MGMT 4303 - Chapter 5

When the value chains of two separate products or service share activities, such as the same marketing channels, in order to reduce costs is an example of

economies of scope

When the value chains of two separate products or services share activities, such as the same marketing channels, in order to reduce costs, this is an example of

economies of scope

Flexible manufacturing emphasizes

economies of scope over economies of scale

When scientists concentrate on quality control and the development of design specifications, this is referred to as

engineering R&D

The second step when analyzing the value-added chain is to

examine the linkages among the product's or service's value activities

The second step when analyzing the value-added chain is to

examine the linkages among the product's or service's value activities.

Knowledge that can be easily articulated and communicated is known as

explicit knowledge

A company's capability in product R & D can be measured by consistent reductions in unit manufacturing costs and by the number of product defects

false

A company's capability in product R & D can be measured by consistent reductions in unit manufacturing costs and by the number of product defects.

false

A divisional structure has no functional or product categories and is appropriate for a small, entrepreneur-dominated company with one or two product lines that operates in a reasonably small, easily identifiable market niche.

false

According to Porter, a manufacturing firm's support activities usually begin with inbound logistics, go through an operations process in which a product is manufactured, and continue on to outbound logistics and finally to service.

false

Cultural integration is the degree to which members of a unit accept the norms, values, or other culture content associated with the unit.

false

Intermittent manufacturing systems reap benefits from economies of scale

false

Research indicates that greater financial leverage has a positive impact on performance for firms in dynamic environments

false

Since competitors were not able to understand how Gillette's Mach 3 razor was produced, it was considered transparent.

false

Tacit knowledge is knowledge that can be easily communicated or articulated and as result can be easily imitated

false

The EFAS Table is one way to organize the internal factors into generally accepted categories of strengths and weaknesses as well as to analyze how well a particular company's management is responding to these specific factors in light of the perceived importance of these factors to the company.

false

Transferability is the ability of competitors to use duplicated resources and capabilities to imitate the other firm's success.

false

Two characteristics that determine the sustainability of a firm's distinctive competency are durability and transparency.

false

eBay and Amazon.com have successfully used the efficiency model by acting as an intermediary to connect multiple sellers to multiple buyers.

false

On the continuum of resource sustainability, where would Sony's Walkman be placed?

fast-cycle resources

The ratio of total debt to total assets is known as

financial leverage

As compared to a firm with low financial leverage, a firm with a high amount of financial leverage in an expanding market should have

higher earnings per share

The rate at which a firm's underlying resources, capabilities, or core competencies can be duplicated by others is called

imitability

What is the attribute of corporate culture that is the degree to which members of a unit accept the norms, values, or other culture content associated with the unit?

intensity

What are the two distinct attributes of corporate culture

intensity and integration

Those critical strengths and weaknesses that are likely to determine if a firm will be able to take advantage of opportunities while avoiding threats are called

internal strategic factors

Which of the following is NOT a function of corporate culture?

keeps people guessing what to do next

Through market research, corporations can target their various products or services so that management can discover what niches to seek or develop, and how to minimize competitive pressure. This is descriptive of

market segmentation

The particular combination of product, place, promotion, and price is called

marketing mix

The proposition that silicon chips double in complexity every 18 months is referred to as

moore's law

The business model used by Hp is selling printers and printer cartridges is the

multi-compnent system/installed base model

According to Barney's VRIO framework, the exploitation of a resource pertains to the ___ of the resource

organization

According to Barney's VRIO framework, the exploitation of a resource pertains to the ____ of the resource

organization

Which of the following is NOT a primary activity of the value chain?

purchasing

In Christensen's book, The Innovator's Dilemma, he explains that managers remain with certain technologies based on

return of investment

When a company takes apart a competitor's product in order to find out how it works, this process is known as

reverse engineering

______ is more valuable because it can provide companies with a sustainable competitive advantage that is harder for competitors to imitate

tacit knowledge

Which of the following is NOT a responsibility of a research and development manager?

taking the design and opertionalizing the plan into mass production

The process of taking a new technology from the laboratory to the marketplace is called

technology transfer

The concept that suggests that unit production costs decline by some fixed percent each time the total accumulated volume of production in units doubles is referred to as

the experience curve

Which one of the following best describes a conglomerate structure?

this is the most appropriate of large corporations with many product lines in several unrelated industries; unrelatedness prevents any attempt in gaining synergy among the divisions

The speed with which other firms can understand the relationship of resources and capabilities supporting a successful firms strategy is called

transparency

A company's center of gravity is usually the point at which the company started

true

A current trend in corporate information systems is the increasing use of the Internet for marketing, intranets for internal communication, and extranets for logistics and distribution.

