A Selection of Past Paper Questions

A selection of past paper questions

* ‘Thinking differently is potentially the most powerful tool available to the strategist.’ Discuss, with reference to the use of metaphor in the formulation of strategy.

* Evaluate the contribution of Mintzberg’s concept of ‘5 Ps for Strategy’ to strategic thinking, illustrating your answer with appropriate examples.

* ‘Strategies are to organisations what blinders [blinkers] are to horses: they keep them going in a straight line, but impede the use of peripheral vision.’ (Mintzberg (1987) The Strategy Concept 11 p31). Discuss.

* Hamel and Prahalad (1990) state that one aim of strategy is to “fold the future back into the present.” (Strategic Intent, p41-2) Critically consider this idea, and the dangers it is designed to guard against.

* “Strategy is a simplification that necessarily distorts reality.” (Mintzberg (1987) The Strategy Concept II p29). Discuss

* Examine to what extent all strategies might be considered to be ‘emergent’.

* Critically consider the contention that Groupthink (Janis 1972) is an inevitable consequence of success.

* ‘The concept of Enactment (Smircich and Stubbart 1985) frees organisations from the straightjacket of conventional strategic thinking’. Discuss

* ‘There is no more an objective strategy than there is a Big Dipper.’ Discuss the implications of this contention for strategy, with reference to Smircich and Stubbart’s (1985) concept of enactment.

* ‘To build strategy around core competences alone is to see only half the picture and miss half the opportunities.’ Critically Discuss.

* Critically evaluate the contribution of Prahalad and Hamel’s (1990) concept of Strategic Intent to the development of effective strategy.

* Critically assess the strategic aims, advantages and dangers of innovation.

* ‘The use of metaphor can constrain or liberate strategic thinking.’ Critically consider this statement in the context of von Ghyczy’s...