BSG EXAM 3 QUESTIONS & VERIFIED
COMPLETE SOLUTIONS ALL PASSED
Strategic Offensive - Correct Answer ✔✔ called for when a company spots
opportunities to gain profitable market share at its rival's expense or when a company
has no choice but to try to whittle away at a strong rival's competitive advantage
Blue Ocean Strategy - Correct Answer ✔✔ offers growth in revenues and profits by
discovering or inventing new industry segments that create altogether new demand
Offensive Strategies - Correct Answer ✔✔ sometimes a company's best strategic option
is to seize the initiative, go on the attack, and launch a strategic offensive to improve its
market position
Principal Offensive Strategy Options - Correct Answer ✔✔ 1. Offer an equally good or
better product at a lower price.
2. Leapfrog competitors by being first to market with next-generation products.
3. Pursue continuous product innovation to draw sales and market share away from
less innovative rivals.
4. Pursue disruptive product innovations to create new markets.
5. Adopt and improve on the good ideas of other companies (rivals or otherwise).
6. Use hit-and-run or guerrilla marketing tactics to grab market share from complacent
or distracted rivals.
7. Launch a preemptive strike to secure an industry's limited resources or capture a rare
opportunity
Defensive Strategies - Correct Answer ✔✔ Can help protect a competitive advantage
but rarely are the basis for creating one
First Mover Advantages - Correct Answer ✔✔ If market responds well to its initial move,
the pioneer will benefit from a monopoly position that enables it to recover its
investment costs and make an attractive profit
First Mover Disadvantages - Correct Answer ✔✔ 1. When costs are high relative to the
benefits accrued and imitative followers can achieve similar benefits with far lower
costs.
2. When an innovator's products are somewhat primitive and do not live up to a buyer
expectations
3. When rapid market evolution gives second movers the opening to leapfrog a first
mover's products with more attractive next-version products
4. When market uncertainties make it difficult to ascertain what will eventually succeed,
allowing late movers to wait until these needs are clarified
, 5. When customer loyalty to the pioneer is low and first mover's skills, know-how, what
actions are easily copied or even surpassed
Scope of the Firm - Correct Answer ✔✔ refers to the range of activities that the form
performs internally, the breadth of its product and service offerings, the extent of its
geographic market presence, and its mix of businesses.
Horizontal Scope - Correct Answer ✔✔ the range of product and service segments that
a firm serves within its focal market
Vertical Scope - Correct Answer ✔✔ the extent to which a firm's internal activities
encompass the range of activities that make up and industry's entire value chain
system, from raw-material production to final sales and service activities
Threat Analysis - Correct Answer ✔✔ the awareness of close competitors and the kinds
of actions they make
Signaling - Correct Answer ✔✔ the goal is to dissuade challengers from attacking at all
or to divert them to less threatening options
Organizational Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ formalized patterns of interaction that
link tasks and people, typically changes as the size and complexity of the company
increases, a function of company growth and diversification strategies
Simple Organizational Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ the owner makes decisions and
controls activities, most common form in which staff is an extension of the top executive
Functional Organizational Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ the major functions of the firm
are grouped internally, it recognizes that the owner is not skilled in all aspects, so
owners hire specialists in various functional areas
Multidivisional Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ a decentralized structure consisting of a
set of operating divisions organized along business, product, customer group, or
geographic lines and central corporate headquarters that allocates resources, provides
support functions, and monitors divisional activities
Matrix Organizational Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ a combination structure that
overlays one type of structure onto another type, with multiple reporting relationships. It
is used to foster cross-unit collaboration
Network Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ a configuration composed of a number of
independent organizations engaged in some common undertaking, with one firm
typically taking on a more central role
Boundryless Organizational Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ reflect organizations in
which boundaries are more permeable
COMPLETE SOLUTIONS ALL PASSED
Strategic Offensive - Correct Answer ✔✔ called for when a company spots
opportunities to gain profitable market share at its rival's expense or when a company
has no choice but to try to whittle away at a strong rival's competitive advantage
Blue Ocean Strategy - Correct Answer ✔✔ offers growth in revenues and profits by
discovering or inventing new industry segments that create altogether new demand
Offensive Strategies - Correct Answer ✔✔ sometimes a company's best strategic option
is to seize the initiative, go on the attack, and launch a strategic offensive to improve its
market position
Principal Offensive Strategy Options - Correct Answer ✔✔ 1. Offer an equally good or
better product at a lower price.
2. Leapfrog competitors by being first to market with next-generation products.
3. Pursue continuous product innovation to draw sales and market share away from
less innovative rivals.
4. Pursue disruptive product innovations to create new markets.
5. Adopt and improve on the good ideas of other companies (rivals or otherwise).
6. Use hit-and-run or guerrilla marketing tactics to grab market share from complacent
or distracted rivals.
7. Launch a preemptive strike to secure an industry's limited resources or capture a rare
opportunity
Defensive Strategies - Correct Answer ✔✔ Can help protect a competitive advantage
but rarely are the basis for creating one
First Mover Advantages - Correct Answer ✔✔ If market responds well to its initial move,
the pioneer will benefit from a monopoly position that enables it to recover its
investment costs and make an attractive profit
First Mover Disadvantages - Correct Answer ✔✔ 1. When costs are high relative to the
benefits accrued and imitative followers can achieve similar benefits with far lower
costs.
2. When an innovator's products are somewhat primitive and do not live up to a buyer
expectations
3. When rapid market evolution gives second movers the opening to leapfrog a first
mover's products with more attractive next-version products
4. When market uncertainties make it difficult to ascertain what will eventually succeed,
allowing late movers to wait until these needs are clarified
, 5. When customer loyalty to the pioneer is low and first mover's skills, know-how, what
actions are easily copied or even surpassed
Scope of the Firm - Correct Answer ✔✔ refers to the range of activities that the form
performs internally, the breadth of its product and service offerings, the extent of its
geographic market presence, and its mix of businesses.
Horizontal Scope - Correct Answer ✔✔ the range of product and service segments that
a firm serves within its focal market
Vertical Scope - Correct Answer ✔✔ the extent to which a firm's internal activities
encompass the range of activities that make up and industry's entire value chain
system, from raw-material production to final sales and service activities
Threat Analysis - Correct Answer ✔✔ the awareness of close competitors and the kinds
of actions they make
Signaling - Correct Answer ✔✔ the goal is to dissuade challengers from attacking at all
or to divert them to less threatening options
Organizational Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ formalized patterns of interaction that
link tasks and people, typically changes as the size and complexity of the company
increases, a function of company growth and diversification strategies
Simple Organizational Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ the owner makes decisions and
controls activities, most common form in which staff is an extension of the top executive
Functional Organizational Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ the major functions of the firm
are grouped internally, it recognizes that the owner is not skilled in all aspects, so
owners hire specialists in various functional areas
Multidivisional Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ a decentralized structure consisting of a
set of operating divisions organized along business, product, customer group, or
geographic lines and central corporate headquarters that allocates resources, provides
support functions, and monitors divisional activities
Matrix Organizational Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ a combination structure that
overlays one type of structure onto another type, with multiple reporting relationships. It
is used to foster cross-unit collaboration
Network Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ a configuration composed of a number of
independent organizations engaged in some common undertaking, with one firm
typically taking on a more central role
Boundryless Organizational Structure - Correct Answer ✔✔ reflect organizations in
which boundaries are more permeable
