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UMSDQ5 - Business strategy

mock exam questions

Following are a selection of exam questions to prepare you for your exam. How would you structure your answer?

Refer to the marking grid (see Module Handbook and Blackboard documents) to be clear on the expectations for your exam. Remember to align your work to Bloom’s Taxonomy by evidencing more than your understanding of theory, but also its application, analysis and critical evaluation.

Task: Choose 2 questions and create a detailed plan of your answer.

· How would you introduce your essay?

· What theory is being discussed? In your own words, what does the theory say?

· What frameworks should be used to answer the question?

· What analysis can you draw from the application of these framework?

· What are advantages/disadvantages of the theory? What other theories can be used to address the shortcomings?

· Finally, how would you close your essay?

Questions

Question 1 – CSR / CSV

Porter and Kramer (2006) state that effective CSR initiatives occur when shared value is created. CEMEX is considering the following CSR initiatives (below). Use Porter and Kramer’s CSV framework to critically consider which, if any, of these initiatives CEMEX should adopt. (Up to 1000 words):

a. Partnering with the RSPB (Royal Society for Protection of Birds) in the UK to maintain 1,000 hectares of priority habitats

b. Expanding their local programs in the Philippines to bring seminars on health, nutrition and family planning to rural areas

c. Continuing development of “Vertua”, CEMEX’s Net-Zero CO2 concrete development. This new material reduces the carbon foot print of Concrete manufacture by 70%. CEMEX is looking to offset the remaining 30%.

Question 2 – Strategy as a choice

Using the concepts in Porter’s theory of Strategy as Choice, critically evaluate whether JetBlue Airlines has sustainable competitive advantage. How might extending its proposition to the Mint service affect this?

Question 3 – Resource based view

Barney (1995) argues that sustainable competitive advantage is derived from valuable and rare resources within the firm. Critically discuss if, and how, this view explains the success of CEMEX in the Mexican market?

Question 4 – BLUE OCEAN

Kim and Mauborgne (2005) suggests that competitive advantage based on position or core competencies will not deliver sustainable success and instead firms will only thrive by moving into new blue ocean market spaces. Using the example of Netflix, critically discuss how firms might develop a Blue Ocean strategy?

Question 5 – Disruptive innovation

Success lies in “staying close to your customers”. Drawing on the Netflix case study and material on Blockbuster and the notion of "disruptive innovation", explain why this may not always be good advice.

Question 6 – Corporate strategy

Assess the extent to which the Esquel Group may be destroying shareholder value by its moves to vertically integrate. Should Esquel follow the guidance that an analysis using the parenting matrix suggests?