Deck 13: Strategic Leadership and Knowledge Management

Question 1

A company engages in the brand-leadership strategy when it

A)imitates leading brands.
B)diversifies into several successful brands.
C)develops the reputation of its brand name.
D)develops products that other companies do not offer.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

An important characteristic of revolutionary and contrarian thinking in strategy is that the strategy

A)preserves the status quo.
B)moves quality up one notch.
C)seriously challenges the status quo.
D)improves organizational efficiency.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

A company with a strategy of high quality typically

A)creates an immediate point of differentiation compared to competitors.
B)concentrates its efforts on consumer products.
C)can offer the lowest prices.
D)combines quality with another strategy.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

When a company is founded, a major strategic tasks of the founder is to

A)begin hiring the necessary workers.
B)get all the legal work done.
C)obtain funding for the organization.
D)define the purpose of the organization.

Question 5

A major purpose of strategic leadership is to

A)provide direction and inspiration in an organization.
B)help employees develop operating plans.
C)coach group members toward higher levels of effectiveness.
D)apply behavior modification throughout the organization.

Question 6

Which one of the following is not one of the three components of knowledge management?

A)Knowledge creation
B)Knowledge hoarding
C)Knowledge dissemination
D)Knowledge application

Question 7

To implement the strategy of competitive advantage through hiring talented people, the company's leadership should

A)hire talented, well-motivated people throughout the firm.
B)develop the talents among the least talented employees.
C)hire the occasional candidate with a poor employment history to be socially responsible.
D)promote on the basis of seniority to encourage company loyalty.

Question 8

A major aspect of direction setting by the leader is to

A)anticipate and create a future for the firm.
B)implement a goal-setting system.
C)practice transactional leadership.
D)carefully review past financial results.

Question 9

A retailer targeting poor people is an example of the strategy called

A)imitation.
B)cost leadership.
C)focus.
D)first-mover.

Question 10

Which one of the following is the least characteristic of strategic leadership?

A)High-level cognitive ability on the part of the leader
B)Anticipating and creating a future
C)Revolutionary thinking
D)The leader as the primary source of input for strategy formulation

Question 11

A carefully considered vision statement

A)helps us know who we are and who we are not.
B)specifies which short-range goals are achievable.
C)deals with the past, present, and future.
D)defines reporting relationships throughout the organization.

Question 12

The recommended approach for strategy formulation by the leader is for him or her to

A)involve as few people as possible.
B)involve large numbers of people.
C)rely heavily on mathematical forecasts of the future.
D)delegate the task to the company planning department.

Question 13

To implement the strategy create demand by solving problems, a company

A)creates problems for customers, then solves them.
B)first identifies the problems in a particular field.
C)develops a reputation for technological excellence.
D)offers solutions to problems customers did not know they had.

Question 14

The first-mover strategy deals with

A)relocating a company to a more profitable market.
B)getting to market first.
C)being the first to imitate a product.
D)being the first company to acquire a competitor.

Question 15

An organization's strategy is its

A)method for achieving profit targets.
B)overall concept of how it will achieve its objectives.
C)master plan for conducting operations.
D)analysis of the environment.

Question 16

According to the strategy called the Hedgehog concept, a company succeeds by

A)acting like a ferocious animal.
B)acting like a hungry animal.
C)entering many fields at the same time.
D)becoming very good at one thing.

Question 17

Imagine yourself as the CEO of a large business firm whose sales are declining rapidly.A superior act of strategic leadership would be for you to

A)give the company a new strategic direction.
B)wait for the business cycle to become favorable again.
C)reduce the size of the company to meet the present sales volume.
D)hire an innovative advertising agency to help improve sales.

Question 18

The internal weaknesses in SWOT analysis refer to the

A)deficiencies in the current management team.
B)risks of pursuing a particular course of action.
C)cash flow problems the company is experiencing.
D)problems associated with maintaining the status quo.

Question 19

In relation to an organization, systems thinking refers to

A)understanding how the organization interacts with the environment.
B)eliminating waste throughout the organization system.
C)understanding how to motivate a diverse group of employees.
D)figuring out how people can interact successfully with machinery.

Question 20

The purpose of a SWOT analysis is to assess

A)strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
B)strategy, weaknesses, options, and time.
C)satisfactions, worst options, and trade-offs.
D)successes, winners, and ominous threats.

Question 21

A study of knowledge management conducted with 800 managers found that

A)most information sharing takes place through personal and informal channels.
B)most information sharing takes place through technology-driven systems.
C)only low-performing managers shared information.
D)only high-performing managers shared information.

Question 22

Asking what-if questions is part of formulating strategy.

Question 23

A potential problem with knowledge management programs is that

A)electronic databases are not yet strong enough to store knowledge.
B)they may overlook the importance of face-to-face communication for sparking insight.
C)they create a couple of extra layers of management.
D)they concentrate too much on manufacturing.