true

A functional structure is appropriate for a medium sized firm with several product lines in one industry

true

A good rule of thumb for R & D spending is that a corporation should spend at a "normal" rate for that particular industry unless its strategic plan calls for unusual expenditures

true

A value chain is a linked set of value-creating activities.

true

An example of a cluster in the US is found in the Silicon Valley.

true

An example of an intermittent manufacturing system is an auto body repair show

true

Capabilities refer to a corporation's ability to exploit its resources

true

Core competencies may mature and become core deficiencies

true

Core competencies may mature and become core deficiencies.

true

Historically, competitive leadership in a market changes hands as one technology nears the end of its S-curve

true

It is generally accepted that product R & D normally dominates the early stages of a product's life cycle, whereas process R & D becomes especially important in the later stages

true

New product development would be a core competency if it goes beyond one division

true

New product development would be a core competency if it goes beyond one division.

true

Resources are the organization's assets and are the basic building blocks of the organization

true

The corporate culture generally reflects the values of the founder(s) and the mission of the firm.

true

The marketing mix refers to the particular combination of key variables under the corporation's control that can be used to affect demand and to gain competitive advantage

true

The marketing mix refers to the particular combination of key variables under the corporations control that can be used to effect demand and to gain competitive advantage

true

The product life cycle enables a marketing manager to examine the marketing mix of a particular product or group of products in terms of its position in its life cycle

true

The resources of an organization include tangible assets, human assets, and intangible assets.

true

To increase flexibility, avoid layoffs, and reduce labor costs, corporations are using more contingent workers.

true

Using concurrent engineering, Chrysler Corporation was able to reduce its product development cycle from 60 to 36 months

true

When a company used the same marketing channel for two separate products, this is an example of an economy of scope

true

When a company determines a competency's competitive advantage, Barney refers to this issue as

value

A linked set of value creating activities beginning with basic materials provided by suppliers and ending with distributors getting the final product into the hands of the ultimate consumer is called a(n)

value chain

According to the text, which one of the following is NOT descriptive of a corporation's culture?

Corporate cultures are only temporary and can be easily changed.

Which of the following describes a typical functional structure?

Employees tend to be specialists in the business functions important to that industry such as manufacturing, marketing, finance, and human resources.

Which of the following is a function of corporate culture

It conveys a sense of identity for employees

Which one of the following best describes a divisional structure

This is most appropriate for large corporations with many product lines in several related industries, with employees acting as functional specialists attempting to gain synergy among divisional activities

Which one of the following best describes a conglomerate structure?

This is most appropriate for large corporations with many product lines in several unrelated industries; unrelatedness prevents any attempt at gaining synergy among the divisions.

Which of the following best describes a simple structure?

This is most appropriate for small, entrepreneur-dominated companies with one or two product lines that operate in a small niche market, with employees acting as jack-of-all trades.

Flexible manufacturing permits the low-volume output of custom-tailored products at relatively low unit costs through economies of scope

True

An example of the promotion variable of the marketing mix is

advertising

Which of the following statements is true concerning a corporate reputation?

all of the above

Which of the following statements is true concerning clusters

all of the above

When examining the corporate value chain of a particular product or service, which of the following is NOT one of the PRIMARY activities that usually occur?

auditing and accounting

When examining the corporate value chain of a particular product or service, which one of the following is NOT one of the PRIMARY activities that usually occur?

auditing and accounting

A corporation's ability to exploit its resources is referred to as its

capabilities

The part of an industry's value chain that is most important to a company and the point where its greatest expertise and capabilities lie is called the company's

center of gravity

Human Resource departments have found that to reduce employee dissatisfaction and unionization efforts, they must

consider the quality of work life in the design of jobs

An automobile assembly line is an example of which approach to manufacturing?

continuos system

Things that a corporation can do exceedingly well across the corporation are called

core competencies

According to te text, which one of the following is NOT descriptive of a corporation's culture?

corporate cultures are only temporary and can be easily changed

In order to move more quickly through a product's development stage, companies like Motorola and Chrysler are using

cross-functional work teams

The breadth of an organization's culture is also known as

cultural integration

The business model used by IBM to make money not selling IBM products, but by selling its expertise to improve their customers operations is the

customer solutions model

According to the text, the primary task of the operations manager is to

develop and operate a system that will produce the requires number of products or services with a certain quality, at a given cost, within an allotted time

When a company's core competencies are superior to those of competitors, these are known as

distinctive competencies

The rate at which a firm's underlying resources and capabilities depreciate or become obsolete is called

durability

Which of the following is NOT one of the four question areas Barney proposes in his VRIO framework used to evaluate a firm's key resources

durability