BUSI 4359
The text addresses two perspectives of leadership as well as their implications. These two perspectives are
ROMANTIC AND EXTERNAL CONTROL
Sustainability is being increasingly recognized as a source of cost efficiencies and revenue growth.
TRUE
A firm following a focus strategy must focus on
a market segment or group of segments.
Overhead costs associated with the number of layers of management in a firm are part of the ________ activities of the value chain.
firm infrastructure
The value net is a game-theoretic approach that
is a way to analyze how the interactions of all the players in a game affect the firm
Interest rate increases have a ________ impact on the residential home construction industry and a ________ effect on industries that produce consumer necessities such as prescription drugs or basic grocery items.
negative; negligible
The ability to hire, motivate, and retain human capital is an example of ________ capabilities in the resource-based view of the firm.
organizational
Which of the following turnaround strategies is Nordstrom primarily using?
piecemeal productivity improvements
3M leverages its competencies in adhesives technologies to many industries, including automotive, construction, and telecommunications. This is an example of creating value by using
related diversification to acquire economies of scope by leveraging core competencies.
When management uses common production facilities or purchasing procedures to distribute different but related products, they are
sharing activities
All of the following are important elements of the political and legal segment of the general environment except
the increased use of Internet technology.
________ is when a new legal entity is formed by a combination or consolidation of two firms.
A merger
Hardware chains such as Ace and True Value are losing market share to rivals such as Lowe's and Home Depot in spite of them using a focus strategy. Why?
Achieving parity on costs for specialty retailers is difficult.
According to the external control view of leadership, which of the following factors would not be considered an external factor that might positively or negatively affect a firm's success?
COMPANY EMPLOYEE MORALE
Regarding the value-chain concept, the most important interrelationship is between the organization and its
CUSTOMERS
Which of the following websites is not an example of one used routinely for corporate competitive intelligence gathering?
DUOLINGO
Combination strategies, such as integrating overall low cost and differentiation, makes it easier for rivals to duplicate or imitate because it is harder for the primary firm to provide value.
FALSE
Knowledge workers are more loyal to their companies than traditional workers.
FALSE
Perceptual acuity, according to Ram Charan, is the ability to know for certain what will happen in the future.
FALSE
The resource-based view of the firm focuses solely on the internal analysis of the operations of the firm.
FALSE
Antitakeover tactics include all the following except
GREENMAIL POISON PILL GOLDEN PARACHUTE GOLDEN HANDCUFFS<<<
Facebook, Intuit, AB InBev, and others empower their recruiters to make offers on the spot when they interview college students, without knowing what specific position they will fill. These firms search for candidates with attributes such as being a self-starter and a problem-solver and make quick offers to preempt the market. This is an example of which value chain support activity?
HRM
Why must successful managers recognize opportunities and threats in their company external environment?
If they miscalculate the market, opportunities will be lost.
JAB Holding Co., was a diversified holding company. Recently it has been acquiring companies in the beverage and food industries. Why?
It wanted to remake itself into a focused, related diversifier.
Which of the following examples demonstrates how successful organizations manage their primary activities?
JIT inventory systems are vital in order for Dell to fulfill orders in a few days.
Disney has chosen to discontinue its content distribution agreements with Netflix and Amazon. Why?
Netflix and Amazon are developing their own content.
Indochino uses sophisticated technology to improve the efficiency of its operations and boost its sales. It collects information on a(n) ________ basis on ________ trends to optimize the selections of cloth purchases and the promotions it offers on its website and in its stores.
ONGOING; SALES
A platform business such as Airbnb leverages data analytics to differentiate its offer from that of competitors such as VRBO.
TRUE
Many acquisitions ultimately result in divestiture.
TRUE
Once a knowledge asset (e.g., a software code) is developed and paid for, it can be used many times at very low cost as long as it does not have to be substantially modified each time.
TRUE
Referring to the textbook Exhibit 2.7 The World Automobile Industry: Strategic Groups, which strategic group is the largest in terms of breadth of product line?
Toyota, Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Honda, Nissan
The primary aim of strategic management at the business level is
achieving competitive advantage
In 2012, Microsoft admitted to a major ________ mistake when it wrote off essentially the entire 6.2 billion USD it paid for a digital advertising firm, aQuantive, that it purchased in 2007
acquisition
Yahoo purchased Tumblr for 1.1 billion in 2013 but wrote off 80 percent of the investment by the middle of 2016. They considered this to be a poor
acquisition
Attracting and retaining human capital is a challenge for many firms today. Firms experiencing high turnover should
adopt effective retention strategies.
The Marriott International purchase of Starwood Hotels for 13.6 billion USD is an example of a(n)
aquisition
According to the text, intellectual capital is the difference between the market value and the book value of a firm. Intellectual capital can be increased by
attracting and retaining knowledgeable workers.
In the knowledge economy, if a large portion of company value is in intellectual and human assets, the difference between the market value and book value of the company should ________ a company with mostly physical and financial assets.
be larger than
Which of the following is a support activity? customer service inbound logistics technology development operations
c
Human capital includes
capabilities, knowledge, and skills of an individual
Dynamic ________ helps to explain competitive advantage in ________ industries.
capabilities; volatile
According to the text, corporate restructuring includes
capital restructuring, asset restructuring, and management restructuring.
