Q1:

Managers charged with implementing and executing strategy need to be deeply involved in the budgeting and resource allocation process because:

Group of answer choices:

(A) Business units important in the prior strategy but having a lesser role in the new strategy may need downsizing, while units and activities that now have a bigger and more critical strategic role may need more people, new equipment, additional facilities, and above-average increases in their operating budgets.

(B) A change in strategy almost always call for budget reallocations and resource shifting.

(C) Visible actions to reallocate operating funds and move people into new organizational units signal a determined commitment to strategic change.

(D) Lean, carefully managed budgets protect the company's financial condition and eliminate the wasteful use of cash.

(E) All of these

Q2:

In what ways do well-conceived policies and operating procedures facilitate strategy execution?

Group of answer choices:

(A) They provide top-down guidance regarding how things are to be done.

(B) They helpalign and coordinate the strategy execution efforts of individuals and groups throughout the organization.

(C) They help overcome resistance to change.

(D) They channel individual and group efforts along a strategy-supportive path.

(E) All of these.

Q3:

A useful guideline in designing strategy-facilitating policies and operating procedures is:

Group of answer choices:

(A) to prescribe enough policies to give organizational members clear direction in implementing strategy and to place reasonable boundaries on their actions. This then empowers them to act within these boundaries in pursuit of company goals.

(B) that strictly enforced policies work better than loosely enforced policies.

(C) that more policies/procedures work better than fewer policies/procedures, and that strict enforcement always beats lax enforcement.

(D) to let individuals act in an empowered and self-directed way, subject only to the constraint that their actions and behavior be ethical and in step with the corporate culture.

(E) to prescribe enough policies and procedures that little is left to chance in performing value chain activities, and employees should have no leeway to do things in a manner that deviates from the company's best practices standard.

Q4:

The idea behind benchmarking and best practices is to:

Group of answer choices:

(A) identify which companies are the best performers of a strategically relevant activity and then copy their methods exactly.

(B) search the world for a company that performs a strategically relevant task or value chain activity at the lowest possible cost and then use business process reengineering techniques to try to meet or beat the costs of the world's low-cost performer of that activity.

(C) perform each activity in the industry value chain according to standard industry practice and then regularly benchmark the company's performance to see if it is actually achieving the industry standard.

(D) identify companies that are the best performers of an activity and then "adapt" their practices to fit the company's own specific circumstances and operating requirements.

(E) determine whether a company has a "world-class" value chain.

Q5:

Which of the following is NOT a tool that managers can use to promote operating excellence and further the cause of good strategy execution?

Group of answer choices:

(A) Benchmarking

(B) Business process reengineering

(C) Strategic resource training

(D) TQM and Six Sigma quality control techniques

(E) Best practices

Q6:

The statistical thinking underlying Six Sigma is based on the following three principles:

Group of answer choices:

(A) All activities can be controlled, employee empowerment is the best control tool, and 100 percent control is possible.

(B) All work is a process, all processes have variability, and all processes create data that explains variability.

(C) All work activities can be done accurately most of the time, empowered employees are necessary for effective control, and good statistical data is an empowered employee's best control tool.

(D) All work is a statistically controllable process; 100 percent control is possible; and every well-controlled process is defect-free.

(E) Most business processes are subject to control; Six Sigma can totally remove variability in how processes are performed; and most defects can be eliminated.

Q7:

Total quality management (TQM) emphasizes all of the following EXCEPT:

Group of answer choices:

(A) Continuous improvement in all phases of operations.

(B) Benchmarking and total customer satisfaction.

(C) Adoption of industry standard operating practices.

(D) 100 percent accuracy in performing tasks.

(E) Empowerment of employees and team-based work design.

Q8:

Having state-of-the-art operating systems, information systems, and real-time date is integral to superior strategy execution and operating excellence for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

Group of answer choices:

(A) They enable managers to track key performance indicators.

(B) They permit company managers to stay on top of implementation of new strategic initiatives.

(C) They give managers the capability to quickly identify and diagnose problems, and to take corrective actions.

(D) They provide managers with means for monitoring the performance of employees.

(E) All of the above statements are correct.

Q9:

Management's most powerful tool for winning employee commitment to good strategy execution is:

Group of answer choices:

(A) the establishment of strategy-supportive policies and procedures.

(B) empowering employees and encouraging them to adopt best practices.

(C) setting stretch objectives.

(D) a structure of monetary and non-monetary rewards and incentives tied tightly to the achievement of the organization's strategic priorities.

(E) aggressive use of TQM and Six Sigma quality control programs.

Q10:

Which of the following is NOT a sound guideline for designing a reward and incentive system that helps promote good strategy execution?

Group of answer choices:

(A) The incentive plan should extend to all managers and all employees, not just top management.

(B) Make sure that the performance targets each individual or team is expected to achieve involve outcomes that the individual or team can personally affect.

(C) The reward system must be administered with scrupulous objectivity and fairness.

(D) The payoff for meeting or beating performance targets must be a major, not minor, piece of the total compensation package.

(E) The reward system must reward nonperformers who, despite expending tremendous effort, have not fared well in achieving the benchmarks under the incentive system.