Trying to determine what strategic moves rivals are likely to make nextMultiple Choiceusually has little bearing on a company’s own best strategic moves.requires evaluating the industry’s key success factors as well as determining how many driving forces are present.is best done by monitoring each rival’s market share, earnings per share, and stock price. Adverse changes in these measures signal the coming of a fresh move, but as long as a company’s performance on these measures is satisfactory, the chance of fresh moves is slim.cannot be done effectively without first drawing a strategic group map.entails determining each rival’s situation, understanding the thinking of their managers, and evaluating the relative merits of their strategic options.

SWOT analysisMultiple Choiceis a simple but powerful tool for sizing up a company’s internal strengths and competitive deficiencies, its market opportunities, and the external threats to its future well-being.is a tool for benchmarking whether a firm’s strategy is closely matched to industry key success factors.reveals whether a company is competitively stronger than its closest rivals.examines the company’s cost position activity by activity.is a competitive intelligence tool that discloses rivals’ key weaknesses.

One important indicator of how well a company's present strategy is working is whetherMultiple Choiceits strategy is built around at least two of the industry's key success factors.it is customarily a first-mover in introducing new or improved products (a good sign) or a late-mover (a bad sign).it has more core competencies than close rivals.it is subject to weaker competitive forces and pressures than close rivals (a good sign) or stronger competitive forces and pressures (a bad sign).the company is achieving its financial and strategic objectives and is an above-average industry performer.

Not all positions on a strategic group map are equally attractive becauseQuestion 1AnswerA.small strategic groups are always less profitable than large strategic groups.B.entry and exit barriers are different for each strategic group.C.across-group rivalry is always weakest at the outer edge of the strategic group map.D.industry driving forces and competitive pressures favor some groups and disadvantage others.E.key success factors are substantially different for differently positioned industry participants.

A firm’s actions that are taken to influence the beliefs or actions of rivals in its favourable ways areGroup of answer choicespure strategies.mixed strategies.strategic moves.secure strategies.dominant strategies

If a firm finds it most profitable to adopt the same strategy regardless what its rival chooses to do, then that firm has a dominant strategy