CBS Strategic Planning & Execution 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which planning horizon is most associated with operational planning?
- 10+ years
- 5–10 years
- 3–5 years
- Up to 1 year (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Up to 1 year
Operational planning typically covers a horizon of up to one year and focuses on day-to-day activities that support tactical and strategic goals.
Question 2: A business strategist recommends a 'blue ocean' strategy. This means the company should:
- Compete aggressively on price in an existing market
- Create uncontested market space by making competition irrelevant (Correct answer)
- Focus on acquiring direct competitors
- Optimize supply chain costs to gain margin advantage
Correct answer: Create uncontested market space by making competition irrelevant
Blue ocean strategy, developed by Kim and Mauborgne, focuses on creating new market space rather than competing in existing 'red ocean' markets.
Question 3: In strategic planning, 'resource allocation' decisions are MOST critical because they:
- Determine which strategies receive the investments needed to succeed (Correct answer)
- Ensure legal compliance across all business units
- Set the annual compensation for senior executives
- Define the organizational reporting structure
Correct answer: Determine which strategies receive the investments needed to succeed
Resource allocation decisions directly determine which strategic priorities get funded and staffed, making them central to strategy execution success.
Question 4: Which of the following is a lagging indicator in a strategy measurement system?
- Employee satisfaction score
- Customer complaint volume this month
- Annual revenue growth rate (Correct answer)
- Number of new product ideas in the pipeline
Correct answer: Annual revenue growth rate
Annual revenue growth is a lagging indicator because it reflects past performance rather than predicting future results.
Question 5: A company's strategic plan includes objectives that are S.M.A.R.T. The 'R' in S.M.A.R.T. stands for:
- Rapid
- Relevant (Correct answer)
- Resourced
- Repeatable
Correct answer: Relevant
In the S.M.A.R.T. framework, 'R' stands for Relevant, meaning objectives must matter to the business and align with broader goals.
Question 6: The concept of 'strategic drift' refers to:
- Deliberately pivoting strategy in response to market disruption
- Gradual, unconscious divergence of organizational strategy from environmental demands (Correct answer)
- Expanding strategy into adjacent market segments
- Shifting from a cost leadership to a differentiation strategy
Correct answer: Gradual, unconscious divergence of organizational strategy from environmental demands
Strategic drift occurs when an organization's strategy slowly becomes misaligned with its environment without leaders realizing it.
Question 7: When prioritizing strategic initiatives, which criteria are MOST important to evaluate?
- Employee preference and initiative age
- Strategic impact and resource feasibility (Correct answer)
- Initiative sponsor seniority and department size
- Historical cost and current headcount
Correct answer: Strategic impact and resource feasibility
Effective prioritization weighs the strategic impact of an initiative against the feasibility of executing it given available resources.
CBS Strategic Planning & Execution 3
Which planning horizon is most associated with operational planning?