TdE 18/01/2018

-> Time: 30 minutes

1. The three key steps for assessing a cost leadership advantage are

1. Identify the costs generating the lowest value for customers, identify activities for each cost, externalize those activities to external suppliers
2. Identify the activities generating the most “relevant” costs, identify the specific cost drivers for each activity, identify opportunities for cost reduction
3. Identify the most important products/services in terms of revenues, rank the products/services based on the weight of fixed costs, identify opportunities for cost reduction by removing those products/services with the lowest fixed costs

2. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of e-commerce strategy?

1. Greater role of intermediaries
2. Possibility to create market for niche products
3. Possibility to reach new customers
4. Direct control of the final market

3. Which of the following statements about the Strategic Business Unit (SBU) is WRONG:

1. An SBU must carry out a defined group of products, which are aimed at a specific group ofcustomers
2. An SBU must have distinct and divergent objectives compared to those of the company
3. An SBU must have clearly defined competitors

4. In Porter’s 5 forces framework, the suppliers’ bargaining power depends on:

1. The legal requirements needed to operate in a given industry or market
2. A technological innovation registered in an international patent office
3. None of the above

5. Which of the following is not a common business plan fallacy?

1. Business plans can perfectly predict the future
2. Business plans shall be based on rigorous multidisciplinary methodologies
3. Business plans should not change when applied to incumbents or startup
4. Business plans are reliable irrespectively of the data they are based on

6. In strategy road mapping, strategic alternatives are assessed against the following conditions:

1. The expected market growth and the expected profit margin of each alternative
2. The expected economic return and the expected implementation problems of each alternative
3. The expected revenues and the expected costs of each alternative

7. Which of the following is NOT a positioning critical success factor:

1. Delimited and defined
2. Simple and clear
3. Broad and comprehensive
4. Directed to a specific customer segment

8. Which of the following alternatives best describes the “core” of a business plan for a startup company?

1. Executive Summary
2. Financial Plan
3. Product & Services Section
4. Strategic Plan

9. Which of the following statements about startups’ investors is WRONG?

1. Business Angels may operate in group
2. Venture Capitalists are professional and formal investors
3. Venture Capitalists have a strict due diligence process before investing
4. None of the options above

10. How are digitally-based disruptive innovations adopted compared to traditional innovations?

1. Their adoption is much quicker than traditional ones
2. Their adoption is quicker than traditional innovations, but slower than other disruptive innovations
3. Their adoption is much quicker than traditional ones, as long as trial users are the majority

11. A sustainable competitive advantage:

1. Is based on a differentiation advantage that can be hardly overcome by competing companies
2. Reflects a favorable foreseen external context where the stability of conditions makes the
3. competitive advantage achieved by the company stable over time
4. Has to be continuously nurtured by the company for supporting its presence in the long term

12. Which of the following statements about startups’ valuation is CORRECT?

1. Post-money valuation refers to the approximate market value given to a startup after a round of  financing
2. Post-money valuation refers to the approximate market value given to a startup after founders’ exit the company
3. Pre-money valuation refers to the approximate market value given to a startup after a round of financing
4. None of the options above

13. In a multi-domestic model of international expansion:

1. The relevance of local responsiveness is greater than the relevance of competition coming from multinational and global players
2. The relevance of local responsiveness is greater than the need for duplicating activities in each country
3. The relevance of local responsiveness is at its highest due to the strength of local competitors

14. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of segmentation

1. Higher control on marketing actions
2. Greater focus of company resources and professionals
3. Fragmentation of advertising and promotion costs
4. Risk hedging

15. In communication, which of the following statements about “earned media” is CORRECT?.

1. The company pays third parties to acquire media space
2. The company creates its own media to advertise
3. Consumers create and share content related to a company
4. Third parties purchase space on the company media

16. A customer journey is:

1. A way to connect with people who previously interacted with your website or digital property
2. The set of activities to target users with relevant content based on user data
3. The path the customers go through in engaging with a company
4. The set of activities the company needs to perform to meet customer expectations at each touchpoint

17. A Blue Ocean Strategy is based on:

1. The search of one or more profitable segments of customers within existing markets not yet properly targeted by incumbents
2. The search for target customers different from those currently addressed by incumbents in a given segment
3. The search for new market segments not yet targeted by incumbents, because in a stage of development close to early emergence.

18. According to the Resource Based View, a firm’s ability to sustain a competitive advantage over time depends primarily on:

1. The availability of intangible resources
2. The availability of tangible or intangible resources, as long as they are hard to imitate or substitute
3. The availability of tangible or intangible resources, as long as they are rare and valuable

19. Why do successful companies often fail or strongly downsize after their period of success?

1. Successful companies attempt to achieve too ambitious objectives and this leads to failure
2. Successful companies attempt to enter unknown business areas and this leads to failure
3. Successful companies tend to replicate their business model and this leads to failure

20. Minimum Viable Products:

1. Concretize falsifiable hypotheses
2. Can be replaced by market research
3. Should not be used in B2B settings
4. Are good to test digital services, not physical products

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Answer:

1. B
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. B
6. B
7. C
8. D
9. D
10. A
11. D
12. A
13. A
14. C
15. C
16. C
17. B
18. B
19. C
20. A