BUS 491

Intellectual property protection and social complexity are examples of ____ mechanisms, which help a firm sustain a competitive advantage.

Blank 1: isolating or isolation

True or false: A competitive advantage is most often maintained indefinitely.

False

______ describes a process in which the options one faces in the current situation are limited by decisions made in the past.

Path dependence

Which of the following helped Airbnb develop a successful business in the peer-to-peer rental space? (Select all that apply.)

Presenting a well-designed website Ensuring a smooth transaction between hosts and guests Fortuitous timing that led to growing demand

______ resources have physical attributes and are visible.

Tangible

Which of the following are situations in which a resource is considered valuable? (Check all that apply.)

The resource helps the firm increase its economic value creation (V-C). The resource helps a firm exploit an external opportunity.

The ______ is a theoretical model that explains and predicts what resource attributes underpin competitive advantage. It identifies which types of resources are key to firm performance.

VRIO framework

According to the VRIO framework, a rare resource is ______ if firms that do not possess the resource are unable to develop or buy the resource at a comparable cost.

costly to imitate

It might be a good idea to expand or upgrade a firm's human capital base during a ______, because unemployment is high and therefore human capital is abundant and wages usually _____.

downturn; fall

Cost advantages that accrue for firms with larger output because they can spread fixed costs over more units and can employ technology more efficiently are called ______.

economies of scale

Which of the following does the five forces model to help firms do?

gain and sustain a competitive advantage determine the profit potential of different industries

Which of the following are important sources of entry barriers? (Check all that apply.)

government policy network effects capital requirements economies of scale credible threat of retaliation

Which isolating mechanism is set up to legally prevent companies from copying products that give a firm a competitive advantage?

intellectual property protection

When strategizing about possible competitive advantages, a major advantage of the SWOT analysis is that it allows managers to simultaneously consider ______.

internal and external factors

Which of the following tend to result from strong competitive rivalry?

limits to the industry's profit potential

The positive effect that one user of a product or service has on the value of that product or service for other users is known as the ___.

network effect

Which of the following are factors in a firm's legal environment? (Check all that apply.)

regulations mandates laws

If a business considers changing vendors, but doing so would require that business to alter product specifications, retrain employees, and/or modify existing processes, we would say the business faces significant ______.

switching costs

When a person that has been using a PC with a Microsoft Windows operating system starts using an Apple computer (which has a different operating system), that person will incur significant customer ______________.

switching costs

The risk that potential competitors will enter the industry is known as the ______.

threat of entry

Which of the following are intangible resources that can be protected as intellectual property?

trademarks trade secrets copyrights

When a firm in an oligopoly cuts prices, ______.

a price war is likely to result

An industry analysis provides which of the following? (Check all that apply.)

a rigorous way of identifying the industry's profit potential the level of profitability that can be expected for the average firm in the industry insight into a firm's strategic position within an industry

A group of companies that deal with more or less the same set of suppliers and buyers make up ______.

an industry

Isolating mechanisms are considered to be ______.

barriers to imitation

Which of the following can help a firm extend its competitive advantage? (Check all that apply.)

intellectual property protection better expectations of future resource value path dependence

Which of the following are characteristics of a monopolistically competitive industry? (Check all that apply.)

the ability to raise prices for differentiated products a differentiated product obstacles to entry

Capital, land, buildings, and plants are examples of ______ resources.

tangible