IMANET IMANET Certifications IMANET-CMA Questions & Answers

• Question 1331:

  All of the following are characteristics of the strategic planning process except the

  A. Emphasis on the long run

  B. Analysis of external economic factors

  C. Review of the attributes and behavior of the organization's competition

  D. Analysis and review of department budgets

  Correct Answer: D

  Strategic planning is the process of setting the overall organizational objectives and goals, and involves the drafting of strategic plans. Long-range (strategic) planning is based on identifying and specifying organizational goals and objectives, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, assessing risk levels, forecasting the future direction and influences of factors relevant to the organization (such as market trend, changes in technology, international competition, and social change), and deriving the best strategy for reaching the objectives given the organization's strengths and weaknesses and the relevant future trends. Analyzing and reviewing department budgets is an aspect of operational management and not a part of strategic planning.

• Question 1332:

  Certain phases of the planning process should be formalized for all of the following reasons expect that

  A. Informal plans and goals lack the necessary precision, understanding, and consistency.

  B. Formal plans can act as a constraint on the decision-making freedom of managers and supervisors

  C. Formalization requires the establishment and observance of deadlines for decision making and planning

  D. Formalization provides a logical basis for rational flexibility in planning

  Correct Answer: B

  A formal plan is a prescription for organizational behavior and a set of goals. Management decision making is therefore necessarily constrained by the limitations established I the plan.

• Question 1333:

  Which one of the following reasons is not a significant reason for planning in an organization?

  A. Promoting coordination among operating units

  B. Forcing managers to consider expected future trends and conditions

  C. Developing basis for controlling operations

  D. Monitoring profitable operations

  Correct Answer: D

  Monitoring profitable operations is not a significant reason for planning. Monitoring is a control function, whereas planning has a control purpose that precedes control in the planning-control cycle. Planning establishes standards against which is the control function compares preliminary or final results.

• Question 1334:

  Strategic planning, as practiced by most modem organizations, includes all of the following expect

  A. Top-level management predication

  B. A long-term focus

  C. Strategies that will help in achieving long-range goals

  D. Analysis of the current month's actual variances from budget

  Correct Answer: D

  Strategic planning is the process of setting overall organizational objectives and goals. It is a long-term process aimed at charting the future course of the organization. Strategic planning is based on assessing risk levels, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, and forecasting the future direction an influences of factors relevant to the organization such as market trends, changes in technology, international competition, and social change. Analysis of the current month's budget variances is not an aspect of strategic planning.

• Question 1335:

  Strategy is a broad term that usually means the selection of overall objectives. Strategic analysis ordinarily excludes the

  A. Trends that will affect the entity's markets

  B. Target product mix and production schedule to be maintained

  C. Forms of organizational structure that would best serve the entity

  D. Best ways to invest in research, design, production, distribution, marketing, and administrative activities

  Correct Answer: B

  Strategic analysis is the process of long-range planning. It includes identifying organizational objectives, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, such as market trends, changes the technology, international competition, and social change. The final step is to derive the best strategy for reaching the objectives. Setting the target product mix and production schedule for the current year is not a concern of strategic analysis because it is short-term activity.

• Question 1336:

  A distinction between forecasting and planning

  A. Is not valid because that are synonyms

  B. Arises because forecasting covers the short term and planning does not

  C. Is that forecasts are used in planning

  D. Is that forecasting is a management activity, whereas planning is a technical activity

  Correct Answer: C

  Planning is the determination of what is to be done, and of how, when, where. and by whom it is to be done. Plans save to direct the activated that all organizational members must undertake to move the organization from where it is to where it wants to be. Forecasting is the basis of planning because it projects the future. A variety of quantitative methods are used in forecasting