Question 24

The most frequent activity in knowledge management is

A)product development.
B)knowledge application.
C)knowledge dissemination.
D)knowledge creation.

Question 25

Peter and his teammates engage in action learning when they

A)learn at a fast pace.
B)bring company-relevant cases into the classroom.
C)use the Internet as a primary source of learning.
D)learn while attacking a significant organizational problem.

Question 26

A lesson learned from the implementation of a knowledge management program in a Hong Kong bank was that

A)the more technically complicated the system, the better.
B)a knowledge management program that works well in one part of an organization may not work in other parts.
C)bank employees are too secretive for knowledge management to be effective.
D)the same knowledge management program should be shared across the various divisions.

Question 27

An example of contrarian thinking on the part of the owner of a chain of pizza stores might be, "Why bother diversifying into subs and calzones like most of our competition.Let's just focus on selling excellent pizza."

Question 28

A recommended method of achieving revolutionary thinking is for a firm to engage in four types of incrementalism at the same time.

Question 29

Strategic leadership is much more concerned with goal setting than with inspiration.

Question 30

A vision should point to what activities an organization should take on and what activities it should avoid.

Question 31

A strategy specialist cited in the leadership text recommends that hundreds, or even thousands, of people be involved in creating a firm's future.

Question 32

An analysis of where corporate knowledge is stored indicates that about

A)85 percent is stored electronically.
B)65 percent is recorded on paper.
C)40 percent is found in employees' brains.
D)75 percent is stored in electronic databases.

Question 33

To achieve best results, advanced technology for knowledge management should be

A)centralized in the department headed by the chief knowledge officer.
B)combined with an organization culture that values knowledge management.
C)installed on every PC in the company.
D)installed first in staff departments then in line departments.

Question 34

A key part of knowledge management in organizations is

A)selecting intelligent people for key positions.
B)spying on what competitors are doing.
C)conducting training programs.
D)the systematic sharing of information.

Question 35

Microsoft is one example of an organization which a high-level leader besides the CEO concentrates his or her work on business strategy.

Question 36

A major leadership initiative for enhancing a learning organization is to

A)establish supervisory training programs.
B)get workers to focus almost entirely on their own work.
C)create a vision to be shared mostly by the top-management team.
D)create a strategic intent to learn.

Question 37

Strategic leaders focus most of their attention on day-by-day problems that have an impact on the efficiency of the business.

Question 38

A key characteristic of strategic thinking is that it involves high-level cognitive activity on the part of the leader.

Question 39

The strategy of a firm provides a path for achieving its objectives.

Question 40

A major responsibility of a chief knowledge officer is to

A)systematically collect information.
B)encourage workers to track down coworkers who have the information they need.
C)develop and deliver classroom-based training.
D)develop and deliver online-based training.

Question 41

The knowledge application component of knowledge management deals with workers improving their job activities.

Question 42

Systems thinking in relation to organizational learning means that workers learn best by linking their computers together.

Question 43

The business strategy of differentiation involves making a product or service unique by offering it at an unusually low price.

Question 44

A little over 40 percent of corporate knowledge is stored in employees' brains, according to one survey.

Question 45

An aspect of effective knowledge management is when organization members acquire power by hoarding and acquiring knowledge.

Question 46

An example of capitalizing on internal strengths took place when Hewlett-Packard decided to compete better with Dell by concentrating on retail rather than direct sales.

Question 47

The business strategy of acquisition is often used to acquire new technology that the firm needs to broaden its product line.

Question 48

Organizational learning is facilitated when workers use political skills to make connections with others and influence them in relation to useful knowledge.

Question 49

The knowledge creation component of knowledge management is used to spur innovation.

Question 50

An example of the business strategy create demand by solving problems would be for a pharmaceutical company to recognize that drug delivery was a problem, and then provide equipment to help deliver drugs.

Question 51

A major contribution of knowledge management programs is that the electronic storage and retrieval of information makes it almost unnecessary for people to develop ideas by talking face to face.

Question 52

An advanced approach to knowledge management is to deliver useful information to workers just at the point when the information is needed.

Question 53

An effective vision statement is usually about 100 words long.

Question 54

A clever vision statement has been known to help a startup attract funding even before the company has started conducting business.

Question 55

An example of a strategic alliance would be a train manufacturer and an airplane manufacturer working jointly to build a train that traveled without touching the rails.

Question 56

As a business owner, you are using the Hedgehog concept when you diversify into several unrelated businesses.

Question 57

A major criticism of leadership at Coca-Cola and McDonald's is that they have failed to successfully execute a brand leadership strategy.

Question 58

The purpose of the strategy of competitive advantage through hiring talented people is to hire people away from competitors so you can acquire some competitive advantage.

Question 59

An external threat in SWOT analysis refers primarily to laws that would be broken by implementing a particular strategy.

Question 60

According to the honest conversation approach to refining organizational strategy, a task force of managers discusses problems they have uncovered with implementing strategy.