MTG 300 Exam 2

An Australian manufacturer of surfboards wants to increase awareness of its brand in the U.S. market within the next one year. It wants to host a series of surfboard competitions in California to accomplish this objective. Which of the following types of plans will it use?

A tactical plan

____ is the emotional reaction that can occur when disagreements become personal rather than professional.

A-type conflict

A(n) _____ lists the specific steps, people, resources, and time period for accomplishing a goal.

Action plan

The use of _____ in planning produces a false sense of certainty and is often cited as one of the major pitfalls of planning.

Assumptions

In the typical S-curve pattern of innovation, small amounts of effort will result in significant increases in performance _____.

At the midpoint of the cycle

​The managers of a transport company are planning how much money should be allocated to each of its units. They want to cut down unnecessary expenses and put the savings into developing the company. In this context, the managers are formulating a(n) _____.

Budget

The marketing managers of a company are having a conflict over how they can improve the marketing strategy of their company. The managers are disagreeing on the views presented by each other based on their experiences and knowledge. In this context, the managers are engaged in a(n) _____.​

C-type conflict

A _____ is a company with a large share of a slow growing market.

Cash cow

According to Kurt Lewin, during the _____ stage of managing organizational change, workers and managers alter their behavior and work practices.

Change intervention

_____ is the measure of the intensity of competitive behavior between companies in an industry.

Character of the rivalry

Which of the following methods for managing resistance to change should only be used as a last resort or under crisis conditions?

Coercion

Aries Inc. is a large a computer manufacturer which has been in the market for several years. Many other companies have started manufacturing compact, portable gadgets to keep up with the new technological developments. Aries, however, has been reluctant to adopt these changes because it thinks that its products are already popular. Which of the following concepts is illustrated in the scenario?

Competitive inertia

The _____ approach to managing innovation assumes that innovation is a predictable process made up of a series of steps and that reducing the time it takes to complete those steps can speed up innovation.

Compression

A firm using a(n) _____ strategy to prevent or reduce political risks will lobby foreign governments or international trade agencies to change laws, regulations, or trade barriers that hurt its business in that country.

Control

What are the strategies that can be used to minimize or adapt to the political risk inherent in global business?

Control, avoidance, and cooperation strategies

The primary disadvantage of wholly owned business is the _____.

Cost of building new operations

Levio is a company that makes mobile apps and has decided to become a market leader in the field. Levio can encourage the development of a culture where workers perceive that new ideas are welcomed by offering challenging work and supervisory encouragement. In other words, the company can create a(n) ____.

Creative work environment

____ is the process of choosing a solution from available alternatives.

Decision making

The nominal group technique improves group decision making by ____.

Decreasing a-type conflict

Which of the following is an aspect of the experiential approach to innovation?

Design iteration

Which of the following is NOT a part of the experiential approach to innovation?

Design lockout

Which of the following is the first step in management by objectives?

Discussing possible goals

In the _____ stage of organizational decline, a new CEO may be brought in to oversee the closing of stores, offices, and manufacturing facilities, the final layoff of managers and employees, and the sale of assets.

Dissolution

When resistance to change is based on insufficient, incorrect, or misleading information, which of the following is the best approach that a manager can use to manage resistance to change?

Education and communication

A European car manufacturer collaborating with a Chinese car manufacturer for building a new car manufacturing company in China is an example of direct foreign investment.

False

A strategic objective is a statement of a company's purpose or reason for existing.

False

According to Kurt Lewin, managing organizational change is a simple process that requires organizational dialogue, change intervention, and reformatting.

False

Bargaining power of buyers tends to be higher when a company sells a popular product to multiple buyers than when a company is dependent on just a few high-volume buyers.

False

Budgeting is a form of qualitative planning.

False

Global new ventures bring a product or service to market in one foreign market at a time.

False

Multinational companies typically have no difficulty determining the correct balance between global consistency and local adaptation.

False

The General Electric Workout is a special kind of activity-oriented change.

False

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a regional trade agreement between Canada and the United States. No other nations have signed this trade agreement.

False

The purpose of action plans is to leave commitments open by maintaining a cushion of resources, such as extra time, people, money, or production capacity, that can be used to address and adapt to unanticipated changes, problems, or opportunities.

False

When companies are performing above or better than their strategic reference points, top management is more likely to choose a daring, risk-taking strategy.

False

According to Hofstede's research on cultural dimensions, _____ cultures emphasize the importance of relationships, modesty, caring for the weak, and quality of life.

Feminine

Hofstede's research has shown that there are _____.

Five consistent dimensions of cultural differences across countries

MCRS Toys manufactures learning toys and games exclusively for children in the age group of one to six years. The company is using a(n) _____ strategy.

Focus

For an initial fee and royalties, Lemmongrass Inc. has licensed its entire business to an organization called Powersurge, located in another country. It has provided this organization with training and marketing assistance to successfully run the business. In this context, Powersurge is a(n) _____.

