Q&A Hero

Q: A systematic attempt to identify, measure, monitor, and evaluate a firm's performance with respect to its social efforts, goals, and programs is a(n) a. Triple Bottom Line audit. b. environmental audit. c. sustainability report d. social impact statement.

Q: The _______ includes firms at various stages of a production process, channel, or distribution. (A) supply account (B) demand curve (C) point of diminishing return (D) ladder (E) supply chain

Q: Which of the following practices are not technically illegal, but can become illegal when the intent is to restrain trade and create a monopoly? (A) Refusing to deal (B) exclusive dealing (C) backward marking (D) resale price maintenance (E) tying contracts

Q: Strategic control includes all of the following steps except a. setting standards. b. revising budgets. c. comparing actual performance to standards. d. taking corrective action.

Q: Which statement about antitrust enforcement is not correct? (A) The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigate allegations of antitrust violations, make settlements, and bring lawsuits against business. (B) Very few lawsuits are brought to court by private citizens or companies who believe they were hurt by antitrust practices, seeking compensation for damages. (C) The DOJ and FTC also provide guidelines and advisory opinions, especially in merger investigations, which they can prevent by filing a preliminary injunction. (D) State attorneys general also investigate antitrust violations and file lawsuits against businesses, sometimes in cooperation with the DOJ and FTC. (E) The federal courts determine the outcomes of litigation, interpret the law, set precedents, and approve consent decrees.

Q: Which of the steps in the strategic management process informs all the rest? a. goal formulation b. strategy formulation c. strategic control d. environmental analysis

Q: What are three types of lawsuits?

Q: What is the first thing the DOJ and FTC do when investigating mergers?

Q: The deeply ingrained principles that guide all of a company's actions and decisions are the firm's a. vision statements. b. guiding lights. c. core values. d. mission statements.

Q: Some practices are not technically illegal, but they can become illegal when the intent is to restrain trade and create a monopoly. Therefore, these practices are subject to antitrust scrutiny. Discuss five of these practices.

Q: All of the following represent examples of enterprise-level thinking except a. how a firm responds to a public crisis. b. the extent to which a firm attempts to identify social issues, analyze them, and integrate them into its strategic management process. c. the extent to which a firm has established board or senior management committees to grapple with social issues. d. the extent to which a firm has studied its functional structure and made changes necessary to make its operations more efficient.

Q: Discuss consequences of mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

Q: Corporate-level strategy decisions include all of the following except a. mergers b. acquisitions c. divestitures d. broad or narrow markets

Q: What is the purpose of antitrust laws, and what are three objectives of the laws?

Q: The enterprise-level strategy may addresses the firm's a. Obligations to stockholders. b. Role in society. c. Implications of cohesion. d. Competition strategy.

Q: Which statements about types of laws, lawsuits, and courts and court functions are correct? (A) The three basic types of laws are legislative, executive, and judicial. (B) Civil suits are brought by the state or federal government against a defendant for a crime committed. (C) There are three types of courts: federal, state, and local. (D) The court has three major functions: law interpretation, litigation determination, and individual protection. (E) There are three types of lawsuits: criminal, civil, and public.

Q: ____ level strategy attempts to integrate the firm's activities to accomplish its goals. a. Enterprise b. Corporate c. Business d. Functional

Q: Which of the following is true regarding antitrust in federal court? (A) Court opinions and decisions are unimportant because the law is slow to change. (B) The courts determine whether companies are innocent or guilty of antitrust violations and determine fines and damages paid to citizens and companies for their losses, (C) The courts do not determine imprisonment nor whether to issue preliminary injunctions. (D) Lawsuits must be tried before a jury. (E) Lawsuits may be tried before a single judge, a panel of judges, or before a jury.

Q: ____ level strategy seeks to determine how a firm should compete in a given industry. a. Enterprise b. Corporate c. Business d. Functional

Q: Which statements about mergers are true? (A) Horizontal mergers combine two companies in the same industry, which are commonly direct competitors. (B) Vertical mergers combine two companies at different stages of the supply chain between raw materials to delivery to consumers. (C) A merger moving away from the consumer is a forward vertical merger, and moving closer to the customer is a backward vertical merger. (D) Conglomerate mergers combine a company with a firm in an unrelated industry. (E) AT&T combined with T-Mobile to form the largest communications company in the U.S.

Q: The strategy level that asks what business the firm should be in is the ____ level. a. enterprise b. corporate c. business d. functional

Q: Which of the following are true about acquisitions and mergers? (A) Acquisitions and mergers are similar in that they both occur when two companies combine. (B) The primary difference between an acquisition and a merger is based on its organizational structures. (C) Acquisitions commonly occur when a larger company buys a smaller firm. (D) Mergers usually occur between two companies that are relatively equal in size. (E) After a merger, the merged company cannot create a new company stock nor issue shares.

