Test Bank For Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage 4th Edition Barney
Test Bank For Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage 4th Edition Barney
Test Bank For Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage 4th Edition Barney
7) The strategic management process is a sequential set of analyses and choices that can increase
the likelihood that a firm will choose a good strategy that generates competitive advantages.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 4
Objective: 1.2
2
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
8) The second step in the strategic management process is the definition of a firm's mission.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 4
Objective: 1.2
9) A firm's mission defines both what it wants to be in the long run and what it wants to avoid in
the meantime.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 5
Objective: 1.2
10) Mission statements often contain so many common elements that even if a firm's mission
statement does not influence behavior throughout an organization, it is likely to have a
significant impact on a firm's actions.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 5
Objective: 1.2
11) Firms whose mission statement is central to all they do are known as missionary firms.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 5
Objective: 1.2
12) Visionary firms earn substantially higher returns than average firms because they
acknowledge that profit maximizing is their primary reason for existence.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 5
Objective: 1.2
13) Mission statements that are very inwardly focused and are defined only with reference to the
personal values and priorities of its founders and top managers can hurt a firm's performance.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7
Objective: 1.2
14) Objectives are the specific measurable targets a firm can use to evaluate the extent to which
it is realizing its mission.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 8
Objective: 1.2
15) High quality objectives are tightly connected to the elements of a firm's mission but tend to
be relatively difficulty to measure and track over time.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 8
3
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Objective: 1.2
16) By conducting an external analysis, a firm identifies the critical threats and opportunities in
the industry's competitive environment.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 8
Objective: 1.2
17) Corporate level strategies are actions firms take to gain competitive advantages in a single
market or industry.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 9
Objective: 1.2
18) Business level strategies are actions firms take to gain competitive advantages by operating
in multiple markets or industries simultaneously.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 9
Objective: 1.2
19) Strategy implementation occurs when a firm adopts organizational policies and practices that
are consistent with its strategy.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 10
Objective: 1.2
20) In general, a firm has a competitive advantage when it is able to create more economic value
than rival firms.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 10
Objective: 1.3
21) The size of a firm's competitive advantage is the sum of the economic value a firm is able to
create and the economic value rivals are able to create.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 10
Objective: 1.3
23) Firms that create the same economic value as their rivals experience competitive parity.
Answer: TRUE
4
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 11
Objective: 1.3
5
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
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But here General Concha interceded by exclaiming: “Stop,
Manolito, stop the firing! For God’s sake remember we are in Her
Majesty’s palace!”
So the firing was stopped, and the little girls, alarmed at the
noise, fell into each other’s arms, and cried with fright, whilst the
Countess of Mina strove to still their fears. The noise of firing was
heard down the corridors and the staircases known by the names of
those of the Lions and the Ladies. General Dulce was not content
with quelling the invasion of the palace by firing down the chief
staircase to prevent the ascent of any interloper, but, leaving
Barrientos in command of half the Guard at that spot, he went with
the other half into the Salon of the Ambassadors, and there fired on
the insurgents from the windows, until the whole Plaza de la Armeria
was swept free from any more possible invaders of the royal abode.
In the meanwhile Boria, Don Diego Leon, and others, were
caught in the Campo del Moro, the gardens of the palace. No mercy
was shown to the would-be perpetrators of such a deed as the
kidnapping of the royal children, and Diego de Leon, who had been
covered with laurels for his brilliant services in the civil war, was shot
with his accomplices without demur.
In the meanwhile General Espartero, in his Palace of la Buena
Vista, was ignorant of the tragic scenes enacted at the palace until
they were over. Brought thither by the sound of firearms, he arrived
just as the insurrectionary force had been driven from the palace,
and hastening up the staircase stained with blood, he found the royal
children in their room weeping bitterly and much terrified, albeit at
the time of the alarming scene they had shown more courage than
could have been expected at such an early age. The Regent led the
little girls to a window of the palace to still the fears of the people,
who had hastened from all quarters at the noise of the firing, and the
halberdiers who had defended their young Queen and her sister so
bravely were all publicly applauded, promoted, and subsequently
given the Cross of San Fernando. The fact of gunshot penetrating
the royal apartment was unprecedented in history, and although the
halberdiers pressed into the room to protect the royal children, they
abstained from firing there on the invaders without, for fear of hurting
those in their charge. When the Cortes opened, Espartero escorted
the Princesses to the ceremony, and they were received with
enthusiastic demonstrations of loyalty.
A short time afterwards Argüelles had to insist on the Order of the
Palace, by which the French Ambassador was not allowed entry to
the palace without official permission from the Regent.
When the Infante Don Francisco and Luisa Carlota decided to go
to Spain to see what personal influence could do in obtaining power
over their nieces, the King of France did all he could to prevent the
fulfilment of the plan. Difficulties were put in the way of the illustrious
travellers having horses for the journey, but Luisa Carlota exclaimed:
“This new obstacle will not stop us, as, if we can’t get horses, we will
go on foot.”
