Which one of the four statements is not suggested by Stuckey and White (1993) to be a reason for vertical integration? Select one: a. The market fails to provide what the company is looking for. b. Suppliers or buyers have strong bargaining power. c. Integration can increase market exit barriers to the industry. The industry lifecycle requires vertical integration. d.

Which of these may be a better option for companies selling differentiated products? A) Global strategy B) Decentralized production C) Low-cost strategy D) Centralized production

Building competitive advantage entails   A) finding effective and efficient ways to strengthen the company's competitive assets.   B) delivering superior value to buyers by performing value chain activities in ways that rivals cannot readily match.   C) achieving lower costs than rivals and becoming the industry's sales and market share leader.   D) building a brand name image that buyers trust.   E) getting in the best strategic group and dominating it.

In which one of the following situations/circumstances is it most reasonable for a company to consider modifying its strategy to cater to buyers looking to purchase stylish high-quality athletic footwear by strongly differentiating its branded footwear from the offerings of rival companies on the basis of "high" S/Q ratings (8.5 stars or higher) and marketing this footwear at well above-average prices? When the managers of most other companies believe selling a large volume of branded pairs is much more important to achieving the investor-expected image rating than is producing and marketing branded footwear with a well-above average S/Q rating When most every other rival company seems to be pursuing a low-cost/low-price/high- volume strategy When a company's strategy to differentiate its product offering from rival brands on the basis of a high S/Q rating is easily defeated by rival companies pursuing a competitive advantage based on well above-average spending for brand advertising…

Submit correct and complete solutions. Please provide Explanation. Provide step-by-step detailed explanations.

Rivalry among competing sellers grows in intensity when   A) rivals have similar strategies and buyer demand is growing rapidly.   B) rivals' products/services are sold at widely varying prices and the number of rivals is fewer than 5.   C) buyer demand is growing slowly and the industry is composed of several competitors that are fairly equal in size and competitive capability.   D) the products/services of rivals are strongly differentiated and buyers have high switching costs.   E) there are so many industry rivals that it is very hard to anticipate any one competitor's actions.

Select an existing company in any industry, and identify the following points: Introduction: Describe the company, its industry, and its business context Critical incidents: Include any strories of any organization challenges or achievements. How did it overcome the challenges? How did it accomplish its achievements? Investment potential: Include any of its current issues that need to be addressed or its potiential goals for growths Conclusion: Would you invest in the company why or why not?

Consider the Scenario below: A national property/casualty insurer distributes its personal and small commercial productsthrough independent agents. A study was conducted as a part of reevaluation of its strategies,designed to determine:• Whether its market share might be increased by direct marketing to some households.• Whether doing so would conflict with agent activities.• Marketing themes and product features that could be used to differentiate it indifferent market segments.• The potential profitability of different segments.Attitudinal, behavioral, and demographic data were gathered using a mail panel survey of2000 U.S. households that own auto insurance. Geodemographic and credit informationsupplemented the survey responses.Segments Identified: The study identified five segments, each making up 17% to 22% of themarket.• "Non-Traditionals" were most interested in using the Internet and/or buying insuranceat work.• Direct Buyers were more interested than others were in buying via…

While there are many routes to competitive advantage, they all involve   A) building a brand name image that buyers trust. B) finding effective and efficient ways to strengthen the company's competitive assets and to reduce its competitive liabilities. C)delivering superior value to buyers in ways rivals cannot readily match. D) getting in the best strategic group and dominating it. E) achieving lower costs than rivals and becoming the industry's sales and market share leader.

Now suppose that over lunch the marketing vice president says to Jacob: “We’re feeling a lot of heat from Chinese manufacturers who are offering very similar clubs to ours but at significantly lower prices. The legal department is working on a patent infringement case, but if we cant block these clubs from entering the market, I expect to see our sales flatten, and maybe even fall, over the rest of the year.”  What questions should Jacob ask? How would the answers to this affect the forecast? Does it still make sense to use quantitative forecasting under these circumstances? Why?