Exam 2: The External Environment: Opportunities, Threats, Industry Competition, and Competitor Analysis

Identify and describe the three major parts of the external environment.What is the purpose for a firm to collect information about these aspects of its environment?

When firms analyze the external environment, they typically have complete and unambiguous data.

Age structure, geographic distribution, income distribution, interest rates, and process innovations are all elements of concern when studying the demographic segment of the general environment.

Competitor intelligence is:

All of the following are forces that create high rivalry within an industry EXCEPT:

An analysis of income distribution would include all of the following EXCEPT:

An example of a government policy barrier to entry would be a scenario in which the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice disallows a merger because it creates a firm that is too dominant and would thus create unfair competition.

According to the five forces model, an unattractive industry would include all of the following characteristics EXCEPT:

Which of the following would NOT be identified in an analysis of the economic portion of the general environment?

Early adopters of new technology often achieve higher market shares and higher returns than later adopters of the technology.

Acme Valves, Inc., has been a successful player in the oil field supply industry in the last 15 years.Acme maintained its strategy and product characteristics over this time period.However, the company has experienced declines in sales and profits over the last four quarters.The CEO of Acme should:

In analyzing the demographic segment of the general environment, one typically examines all of the following factors EXCEPT:

Which of the following intelligence-gathering techniques is MOST likely to be legal and ethical?

Consolidation among fuel providers serving airport facilities is viewed in the five forces model of competition as a(n):

Aardvark Corp.has three products.Two products together make up two-thirds of revenues and constitute 50 percent of company profits.Aardvark's third product makes up one-third of sales.With profitability far above the industry average, this product is responsible for one-half of Aardvark's profits.Which of the following statements regarding assessment of the general environment is accurate for Aardvark?

Environmental scanning would be MOST important for which of the following organizations?

Suppliers are powerful when the industry is dominated by a few large companies, no satisfactory substitutes are available, the selling industry is relatively more concentrated than the purchasing industry, or switching costs are high.

A certain marble quarry provides a unique type of marble that is richly colored and strikingly veined.It has been used for churches and public buildings throughout the world.The architect of a new headquarters for a prestigious Fortune 500 firm has specified the use of this marble, and this marble only, for the project.Which of the following statements is MOST likely to be true?

Media content has moved from paper, tape, and film to a digital world based on Internet technology.From the perspective of the five forces model, which of the following forces is MOST relevant here?

A competitor analysis includes all of the following about competitors EXCEPT: