Time allowed: 30 minute
STRATEGY
1. Why does a (technology-based) disruptive innovation address the lower-end segment of the market?
a) Because it allows to beat competitors operating in the low-end segment of the market
b) Because it reduces the incumbents’ ability to react to the company’s entry in the market
c) Because it allows the company to remain unnoticed by incumbents
d) Because it increases the likelihood of attaning a premium price in the long run
2. Accordingly to the mainstream/sustaining innovation model?
a) New comers are the only companies pursuing innovation and bringing to the market new products/services
b) Incumbents usually significantly invest in innovating their products/services
c) Start-ups are, among newcomers, those with the highest chance of success in bringing an innovation to the market
d) Technology-based innovation is the only type of innovation allowed for targeting the mainstream market
3. A Blue Ocean Strategy is most likely to be successful if:
a) It leads to the creation of a completely new market not yet addressed by any existing competitor
b) It allows the company to enter in a market
c) It is based on the proposition of an existing business model in a new market
d) The company is an established incumbent in the industry
4. Conglomerate portfolios might suffer from:
a) The de-focus of top management about the achievement of potential synergies
b) The cost of capital (bank effect) resulting from a too large debt
c) The too large size of the company
d) The presence of seasonality in their different businesses
5. In a cross-border M&A:
a) The risk of integration difficulties is usually greater than in a within-border M&A
b) The risk of having a larger debt is usually greater than in a within-border M&A
c) The risk of having too much diversification is usually greater than in a within-border M&A
d) The risk of wrong assessment of the target company is greater than in a within-border M&A
6. Which of the following statements regarding corporate goals is WRONG:
a) Shareholders decisions should take into account stakeholders’ interests
b) Shareholder wealth maximization should never be a primary goal of a company
c) Shareholder wealth maximization sometimes entails negative consequences for other stakeholders
d) Stakeholders’ interests should be considered in conjunction with profit maximization objectives
7. In strategy roadmapping, strategic alternatives are assessed against the following conditions:
a) The expected market growth and the expected profit margin of each alternative
b) The expected market growth and the expected impact on the organization of each alternative
c) The expected economic impact and the expected implementation hurdles of each alternative
d) The expected economic impact and the expected profit margin of each alternative
8. The Business Model Canvas is:
a) A tool for assessing the internal strengths and weaknesses of a given business model
b) A tool for generating strategic alternatives that are coherent with the company’s grand strategy
c) A tool for evaluating strategic alternatives through a coherent set of strategic decisions revolving around a given value proposition
d) A tool for measuring the impacts of a given business model on the company’s partners and customers
9. What does it mean to implement ambidexterity in an organization?
a) To ensure that employees can work on multiple tasks at the same time
b) To provide managers and employees the means to effectively balance they efforts across the core business and emerging businesses
c) By making space for emerging businesses which tend to have higher profitability in the short term
d) By making space for emerging businesses externally acquired by the company besides those internally developed
10. The external strategic analysis should be performed:
a. Only at initial stages of the strategy formulation process
b. Regularly over time in order to identify the emerging opportunities and threats for the company
c. Regularly over time in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company
d. Only at later stages of the strategy formulation process, once the strategic alternatives have been identified
11. Which of the following types of acquisitions are likely to decrease a company’s market power?
a. Related acquisitions
b. Horizontal acquisitions
c. Vertical acquisitions
d. None of the above
STARTUPS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL STRATEGY
12. Which of the following alternatives best describes the “core” of a business plan for a startup company?
a) Executive Summary
b) Financial Plan
c) Product & Services Section
d) Strategic Plan
13. Minimum Viable Products:
a) Concretize falsifiable hypotheses
b) Can be replaced by market research
c) Should not be used in B2B settings
d) Are good to test digital services, not physical products
MARKETING
14. If the newspaper market is segmented into (i) daily readers, (ii) weekly readers and (iii), occasional readers, what segmentation approach is adopted?
1) By customer characteristics
2) By customer behaviours
3) By customer needs
4) By product
15. The benefits of segmentation do not include:
a) A better focus of the marketing effort
b) The possible creation of entry barriers
c) Higher control on marketing actions
d) The possible cost differential relative to competitors
16. A concentrated targeting strategy implies:
a) A marketing plan focused on one specific market segment
b) Different marketing plans for different customer groups
c) One marketing plan for all the customer
d) Focusing on a differentiation strategy
17. Which of the following is NOT an input of positioning decision?
a) Customers’ purchasing criteria
b) Consumers’ perceptions toward competitors’ offering
c) Identification of free spaces where to place the company offer
d) Marketing Mix Levers
18. A branded house is defined as:
a) A strong brand at a level under the master brand
b) An independent brand, which is overtly endorsed by a master brand
c) A single identity that encompasses all products
d) Multiple strong brands housed in a weak or unknown corporate entity
19. With respect to commodities, staging experiences allow marketers to:
a) Adopting a differentiated competitive position and a premium price
b) Adopting a differentiated competitive position and a market price
c) Adopting an undifferentiated competitive position and a market price
d) Adopting an undifferentiated competitive position and a premium price
20. Having a customer elasticity between 0 and 1 implies:
a) Any change in price is matched by an equal change in the quantity demanded
b) Small changes in price cause large changes in the quantity demanded
c) Large changes in price cause small changes in the quantity demanded
d) Any change in price is matched by a negative change in quantity demand
ANSWER:
- C
- B
- A
- A
- A
- B
- C
- C
- B
- B
- D
- D
- A
- B
- D
- A
- D
- C
- A
- C