Q: The overarching strategy level that asks what role the firm plays in society and what the firm stands for is the ____ level. a. enterprise b. corporate c. business d. functional

Q: Which of the following are true regarding antitrust laws? (A) The Sherman Act prohibits unreasonable restraints of trade and monopolization. (B) The Merger Improvement Act was passed to strengthen the other antitrust laws by requiring premerger notification and approval, and it allowed states to sue businesses for price-fixing. (C) The Clayton Act prohibits anticompetitive mergers, price discrimination, director interlock, and tying contracts. (D) The Federal Trade Commission Act protects unfair competition and deceptive practices. (E) The Federal Trade Commission Act prohibits unfair competition and deceptive practices, and it created the FTC to help enforce antitrust laws.

Q: Which of the following is not one of the levels of strategy mentioned in the textbook? a. enterprise-level b. department-level c. corporate-level d. functional-level

Q: _______ lawsuits are cases brought by a plaintiff against the government for failure to act in accordance with its statutory obligations. (A) Private (B) Public (C) Judicial (D) Civil (E) Criminal

Q: The concept of enterprise-level strategy is the idea that best links a. ethics to performance. b. strategy to performance. c. public policy to performance. d. ethics to strategy.

Q: _______occurs when a judge determines whether laws are legal under the Constitution or whether officials have exceeded their authority. (A) Constitutional amendment (B) Congressional consent (C) Judicial appointment (D) Litigation determination (E) Judicial review

Q: The main idea behind corporate public policy is that a. a firm must give specific attention to issues in which basic questions of right, wrong, justice, fairness, or public policy reside. b. a firm must look out for its own best interests. c. a firm should have a say in setting the political direction of the country. d. a firm should be able to influence public policy when it can.

Q: Past decisions of courts are referred to as ________. (A) consent decrees (B) legal precedent (C) adjudications (D) common law (E) litigation determinations

Q: Which of the following terms does not have the same basic meaning? a. corporate public policy b. corporate social policy c. corporate social performance d. corporate citizenship

Q: _______ require judges to follow decisions of superior or previous courts. (A) Legal precedents (B) common law (C) judicial consent (D) judicial review (E) adjudications

Q: Good publicity is a pro of B Corporation status. a. True b. False

Q: Which statement about merger investigation guidelines is not correct? (A) The first step is to define the market where the merger is to take place and then the concentration the merged firm will have. (B) Competitive effects are investigated to ensure adequate competition will continue and that consumer prices will not increase. (C) The investigation includes a determination of the ease of entry into the market to maintain competition. (D) Merging partners have to specify efficiency gains and consumer benefits. (E) Lastly, The FTC has to approve the merger.

Q: For the public affairs function to be effective in representing issues affecting business decision making, they should have influence at the middle management level. a. True b. False

Q: The Federal Trade Commission Act prohibits unfair competition and deceptive practices; it created the FTC to help enforce antitrust laws. (A) True (B) False

Q: One of the reasons that public affairs departments have seen extensive growth over the past three decades is because they have been able to easily measure and document their results. a. True b. False

Q: What are four reasons to serve on advisory panels and committees?

Q: Regarding the four key strategy levels, decisions involving great uncertainty tend to be made at the lower levels. a. True b. False

Q: Which of the following is the first step in the rule-making process? (A) Congress writes the proposed rule. (B) The agency revises and finalizes the rule. (C) Regulatory agency writes a proposed rule. (D) Agency enforces the rule. (E) The rule is published in the Federal Register with OMB final approval.

Q: Public affairs evolved from social activism. a. True b. False

Q: President Obama's health care overhaul, nicknamed Obamacare, carries the official name of __________. (A) Affordable Care Act (B) Healthcare Reform Act (C) Defer Hospital Expenses Act (D) President Victory Act (E) Cheaper Medical Expenses Act

Q: The public affairs function is a logical component of the overall strategic management process. a. True b. False

Q: "RIA" stands for (A) Rural Integration Association (B) Regulation and Impact Advisory (C) Regulatory Impact Analysis (D) Required Immediate Action (E) Records and Inquiry Administration

Q: Public affairs management focuses on the formalization and institutionalization of corporate public policy. a. True b. False

Q: The cabinet is part of the _________ . (A) House of Representatives (B) International Regulatory Office (C) Federal Judicial courts (D) Senate. (E) executive office of the President.