The exiled Queen-mother did all she could to influence her
children against their aunt, and she placed within the leaves of a
book of fashions, which she sent them from Paris, a paper which ran
thus: “Do not trust that woman! She causes nothing but disgrace and
ruin. Her words are all lies; her protestations of friendship are
deceptions; her presence is a peril. Beware, my child. Your aunt
wants to get rule over your mind and your heart to deceive you, and
to claim an affection of which she is unworthy.”
It was in 1842 that, eluding the vigilance of the Countess of Mina,
the lady-in-chief of the royal children, Luisa Carlota managed to see
a good deal of her young niece Isabel. The Infanta constantly joined
the young Queen in her walks, and, not content with talking to the
young girl about her cousin Don Francisco, so as to make her think
of him as an eligible parti, she one day gave her niece a portrait of
her son in his uniform as Captain of the Hussars. This portrait
Isabella was seen to show to her little sister, and so annoyed was
the Marchioness of Belgida, the chief Lady-in-Waiting, at what she
considered the breach of confidence on the part of the Infanta, that
she resigned her post. Argüelles had striven to warn Luisa Carlota
against the imprudence of her course, for the question of the young
Queen’s marriage was one in which the dignity of the Government,
the honour of the Queen, and the good name of the Regent, had all
to be considered. Therefore any attempt to compromise the Queen
by forcing any opinion from her which could not be based on
experience was detrimental to all concerned. In the Cortes he said: “I
do not believe in absolute isolation for a young Queen, but I think
she ought to be surrounded by those who will give her a good
example of prudence and self-reflection.” On the day that the
Marchioness of Belgida’s resignation was accepted the widowed
Countess of Mina was raised to be a grandee of Spain of the first
order, and she was appointed to the post vacated by the Countess.
Then, in pursuance of the opinion of the Ministers, Espartero had the
Princesses taken to Zaragossa so as to prevent further intrigues
about the Queen’s marriage.
In the “Estafeta del Palacio Real,” Antonio Bermejo compares
Olozaga with Argüelles. “He was,” he says, “austere like Argüelles,
who might be a little brusque, but never had a word or a single
phrase left the lips of this old man which could sully the purity of a
Princess. Moreover, the new guardian of the Queen was so dense
that he let a book be circulated in the royal apartment, called
‘Theresa, the Philosopher,’ which was said to be at the root of much
of the light behaviour of our girls. Who allowed this book in the
palace? Whence came this vile work, calculated to pollute the throne
of San Ferdinand? Narvaez and Gonzalez Brabo saw the book lying
on a chimney-piece in the palace, and they indignantly cast it into the
fire. It was thus that people sought to shake the foundation of the
throne; it was thus that the seed of corruption was sown which
resulted in so much weakness and failure!”
CHAPTER VIII
MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES IN THE PALACE
1843
1843–1848
I S A B E L L A I I ., Q U E E N O F S PA I N
Narvaez showed that this document was a fraud, as, at the death
of the Infanta, Don Henry was at some distance from Madrid, and
Francisco was at Pampeluna.
Isabella’s own feelings about her marriage were hardly taken into
consideration at all. As a matter of fact, she had been more inclined
to Prince Henry, the younger son of Doña Luisa Carlota, than to
Francisco, and it will be remembered that even as a child she had
admired the portrait of the Prince, which had been secretly sent by
the mother to the young Queen; but inclination had no part in the
negotiations, which were regulated entirely by self-interest and
policy, so the tide of influence was soon seen to be in favour of the
eldest son of Prince Francisco de Paula.
Don Henry was furious when he found he was left out in the cold
in the negotiation for the marriages of Isabella and her sister.
In a letter to Bulwer Lytton he writes:
It was soon seen that General Serrano’s influence with the Queen
surpassed the ordinary grade, and the Moderates were alarmed.
There were two parties in the royal palace—one on the side of
the Queen, and the other on that of the King; and the leaders of
these parties fostered the difference between the royal couple.
Francisco Pacheco, the King’s partisan, declared that a President
of the Congress was wanted who would give more independence to
the Crown, and who would receive the counsels of an intelligent
husband of the Sovereign; for the King-Consort should not be in a
position so secondary to that of the illustrious mother-in-law that she
can boast of having more power than he has.
When Isabella saw that Queen Maria Cristina’s influence in the
State was much resented by the Ministers, she advised her to go on
a visit to her daughter, the Duchess of Montpensier, and this counsel
was followed.
