1. The managers at Green Thumb Gardening Tools engage in an annual organizational assessment, trying to find useful information about the industry and interpreting what is important and what is not important in the upcoming months. They look at issues, such as who their competitors are, current entry barriers, and what substitutes exist for their products. This assessment is called A) scenario development. B) forecasting. C) benchmarking.

D) environmental scanning. E) strategic maneuvering.

2. Complete Office Products recently announced that it was selling off its office furniture division in order to realign itself more competitively in the marketing of its other products, particularly those in its office supplies and technology divisions. Which of the following strategic maneuvers is illustrated in this scenario? A) diversification B) an acquisition C) a merger D) divestiture E) domain selection

3. Paul Oglesby, North American division manager for Rembrandt Products, was in crisis. His entire marketing and sales staff had resigned yesterday to start up a new firm. Next year's business plan for his division was due in 10 days, and Paul did not have a sense of his clients' needs nor his competitors' strategies. Thus, he did not know how to prepare his business plan. By not having the information necessary to decide how best to manage in his competitive environment, Paul was lacking A) competitive intelligence. B) environmental complexity. C) environmental uncertainty. D) performance gaps. E) environmental dynamism.

Paul and his wife are investigating the possibility of starting a new restaurant in Beaufort, a small town in the South Carolina low country. It has been Paul's lifelong dream. Paul has won a lottery and is trying to decide if this is what he wants to do with the prize money. He decides to do an analysis of the competitive environment. After his analysis, he discovers several important issues. First, it will cost most of Paul's lottery winnings to finance a restaurant in Beaufort. Second, it will be difficult to attract new customers because they have so many eating choices available to them in Beaufort and the surrounding towns. Finally, the competition in therestaurant industry is considered fierce by industry analysts and this is frightening to someone, like Paul, who has never worked in that industry. Which of the following factors seems to be affecting Paul's consideration the most while analyzing the competitive environment? A) technology B) substitutes C) legal factors D) economic factors E) demographics