Download GTU (Gujarat Technological University) MBA (Master of Business Administration) 2018 Summer 3rd Sem 2830001 Strategic Management Sm Previous Question Paper
Seat No.: ________ Enrolment No.___________
GUJARAT TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
MBA ? SEMESTER (3) ? EXAMINATION SUMMER? 2018
Subject Code: 2830001 Date: 30/04/2018
Subject Name: Strategic Management (SM)
Time: 02:30 To 05:30 PM Total Marks: 70
Instructions:
1. Attempt all questions.
2. Make suitable assumptions wherever necessary.
3. Figures to the right indicate full marks.
6
Q.1 (a)
Strategic controls allow corporate-level managers to
1.
A. evaluate business-level
performance on
objective criteria
B. concentrate on day-to-day corporate
operations
C. assess performance of
employees and
managers in each
business unit
D. examine the fit between what the firm might
do and what it can do
2.
To successfully implement a cost leadership strategy, there is a need for
A. freedom from
constraining rules
B. centralization of authority
C. communication
between functional
disciplines
D sharing of competencies among divisions
3.
A primary objective of corporate governance is to
A. determine and control
the strategic direction
of an organization
B. ensure that the interests of top-level managers
are aligned with the interests of shareholders
C. lobby legislators to
pass laws that are
aligned with the
organization's interests
D. resolve conflicts among corporate employees
4.
Firms participate in strategic alliances for all the following reasons EXCEPT to
A. enter markets more
quickly
B. acquire technology
C. create values they
could not develop
acting independently
D. retain tight control over intangible core
competencies
5.
Conglomerates follow the ____ diversification strategy:
A. unrelated B. related constrained
C. related linked D. global
6.
Multipoint competition occurs when
A. firms have multiple
retail outlets
B. firms have multiple products in their primary
industry.
C. unrelated D. firms have diversified portfolios of
companies
Q.1 (b) Define Above average returns, Vision, Stakeholders, Mergers,
Strategic Alliance
04
Q.1 (c) Explain resource based model for strategic management. 04
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Seat No.: ________ Enrolment No.___________
GUJARAT TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
MBA ? SEMESTER (3) ? EXAMINATION SUMMER? 2018
Subject Code: 2830001 Date: 30/04/2018
Subject Name: Strategic Management (SM)
Time: 02:30 To 05:30 PM Total Marks: 70
Instructions:
1. Attempt all questions.
2. Make suitable assumptions wherever necessary.
3. Figures to the right indicate full marks.
6
Q.1 (a)
Strategic controls allow corporate-level managers to
1.
A. evaluate business-level
performance on
objective criteria
B. concentrate on day-to-day corporate
operations
C. assess performance of
employees and
managers in each
business unit
D. examine the fit between what the firm might
do and what it can do
2.
To successfully implement a cost leadership strategy, there is a need for
A. freedom from
constraining rules
B. centralization of authority
C. communication
between functional
disciplines
D sharing of competencies among divisions
3.
A primary objective of corporate governance is to
A. determine and control
the strategic direction
of an organization
B. ensure that the interests of top-level managers
are aligned with the interests of shareholders
C. lobby legislators to
pass laws that are
aligned with the
organization's interests
D. resolve conflicts among corporate employees
4.
Firms participate in strategic alliances for all the following reasons EXCEPT to
A. enter markets more
quickly
B. acquire technology
C. create values they
could not develop
acting independently
D. retain tight control over intangible core
competencies
5.
Conglomerates follow the ____ diversification strategy:
A. unrelated B. related constrained
C. related linked D. global
6.
Multipoint competition occurs when
A. firms have multiple
retail outlets
B. firms have multiple products in their primary
industry.
C. unrelated D. firms have diversified portfolios of
companies
Q.1 (b) Define Above average returns, Vision, Stakeholders, Mergers,
Strategic Alliance
04
Q.1 (c) Explain resource based model for strategic management. 04
2
Q.2 (a) Explain the concepts of strategic groups and stakeholders and their
influence on strategy.
07
(b) What is the importance of collecting and interpreting data and
information about competitors? What practices should a firm use to
gather competitor intelligence and why?
07
OR
(b) Discuss how the cost leadership strategy can be used to position the
firm relative to the five forces of competition in a way that helps the
firm earn above-average returns ?
07
Q.3 (a) Discuss the outcomes associated with the various restructuring
strategies in the short term and long term.
07
(b) Explain the concepts of principal agent relationship, agency costs and
managerial opportunism with a suitable examples.