Q: To be most effective, a sustainability report should be isolated from other aspects of the strategic management process. a. True b. False

Q: _______are the business rules of conduct, and the rules are developed by regulatory agencies to implement laws passed by Congress. (A) Reservations (B) Regulation (C) Obligations (D) Lobbying (E) Privatization

Q: The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is attempting to overcome one of the major obstacles to the advance of effective sustainability reporting by providing standardized measures for reporting. a. True b. False

Q: Businesses often work with each other to deal with issues, and peak and trade groups are coalitions of businesses with similar interests joining in collective political action. (A) True (B) False

Q: Social performance reporting should be isolated from other forms of assessment and reporting. a. True b. False

Q: Under the First Amendment to the Constitution, business has the right to petition government, including regulators. (A) True (B) False

Q: Sustainability reporting is a new but declining concept. a. True b. False

Q: The terms privatization and deregulation can be used interchangeably. (A) True (B) False

Q: Sustainability reports can be thought of as a planning and control system. a. True b. False

Q: Cost-of-service regulation occurs when prices are regulated based on costs that are passed on to customers, which reduces the incentive to keep costs down. (A) True (B) False

Q: A sustainability report is an effort to measure a firms overall value creation and to spur integrated thinking. a. True b. False

Q: The sustainability report can be an effective component of a firm's strategic control system. a. True b. False

Q: Once a federal agency is created, it stays in place until repealed or disbanded with no action necessary in the interim. (A) True (B) False

Q: The steps of the strategic management process are most effective if done sequentially in the order specified in the textbook. a. True b. False

Q: Congress creates regulatory agencies and writes the authorizing statutes for an agency to develop and enforce laws. (A) True (B) False

Q: Business needs to anticipate changes in laws and regulations. (A) True (B) False

Q: Some management scholars believe that the successful firms of the future will be those that can meet stakeholders' social expectations and investment advisors' financial expectations. a. True b. False

Q: President Obama's health care reform bill was overwhelmingly approved by the Supreme Court. (A) True (B) False

Q: Enterprise-level strategy and societal-level strategy are synonymous. a. True b. False

Q: The federal government budget is developed by the president's office, which must be approved by Congress. (A) True (B) False

Q: Corporate public policy takes place primarily at the corporate level of strategy. a. True b. False

Q: ________allows business to challenge a rule by claiming that the agency did not follow the APA procedures in making the rule. (A) Legal procedure (B) Substantive due process (C) Procedural due process (D) Electoral process (E) Procedural mistake rule

Q: There is a growing consensus that ethics should be a central component of strategic management. a. True b. False

Q: Privatization and deregulation are in essence types of ________ to increase efficiencies in government and the market environment. (A) regulatory addenda (B) cultural reform (C) reasonable reform (D) regulatory reform (E) information strategies

Q: Corporate public policy is a firm's posture or position regarding the environmental, social, global, and ethical aspects of stakeholders and corporate functioning. a. True b. False

Q: Which of the following is not true regarding societal, political, and legal strategies? (A) Businesses are taking a stakeholder approach to dealing with societal issues. (B) Business builds coalitions and works at developing good media relations in order to promote positive stories and gain public sentiment for its side of issues. (C) Regulators' extensive impacts on business decision making have resulted in executives spending more time developing nonmarket political strategies. (D) Businesses rarely take a stakeholder approach to dealing with societal issues. (E) Business uses legal strategies to avoid lawsuits, and business occasionally challenges rules through due process.

Q: Explain Harry Markopolos' opinion regarding the SEC.

Q: Define the Federal Register.

Q: Discuss the role of shareholder democracy in corporate governance.

Q: Name some benefits and costs of regulation.

Q: Church groups are key members in the shareholder activist movement. One way that they gain access to corporate executives is by purchasing a small amount of stock and holding it a certain length of time (state laws usually dictate how much they need to buy and how long they need to hold it), which then allows them to introduce shareholder resolutions at stockholder meetings. Should small investors be able to wield influence like this, which arguably goes beyond their financial stake in the firm?

Q: Which of the following are not reasons businesses serve on advisory panels and committees? (A) Public volunteer service helps build a reputation for being socially responsible. (B) Serving alerts business to proposed rules. (C) Serving leads to the business writing rules to benefit the firm. (D) Serving provides access to regulators who will listen to input that can influence the agency's decision to benefit business. (E) Public volunteer service leads to an increase of lobbyists.

Q: Should directors be held personally liable in cases of corporate misconduct?

Q: Which statements about business influencing Congress vs. regulatory agencies are not correct? (A) Business cannot contribute during presidential election campaigns. (B) Business gives direct campaign contributions to members of Congress to help them get elected to support business interests. (C) Lobbyists cannot contact members of Congress to directly to influence legislation. (D) Grassroots lobbying is having stakeholders contact Congress and regulators; with regulations, businesses commonly ask stakeholders to make online comments supporting businesses' side of the specific rule. (E) Lobbying regulators is similar except that there are some situations in which businesses can't contact regulators outside of public meetings.