Business Strategy and General Management
Strategy answers two questions: where will we compete, and how will we win there? Candidates must be fluent with Porter's five forces (buyer power, supplier power, threat of entry, threat of substitutes, rivalry) as a structural profitability lens, and with the value chain as a way to locate where cost or differentiation advantage is actually created. Know the generic strategies - cost leadership, differentiation, and focus - and why being stuck in the middle is a warning rather than an iron law. Understand VRIO (valuable, rare, inimitable, organized) for judging whether a resource is a genuine source of advantage, plus the Ansoff matrix (penetration, product development, market development, diversification) and the BCG growth-share matrix as portfolio tools with known limits.
Traps: SWOT is a diagnostic, not a strategy - a list of strengths is not a choice. Mission and vision are not strategy. Market share is not profitability; a focused niche player can out-earn the leader. Stars and cash cows are defined by growth and relative share, not by cash generation alone. Diversification is rarely justified by synergy unless a specific shared capability is named.
Worked rule: apply the so-what test to any proposed move - does it change a cost driver, a willingness-to-pay driver, or a barrier to imitation? If none, it is activity, not strategy.
Example: a business with 40% share in a 2%-growth market and strong margins is a cash cow: harvest cash and avoid funding expansion.