07
OR
Q.3 (a) What are international corporate level strategies and reasons for firms
to expand internationally.
07
(b) Discuss value adding, value neutral and value reducing diversification
with relevant examples.
07
Q.4 (a) What are the differences between strategic controls and financial
controls and their importance? What does it mean to say that strategy
and structure have a reciprocal relationship? Explain with an example.
07
(b) What is strategic leadership? With suitable examples explain how
strategic leaders manage a firm?s resources, human capital and social
capital to achieve a competitive advantage?
07
OR
Q.4 (a) Discuss the various approaches to managing strategic alliances and the
differences in these approaches.
07
(b) If you were a strategic leader, what actions could you take to establish
and emphasize ethical practices in your firm in the current industrial
scenario?
07
Q.5
The Walt Disney Company was founded as a cartoon studio in 1923 by Walt
Disney and his brother Roy with a $500 loan from an uncle. In the early
1920s, cartoonist Walt Disney visited New York to pitch his idea for a
cartoon rabbit called Waldo. During that trip, through a complicated series of
events, Disney lost the rights to develop Waldo. On the train-ride back to
California he spoke with his wife about the importance of coming home with
some alternative character. "I can't come back to our office and tell them I've
lost Waldo," he bemoaned. This hardship inspired Disney to develop a new
character, Mickey Mouse, and release the world's first fully-synchronized
sound cartoon, "Steamboat Willie" (starring, of course, Mickey Mouse).
Disney's creative genius was now coupled with a fierce instinct to protect and
control his creative output. Never again would he lose "Waldo."
Consequently, the Walt Disney Company was pushed by Walt to tirelessly
create timeless and universal entertainment, consistently innovate and take
risks to deliver that entertainment, stress a vision of being the provider of
choice of quality family entertainment, and maintain rigorous control over
the quality of customers' experiences with Disney products and its image.
Such a personal passion for control led the Walt Disney Company into theme
parks because Disney did not want Mickey's reputation sullied by the dirty,
cheap theme parks that littered the land during those days. All films had to be
new and of the highest quality animation (taking a minimum of five years to
create, including hand-painted backgrounds); sequel films were not tolerated.
Walt's vision and risk taking propensity led him in the early 1960s to buy
14
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Seat No.: ________ Enrolment No.___________
GUJARAT TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
MBA ? SEMESTER (3) ? EXAMINATION SUMMER? 2018
Subject Code: 2830001 Date: 30/04/2018
Subject Name: Strategic Management (SM)
Time: 02:30 To 05:30 PM Total Marks: 70
Instructions:
1. Attempt all questions.
2. Make suitable assumptions wherever necessary.
3. Figures to the right indicate full marks.
6
Q.1 (a)
Strategic controls allow corporate-level managers to
1.
A. evaluate business-level
performance on
objective criteria
B. concentrate on day-to-day corporate
operations
C. assess performance of
employees and
managers in each
business unit
D. examine the fit between what the firm might
do and what it can do
2.
To successfully implement a cost leadership strategy, there is a need for
A. freedom from
constraining rules
B. centralization of authority
C. communication
between functional
disciplines
D sharing of competencies among divisions
3.
A primary objective of corporate governance is to
A. determine and control
the strategic direction
of an organization
B. ensure that the interests of top-level managers
are aligned with the interests of shareholders
C. lobby legislators to
pass laws that are
aligned with the
organization's interests
D. resolve conflicts among corporate employees
4.
Firms participate in strategic alliances for all the following reasons EXCEPT to
A. enter markets more
quickly
B. acquire technology
C. create values they
could not develop
acting independently
D. retain tight control over intangible core
competencies
5.
Conglomerates follow the ____ diversification strategy:
A. unrelated B. related constrained
C. related linked D. global
6.
Multipoint competition occurs when
A. firms have multiple
retail outlets
B. firms have multiple products in their primary
industry.
C. unrelated D. firms have diversified portfolios of
companies
Q.1 (b) Define Above average returns, Vision, Stakeholders, Mergers,
Strategic Alliance
04
Q.1 (c) Explain resource based model for strategic management. 04
2
Q.2 (a) Explain the concepts of strategic groups and stakeholders and their
influence on strategy.
07
(b) What is the importance of collecting and interpreting data and
information about competitors? What practices should a firm use to
gather competitor intelligence and why?
07
OR
(b) Discuss how the cost leadership strategy can be used to position the
firm relative to the five forces of competition in a way that helps the
firm earn above-average returns ?
