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