Group 1

Quiz

I-Identification

1. Focuses on identifying and evaluating trends and events beyond the control of a single firm.
External Audit

2. Advocates that external (industry) factors that are more important than internal factors for
gaining/sustaining competitive advantage. The Industrial Organization (I/O) View

3. A systematic, ethical process for gathering/analyzing info about the competition’s activities
and general business trend to further a business’ own goals. CI or Competitive Intelligence

4. an educated assumptions about future trends and events. Forecasts

5. It is best present estimates of the impact of major external factors, over which the manager has
little/no control; may exert significant impact on performance/ability to achieve desired results

6. Identify rival firms and determine their strengths, weaknesses, capabilities, opportunities,
threats, objectives, and strategies. Competitive forces
7. Identifies firm’s major competitors and their strengths & weaknesses in relation to a sample
firm’s strategic positions. Competitive Profile Matrix CPM
8. Using software to mine huge volumes of data and helps executives make decisions. Business
Analytics
9. Economic Forces – Shift to service economy, availability of credit, level of disposable
income, interest/inflation rates, tax rate variations, price fluctuations, value of the dollar,
unemployment trends, GDP trends, Import/export factors, Price fluctuations, Tax rates, Federal
government budget deficits

10. Political, Governmental, and Legal Forces Increasing global interdependence among
economies, markets, governments, and organizations make it imperative that firms consider the
possible impact of political variables on formulation/implementation of competitive strategies

II. True or False

1. Firms should respond offensively or defensively to the factors by formulating strategies that
take advantage of external opportunities or that minimize impact of potential threats. T
2. Published sources- customer surveys, market research, speeches at meetings, TV programs. F
3.Unpublished sources – periodicals, journals, reports, government documents, manuals,
newspapers. F

4. Michael Porter came up with the models while researching the nature of competition. T

5. Firms have Chief Information Officer (CIO) and a Chief Technology Offer (CTO) who work
together to ensure that info needed to formulate, implement, and evaluate strategies is available
where and when it is needed. T

6. One of the Process of Performing an External Audit is to gather competitive intelligence

and info about economic, social, cultural, demographic, environmental, political, governmental,
legal and technological trends. T

7. Firms should respond offensively to the factors by formulating strategies that take advantage
of external opportunities or that minimize impact of potential threats. F

8. External Audit reveals key opportunities and threats an organization faces so managers can
create strategies to take advantage of opportunities and avoid threats. T

9. One of Results of Technological Advances can create new competitive advantages that are
less powerful than existing advantages. F
10. The suppliers in an industry are powerful when: * There are few * Customers are small
* Few substitutes * Cost to switch suppliers is high

III. Enumeration

A. 5 Key External Forces

B. 5 Five Forces Model of Competition