MGMT 17

In ______ organizations, strategic decisions are likely to be based on careful analysis and experience in the industry setting.

defender

Which type of firm displays a more cautious strategy toward innovation and tends to operate in more stable environments?

defender

A human-centered approach to innovation that integrates customer needs, the potential of technology, and the requirements for business success is known as ______.

design thinking

When two or more companies jointly pursue specific new technology development by bringing together diverse skills and/or resources, ______.

a research partnership has been formed

A ______ is an organization's concentrated attempt to create a new product or process through the use of technological innovations.

development project

Assessing the limitations of a technology is known as determining the technological ______ of the innovation.

feasibility

Companies that are early adopters of new technologies tend to be ______, more profitable, and more specialized than late adopters.

larger

Companies that excel at solving problems, seeking and finding new approaches, and sharing new knowledge with all members of an organization are called ______ organizations.

learning

Which are advantages of technology leadership?

reputation for innovation first-mover advantage establishment of entry barriers

In assessing market receptiveness, executives need to make which of the following determinations?

In the long run, the technology must be able to satisfy market needs. In the short run, the new technology should have an immediate, valuable application.

Within an organization, who is tasked with developing new technology and/or installing and operating it?

A technical innovator

Which is an example of product innovation?

A tire company creates a new, puncture-proof tire.

Which type of firm stays technologically competitive but allows others to discover strong demand in new enterprises before they follow suit?

Analyzer

______ firms adopt an early follower strategy to grab a dominant position from their marketing and manufacturing strengths.

Analyzer

What is the term for the process of comparing an organization's practices and technologies to that of others within the same industry?

Benchmarking

______ is an enemy of innovation because it can work directly against innovation in order to maintain orderliness and gain efficiencies.

Bureaucracy

A ______ is a senior executive who coordinates the technological aspects of an organization's various business units and has broad, integrative responsibilities.

CIO

The ______ acts as a voice for technology in the top management team and identifies ways that the technology can support the company's strategy.

CTO

______ tells whether there is a good financial incentive for adopting a technological innovation.

Economic viability

______ technologies have the potential to change the rules of competition in the future, and managers must monitor their progress to determine whether more time and energy should be invested in them.

Emerging

Innovation in a company can flourish when which of the following conditions are true?

Employees are encouraged to experiment continuously. The organization integrates internal and external knowledge. Constructive values are in place.

Which questions should be asked when evaluating alternatives regarding the acquisition of new technologies?

Is it important for the technology to remain proprietary? Is the technology readily available outside the company? Are the time, skills, and resources for internal development available?

Which statement about technology leadership is true?

It imposes costs and risks.

Which are possible drawbacks of being a technology leader?

It involves greater risks. Others may cannibalize existing products. It can generate significant infrastructure costs.

Which statement about internal development is true?

It is costly.

Which statement about technological innovation is true?

It is vital for a firm's competitive advantage and survival.

Which statement is true of the design thinking process?

It starts by developing an understanding of current and potential customers.

Which are advantages of benchmarking against potential competitors in other countries?

Overseas organizations may be more open to sharing information. Firms might find key technologies they can easily import.

Which type of organization has executives who give considerable priority to developing and exploiting technological expertise?

Prospector firms

Which technique is used to gather information on external trends in pacing and emerging technologies?

Scanning

Which statement about the technology life cycle is true?

Technological innovations tend to follow a predictable pattern.

An apparel manufacturer wants to develop a technology for a temperature-regulating textile that adjusts automatically to the wearer's body temperature, but the manufacturer is not sure whether such a textile can be developed. What is the company unsure about?

The innovation's technical feasibility

Which statement about purchasing new technology is true?

The technology itself will not guarantee competitive advantage.

Company A is an established company with skilled engineers and healthy funding. Company B is a start-up with young, innovative computer scientists but little funding. The two companies decide to work together to develop a specific product. This is an example of ______.

a research partnership

Which type of firm tends to adopt an early follower strategy to grab a dominant position primarily through its strength in marketing and manufacturing?

analyzer

Although they are useful for keeping discipline and productivity in a company, the administrative personnel that form a company's ______ typically inhibit innovation.

bureaucracy

Managers depend on the effective management of technology to ______.

carry out basic tasks stay competitive by constantly offering new products survive in today's marketplace

Organizing for innovation is most effective in organizations that do which of the following?

collaborate across boundaries be aware of customer expectations remove obstacles to innovation

Genovese Industries needs a new, sophisticated software system to manage its highly complex manufacturing facility. Genovese hires an independent company to develop the system. Genovese works with the company on objectives and a timeline. This is an example of which method of acquiring new technologies?

contracted development

In ______, a company pays another organization (such as an independent or government research laboratory) to invent technology for it.

contracted development

Organizations should (and do) build their strategies based on ______.

core capabilities

Firms such as Kroger and Safeway, which do not focus on innovation and tend to operate in stable environments, are known as ______ firms.

defender

Reza's Roses sells rose bushes that are guaranteed to grow and bloom all year. Reza's also offers rose bushes in unusual and unique colors. Because Reza's offers unique products, it can charge higher prices. Which generic strategy is Reza's using to position itself in the market?

differentiation

When a company pioneers unique products or services that command premium prices, it has benefited from a ______ strategy.

