Technical Writing for Success
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468 solutions
Technical Writing for Success
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468 solutions
The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric
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Technical Writing for Success
3rd EditionDarlene Smith-Worthington, Sue Jefferson
468 solutions
Which of the following is NOT pertinent in identifying a company's present strategy?
A. The key functional strategies (R&D, supply chain management, production, sales and marketing, HR, and finance) a company is employing
B. Management's planned, proactive moves to outcompete rivals (via better product design, improved quality or service, wider product lines, and so on)
C. The company's mission, strategic objectives, and financial objectives
D. Moves to respond and react to changing conditions in the macro-environment and in industry and competitive conditions
E. The strategic role of its collaborative partnerships and strategic alliances with others
Which one of the following is NOT a reliable measure of how well a company's current strategy is working?
A. Whether the company's sales are growing faster, slower, or about the same pace as the industry as a whole, thus resulting in a rising, falling, or stable market share
B. Whether it has a larger number of competitive assets than competitive liabilities and whether it has a superior quality product
C. The firm's image and reputation with its customers
D. Whether its profit margins are rising or falling and how large its margins are relative to those of its rivals
E. How well the firm stacks up against rivals on technology, product innovation, customer service, product quality, price, speed in getting newly developed products to market, and other relevant factors on which buyers base their choice of which brand to purchase
The steps of SWOT analysis are:
A. identifying the company's resource strengths and weaknesses and its opportunities and threats, drawing conclusions about the company's overall situation, and translating the conclusions into strategic actions to improve the company's strategy.
B. pinpointing the company's competitive assets, pinpointing its competitive deficiencies, and determining whether it enjoys a competitive advantage.
C. determining whether the company has more competitive assets than competitive liabilities, determining whether the company has good market opportunities, and evaluating the seriousness of the threats to the company's future profitability.
D. matching the company's strategy to its resource strengths, correcting the company's important resource weaknesses, and identifying the company's best market opportunities.
E. benchmarking the company's strengths and weaknesses against those of key rivals, identifying its market opportunities and the external threats it faces, and determining the company's potential for establishing a competitive advantage over rivals.
The three main areas in the value chain where significant differences in the costs of competing firms can occur include:
A. age of plants and equipment, number of employees, and advertising costs.
B. operating-level activities, functional area activities, and line of business activities.
C. the nature and makeup of their own internal operations, the activities performed by suppliers, and the activities performed by wholesale distribution and retailing allies.
D. human resource activities (particularly labor costs), vertical integration activities, and strategic partnership activities.
E. variable cost activities, fixed cost activities, and administrative activities.
Which of the following does NOT accurately characterize the differences between a localized multidomestic strategy and a global strategy?
A. A global strategy entails extensive strategy coordination across countries and a multidomestic strategy entails little or no strategy coordination across countries.
B. A global strategy often entails use of the best suppliers from anywhere in the world, whereas a multidomestic strategy may entail fairly extensive use of local suppliers (especially where use of local sources is required by host governments).
C. A global strategy tends to involve use of similar distribution and marketing approaches worldwide, whereas a multidomestic strategy often entails adapting distribution and marketing to local customs and the culture of each country.
D. A global strategy involves striving to be the global low-cost provider by economically producing and marketing a mostly standardized product worldwide, whereas a multidomestic strategy entails pursuing broad differentiation and striving to strongly differentiate its products in one country from the products it sells in other countries.
E. A global strategy relies upon the same technologies, competencies, and capabilities worldwide, whereas a multidomestic strategy often entails the use of somewhat different technologies, competencies, and capabilities as may be needed to accommodate local buyer tastes, cultural traditions, and market conditions.
The essential difference between a "think global, act global" and a "think global, act local" approach to strategy-making is that:
A. a "think global, act global" approach entails extensive strategy coordination across countries and a "think global, act local" approach entails little or no strategy coordination across countries.
B. the former aims at implementing the same business model worldwide, whereas the latter aims at implementing customized business models to better match local market circumstances.
C. the "think global, act local" approach gives local managers more latitude to make minor strategy variations where necessary to better satisfy local buyers and to better match local market conditions.
