Toffler's argument regarding dynamic and complex business environments.

Question 54

How does corporate agility help a company's chances of survival during uncontrollable and unprecedented changes in the environment?

Question 55

"When empowered employees are held accountable for, pressured to achieve specific goals, and are given wide latitude in their actions to achieve them, there can be dysfunctional behavior." Comment and elaborate in light of the corporate agility and innovation concepts.

Question 56

Mintzberg argues that any strategy will change over time. Toffler claims that dynamic environment causes change. How then are employees and managers expected to cope with a strategy that is bound to changing over time and circumstances?