differentiation

Which group of new technology adopters is critical to the technology's success because it includes well-respected opinion leaders?

early adopters

Sony Betamax was technologically superior to VHS, but VHS became more popular, and Betamax was discontinued due to poor sales. Betamax had issues with ______.

economic viability

What type of technologies are still under development and thus unproven?

emerging

Bureaucracy busting ______ innovation.

encourages

In the assessment of external technological trends, ______ seeks to discover what is possible and what is being developed.

environmental scanning

Early adopters of new technologies ______.

have managers who are comfortable dealing with uncertainty

Although competitors may be able to copy or adopt a new technology, ongoing learning by the technology leader can keep a company ahead by generating minor improvements that are difficult to ______.

imitate

A positive, useful departure from the previous ways of doing things is referred to as ______.

innovation

In the context of management, ______ is any new way of working that creates value.

innovation

During the diffusion of a technological innovations cycle, ______ pay a premium for the latest and newest technology and represent 2.5 percent of adopters.

innovators

During the diffusion of a technological innovations cycle, which group is typically classified as adventurous and willing to take risks?

innovators

Which two groups of adopters are so important to new-product launches that marketing managers often spend heavily in promoting to them in efforts to generate a groundswell of enthusiasm?

innovators early adopters

Which are features of development projects?

interact with suppliers and customers operate under time and budget pressures feature a special cross-functional team pursue a common vision

Which option is most likely to ensure that an organization will enjoy exclusive use of new technology?

internal development

For a company to be successful in terms of innovation, it must ______.

keep up with changing customer expectations

The most important dimension of a new technology is its competitive value. One technique for measuring competitive value is to classify technologies according to which categories?

key technologies emerging technologies base technologies pacing technologies

Poole Solutions carefully watches the actions of its most innovative competitor and learns from them. As a result, Poole Solutions can establish a low-cost position by ______.

learning from the leader to avoid the costs and risks that result from technology leadership

When companies need technologies that are not easy to buy, they can ______ the technology for a fee.

license

A large school district needs a new software system to track student progress and grades. It pays for a system that is used by a number of other school districts that can be customized to some degree to accommodate the district's unique needs. The district is using which method for acquiring new technologies?

licensing

The generic strategy in which an organization's advantage comes from being able to sell products at lower prices than its competitors is referred to as a(n) ______ strategy.

low-cost

With the ______ strategy, the company maintains advantage because it has lower costs than its competitors.

low-cost leadership

The question an organization asks itself about whether to acquire new technology from an outside source or develop it is known as a(n) ______ decision.

make-or-buy

In making technology decisions, the first strategic consideration relates to ______.

market potential

Developing radically different technologies requires an organizational structure with which of the following characteristics?

organic flexible fluid

When computer-aided manufacturing was first introduced, companies did not understand its full potential, but firms that used it quickly experienced significant speed and cost advantages. This is an example of a(n) ______ technology.

pacing

Which technologies have yet to prove their full value but could potentially offer significant competitive advantage?

pacing

Changes that affect the way outputs (goods or services) are produced are referred to as ______.

process innovation

Flexible manufacturing practices, such as just-in-time, mass customization, and concurrent engineering, are all referred to as ______.

process innovations

Changes in the actual outputs (goods and services) of an organization are referred to as ______.

product innovations

Executives in ______ firms are more concerned about the opportunity costs of not taking action than they are about the potential to fail.

prospector

In most situations, the easiest and most cost-effective way to obtain new technology is to ______.

purchase it

Taylor has developed and patented a new process for recycling plastic. A number of companies have expressed an interest in buying Taylor's company in order to gain access to the technology. If Taylor sells her company, the buyer will have acquired technology via ______.

purchase of a technology owner

Which are common options for acquiring new technology?

purchasing technology trading research partnerships internal development

When adoption of a new technology requires the redesign of jobs, and the redesign optimizes the social and technical efficiency of work, the design is referred to as a(n) ______ approach.

sociotechnical system

Bureaucracy bashing, lean and flat organizations, self-managed teams, and an empowered workforce are reflective of ______.

sociotechnical systems

The ______ has technical skills but may not have the time or the managerial skills required to generate acceptance of the new technology.

technical innovator

The systematic application of scientific knowledge to any product, process, or service is called ______.

technology

Which is embedded in every product, service, and procedure used or produced?

technology

The advice that organizations should build their strategies based on core capabilities applies to which strategies?

technology innovation

Gorda Engineering needs to assess its current technology base and determine which technologies are needed for the organization to smoothly function. Gorda must conduct a(n) ______.

technology audit

The process of identifying which technologies are most important for an organization is called a(n) ______.

technology audit

In deciding to be a technology leader or follower, managers consider which of the following?

the characteristics of the organization the organization's competitive strategy the benefits gained through use of the technology

Members of which group are skeptical of technological change and approach innovation with great caution?

the late majority

Which group often only adopts technology only out of economic necessity or increasing social pressure?

the late majority

The predictable sequence that technological innovation follows is called ______.

the technology life cycle

Why do companies adopt an organic structure?

to facilitate rapid change

Which of the following is a common reason that a firm will trade its technology?

to offset the cost of technology development

The sharing of technology among companies, a practice called technology ______, allows access to new technologies that would be expensive to develop independently.

trading