D. a "think global, act global" approach involves selling a mostly standardized product worldwide, whereas a "think global, act local" approach entails selling products that are highly differentiated from country to country.
E. a "think global, act global" approach involves selling under a single brand name worldwide, whereas a "think global, act local" approach entails utilizing multiple brands (typically one for each different country or group of neighboring countries).
The best strategy options for a local company in competing against global challengers include:
A. locating buyer-related activities, such as sales, advertising, or technical assistance, close to buyers.
B. export strategies, entering into alliances and/or joint ventures with one or more foreign companies having globally competitive strengths, and/or cross-border transfer strategies.
C. export strategies, licensing strategies, franchising strategies, and cross-market coordination strategies.
D. using an understanding of local customer preferences to create customized products or services, transferring the company's expertise to cross-border markets, and/or using acquisitions and rapid growth strategies to defend against expansion-minded multinationals.
E. offensives aimed at the global challengers' strengths, promoting anti-dumping legislation, and/or launching some type of guerilla warfare strategy.
4. Which of the following are integral parts of the managerial process of crafting and executing strategy?
A. Developing a strategic vision, setting objectives, and crafting a strategy
B. Developing a proven business model, deciding on the company's strategic intent, and crafting a strategy
C. Setting objectives, crafting a strategy, implementing and executing the chosen strategy, and deciding how much of the company's resources to employ in the pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage
D. Coming up with a statement of the company's mission and purpose, setting objectives, choosing what business approaches to employ, selecting a business model, and monitoring developments
E. Deciding on the company's strategic intent, setting financial objectives, crafting a strategy, and choosing what business approaches and operating practices to employ
5. The strategy-making, strategy-executing process:
A. is usually delegated to members of a company's board of directors.
B. includes establishing a company's mission, developing a business model aimed at making the company an industry leader, and crafting a strategy to implement and execute the business model.
C. embraces the tasks of developing a strategic vision, setting objectives, crafting a strategy, implementing and executing the strategy, and then monitoring developments and initiating corrective adjustments in light of experience, changing conditions, and new opportunities.
D. is principally concerned with sizing up an organization's internal and external situation, so as to be prepared for the challenges of developing a sound business model.
E. is primarily the responsibility of top executives and the board of directors; very few managers below this level are involved in the process.
18. Which of the following are characteristics of an effectively worded strategic vision statement?
A. Balanced, responsible, and rational
B. Challenging, competitive, and "set in concrete"
C. Graphic, directional, and focused
D. Realistic, customer-focused, and market-driven
E. Achievable, profitable, and ethical
21. Which of the following ARE common shortcomings of company vision statements?
A. Too specific and too flexible
B. Unrealistic, unconventional, and un-businesslike
C. Too broad, vague or incomplete, bland/uninspiring, not distinctive, and too reliant on superlatives
D. Too graphic, too narrow, and too risky
E. Not customer-driven, out of step with emerging technological trends, and too ambitious
9. A useful way to identify a company's resources is to view them as:
A. divided into two main categories, tangible and intangible.
B. productive inputs or competitive assets, except human assets and intellectual capital, which are considered capabilities or competencies.
C. physical resources, such as the company's brand, image, and reputation assets.
D. an inventory or a collection of the firm's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
E. intangible resources such as patents, copyrights, and technological processes.
19. Which of the following is NOT pertinent in identifying a company's present strategy?
A. The key functional strategies (R&D, supply chain management, production, sales and marketing, HR, and finance) a company is employing
B. Management's planned, proactive moves to outcompete rivals (via better product design, improved quality or service, wider product lines, and so on)
C. The company's mission, strategic objectives, and financial objectives
D. Moves to respond and react to changing conditions in the macro-environment and in industry and competitive conditions
E. The strategic role of its collaborative partnerships and strategic alliances with others
7. The generic types of competitive strategies include:
A. market share growth provider, sales revenue leader strategy, and market share retention strategy.
B. offensive strategies, defensive strategies, and counter maneuvers strategies.
C. low-cost provider, broad differentiation, best-cost provider, focused low-cost, and focused differentiation strategies.