The root of the 3M innovation process is complex, hard to understand, and difficult to imitate. This is a competitive advantage based on
casual ambiguity
One of the reasons it is said that only the investment banker wins when a company is acquired is that they
collect huge up-front fees regardless of the outcome afterwards.
In making the decision to enter the pharmaceutical industry, a company would not need to consider which of the following?
comparisons with non-competitors
Banks and airlines are examples of two industries that track competitor offers continually. This is called the process of gathering
competitive intelligence
Four factors help explain the extent to which employees and managers will be able to obtain a proportionately high level of the profits that they generate. Which is not one of these factors?
competitor bargaining relationship
Chinese automaker, Geely, acquired Volvo from Ford, because it mostly needed the Volvo ________ to compete on the global stage.
core competencies
Andersen Windows lowered costs, enhanced quality and variety, and improved its response time to customers by
creating an integrated computer system of catalogs, products, orders, and manufacturing.
According to the Drucker Institute study of 693 large, publicly traded companies from 2012 to 2017, which of the following is not a key area of performance for firms to focus on?
crisis management
Companies that are able to spot key trends in the environment know their business and most importantly know their
customers
Capital restructuring involves changing the ________ mix.
debt-equity
The most likely time to pursue a harvest strategy is in a situation of
decline
Which one of the following is not an effect of the digital economy according to the textbook?
decrease in collaboration
IP is characterized by significant ________ costs and very low ________ costs.
development; marginal
Divesting of businesses can accomplish many different objectives, except
dispersing manager focus
According to Herminia Ibarra, a leading scholar, the three tactics women can use to be more successfully engaged in networking activities does not include
doing it your way by investing in extracurricular activities.
The bargaining power of suppliers is enhanced under which following market condition?
dominance by a few suppliers
The power of a manager, traditionally, was embedded in the hierarchy of the firm. As organizational structures flatten, this power is repositioned in the ________ of the network. These people are not necessarily at the top of the hierarchy or even experts in their fields.
employees
Human capital and social capital are vital for superior firm performance. If a firm has strong human capital, the firm may exploit this by building social capital. This can be accomplished by
encouraging the sharing of ideas between employees in the firm.
Airbus launched the A380 in 2007 and after more than 17 billion USD invested in the project, it announced in 2019 that it would discontinue the A380 production by 2021 because it had sold fewer than half the A380s it expected to deliver. This is an example of poor
environmental scanning
Two of the key inputs to developing forecasts discussed in the text are
environmental scanning and competitive intelligence.
Outside the flight experience itself, airlines are generating revenue by charging fees for credit cards, frequent-flyer programs, and access to airport lounges. This serves to
expand the profit pool
The Cisco Integrated Workforce Experience (IWE) platform is a social business platform designed to facilitate ________ and ________ collaboration and decentralize decision making.
external; personal
Zara, a Spanish clothing company, often uses strategic alliances when entering new geographic markets. Which of the following best explains the potential advantage for them?
gaining knowledge about different cultures and regulatory environments
Creativity and problem-solving ability are considered to be part of ________ capital.
human
Technology can be used to leverage ________ and ________ within organizations as well as with customers and suppliers beyond their boundaries.
human capital; knowledge
Which of the following lists consists of support activities? human resource management, technology development, procurement, and general administration human resource management, customer service, marketing and sales, and operations human resource management, technology development, customer service, and procurement customer service, information systems, technology development, and procurement
human resource management, technology development, procurement, and general administration
It is important to question the reliability of forecasts because
if predictions are too low, a company like Motel 6 might build too many units and thus have a surplus of capacity.
Financial ratio analysis measures the performance of the firm based on all but which of the following?
industry comparison
In the Issue for Debate, Bon-Ton Stores, Sears, and JC Penney were listed as struggling or in bankruptcy. Which of the following is not a challenge they face?
inefficient competition
German truck and trailer manufacturer, Schmitz Cargobull, mainly serves customers that are operators of truck or trailer fleets. What sets the company apart is its expertise in telematics (the integrated application of telecommunications data) to monitor the current state of any Schmitz Cargobull-produced trailer. This is an example of using ________ to enhance customer value and increase ________ position.
information technology; competitive
In general, the threat of substitutes is heightened because the Internet
introduces new ways to accomplish the same task
Which of the following reasons is not a reason that Atlas Door could lose competitive advantage?
it has strong power over its distributors
When an organization tries to improve cycle times in a manufacturing process, it finds far more value in problem solving shaped by the diverse experiences, perspectives, and learning of a tightly knit team than in a training manual alone. SAP uses these ________ flows to gain competitive advantage.
knowledge
All of the following are examples of socially complex organizational phenomena except
leadership and trust?
