What is strategic planning?

It establishes the general direction of the organization.

It establishes the resources that the organization requires for the long term.

It establishes the budget of the organization.

It consists of decisions to use parts of the organization's resources in specified areas.

A firm's mission statement should accomplish all of the following except:

Outlining strategies for technological development, market expansion, and product differentiation

Defining the purpose of the company

Providing an overall guide to those in high-level, decision making positions

Stating the moral and ethical principles that guide the firm's actions.

Michael Porter's "5 Forces Analysis" considers all of the following except:

The stage of the industry life cycle.

Threats of entry to the industry.

Threat of substitutes

Bargaining power of suppliers.

In a product's life cycle, the first indication of the decline stage is a decline in the:

Firm's inventory levels.

Product sales.

Product's production cost.

Product's prices.

Which one of the following is not part of a PEST analysis?

Political

Environment

Security

Technological

Which of the following is not an external element of a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis?

Analysis of the opportunities and threats outside the organization.

Analysis of operational issues that need to be addressed.

Analysis of the marketplace that the firm competes in.

Analysis of threats from competitors

When developing a budget, an external factor to consider is:

The acquisition by the company of a former supplier.

The merger of two major competitors.

The implementation of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

A delay in the launch of a new product.

Which of the following budgeting concepts include a total re-examination of all costs?

Zero-Based budget

Incremental budget

Project based budgeting

Activity based budgeting

They lack detailed knowledge so involvement should be limited.

Should be limited to formal approval only.

Should use the budgeting process to communicate corporate revenue goals.

They should separate budgeting and business planning into separate and distinct processes.

Budgetary slack occurs when:

Employees refuse to abide by the budget

The budget is difficult to attain.

Managers budget for resources in excess of what is needed.

The organization embraces "stretch targets".

When compared with ideal standards, practical standards....

Produce lower per-unit product costs.

Result in a less desirable basis for the development of budgets.

Incorporate very generous allowances for spoilage and worker inefficiencies.

Serve as a better motivating target for operating personnel.

"X" in the standard regression equation is best described as a(n):

Independent variable.

Dependent variable.

Indirect relationship.

Variable being forecasted.

In the standard regression equation, Y= a + bX, the letter "b" is best described as a(n):

Independent variable.

Dependent variable.

Coefficient.

Variable being forecasted.

A particular job is subject to an estimated 90% learning curve. The first unit requires 100 labor hours. What is the cumulative average time spent on units 1-8?

91 hours

90 hours

81 hours

72.9 hours

In learning curve theory, time per repetition decreases at a constant percentage each time the output:

Doubled

Increases by 70%

Increases by the amount of the learning curve

Increases by 200%

In preparing the master budget, which of the following is most likely to be prepared last?

Sales budget.

Cash budget.

Production budget.

Cost of goods sold budget.

Which one of the following is not an advantage of activity-based budgeting?

Better identification of resource needs.

Linking of costs to outputs.

Improved understanding of value provided by support departments.

Reduction of planning uncertainty.

Cost behavior is best defined by which of the following:

Sensitivity (likelihood of change) of total fixed and variable costs to changes in output or sales volume.

Sensitivity of fixed costs to change in total based on fluctuations to output or sales volume

Sensitivity of variable costs to change on a per unit basis based on fluctuations to output or sales volume

Sensitivity of budgeted costs to costs to change based on fluctuations to output o