D. low-cost/low-price strategies, high-quality/high-price strategies, and medium quality/medium price strategies.
E. price leader strategies, price follower strategies, technology leader strategies, and first-mover strategies.
9. The three tests for judging whether a particular diversification move can create value for shareholders are:
A. the attractiveness test, the profitability test, and the shareholder value test.
B. the strategic fit test, the competitive advantage test, and the return-on-investment test.
C. the resource fit test, the profitability test, and the shareholder value test.
D. the attractiveness test, the cost-of-entry test, and the better-off test.
E. the shareholder value test, the cost-of-entry test, and the profitability test.
10. To test whether a particular diversification move has good prospects for creating added shareholder value, corporate strategists should use:
A. the profit test, the competitive strength test, the industry attractiveness test, and the capital gains test.
B. the better-off test, the competitive advantage test, the profit expectations test, and the shareholder value test.
C. the barrier-to-entry test, the competitive advantage test, the growth test, and the stock price effect test.
D. the strategic fit test, the industry attractiveness test, the growth test, the dividend effect test, and the capital gains test.
E. the attractiveness test, the cost-of-entry test, and the better-off test.
50. Calculating quantitative attractiveness ratings for the industries a company has diversified into involves:
A. determining each industry's key success factors, calculating the ability of the company to be successful on each industry KSF, and obtaining overall measures of the firm's ability to compete successfully in each of its industries based on the combined KSF ratings.
B. determining each industry's competitive advantage factors, calculating the ability of the company to be successful on each competitive advantage factor, and obtaining overall measures of the firm's ability to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in each of its industries based on the combined competitive advantage factor ratings.
C. selecting a set of industry attractiveness measures, weighting the importance of each measure, rating each industry on each attractiveness measure, multiplying the industry ratings by the assigned weight to obtain a weighted rating, adding the weighted ratings for each industry to obtain an overall industry attractiveness score, and using the overall industry attractiveness scores to interpret the attractiveness of all the industries, both individually and as a group.
D. rating the attractiveness of each industry's strategic and resource fits, summing the attractiveness scores, and determining whether the overall scores for the industries as a group are appealing or not.
E. identifying each industry's average profitability, rating the difficulty of achieving average profitability in each industry, and deciding whether the company's prospects for above-average profitability are attractive or unattractive, industry by industry.
56. Assessments of how a diversified company's subsidiaries compare in competitive strength should be based on such factors as:
A. vulnerability to seasonal and cyclical downturns, vulnerability to driving forces, and vulnerability to fluctuating interest rates and exchange rates.
B. relative market share, the ability to match or beat rivals on key product attributes, brand image and reputation, costs relative to competitors, and the ability to benefit from strategic fits with sister businesses.
C. the appeal of its strategy, the relative number of competitive capabilities, the number of products in each business's product line, which businesses have the highest/lowest market shares, and which businesses earn the highest/lowest profits before taxes.
D. the ability to hurdle barriers to entry, value chain attractiveness, and business risk.
E. cost reduction potential, customer satisfaction potential, and comparisons of annual cash flows from operations.
58. Calculating quantitative competitive strength ratings for each of a diversified company's business units involves:
A. determining each industry's key success factors, rating the ability of each business to be successful on each industry KSF, and adding the individual ratings to obtain overall measures of each business's ability to compete successfully.
B. identifying the competitive forces facing each business, rating the strength of these competitive forces industry by industry, and then ranking each business's ability to be profitable, given the strength of the competition it faces.
C. selecting a set of competitive strength measures, weighting the importance of each measure, rating each business on each strength measure, multiplying the strength ratings by the assigned weight to obtain a weighted rating, adding the weighted ratings for each business unit to obtain an overall competitive strength score, and using the overall competitive strength scores to evaluate the competitive strength of all the businesses, both individually and as a group.
D. determining which businesses possess good strategic fit with other businesses, identifying the portion of the value chain where this fit occurs, and evaluating the strength of the competitive advantage attached to each of the strategic fits to get an overall measure of competitive advantage potential. Businesses with the highest/lowest competitive advantage potential have the most/least competitive strength.
