STGY Chapter 2

Question 1

Perceptual Acuity

Answer 1

The ability to sense what is coming before the fog clears

Question 2

environmental scanning

Answer 2

surveillance of a firm’s external environment to predict environmental changes and detect changes already underway.

Question 3

environmental monitoring

Answer 3

a firm’s analysis of the external environment that tracks the evolution of environmental trends, sequences of events, or streams of activities.

Question 4

competitive intelligence

Answer 4

a firm’s activities of collecting and interpreting data on competitors, defining and understanding the industry, and identifying competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

Question 5

environmental forecasting

Answer 5

the development of plausible projections about the direction, scope, speed, and intensity of environmental change

Question 6

scenario analysis

Answer 6

an in-depth approach to environmental forecasting that involves experts’ detailed assessments of societal trends, economics, politics, technology, or other dimensions of the external environment.

Question 7

general environment

Answer 7

factors external to an industry, and usually beyond a firm’s control, that affect a firm’s strategy.

Question 8

demographic segment of the general environment

Answer 8

genetic and observable characteristics of a population, including the levels and growth of age, density, sex, race, ethnicity, education, geographic region, and income.

Question 9

sociocultural segment of the general environment

Answer 9

the values, beliefs, and lifestyles of a society

Question 10

political/legal segment of the general environment

Answer 10

how a society creates and exercises power, including rules, laws, and taxation policies.

Question 11

technological segment of the general environment

Answer 11

innovation and state of knowledge in industrial arts, engineering, applied sciences, and pure science; and their interaction with society.

Question 12

economic segment of the general environment

Answer 12

characteristics of the economy, including national income and monetary conditions

Question 13

global segment of the general environment

Answer 13

influences from foreign countries, including foreign market opportunities, foreign-based competition, and expanded capital markets.

Question 14

data analytics

Answer 14

The process of examining large data sets to uncover hidden patterns, market trends, and customer preferences.

Question 15

industry

Answer 15

a group of firms that produce similar goods or services.

Question 16

competitive environment

Answer 16

factors that pertain to an industry and affect a firm’s strategies.

Question 17

economies of scale

Answer 17

decreases in cost per unit as absolute output per period increases.

Question 18

product differentiation

Answer 18

the degree to which a product has strong brand loyalty or customer loyalty.

Question 19

switching costs

Answer 19

one-time costs that a buyer/supplier faces when switching from one supplier/buyer to another.

Question 20

zero-sum game

Answer 20

a situation in which multiple players interact, and winners win only by taking from other players.

Question 21

strategic groups

Answer 21

clusters of firms that share similar strategies