Final answer:
Cash cows are the strategic business units that generate more operating cash flows than their internal requirements, which can be helpful for financing new acquisitions, buyback programs, or dividends.
Step-by-step explanation:
Among the strategic business units, cash cows are the ones that generate operating cash flows over and above internal requirements. This excess of financial resources can be used to finance various initiatives, including new acquisitions, buyback programs, or the payment of dividends to shareholders. A Cash Cow is typically found in a mature stage of the business lifecycle and has a large market share in a slow-growing industry. They are key to a company because they tend to generate more cash than is required to maintain the business.
Other strategic business units such as dogs have low market share and growth, therefore they do not generate significant cash. Question marks are businesses with high growth potential but low market share, so they require more cash than they generate. Stars are units with high growth and market share; they may generate considerable cash but often require large investments to fuel their growth.