However, the want of union between the King and Queen was
soon evident to the world, and when it was announced that Isabella
was going to spend the rest of the summer at Aranjuez alone, whilst
the King remained in Madrid, it was seen that the Serrano influence
had become serious enough to cause a separation between the
royal couple. Isabella’s naturally good heart seemed softened when
she was leaving the palace, and it was evidently remorse which
prompted her to look anxiously back from the carriage, in search of a
glimpse of the husband at one of the windows of the royal pile. But
the coach rattled on, and the Queen’s search was in vain; whilst her
sad face, with its traces of tears, showed that things might have
been better had not the differences of the royal couple been
fostered, for their own ends, by intriguers of the camarilla.
Forsaken by his wife, Francisco followed the advice of his friends,
to enjoy himself in his own way; so he repaired to the Palace of the
Pardo, where banquets, hunting-parties, and other festivities
deadened his sense of injury at his wife’s conduct.
Those interested in the welfare of the land were disappointed
when the birthday of the Queen was celebrated by her holding a
reception alone at Aranjuez, whilst the King had a hunting expedition
at the Pardo. The Ministers came to the reception at Aranjuez, and
then promptly returned to the capital, leaving the Queen with her
trinity of Bulwer, Serrano, and Salamanca. General Salamanca was
at last sent by the King to Aranjuez to advise Isabella to return, but
she would not accept the condition of a change in the Serrano
position.
This refusal made the King decline to assist at the reception of
the Pope’s Nuncio at Aranjuez, and he was forbidden to return to the
royal Palace of Madrid.
Benavides, a courtier, anxious to heal this unhappy division in the
Royal Family, came to Francisco, and said:[16]
“This separation cannot go on; it is not good for the Queen or for
Your Majesty.”
[16] “Estafeta del Palacio Real,” Bermejo, vol. ii.
“That I can understand,” returned the King; “but she has chosen
to outrage my dignity as husband, and this when my demands are
not exaggerated. I know that Isabelita does not love me, and I
excuse her, because I know that our union was only for State
reasons, and not from inclination; and I am the more tolerant as I,
too, was unable to give her any affection myself. I have not objected
to the course of dissimulation, and I have always shown myself
willing to keep up appearances to avoid this disgraceful break; but
Isabelita, either from being more ingenuous or more vehement than I
am, could not fulfil this hypocritical duty—this sacrifice for the good
of the nation. I married because I had to marry, because the position
of King is flattering. I took the part, with its advantages. I have no
right to throw away the good fortune which I gained from the
arrangement. So I made up my mind to be tolerant, if they were
equally so with me, and I was never upset at the presence of a
favourite.”
Here the King was interrupted by Benavides saying:
“Allow me, Sire, to observe one thing. That which you now say
with regard to tolerance of a favourite is not in accordance with your
present line of conduct, for do you not demand the withdrawal of
General Serrano before agreeing to the reconciliation we are
asking?”
Then, with a singular calmness, the King returned:
“I do not deny that this Serrano is the main drawback to an
agreement with Isabelita, for the dismissal of the favourite would be
immediately followed by the reconciliation desired by my wife; but I
would have tolerated him, I would have exacted nothing, if he had
not hurt me personally by insulting me with unworthy names, failing
in respect to me, and not giving me proper consideration—and
therefore I hate him. He is a little Godoy, who has not known how to
behave; for he at least got over Charles IV. before rising to the
favour of my grandmother.”
The Minister of the Government listened with astonishment to the
King’s words. Don Francisco saw it, and continued:
“The welfare of fifteen million people demands this and other
sacrifices. I was not born for Isabelita, nor Isabelita for me, but the
country must think the contrary. I will be tolerant, but the influence of
Serrano must cease, or I will not make it up.”
Benavides replied that the Ministry deplored this unhappy
“influence,” which was getting burdensome to the Queen herself; but
Serrano had such a fatal ascendancy everywhere, and had won over
to his side the opposing elements, that any sudden step to put an
end to the evil would result in deplorable consequences for the
nation. “However, the Ministry has decided to get rid of this
pernicious influence,” continued Benavides. “It is seeking a way to
do so without a collision and its consequences; and one of the things
which would help to this course of the Cabinet would be the
immediate reconciliation of Your Majesties, as the preliminary to the
other steps which will lead to Serrano’s overthrow.”
The King refused. He said that his dignity demanded the
withdrawal of the “influence.” Fresh evident proofs had been given
that this hateful man was the cause of the Queen’s separation from
him, and therefore he was not inclined to go back from his word
about him.
So Pacheco and all the other Ministers, excepting Salamanca,
determined to resign if Serrano did not retire from the Court.
Benavides and Pacheco were among the deputation who
petitioned the favourite to agree to this step, but it was in vain. The
Ministers went backwards and forwards to La Granja without gaining
their purpose. Finally, in pursuance of the Pope’s advice, the Queen
decided to return to Madrid; and Salamanca, as Prime Minister, went
to the Escorial to report the fact to Bulwer.