Time allowed: 30 minutes
STRATEGY
1. How are digitally-based disruptive innovations adopted compared to traditional innovations?
a) Their adoption is much quicker than traditional ones
b) Their adoption is quicker than traditional innovations, but slower than other disruptive innovations
c) Their adoption is much quicker than traditional ones, as long as trial users are the majority
2. According to the Resource Based View, a firm’s ability to sustain a competitive advantage over time depends primarily on:
a) The availability of intangible resources
b) The availability of tangible or intangible resources, as long as they are hard to imitate or substitute
c) The availability of tangible or intangible resources, as long as they are rare and valuable
3. The SWOT analysis:
a) Identifies the action to be taken at the level of the business model of the company in order to increase the sustainability of its competitive advantage
b) Summarizes the results of internal and external analysis, supporting the generation of strategic alternatives for creating/improving a sustainable competitive advantage of a company in a given business area
c) Presents in a structured way the strategic alternatives available to a given company for creating/improving its competitive advantage
4. A sustainable competitive advantage:
a) Is based on a differentiation advantage that can be hardly overcome by competing companies
b) Is possible only when a favorable foreseen external context where the stability of conditions makes the competitive advantage achieved by the company stable over time
c) Has to be continuously nurtured by the company for keeping it in the long term
5. What do we mean by organic growth?
a) A growth based on the increased sales in the market segment where the company is already present
b) A growth based on the self-financing, i.e. on the use of financial resources internal to the company for expanding extant businesses
c) A growth based on the internal development of the resources needed to establish a new business area
6. One of the main advantages of conglomerate portfolios is in the so-called bank effect, i.e.:
a) The fact that large companies with unrelated business might negotiate favorable conditions for their financing through the banking system
b) The fact that conglomerate portfolios, through centralized management of cash flows, might balance the financial needs of different business units
c) The fact that seasonality of financial needs in a certain business can be faced through the presence of financial excess cash in counter-seasonal businesses
7. When a company increases the level of downward vertical integration, its bargaining power relative to the suppliers will likely:
a) Increase
b) Decrease
c) Remain the same
8. The main goals of an external strategic analysis are:
a) To understand the relationships between the company’s resources and the resources of competitors
b) To identify and describe the main opportunities and threats for the company
c) To measure opportunities and threats for the company and translate them into key success factors
9. Which of the following can be defined as primary activities in Porter’s Value Chain model:
a) Procurement, technology development, human resources management
b) Inbound logistics, New Product Development, production, marketing and sales
c) Logistics, operations and sales
10. What has to be included in the “Key Resources” building block of the Business Model Canvas:
a) A list of the resources the company has
b) The strategic resources at the basis of the competitive advantage of the company
c) The financial and intangible resources of the company
STARTUPS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL STRATEGY
11. Which of the following statements about startups’ investors is WRONG?
a) Business Angels may operate in group
b) Venture Capitalists are professional and formal investors
c) Venture Capitalists have a strict due diligence process before investing
d) None of the options above
12. What are the 3 main values that entrepreneurs have to forecast in a business plan?
a) Sales, Number of Employees, Amount of Debt
b) Sales, Operating Costs, Investments
c) Sales, Operating Costs, Cost of Debt
d) Sales, Number of Employees, Investments
13. In Customer Development Method, what is the major difference between the phase of Search and the phase of Execution?
a) In the phase of Search, the startup is not funded yet. In phase of Execution, the startup has already passed several funding rounds.
b) In the phase of Search, it is still possible to pivot and strongly modify the business model.
c) In the phase of Search, the startup hasn’t tested the product into the market yet.
d) In the phase of Execution, startup’s founders have executive’s roles and salaries.
14. Formal Investors:
a) Tend to invest more money than informal investor;
b) Often perform a “due diligence” activity on the target;
c) Usually do not enter in very initial phase of life of a startup;
d) All of the above.
15. In running a startup, from the founder’s perspective:
a) It’s better to involve external people (e.g., investors, advisors) in the capital structure since the beginning;
b) It’s better to preserve the majority of the shares as long as possible;
c) Avoiding the Exit is always a positive move;
d) Asking for huge amount of money at the beginning may signal the goodness of the startup’s itself to the market, thus it is beneficial for the founder
MARKETING
16. Brand image can be defined as:
a) How the customer perceives the brand
b) The company’s promise to its target customers
c) How the company wants to be perceived
d) Which principles the company wants to represent
17. If a company pursues a “profit orientation” in pricing, which are its key pricing objectives?
a) Volume, market share and growth rate
b) Contribution margin, ROI and rapid recovery of R&D investments
c) Volume and rapid recovery of R&D investments
d) Creating brand image, market share and cash flow
18. You have recently founded a micro-brewery in northern Italy and planned its first communication campaign. Therefore, you need to identify the communication objectives. Which of the following objectives would be most relevant at this stage?
a) Increasing a positive attitude toward the product
b) Increasing brand awareness
c) Increasing brand loyalty
d) Increasing customer satisfaction
19. Which of the following media is usually NOT part of the Owned Media Mix?
a) Social media fanpage
b) Email databases
c) TV commercials
d) Website
20. A Company selling kitchen appliances segments its market into heavy users and occasional users. Which typology of segmentation approach is the Company applying?
a) By product
b) By customer characteristics
c) By customer behavior
d) By customer needs
Answer
- A
- B
- B
- C
- C
- B
- A
- B
- C
- B
- D
- B
- B
- D
- B
- A
- B
- B
- C
- C
