Reference no: EM132771615

1. Why is strategic planning important to a small company?

2. What is a competitive advantage? Why is it important for a small company to establish one?

3. What are the steps in the strategic management process?

4. One Business writer says, "The text of a mission statement is what you do with it after you put it in place." What does she mean? Do you agree? Explain.

5. "Our customers don't just like our ice cream," write Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, co-founders of Ben and Jerry's Homemade Inc. "They like what our company stands for. They like how doing business with us makes them feel." What do they mean?

6. What are strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats? Give an example of each.

7. Explain the characteristics of effective objectives. Why is setting objectives important?

8. What are business strategies? Describe the three basic strategies available to small companies. Under what conditions are each successful?

9. "It's better to be a company with a great strategy in a crummy business than to be a company with a crummy strategy in a great business," says one business expert. Do you agree? Explain.

10. Explain how a company can gain a competitive advantage using each of the three strategies described in this chapter: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. Give an example of a company that is using each strategy.

11. How is the controlling process related to the planning process?