CS Advanced Level
Strategic Management flashcards
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How does the guide define strategy?
The long-term direction and scope of an organisation, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and competences, with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations.
What are the six PESTEL headings?
Political, economic, sociocultural, technological, ecological and legal. PESTEL is a checklist for scanning: its value lies in picking the few factors that bear on this organisation and saying how they would change the strategy.
What are the four VRIO questions, and what does failing each one give?
Valuable? If not, a competitive disadvantage. Rare? If not, competitive parity. Inimitable? If not, a temporary advantage. Organised to exploit it? Only a resource that passes all four gives a sustained competitive advantage.
How does a vision statement differ from a mission statement?
Vision: what the organisation aspires to become, its desired future state. Mission: its fundamental purpose, what it does, for whom and why. A good vision inspires and gives direction for a long period; a good mission helps a manager choose between two courses of action today.
What are the generic competitive strategies?
Cost leadership: the lowest-cost producer, winning on price. Differentiation: something customers value as meaningfully different, commanding a premium. Focus: cost leadership or differentiation within a narrow segment. Hybrid: low cost and differentiation combined at the same time.
What are the four directions of the Ansoff matrix?
Market penetration: existing product, existing market. Product development: new product, existing market. Market development: existing product, new market. Diversification: new product, new market, the riskiest of the four.
What are the four points of Porter's Diamond, and what does it explain?
Factor conditions; demand conditions; related and supporting industries; firm strategy, structure and rivalry. It explains why certain nations or regions develop competitive advantage in specific industries.
What are Balogun and Hope Hailey's four types of strategic change?
Adaptation: incremental, within the existing paradigm. Reconstruction: rapid, without altering the paradigm, often a turnaround. Evolution: incremental, but transforming the paradigm over time. Revolution: rapid and transforming the paradigm, usually forced by crisis.
What are the seven elements of the McKinsey 7-S framework?
Strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff and skills. Organisational effectiveness depends on alignment across all seven.
What are the four steps of the strategic control process?
1. Set standards and targets derived from strategic objectives. 2. Measure actual performance against them. 3. Compare actual with planned performance. 4. Take corrective action, adjusting the implementation or, where needed, the strategy itself.
What are the characteristics of strategy?
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What are the three strategy lenses?
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In Mintzberg's terms, what is realised strategy?
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What is path dependency?
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What are the parts of Johnson and Scholes' cultural web?
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What are Schein's three levels of culture?
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What question does each level of strategy answer?
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What makes a strategic objective SMART?
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When does a statement of corporate values matter?
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What are the four steps of the strategic management process?
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What is strategic drift, and what is meant to catch it?
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What are the limitations of strategic management?
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What are Porter's five forces, and what question do they answer?
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What are key drivers for change, and which ones are scenarios built around?
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What does Oduor v Attorney General [2019] show about the legal environment?
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What are the primary and support activities of Porter's value chain?
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How does the value chain differ from the value system?
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What are the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard, and what does a strategy map add?
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How does gap analysis differ from benchmarking?
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What does the Strategy Clock show, and what is being stuck in the middle?
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What does game theory add to competitive strategy?
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What three things must a business model address?
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What are the four cells of the BCG matrix?
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How does backward integration differ from forward integration?
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When is diversification justified under the corporate parent test?
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What are the four drivers of internationalisation?
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How do multi-domestic, global and transnational strategies differ?
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What is logical incrementalism?
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What does the Deep Dive analogy say strategic thinking requires?
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Why is Chandler's 'structure follows strategy' only half true?
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Which value chain activities should be kept in-house and which outsourced?
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What contextual features does the change kaleidoscope ask about?
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Why do formal change programmes fail?
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Who are the strategists, and what does each do?
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How do premise control, strategic surveillance and implementation control differ?
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How should a strategic management case study be answered?
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How does a strategic decision differ from a tactical one?
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of formal strategic planning?
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What does Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory compare, and when does it matter to strategy?
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How can an organisation's history be a source of competitive advantage rather than mere background?
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What failure does the hierarchy of strategy levels expose?
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Why does the strategic management process run differently in a small business, a multinational, a public-sector body and a non-profit?
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How does strategic group analysis differ from competitor analysis?
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What is cooperative strategy?
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Besides the BCG matrix, what do the directional policy (GE-McKinsey) matrix and the parenting matrix assess?
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Why is external analysis harder for an organisation operating internationally?
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What is the international value system, and does internationalising automatically improve performance?
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What is the paradox of logic and creativity in strategic thinking?
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How can strategy be an outcome of political processes?
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How should deliberate and emergent strategy be managed together?
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How do simple, functional and divisional structures differ?
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What is a network structure, and why would an organisation adopt one?
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What are the levers for strategic change?
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Why is corporate politics part of strategic change, and how is it managed?
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How does leading change in a complex system differ from leading it in a complicated one?
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What does strategising cover, and why does issue-selling matter?
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What are the main strategy methodologies used in practice?
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Why are strategy formulation and implementation not strictly sequential?
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Why is resource allocation the point at which strategic intent becomes real?
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What are the three activities through which strategic control runs?
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What are the guidelines for proper strategic control?
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Why can a strategy's success not be judged on financial results alone?
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What does a typical strategic management case study describe, and what does it ask for?
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In a case of strategic drift, what analytical step and what control step does the guide recommend?
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Where a strategy case touches governance or ethics, what should the answer do?
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How to revise with these cards
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- Shuffle once you know the order, so you are not answering from memory of the sequence.
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