Midterm questions

Midterm Study Guide Suri Gurumurthi, Spring 2021

The Study Guide corresponds to Strategic Management, An Integrated Approach, Theory and Cases, 12th Edition Only. Here are some important concepts and points to reinforce through your studies. This is not to say questions will be posed only on these topics and issues, but rather preparing you for the core concepts of the course so far, that are more likely to be quizzed. All questions will be multiple choice format, and the exam will be open book, open notes. Module 1 (7-8 questions)

- What is the competitive advantage and why is the term used synonymously with strategy?

- What is risk capital? - Define shareholder value, profitability, profit growth. - What is core competence and how can companies compete based on these core

competencies? - How is a business model different from strategy? - What explains systematic differences in industry performances? What is the role of

strategy in an industry that is not as profitable as others? - How are general managers different from functional managers? - How is a vision statement different from a mission statement? - You can skim the section on cognitive biases and strategic leadership - Boeing 737 and 787 cases (based on class discussion)

Module 2 (7-8 questions)

- What is value innovation? What are its benefits? - How did Dell, or Amazon.com represent value innovation for their respective industries? - How do companies compete based on pricing and consumer surplus equation? - What are distinctive competencies and how can they be achieved? Which of the ways to

achieve distinctive competencies are longer lasting than others? - What is the resource based view? - Develop an understanding of the 4 building blocks of competitive advantage - How are services different from products in terms of these building blocks - Be prepared to do some calculations around Figure 3.8. - What is chaining in this context, and what is its fundamental benefit that helps make

consolidation work? - Is Uber an example of chaining? Why?

Module 3 (7-8 questions)

- What is an “industry” and how is it different from a sector or a market? - What is the purpose of analyzing Porter’s five forces? - Be ready to explain the finer elements of the five forces. - What are strategic groups and what are the implications for strategy formulation?

- Be prepared to explain the various stages of industry life cycles and how they can impact strategy formulation.

- What are reasons for capacity excess in different stages? - What is punctuated equilibrium, and why is it observed typically? - What are some broader or more general forces outside of the industry that can impact

strategy? - Why are some industries more fragmented than others? - How can value innovation help consolidate some industries? - What are some examples of SWOT based strategies?

Module 4 (upto Lecture 4C) (4-5 questions)

- What is the role of market segmentation in the value position? - What are the main benefits and pitfalls of standardization strategies? - What are the main benefits and drawbacks of focus strategies? - Be prepared to explain and contrast Porter’s four main competitive strategies - Why is Costco more recently an example of broad cost leadership (we talked about this

in class) - What are strategies that are more effective in each of the stages of industry

development?