Strategic Planning & Decision Making Flashcards

What is the primary purpose of a 'strategic audit' within an organization?

Answer: To systematically evaluate the organization's strategy against its environment and capabilities

A strategic audit systematically examines whether an organization's strategy aligns with its external environment, internal resources, and objectives.

In the Ansoff Growth Matrix, entering a new market with an existing product is called:

Answer: Market development

Market development involves taking current products into new markets, such as new geographies or customer segments.

Which approach to strategic decision making relies heavily on emergent patterns from day-to-day organizational learning rather than formal top-down planning?

Answer: Logical incrementalism

Logical incrementalism, proposed by Quinn, suggests that effective strategies emerge incrementally through organizational learning and experimentation.

A company using a 'related diversification' strategy is most likely doing so to:

Answer: Leverage existing capabilities and create synergies across similar businesses

Related diversification allows firms to exploit shared resources, competencies, and synergies across businesses in similar or adjacent industries.

Which stage of the strategic management process involves translating chosen strategies into specific organizational actions?

Answer: Strategy implementation

Strategy implementation is the action stage where plans are converted into operational activities, resource allocations, and structural changes.

The 'winner's curse' in decision making most commonly affects:

Answer: Bidders who win auctions by overestimating the value of the prize

The winner's curse describes how the winning bidder in a competitive auction often overpays because they overestimated the asset's true value.

A 'core rigidity' in strategic management refers to:

Answer: A once-valuable capability that now inhibits adaptation to change

Dorothy Leonard-Barton's core rigidity concept describes how core competencies can become liabilities when environmental conditions change.