Quiz 4- Integrated Business Policy and Strategy

The owners of Always Baked bakery want to open a second retail outlet. Which of the following scenarios is most likely to yield a competitive advantage? A) Open a shop on an inexpensive piece of land near a new mixed-use residential and business district currently under construction. B) Purchase an existing bakery from a business that closed due to declining sales and try to revive it. C) Build a shop in a sparsely populated rural area where the land is inexpensive and few other bakeries exist. D) Open a shop in a crowded downtown location where several other bakeries have been successful over the years.

A) Open a shop on an inexpensive piece of land near a new mixed-use residential and business district currently under construction.

After conducting a SWOT analysis, your firm has decided to focus on addressing issues located in the Weaknesses-Opportunities quadrant. Which of the following steps are you most likely to take? A) Devote more resources to an extremely popular advertising campaign to promote an exciting new product. B) Shut down struggling retail outlets in an economically depressed region. C) Deploy top sales personnel to prevent buyers from migrating towards lower-priced competition. D) Reorganize the inefficient research and development department to bring innovative products to market more quickly.

D) Reorganize the inefficient research and development department to bring innovative products to market more quickly.

As manager of a relatively new company, you are tasked with analyzing company resources to identify core competencies capable of supporting a competitive advantage. Which of the following resources is most likely to generate a competitive advantage? A) new production facilities B) large cash holdings C) stockpile of supplies D) enthusiastic company culture

D) enthusiastic company culture

One of the reasons that Circuit City filed for bankruptcy was due to its inability to reinvest, hone, and upgrade its once impressive resource base. Ultimately, Circuit City's core competences became A) core rigidities. B) value chain activities. C) strategic resources. D) costly to imitate.

A) core rigidities.

________________ allow(s) a firm to differentiate its products and services from those of its rivals, creating higher value for the customer or offering products and services of comparable value at lower cost. A)Core competencies B)Strengths C)A value chain D)Competition

A)Core competencies

How does causal ambiguity act as an isolating mechanism for organizations? A)It makes it difficult for the competitors to understand why a company has been so successful. B)It creates a situation in which different social and business systems interact with one another. C)It makes it difficult for competitors to deploy their resources by creating ambiguity within their organizational structures. D)It makes it difficult for competitors to imitate core competencies quickly due to time compression diseconomies.

A)It makes it difficult for the competitors to understand why a company has been so successful.

SJobs's Computer Repair has maintained a competitive advantage based on its thorough and professional service, reasonable pricing, and money-back guarantee. Management at the company is so committed to doing repairs well that they often have rejected employee suggestions to expedite their processes. Recently, the company has begun to lose customers to a new local service offering same day in-home repairs and 24/7 online customer support. According to the dynamic capabilities perspective, SJobs's Computer Repair has lost its competitive advantage due to A) value chain disruption. B) core rigidity. C) resource flows. D) resource stocks.

B) core rigidity.

Crocs Shoes was unable to sustain its competitive advantage over their rivals because its key strategic resource was A) valuable in the eyes of the consumer. B) not costly to imitate by competitors. C) too inexpensive. D) not comfortable or waterproof.

B) not costly to imitate by competitors.

Facing stiff competition in the e-reader market, Smart Reads wants to protect its competitive advantage by increasing the perceived value of its reader. Smart Reads' best strategy to accomplish this would be to A)increase the cost of production to add innovative new features. B)highlight the number of celebrities who use Smart Reads e-readers. C)lower the retail price of its e-reader to attract new customers. D)try to imitate some of the features found in competing products.

B)highlight the number of celebrities who use Smart Reads e-readers.

CarTsar Inc. is a manufacturer of automobile parts, which it sells to retail auto supply stores. Its core competencies include superior design and engineering capabilities, as well as a highly integrated and efficient supply chain. To sustain its competitive advantage, CarTsar should first A) seek to replicate its nearest competitor's competency in innovative marketing. B) attempt to cut costs by replacing assembly line workers with robots. C) upgrade its engineering department and improve its supply chain. D) diversify its product offerings by developing parts for construction equipment.

C) upgrade its engineering department and improve its supply chain.

In the context of the resource-based model of competitive advantage, which of the following scenarios best exemplifies resource immobility? A) Acme Corp. has earned a good reputation among its shareholders by investing more heavily in equipment than in building up brand equity. B) TooFirm Inc. has lost its market share because its resources are rigid, inflexible, and static. C) Purple Dreams Corp. has been able to gain a competitive advantage because of its ability to efficiently move its resources from one manufacturing unit to another. D) PaluniInc. has been able to outperform its competitors because the uniqueness of its employee experience is difficult for competitors to replicate.

D) PaluniInc. has been able to outperform its competitors because the uniqueness of its employee experience is difficult for competitors to replicate.

Your company, a small software development firm, has attracted many of the top young programmers in your area. As a result, the apps you produce have been praised for their innovative features and intuitive user experience. According to the bathtub metaphor in the dynamic capabilities perspective, what is the best way for you to protect against resource leakage? A)Invest in an online marketing campaign for existing products to retain customers. B)Open a satellite office overseas to support the company culture of taking chances. C)Attempt to undercut the competition by imitating their top-selling product. D)Improve the benefits package to retain key employees and reduce turnover.

D)Improve the benefits package to retain key employees and reduce turnover.