MBA Business Strategy 2

Question 1

What is 'vertical integration' as a corporate strategy?

Accepted Answer

Expanding a company's operations into different stages of its supply chain (upstream or downstream)

Answer

Vertical integration involves a firm acquiring or developing operations in different stages of its supply chain — either toward raw materials (backward) or toward the customer (forward).

Question 2

What is the 'resource-based view' (RBV) of competitive advantage?

Accepted Answer

Sustainable competitive advantage stems from unique internal resources and capabilities that are valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN)

Answer

The RBV argues that firms achieve sustainable competitive advantage through resources and capabilities that meet the VRIN criteria: Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, and Non-substitutable.

Question 3

What is 'scenario planning' in strategic management?

Accepted Answer

Developing multiple plausible future scenarios to test strategies and improve organizational resilience

Answer

Scenario planning constructs several plausible future environments and evaluates how current strategies would perform under each, helping firms prepare for uncertainty.

Question 4

What is 'blue ocean strategy'?

Accepted Answer

Creating uncontested new market spaces by making competition irrelevant through innovation

Answer

Blue Ocean Strategy (Kim & Mauborgne) focuses on creating new demand in uncontested market space rather than competing in existing overcrowded 'red ocean' markets.

Question 5

What does 'strategic fit' refer to in corporate strategy?

Accepted Answer

The alignment between a company's strategy, its internal capabilities, and the external environment

Answer

Strategic fit describes how well a company's strategy aligns with its internal resources and capabilities and with the opportunities and threats in its external environment.

MBA - Degree Master of Business Administration Practice Test

MBA - Degree Master of Business Administration Practice Test

MBA Business Strategy 2