07
Q.3 (a) Discuss the outcomes associated with the various restructuring
strategies in the short term and long term.
07
(b) Explain the concepts of principal agent relationship, agency costs and
managerial opportunism with a suitable examples.
07
OR
Q.3 (a) What are international corporate level strategies and reasons for firms
to expand internationally.
07
(b) Discuss value adding, value neutral and value reducing diversification
with relevant examples.
07
Q.4 (a) What are the differences between strategic controls and financial
controls and their importance? What does it mean to say that strategy
and structure have a reciprocal relationship? Explain with an example.
07
(b) What is strategic leadership? With suitable examples explain how
strategic leaders manage a firm?s resources, human capital and social
capital to achieve a competitive advantage?
07
OR
Q.4 (a) Discuss the various approaches to managing strategic alliances and the
differences in these approaches.
07
(b) If you were a strategic leader, what actions could you take to establish
and emphasize ethical practices in your firm in the current industrial
scenario?
07
Q.5
The Walt Disney Company was founded as a cartoon studio in 1923 by Walt
Disney and his brother Roy with a $500 loan from an uncle. In the early
1920s, cartoonist Walt Disney visited New York to pitch his idea for a
cartoon rabbit called Waldo. During that trip, through a complicated series of
events, Disney lost the rights to develop Waldo. On the train-ride back to
California he spoke with his wife about the importance of coming home with
some alternative character. "I can't come back to our office and tell them I've
lost Waldo," he bemoaned. This hardship inspired Disney to develop a new
character, Mickey Mouse, and release the world's first fully-synchronized
sound cartoon, "Steamboat Willie" (starring, of course, Mickey Mouse).
Disney's creative genius was now coupled with a fierce instinct to protect and
control his creative output. Never again would he lose "Waldo."
Consequently, the Walt Disney Company was pushed by Walt to tirelessly
create timeless and universal entertainment, consistently innovate and take
risks to deliver that entertainment, stress a vision of being the provider of
choice of quality family entertainment, and maintain rigorous control over
the quality of customers' experiences with Disney products and its image.
Such a personal passion for control led the Walt Disney Company into theme
parks because Disney did not want Mickey's reputation sullied by the dirty,
cheap theme parks that littered the land during those days. All films had to be
new and of the highest quality animation (taking a minimum of five years to
create, including hand-painted backgrounds); sequel films were not tolerated.
Walt's vision and risk taking propensity led him in the early 1960s to buy
14
3
43,000 acres in Florida (now Walt Disney World), betting the company's
future on a high-risk, uncertain venture. Amidst such a flurry of activity,
Walt Disney died just before Christmas 1966, and the company was literally
stopped dead in its tracks. Walt Disney's blueprint was being followed to the
letter, but no further (Walt Disney World opened in 1971). No "new"
creations were undertaken until 1982, when the company finally launched
such businesses as the Disney Channel, Touchstone, and their home video
business. Had it not been for the appointment of Michael Eisner as Disney's
new CEO in 1984, the company would likely not have survived its perilous
financial situation and stifled creativity. Eisner returned the company to its
roots of family entertainment and values of quality, fairness, creativity,
entrepreneurialism, and teamwork.
1. 1 A. What value-creating legacy did Walt Disney leave to the Walt Disney
2. Company?
3. B. To what extent had the Walt Disney Company become a reflection of
4. Walt up to the time that he died in 1966?
OR
Q.5
Norning International (NI) states that both its past successes and future
growth strategies are based on an evolving network of wholly owned
businesses and joint ventures around its core competency in glass making.
Through their alliances and owned divisions they compete in four global
business sectors: Specialty Glass and Materials (including materials for
HDTV and LCD displays), Consumer Housewares (including microwavable
dishware), Laboratory Sciences Products and Services (test tubes, testing
equipment, and drug trials testing), and Communications (fiber optics and
related technologies). As per the company's annual report, "binding all four
sectors together is the glue of a commitment to leading edge glass making
technologies, shared resources, and dedication to total quality." Each sector
is composed of divisions, subsidiaries and alliances. However, the central
role played by alliances is demonstrated by the fact that the combined
revenue of its 30-some alliances is more than double that of NI on its own.
Most of the alliances provide NI with access to particular geographic
markets, industries, or channels, although an increasing number of alliances
involve both market access and technological development.
A. Why would a company like NI place such emphasis on alliances as a
growth vehicle?
3 B. NI appears to be managing a large number of alliances. What criteria
should it use to exit particular alliances?
14
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This post was last modified on 19 February 2020