Part -1:

1. Describe the characteristics of strategic decisions and define what is meant by strategy and strategic management. ( Limit your answers on the spaces provided)

2. Explain how strategidlpriorities vary by level.

Part 2:

ESSAY:

Answer the following questions.

1. Why do businesses use benchmarking? (limit your answers on the spaces provided)
2. What are referred as limitations of strategic capabilities?

Part -3:

Identify, to which of the following situations/ terms belong. Write only the letters of the correct answer.
A. For Strategic Capability
B. For Benchmarking
C. For Tangible Resources
D. For Intangible Resources
E. For Primary Activities of Value Chain
F. For Support Activities of Value Chain

1. At the terminal's opening on March 15, 2008, Queen Elizabeth II called it "21st Century Gateway to Britain".

2. Heathrow Airport's newest state-of-the-art facility.

3. The newly installed system and proceedings that helped matters in the moving the built jammed at one point are becoming lesser.

4. The dignified line-up of academic professionals or lecturers handling Level 6 modules at Gulf College.

5. Material inventory for incoming logistics and its distribution services to end users.

6. Airway's preventive measures to test the computer systems prior to its full operation.

7. Quality assurance imposed by department heads for proper handling of instruments.

8. Installation, repair and training of personnel to maintain value of products and services.

9. The facilities design did support the following goals in one hour
a. 96 self-service check in kiosk,
b. more than 90 check-in fast bag drops,
c. 54 stranded check-in desks, and
d. to process 12,000 bags

10. Research and development of marketing plan or raw material and technology

Case Study Title: Microsoft's Operation in a Hypercompetitive Industry

Microsoft is a hypercompetitive firm operating in a hypercompetitive industry.

It has used its dominance in operating systems (DOS and Windows) to move into a very strong position in application programs like word processing and separate sheets (word and Excel). Even though Microsoft helps 90% of the market for personal computer operating systems in 1992, it is still invested millions in developing the next generation-windows 95, windows NT. Instead of trying to protect its advantage in the profitable DOS operating system, Microsoft actively sought to replace DOS with various versions of Windows. Before hyper competitions, most experts argued against cannibalization of companies on product instead of harvesting it like a "cash cow". According to this line of thought, a company would be better of defending its older products. New products would be introduced only if it could be proven that they would be disproving this argument against cannibalization. Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, chairman and CEO, realized if his company didn't replace its own DOS product line with a better product, someone else would be now in that success in the software industry depends not so much on company size but on moving aggressively to the next competitive advantage before a competitor does. "This is hypercompetitive market", explained Gates "scale is not all positive in this business. Cleverness is the position in this business". By 2000, Microsoft still controlled over 90% of operating systems software and has achieved a dominant position in application software as well.

Task:

Prepare a one page investigation, based upon the Hypercompetitive industry of Microsoft by referring to PESTEL analysis. Describe how the potential entrants and business substitutes drive the Microsoft operation in a hyper competitive industry.

Part -4:

Part I. Development of Judgment on Arguments Relating to Practical Strategic
Situations:

Section A:
Statements to Reflect Sarah Del Serrano, the beauty expert, said don't sell cosmetics, I sell hope", and an insurance company advertises that it sells, "Peace of Mind".

Question 1.
Consider that you are one of those connected in the following organizations. How might you answer the question, what business are we in? Answers can be benchmarked from those statements given above. (10 words are required to obtain 2 marks in each of the following)
a. A Luxury Ice-cream Manufacturer
b. A Travel Agent
c. The Automobile Association
d. A Hypermarket
e. A House-Builder

Question 2.
Being the stakeholder of the organizations above, what quantifiable measurement/s you might consider as the most important way to judge the performance of the firm? Explain.

Part II. Critical Evaluation and Analysis.

Instruction:
Make a strategic evaluation of an organization of your choice (one that is very familiar to you) and accomplish the structured tasks enumerated below. The purpose of this assessment is to measure your acquired competencies that relates to strategic management theory and practice.

Title: The Strategic Evaluation of (Name of the Company/Organization).

A. Introduction: Write a brief introductory paragraph of an organization you choose. Mentioning the following: a. Name of the Company; b. Its location; c. Years of Existence; d. The Type of Industry it Engaged; and the its (MVO) Mission, Vision and Objective Statements. Specify also the objective of this essay.

B. Strategic Evaluation and Analysis: Make a concrete SWOT analysis about the company you choose. The diagram presented below can help the sequential analysis that is structured in the link-net model of strategic management elements. Include citations to support your arguments.

A model of the elements of strategic management

C. Conclusion:
Write a concluding paragraph to summarize the important points of the discussion. It should draw-out ideas according to the objectives mentioned in the introduction.

D. Reference: Acknowledge at least three sources of information that are used in your essay and follow the appropriate Harvard referencing format.