MGMT 455 CHAPTER 10 EXAM QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2026

MGMT 455 CHAPTER 10 EXAM QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2026 The implementation process is likely to be hampered by missed deadlines, misdirected efforts, and managerial ineptness, if: a capable results-oriented management team is not in place. Correct the personnel have different management styles. top managers start asking tough, incisive questions. important details require attention. an additional investment in capital projects is required - Answers A Which of the following is NOT a reason why companies might use outsourcing to improve performance of strategy-critical activities? Multiple Choice Improving a company's chances for outclassing rivals in the performance of strategy-critical activities and turning a core competence into a distinctive competence Promoting quick establishment of a total quality culture Correct Speeding internal decision making and shortening the time it takes to respond to changing market conditions Capitalizing on the partnerships with outsiders to enhance its arsenal of capabilities and thus contribute to better strategy execution Helping decrease internal bureaucracies and flatten the organizational structure - Answers B What is the advantage of acquiring capabilities through merger and acquisition? Multiple Choice Speed, since developing new capabilities internally can take many years of effort Correct Empowerment, since you can capture the essence of the capability and refocus the firm Price, as it is always cheaper to buy a whole company and pull out the capabilities individually Assets, as it the basis of the sale Investment, since resources and capabilities are considerable stronger - Answers A Which of the following statements about outsourcing the performance of value chain activities to outside specialists is FALSE? Multiple Choice Outsourcing support services often has the disadvantage of raising fixed and variable costs. Correct Outsourcing critics contend that shifting responsibility for performing value chain activities to outside specialists can hollow out a company's knowledge base and capabilities, leaving it at the mercy of outsider suppliers, and short of the resource strengths to be a master of its own destiny. Outsourcing the performance of certain value chain activities to able supplierscan add to a company's arsenal of capabilities and contribute to better strategy execution. The real debate surrounding outsourcing is not about whether too much outsourcing risks loss of control but about how to use outsourcing in a manner that produces greater competitiveness. - Answers A The paramount aim in building a management team should be to: Multiple Choice select people who are committed to decentralizing decision making and empowering employees. assemble a critical mass of talented managers who can function as agents of change, work well together as a team, and produce organizational results that are dramatically better than what one or two star managers acting individually can achieve. Correct choose managers experienced in controlling costs and flattening the organization structure. select people who have similar management styles, leadership approaches, business philosophies, and personalities. choose managers who believe in having a strong corporate culture and deeply ingrained core values. - Answers B When it is difficult or impossible to out-strategize rivals (beat them with a superior strategy), the other main avenue to competitive advantage is to: Multiple Choice do a better job of empowering employees and flattening the organization structure. outcompete rivals with a stronger corporate culture. out execute them (beat them by performing certain value chain activities in superior fashion). Correct beat them with a healthy corporate culture based on such core values as high ethical standards, a strong sense of corporate social responsibility, and genuine concern for customer well-being. institute a more motivating and cost-efficient compensation and reward system. - Answers C Which of the following is generally NOT among the common practices that companies use to staff jobs with talented people, particularly if intellectual capital greatly aids good strategy execution? Multiple Choice Careful screening and evaluation of job applicants, along with continuous training and retraining programs for employees that continue throughout their careers Rotating people through jobs that not only have great content but also span functional and geographic boundaries Eliminating the bottom 10 percent of the lowest-performing employees each year to increase the overall quality performance metrics to above-average industry standards Correct Encouraging employees to challenge existing ways of doing things, to be creative and innovative in proposing better ways of operating, and to push their ideas for new products or businesses Fostering a stimulating and engaging work environment such that employees will - Answers C One of the big weaknesses of organization structures that do not have cross-business collaboration is: Multiple Choice making it hard to effectively empower employees. making it difficult to have closely related activities report to a single executive. that pieces of strategically relevant activities and capabilities often end up scattered across many departments, with each pursuing its own priorities, projects, and agendas. Correct impeding the use of outsourcing. making it hard to fix managerial accountability for poor results. - Answers C A firm's organizational structure is comprised of: Multiple Choice resource strengths and competitive capabilities that allow it to incorporate attributes at lower costs than rivals whose products have similar attributes. the formal and informal arrangement of tasks, responsibilities, lines of authority, and reporting relationships by which the firm is administered. Correct excellent marketing and sales skills to convince buyers to pay a premium price for the attributes/features incorporated in its product. sustainable distinctive competencies to ensure cost reduction and competitiveness. a number of independent functional units involved in some common undertaking, with one unit typically in a more central role. - Answers B In companies where intellectual capital is crucial to good strategy execution, which of the following is generally NOT among the practices companies use to establish a talented knowledge base? Multiple Choice Providing promising employees with challenging, interesting, and skill-stretching assignments and also rotating them through jobs that not only have great content but also span functional and geographic boundaries Providing employees promotions, salary increases, performance bonuses, stock options, and other perks Coaching underperformers and benchwarmers to improve their skills and capabilities Correct Encouraging employees to challenge existing ways of doing things, to be creative and innovative in proposing better ways of operating, and to push their ideas for new products or businesses Fostering a stimulating and engaging work environment such that employees will consider the company a great place to work - Answers C In order to coordinate and control the complex set of activities, managers must ensure: Multiple Choice the organizational structure enables bureaucratic waste and strives for eliminating imposed capacity limitations of the strategy. the various parts of the organizational structure are aligned with one another and also matched to the requirements of the strategy. Correct they have enough employees dedicated to the various functions to attain economies of scale benefits. they can orchestrate the process with forceful administration and political maneuvering. they accommodate situational idiosyncrasies to build a competitively capable organization. - Answers B While ultimate responsibility for implementing and executing strategy falls upon the shoulders of senior executives: Multiple Choice top-level managers still have to rely on the active support and cooperation of middle and lower-level managers in pushing needed changes in functional areas and operating units. Correct the pivotal and most decisive strategy-implementing actions are carried out by frontline supervisors who have the day-to-day responsibility of seeing that key activities are done properly. it is a company's employees who most determine whether the drive for good strategy execution will succeed or fail. the success or failure of the implementation/execution effort hinges chiefly on doing an effective job of empowering employees to make day-to-day operating decisions that support good strategy execution. the success or failure of the implementation/execution effort hinges chiefly on a company's reward syst - Answers A The most common approaches to capability building include all of the following, EXCEPT: Multiple Choice developing capabilities internally. acquiring capabilities through mergers and acquisitions. accessing capabilities via collaborative partnerships. renewing capabilities to align with customer expectations. coaching average performers to improve their skills. correct - Answers E How is a functional structure or unitary structure organized? Multiple Choice With a central executive handling all major decisions To lighten the load of senior executives so they can concentrate on value chain action agendas Specifically to manage unrelated diversification opportunities Into functional departments, with departmental managers who report to the CEO and small corporate staff Correct With top-heavy management, and senior executives forming a central office of the chairman - Answers D Which of the following statements about recruiting and retaining capable employees is FALSE? Multiple Choice The quality of an organization's people is always an essential ingredient if critical value chain activities are to be performed competently. Recruiting and retaining capable employees is a particularly important organization-building task in enterprises where superior intellectual capital is a key resource and also a basis for competitive advantage. Recruiting and retaining capable employees are usually much more important to good strategy execution and the achievement of true operating excellence than is assembling a capable top management team. Correct It is very difficult for a company to competently execute its strategy and achieve operating excellence without a large band of capable employees who are actively engaged in the process of making ongoing operating improvements. In many industries, adding to a - Answers C Which of the following is unlikely to be a primary building block in a company's organizational structure? Multiple Choice Functional departments Process and operations departments Empowered employee departments Correct Divisional units performing major processing steps Geographic organizational units - Answers C Outsourcing value chain activities has such strategy executing advantages as: Multiple Choice less internal bureaucracy, speedier decision making, and quicker responses to changing market conditions. Correct facilitating the empowerment of employees (because there are fewer things to do internally). promoting a total quality management culture. reducing the need to establish a strongly implanted corporate culture. reducing the strategic importance of building valuable core competencies. - Answers A Recruiting and retaining capable employees is: Multiple Choice usually much more important to good strategy execution than is assembling a capable top-management team. important because the quality of an organization's people is always an essential ingredient of successful strategy execution. Correct more important during periods of rapid growth than during periods of crisis and attempted turnarounds. an important organization-building element, particularly when it comes to transforming a competence into a core competence or distinctive competence. easily the most critical aspect in building competitively valuable core competencies and capabilities. - Answers B A decentralized organizational structure is predicated on the belief that: Multiple Choice top executives should establish a collegial, collaborative culture where decisions are made by general consensus on what to do and when.