E. rating the caliber of each businesses strategic and resource fit, weighting the importance of each type of strategic/resource fit, calculating weighted strategic/resource fit scores, and adding the weighted ratings for each business to obtain an overall strength score for each business unit that indicates whether the company has adequate strategic/resource fits to be a strong market contender in each of the industries where it competes.
17. A belief in ethical relativism leads to the conclusion that:
A. since ethical standards are subjective, it is perfectly appropriate for each company to define and implement its own ethical principles of right and wrong as concerns the use of underage labor and the payment of bribes and kickbacks.
B. ethical standards are determined objectively (rather than subjectively).
C. whether the use of underage labor and the payment of bribes/kickbacks should be deemed ethical or unethical depends on the moral standards, values, and business norms that prevail in particular cultures, societies, countries, or circumstances.
D. ethical standards are objective and universal—thus whether the use of underage labor and the payment of bribes and kickbacks should be deemed ethical or unethical is definitely not dependent on the moral standards, values, and business norms that prevail in particular cultures, societies, countries, or circumstances.
E. standards of right and wrong are governed by what is legal in a given country—thus whether the use of underage labor and the payment of bribes and kickbacks are ethical or unethical is governed by local law.
56. The "triple bottom line" refers to what three performance metrics a company should simultaneously succeed in?
A. Economic, social, and environmental
B. Pay, power, and performance
C. Planning, execution, and results
D. Legal, social, and economical
E. Legal, social, and environmental
60. An environmental sustainability strategy consists of a company's deliberate actions to:
A. operate in an honorable manner, provide good working conditions for employees, and to actively work to enhance the quality of life in the local communities where it operates and in society at large.
B. meet the current needs of customers, suppliers, shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders in a manner that protects the environment, provides for the longevity of natural resources, maintains ecological support systems for future generations, and guards against ultimate endangerment of the planet.
C. protect and enhance natural resources and ecological support systems, taking into account the current consumption for the current generation.
D. apply universal norms regarding the protection of the environment to its everyday operations and to function below the levels required by prevailing environmental regulations.
E. balance commonly held views about what constitutes environmentally appropriate actions against its ability to make a profit.
19. The three components of building a capable organization are:
A. making periodic changes in the firm's internal organization to keep people from getting into a comfortable rut, instituting a decentralized approach to decision making, and developing the appropriate competencies and capabilities.
B. hiring a capable top management team, empowering employees, and establishing a strategy-supportive corporate culture.
C. putting a centralized decision-making structure in place, determining who should have responsibility for each value chain activity, and aligning the corporate culture with key policies, procedures, and operating practices.
D. staffing the organization, acquiring, developing, and strengthening key resources and competitive capabilities, and structuring the organization and work effort.
E. optimizing the number of core competencies and competitive capabilities, making sure that all managers and employees are empowered, and maximizing internal operating efficiency.
20. Building an organization capable of good strategy execution entails:
A. staffing the organization, acquiring, developing, and strengthening key resources and competitive capabilities, and structuring the organization and work effort.
B. decentralizing authority for performing strategy-critical value chain activities, establishing at least two distinctive competencies, and hiring talented employees.
C. investing heavily in employee training, using an empowered organization design and organization structure in order to maximize labor productivity, and employing effective incentive compensation systems.
D. centralizing authority in the hands of a chief strategy implementer so as to create the leadership authority for driving implementation forward at a rapid pace.
E. empowering employees, maximizing internal operating efficiency, and optimizing core competencies.
39. Which of the following is TRUE of the capability building process?
A. It requires two things: (1) developing the ability to do something, however imperfectly or inefficiently, and (2) molding these efforts into an organizational ability and as experience grows and personnel perform the activity consistently well and at an acceptable cost, it is transformed into a tried-and-true competence and as they continue to polish and refine their know-how into further improvements, they then create a real competitive capability.
B. It entails (1) deciding which value chain activities to perform internally and which ones to outsource; and (2) deciding how much authority to centralize at the top and how much to delegate to down-the-line managers and employees.