Porsche has enhanced power over buyers because its strong reputation makes buyers more willing to pay a premium price. This ________ rivalry, since buyers become ________ price-sensitive.
lessens; less
Atlas Door created competitive advantages in overall low cost and differentiation by creating ________ among value-chain activities.
linkages
Managers must commit to a ________ use of the balanced scorecard if they expect sustained performance.
long term
The threat of new entrants is high when there are
low economies of scale
In general, teams suffer process loss because of ________ cohesion, ________ trust among members, a lack of appropriate norms or standard operating procedures, or a lack of shared understanding among team members about their tasks.
low; low
An overall low-cost position protects a firm against rivalry from competitors because ________ allow a firm to earn returns even if its competitors eroded their profits through intense rivalry.
lower costs
A danger of forecasting discussed in the text is that
managers may view uncertainty as black and white while ignoring important gray areas.
An important implication of the balanced scorecard approach is that
managers should not look at their job as primarily balancing stakeholder demands.
A market that mainly competes on the basis of price and has stagnant growth is characteristic of what life cycle stage?
maturity
In a given market, key technology no longer has patent protection, experience is not an advantage, and there is a growing need to compete on price. What stage of its life cycle is the market in?
maturity
A firm typically achieves an absolute cost advantage by offering a ________ product or service to a ________ target market using standardization to derive the greatest benefits from economies of scale and experience.
no frills; broad
Which type of competitive strategy is characterized by convincing rivals not to enter a price war, protection from customer pressure to lower prices, and the ability to better withstand cost increases from suppliers?
overall low cost leadership
Gerber Products Co. brands their baby food which gives them a resource that is potentially intimitable because re-creating brand loyalty is likely to be a time-consuming process competitors would find difficult to expedite. This is an example of using ________ conditions to build protection in the baby food market.
path dependent
Common steps in management restructuring include all the following except
penalties for missing short- to medium-term performance goals.
A bill passed by the U.S. Congress in October 2000 allowed 195,000 H-1B visas for each of the following three years—up from a cap of 115,000. However, beginning in 2006 and continuing through 2019, the annual cap on H-1B visas has shrunk to only 65,000—with an additional 20,000 visas available for foreigners with a masters or higher degree from a U.S. institution. This is an example of which segment of the general environment?
political and legal
A ________ can be defined as the total profits in an industry at all points along the industry value chain.
profit pool
Which of the following is not a correct usage of the SWOT framework?
protect the firm from environmental weaknesses
In the BCG Matrix, a ________ is a business that has a low market share in an industry characterized by high market growth.
question mark
In managing the corporate portfolio, the BCG matrix would suggest that
question marks can represent future stars if their market share is increased.
In the five-forces model, conditions under which a supplier group can be powerful include all of the following except
readily available substitute products
Campbell Soup uses electronic networks to improve the efficiency of outbound logistics. These networks also helped Campbell Soup manage the ordering of raw materials more efficiently, improve its production scheduling, and help its customers better manage their inbound logistics operations. This is an example of
relationships among activities within the firm and with other stakeholders that are part of the expanded value chain of the firm
Comparing your firm with all other firms in your industry assesses ________ performance
relative
Which of the following is not part of a good guideline list for managing strategic alliances?
relying primarily on a contract to make the joint venture work
The least effective way to retain human capital is to
require employees to sign agreements that prevent them from working for competitors in the future.
PPG Industries, the Pittsburgh-based manufacturer of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, chemicals, glass, and fiber glass has paid dividends each year since 1899. It uses a technique to help it identify possible future strategies. What is it?
scenario analysis
Proctor and Gamble announced that it would sell off or close down up to 100 of its brands. This is an example of which turnaround strategy used by successful companies?
selective product and market pruning
A travel agent adds value by creating an itinerary that includes transportation, accommodations, and activities that are customized to your budget and travel dates. In terms of the value-chain analysis, this is an example of a ________ organization.
service
IP is characterized by ________ development costs and very ________ marginal costs.
significant; low
Strategic groups are clusters of firms that share ________ strategies.
similar
Tying knowledge workers to a firm is part of the objective of the development of
social capital
Rivals would find it difficult to challenge Atlas Door in the short run because of
strong customer loyalty
Proctor and Gamble is a large multinational organization that has many business sharing distribution resources. Diversification strategies take advantage of the ________ that exist in their organization.
synergies
New knowledge involves the continual interaction between ________ and ________ knowledge.
tacit; explicit
Which of the following is not a tangible resource?
technical and scientific skills
In an effort to capture key employees from competitors, firms may attract the symbolic leader of a group within a competing firm and hope others will follow. This has been termed
the Pied Piper effect.
The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm combines the following two perspectives:
the internal analysis of the firm and the external analysis of the industry and competitive environment.
Vertical integration is attractive when
transaction costs are higher than internal administrative costs
The corporate office of Novartis, formerly Ciba-Geigy, acts to improve many key activities, including resource allocation and reward and evaluation systems. This is an example of creating value by using
unrelated diversification to acquire financial synergies through portfolio management.
Firms must compete for top talent. In attracting and selecting employees, firms must strive to select the best fit for both the employee and the firm. In an attempt to reduce wasted time and effort in interviewing too many candidates while assuring a good candidate pool, a firm should
use a pre-interview quiz.
The dynamic capabilities view maintains that success in ________ industries requires capabilities that enable companies to anticipate, shape, and adapt to shifting competitive landscapes.
volatile
