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Strategic Planning & Execution Flashcards

7 cards from real CSM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Strategic Planning & Execution flashcards as text

  1. A company conducting a PESTEL analysis identifies rising interest rates as a major concern. Under which PESTEL category does this factor fall?

    Answer: Economic

    Interest rates are an economic factor that affects borrowing costs, consumer spending, and investment decisions.

  2. Which strategic planning tool maps an organization's activities along a series of steps to identify where value is created or lost?

    Answer: Value Chain Analysis

    Value Chain Analysis, developed by Michael Porter, dissects a firm's activities to identify sources of competitive advantage and areas of value creation.

  3. When a strategic plan consistently fails to translate into operational results, the most likely root cause is:

    Answer: A gap between strategy formulation and execution alignment

    The execution gap occurs when strategies are not operationalized through aligned processes, incentives, and accountability structures.

  4. In the context of strategic execution, what does the acronym OKR stand for?

    Answer: Objectives and Key Results

    OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is a goal-setting framework that links ambitious objectives to measurable outcomes to drive execution.

  5. A firm's core competency is BEST described as:

    Answer: A unique bundle of skills and technologies that delivers value competitors cannot easily imitate

    Core competencies, as defined by Prahalad and Hamel, are deeply embedded capabilities that differentiate a firm and are difficult for competitors to replicate.

  6. Which of the following BEST describes a 'stretch goal' in strategic planning?

    Answer: An ambitious target that requires significant capability development beyond the status quo

    Stretch goals are intentionally ambitious targets designed to push organizations beyond incremental improvement toward transformational change.

  7. A strategic manager reviews the organization's portfolio using the GE-McKinsey Matrix. The two axes of this matrix are:

    Answer: Industry attractiveness and competitive strength

    The GE-McKinsey Matrix plots business units on industry attractiveness (external) versus competitive strength (internal) to guide investment decisions.