C. It is essential (1) when the company does not have the ability to create the needed capability internally (perhaps because it is too far afield from its existing capabilities), and (2) when industry conditions, technology, or competitors are moving at such a rapid clip that time is of the essence.
D. It involves (1) staffing the organization with people capable of executing the strategy well, (2) developing the resources and building the organizational capabilities needed for successful strategy execution, and (3) creating an organizational structure supportive of the strategy execution process.
E. It must (1) supplement the design with appropriate coordinating mechanisms, and (2) institute whatever networking and communications arrangements are necessary to support effective execution of the firm's strategy.
38. The statistical thinking underlying Six Sigma is based on which of the following three principles?
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, 100percent 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.
43. To obtain maximum benefits from benchmarking, best practices, reengineering, TQM, and Six Sigma programs aimed at facilitating better strategy execution, managers need to:
A. start with a clear idea of what specific outcomes really matter, such as a Six Sigma defect rate or superior customer satisfaction, and then build a total quality culture that is genuinely committed to achieving these outcomes.
B. have annual contests to see which part of the company is making the greatest strides in approaching operating excellence.
C. strive for 100 percent control over the variability in how each and every value chain activity is performed.
D. have at least 50 percent of company personnel earn "green belts" in Six Sigma techniques.
E. build core competencies in TQM, Six Sigma, benchmarking, best practices adoption, and business process reengineering.
25. Which of the following statements about a company's culture is NOT true?
A. The more new employees a company is hiring the more important it becomes to screen job applicants every bit as much for how well their values, beliefs, and personalities match up with the culture as for their technical skills and experience.
B. The longer people stay at an organization, the more that they come to embrace and mirror the corporate culture—their values and beliefs tend to be molded by mentors, fellow workers, company training programs, and the reward structure.
C. A company's culture, once established, tends to remain stable and entrenched over time.
D. Typically, key elements of the culture originate with a founder or certain strong leaders who articulated them as a set of business principles, company policies, operating approaches, and ways of dealing with employees, customers, vendors, shareholders, and local communities where the company has operations.
E. Company cultures can be perpetuated by the telling and retelling of company legends, by regular ceremonies honoring members who display desired cultural behaviors, and by visibly rewarding those who display cultural norms and penalizing those who don't.
30. Which of the following is NOT a factor in contributing to the emergence and sustainability of a strong culture?
A. Continuity of leadership, small group size, stable group membership, geographic concentration, and considerable organizational success
B. A founder or strong leader who establishes values, principles, and practices that are consistent and sensible in light of customer needs, competitive conditions, and strategic requirements
C. A sincere, long-standing company commitment to operating the business according to established traditions, thereby creating an internal environment that supports decision making and strategies based on cultural norms
D. Centralized decision making, strict enforcement of company policies, and a strong commitment to being the market share leader
E. A genuine concern for the well-being of the organization's three biggest constituencies—customers, employees, and shareholders
31. Which of the following statements about a strong-culture company is NOT true?
A. In a strong-culture company, culturally approved behaviors and ways of doing things are nurtured while culturally disapproved behaviors and work practices get squashed.
B. In a strong-culture company, senior managers make a point of reiterating key principles and core values to organization members; more importantly, they make a conscious effort to display these principles and values in their own actions and behavior and they insist that company values and business principles be reflected in the decisions and actions taken by all company personnel.
C. Continuity of leadership, small group size, stable group membership, geographic concentration, and considerable organizational success all contribute to the emergence and sustainability of a strong culture.
D. Centralized decision making, strict enforcement of company policies, diligent pursuit of a distinctive competence, and a bold strategic intent are the hallmarks of a strong-culture company.
E. In a strong-culture company, values and behavioral norms are like crabgrass: deeply rooted and hard to weed out.
41. The hallmarks of a high-performance corporate culture include:
A. a deep commitment to employee training, unusually attractive fringe benefit packages for company personnel, and frequently revised and updated values and ethics statements.
B. a "can-do" spirit, pride in doing things right, no-excuses accountability, and a pervasive results-oriented work climate where people go the extra mile to meet or beat stretch objectives.
