1. Which of the following statements about a company’s strategy is true?
Crafting an excellent strategy is more important than executing it well.
Strategy at its essence is about competing differently—doing what rival firms do not do or cannot do.
A company’s strategy deals with whether the revenue-cost-profit economics of its business model demonstrate the viability of the business enterprise as a whole.
Whether a company’s strategy is ethical or not does not matter much because most customers and most suppliers are relatively unconcerned with whether a company they do business with engages in sleazy practices or turns a blind eye to below-board behavior on the part of its employees.
Masterful strategies come partly (maybe mostly) by doing things in much the same way as the industry leader but then being better than the leader in one particular area that counts heavily with buyers.
2. Which one of the following is not among the chief duties/responsibilities of a company's board of directors insofar as the strategy-making, strategy-executing process is concerned?
instituting a compensation plan for top executives that rewards them for actions and results that serve stakeholders’ interests, most especially those of shareholders
directing senior executives as to what the company’s long-term direction, objectives, business model, and strategy should be, and, further, closely supervising senior executives in their efforts to implement and execute the strategy
being inquiring critics and exercising strong oversight over the company’s direction, strategy, and business approaches
evaluating the caliber of senior executives’ strategy-making/strategy-executing skills overseeing the company’s financial accounting and financial reporting practices