International Business II Tests 1, 2, 3

Which of the following statements is true of outsourcing

: It reduces political risk by enabling the company to avoid investing in plants and equipment abroad

geocentric staffing

A company that hires the best-qualified individuals, regardless of nationality, to manage foreign operations is utilizing a ________ approach

decentralized production

A company that sells differentiated products may maintain the ability to respond quickly to changing buyer preferences by utilizing ________.

back-to-back loan

A loan in which a parent company deposits money with a host-country bank, which then lends the money to a subsidiary located in the host country

global team

A team of top managers from both headquarters and international subsidiaries who meet to develop solutions to company-wide problems

polycentric staffing

A(n) ________ policy can be pursued to hire employees at all levels in an organization

international area

An organizational structure that organizes a company's entire global operations into countries or geographic regions

Global matrix

An organizational structure that splits the chain of command between product and area divisions

expatriates

Citizens of one country who are living and working in another

market research

Collection and analysis of information used to assist managers in making informed decisions

Which of the following is a disadvantage of a company with an international area structure

Cross-fertilization of knowledge from one unit to another may be less than desirable.

process planning

Deciding the sequence of operations a company will use to create its product

facilities layout planning

Deciding the spatial arrangement of production processes within production units

Which of the following statements is true regarding location economies

Each production activity generates more value in a particular location than elsewhere

Which of the following statements regarding ethnocentric staffing is true?

It can facilitate the transfer of special know-how.

Which of the following reasons encourages companies to make a product rather than buy it?

Making a product gives managers greater control over the production process.

Which of the following statements is true of objectives?

Objectives become more precise at the level of individual departments.

survey

Research in which an interviewer asks current or potential buyers to answer written or verbal questions to obtain facts, opinions, or attitudes

consumer panel

Research in which people record information in personal diaries on their attitudes, behaviors, or purchasing habits

capital structure

The ________ of a company is the mix of equity, debt, and internally generated funds that it uses to finance its activities

a staffing policy

The customary means by which a company fills up vacancies in its offices

a multinational strategy

The decentralization of production facilities is a typical policy for companies that pursue ________.

primary market research

The process of collecting and analyzing original data and applying the results to current research needs

reverse culture shock

The psychological process of readapting to one's home culture after working in a host-country culture

survey research

The single greatest advantage of ________ is the ability to collect vast amounts of data in a single sweep.

false

True or false Objectives at the highest level in a company are always stated in the most specific terms

market receptivity

When creating a market-potential indicator for an emerging market, ________ is estimated by determining a nation's volume of international trade as a percentage of GDP

________ would most likely be recruited for nonmanagerial positions at foreign subsidiaries that do not require specialized skills.

Workers from the local host-country market

Human resource management

________ is the process of staffing a company and ensuring that employees are as productive as possible

Which of the following government regulations or actions would indicate that a government is quite receptive to international trade and investment?

allowing companies to remove profits earned in the domestic market

Which of the following steps of the market screening process involves examining the cost of transporting goods

assessment of the national business environment

It is often difficult to conduct focus groups in ________ cultures where people have a tendency to agree with others in the group

collectivist

The annual income considered below the poverty line in one country is the annual income of a middle-class family in another country. Which of the following difficulties associated with conducting international market research does this scenario illustrate?

comparability of data

Companies involved in more than one line of business must first formulate a ________ strategy

corporate-level

Scenario: Beanstalk International Beanstalk International is a rapidly growing company with well-established subsidiaries in several nations. The company wants to follow a strategy of adapting its products and marketing activities in each national market to suit local preferences. This strategy aims at creating value for its customers. Beanstalk managers know that the drawback of such an adaptive strategy is that it ________.

does not allow companies to exploit scale economies in product development, manufacturing, and marketing

Alec is an American working for a software company in Texas. He has been assigned to work on a project in China for a year. He would be considered as a(n) ________ in China.

expatriate

Scenario: Swingset International Jerome Johnston, the human resource manager at the U.S.-based Swingset International, is developing an international staffing policy for the company. Jerome personally believes Swingset should send managers from the United States to manage each subsidiary. But the CEO of the company, Valerie Vermont, believes subsidiary operations ought to be managed by individuals from the host country. Which of the following is a drawback of Jerome's staffing approach?

expense to relocate managers

True or false The process of identifying and attracting a qualified pool of applicants for vacant positions is called selection.

false

The first step in the screening process for potential markets and sites is to ________.

identify the basic appeal of a market

A growth strategy is designed to ________.

increase the scale or scope of a corporation's operations

Large international companies tend to make high-level labor decisions at the home office because ________.

it gives them greater control over their network of operations around the world

Locating production facilities within regional markets is popular because ________.

it provides duty-free access to every consumer in a trade bloc

To help speed up the process of getting approvals for local operations, a firm would most likely benefit from hiring ________.

managerial talent from the host country

Which of the following variables attempts to estimate market openness when creating a market-potential indicator for an emerging market?

market receptivity

Which of the following steps of the market screening process involves the analysis of the quality of workforce, materials, and infrastructure?

measurement of market or site potential

When creating a market-potential indicator for an emerging market, market consumption capacity is often estimated from the ________.

percentage of a market's population in the middle class

The main benefit of a global strategy is that it allows a company to

save costs due to product and marketing standardization

global

strategy can create cost savings due to product and marketing standardization

International division

structure separates domestic from international business activities by creating a separate global branch with its own manager

Which of the following is the first phase of human resource planning?

taking an inventory of the company's current human resources

Cross-functional

teams can help break down barriers between departments and reorganize operations around processes in an organization

Just-in-time manufacturing

the term used to refer to a production technique in which inventory is kept to a minimum and inputs to the production process arrive exactly when they are needed

true or false Strategy is the set of planned actions that managers take to help a company meet its objectives

true

true or false The process of staffing a company and ensuring employees are as productive as possible is called human resource management

true

Scenario: Beanstalk International Beanstalk International is a rapidly growing company with well-established subsidiaries in several nations. The company wants to follow a strategy of adapting its products and marketing activities in each national market to suit local preferences. This strategy aims at creating value for its customers. Which of the following should managers at Beanstalk conduct to identify and distinguish between the primary and support activities in the organization?

value chain analysis