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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.

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  1. A strategic manager wants to assess whether current resources and capabilities support a proposed new strategy. The MOST appropriate framework for this internal assessment is:

    Answer: VRIO framework

    The VRIO framework (Value, Rarity, Imitability, Organization) evaluates internal resources and capabilities to determine their potential to generate sustainable competitive advantage.

  2. In the context of the Ansoff Matrix, launching an existing product into a new geographic market represents:

    Answer: Market development

    Market development involves taking existing products or services and introducing them to new markets, such as new geographies or customer segments.

  3. Which of the following is the PRIMARY purpose of a strategic control system?

    Answer: To monitor strategy implementation and signal when adjustments are needed

    Strategic control systems track the execution of strategy against planned milestones and provide feedback to enable timely course corrections.

  4. A CEO asks the strategy team to perform a 'strategic gap analysis.' The output of this analysis would identify:

    Answer: Differences between current performance and desired future performance

    A strategic gap analysis compares where the organization is today with where it wants to be, revealing the gap that strategy must close.

  5. Which concept describes the risk that a company's current profitable strategy may prevent it from adopting innovations needed for future success?

    Answer: Innovator's dilemma

    The Innovator's Dilemma, coined by Clayton Christensen, describes how successful companies can fail by over-focusing on existing customers and ignoring disruptive innovations.

  6. In Kotter's 8-Step Change Model for executing strategic change, which step comes IMMEDIATELY after 'creating a sense of urgency'?

    Answer: Building a guiding coalition

    Kotter's second step is building a guiding coalition—assembling a group with enough power and credibility to lead the change effort.

  7. A firm operating in a mature, highly competitive industry decides to focus exclusively on a narrow customer segment with unique needs. This approach is an example of:

    Answer: Focus strategy

    A focus strategy targets a specific market niche, either through cost focus or differentiation focus, rather than competing across the broad market.