C. a strong emphasis on teamwork, strict enforcement of company policies and procedures, and incentive compensation for all employees aligned with a balanced scorecard approach to measuring performance.
D. a deep commitment to pioneering new best practices, a preference for being a fast-follower as opposed to a first-mover or late-mover, and across-the-board bonuses for all personnel when the company meets or beats stretch objectives.
E. a deep commitment to top-notch quality and superior customer service, dedicated use of TQM and/or Six Sigma quality control programs, and the payment of big performance bonuses and stock options.
48. Unhealthy company cultures typically have such characteristics as:
A. tight budget controls, overly strict enforcement of longstanding policies and procedures, and high ethical standards.
B. a preference for conservative strategies, an aversion to incentive compensation, and excessive emphasis on profitability.
C. a politicized internal environment, hostility to change and an aversion to looking outside the company for best practices, new managerial approaches, and innovative ideas.
D. overemphasis on employee empowerment, a complacent approach to building competencies and capabilities, no coherent business philosophy, and excessively bureaucratic policies and procedures.
E. an emphasis on innovation, a strong preference for hiring managers from outside the company, and few core values and traditions.
Which of the following does NOT accurately characterize the differences between a localized multidomestic strategy and a global strategy?
A. A global strategy entails extensive strategy coordination across countries and a multidomestic strategy entails little or no strategy coordination across countries.
B. A global strategy often entails use of the best suppliers from anywhere in the world, whereas a multidomestic strategy may entail fairly extensive use of local suppliers (especially where use of local sources is required by host governments).
C. A global strategy tends to involve use of similar distribution and marketing approaches worldwide, whereas a multidomestic strategy often entails adapting distribution and marketing to local customs and the culture of each country.
D. A global strategy involves striving to be the global low-cost provider by economically producing and marketing a mostly standardized product worldwide, whereas a multidomestic strategy entails pursuing broad differentiation and striving to strongly differentiate its products in one country from the products it sells in other countries.
E. A global strategy relies upon the same technologies, competencies, and capabilities worldwide, whereas a multidomestic strategy often entails the use of somewhat different technologies, competencies, and capabilities as may be needed to accommodate local buyer tastes, cultural traditions, and market conditions.
The essential difference between a "think global, act global" and a "think global, act local" approach to strategy-making is that:
A. a "think global, act global" approach entails extensive strategy coordination across countries and a "think global, act local" approach entails little or no strategy coordination across countries.
B. the former aims at implementing the same business model worldwide, whereas the latter aims at implementing customized business models to better match local market circumstances.
C. the "think global, act local" approach gives local managers more latitude to make minor strategy variations where necessary to better satisfy local buyers and to better match local market conditions.
D. a "think global, act global" approach involves selling a mostly standardized product worldwide, whereas a "think global, act local" approach entails selling products that are highly differentiated from country to country.
E. a "think global, act global" approach involves selling under a single brand name worldwide, whereas a "think global, act local" approach entails utilizing multiple brands (typically one for each different country or group of neighboring countries).
A company's competitive strategy deals with:
A. the specifics of management's game plan for competing successfully—its specific efforts to please customers, strengthen its market position, counter the maneuvers of rivals, respond to shifting market conditions, and achieve a particular kind of competitive advantage.
B. what its strategy will be in such functional areas as R&D, production, sales and marketing, distribution, finance and accounting, and so on.
C. its efforts to change its position on the industry's strategic group map.
D. its plans for entering into strategic alliances, utilizing mergers or acquisitions to strengthen its market position, outsourcing some in-house activities to outside specialists, and integrating forward or backward.
E. its plans for overcoming the five competitive forces.
The generic types of competitive strategies include:
A. market share growth provider, sales revenue leader strategy, and market share retention strategy.
B. offensive strategies, defensive strategies and counter maneuvers strategies.
C. low-cost provider, broad differentiation, best-cost provider, focused low-cost and focused differentiation strategies.
D. low-cost/low-price strategies, high-quality/high-price strategies, and medium quality/medium price strategies.
E. price leader strategies, price follower strategies, technology leader strategies, and first-mover strategies.