Choose correct answer:

18. Shopify, which began as a Canadian snowboard marketing company, has evolved into an e-commerce software solutions provider that allows merchants to quickly and easily set up and maintain an online store. Shopify helps merchants compete against Amazon. Its been expanding its business to provide tools in payments, inventory control, and shipping. In addition, the company rolled out Shopify Capital to extend loans to U.S. merchants. To test the merits of Shopifys strategy and distinguish it as a winning strategy, which major question needs to be addressed?

a. Is Shopifys strategy ethical and socially responsible, and does it put enough emphasis on good product quality and good customer service?

b. Is Shopifys strategy helping the company achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, and is it resulting in a better company performance?

c. Does Shopifys strategy strike a good balance between maximizing shareholder wealth and maximizing customer satisfaction?

d. Is Shopifys strategy resulting in the development of additional competitive capabilities?

e. Is Shopify putting too little emphasis on growth and profitability and too much emphasis on behaving in an ethical and socially responsible manner?

13. Strategy formulation is

a. typically a blend of proactive and reactive strategy elements.

b. static over time unless a newly appointed CEO decides to take the company in a new direction with a new strategy.

c. mostly hidden to outside view and is deliberately kept under wraps by top-level managers (so as to catch rival companies by surprise when the strategy is launched).

d. typically planned well in advance and usually deviates little from the planned set of actions and business approaches because of the risks of making on-the-spot changes.

e. developed solely on the fly because managers must make constant efforts to come up with fresh moves to keep a company's product offering clearly set apart from the product offerings of rival firms.