Franchisee

Which of the following is a component of a creative work environment?

Freedom

When incremental improvements are made to a dominant technological design such that the improved version of the technology is fully backward compatible with the older version, _____ is said to have occurred.

Generational change

State-of-the-art companies with sales, employees, and financing in different countries that are found with an active global strategy are called _____.

Global new ventures

According to Hofstede, when people in a culture are oriented to the present and seek immediate gratification, that culture is described as _____.

Having a short-term orientation

When the first cell phone was released, only a few people could afford to buy it. Over the years, mobile manufacturers improved the phone designs and features and also reduced their cost to make them more affordable. This signaled the shift to the _____ stage of the technology cycle.

Incremental change

A(n) _____ strategy is a corporate strategy that addresses the question "How should we compete in this line of business?"

Industry-level

Over the long run, the best way for a company to sustain competitive advantage is to create _____ year after year.

Innovation streams

A technology cycle occurs whenever there are major advances or changes in the _____ in a field or discipline.

Knowledge, tools, and techniques

_____ are two kinds of cooperative contracts.

Licensing and franchising

Under conditions of _____, a competitive attack by a rival is more likely to produce sustained competitive advantage.

Low resource similarity

Which of the following is a commonly used method for increasing goal commitment?

Making goals public

Resource similarity and _____ are factors that determine the extent to which firms will be in direct competition with each other.

Market commonality

Merissa, a famous dress designer, wants to launch a new collection. She wants the best material available for her dresses and does not want to settle for anything lesser. In this context, Merissa is _____. ​

Maximizing

Who among the following is responsible for the creation of tactical plans?

Middle managers

_____ is the set of shared values and beliefs that affects the perceptions, decisions, and behavior of the people from a particular country.

National culture

When making travel plans, most tourists select the company Travel Book because they perceive that no other tour company can duplicate the customer service and satisfaction that Travel Book has provided over its years of operation. Travel Book uses a very efficient software that allows customers to quickly make or change their travel bookings. Travel Book has apparently created a sustainable competitive advantage by using _____ resources.

Nonsubstitutable

_____ plans are the day-to-day plans for producing or delivering the organization's products and services.

Operational

_____ planning allows companies to maintain flexibility by making small simultaneous investments in many alternative plans.

Options-based

_____ refers to the risk associated with changes in laws and government schemes that directly affect the way foreign companies conduct business.​

Policy uncertainty

_____ is associated with the risk of major changes in governmental regimes that can result from war, revolution, death of political leaders, social unrest, or other influential events.

Political uncertainty

​Tugstinia is one of only two countries in the world that produces a mineral required in the manufacturing of cellular phones. Several mining companies recently moved their operations out of the region due to a civil war resulting from a change in rulers. This is an example of how can influence global business.

Political uncertainty

A company that is seeking to grow by taking risks and looking for innovations is best characterized as a(n) _____.

Prospector

Which of the following is a trend that has allowed companies to skip the phase model when going global?

Quick, reliable air travel

To protect its farmers, Japan put limitations on the amount of mushrooms and leeks that could be imported from China. This limitation is an example of a(n) _____.

Quotas

____ is a systematic process of defining problems, evaluating alternatives, and choosing optimal solutions.

Rational decision making

_____ are companies that do not follow a consistent adaptive strategy but instead respond to changes in the external environment after they occur.

Reactors

Wisher Technologies became a large software development company through a merger with Ringus Tech., a growing software solutions firm. Since both the companies had similar core capabilities, this would be classified as an example of _____.

Related diversification

In the context of managing change, _____ forces support the status quo.

Resistance

The General Electric workout is a special kind of ____.

Results-driven change

Significant cost reductions, layoffs of employees, closing of poorly performing stores, offices, or manufacturing plants, or closing or selling entire lines of products or services would be characteristic of a _____ strategy.

Retrenchment

____ occurs when managers choose an alternative that is good enough, rather than the best possible alternative.

Satisficing

A _____ is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in an organization's internal environment and the opportunities and threats in its external environment.

Situational analysis

Companies that are following a _____ strategy would be most likely to try to improve the way in which they sell the same goods or services to the same customers.

Stability

The ____ is a type of operational plan that saves managers time because it is created once and then used repeatedly to handle frequently recurring events.

Standing plan

AlphaWheels Inc. sell a range high-end bikes. Two-thirds of its profits come from the sale of these bikes. The bikes have a large share of a fast-growing market. According to the BCG matrix, the range of high-end bikes would be classified as a(n) _____.

Star

_____ is a discrepancy between a company's intended strategy and the strategic actions managers take when actually implementing that strategy.

Strategic dissonance

The _____ is a more specific goal that unifies company-wide efforts, stretches and challenges the organization, and possesses a finish line and a time frame.

Strategic objective

_____ are the targets that managers use to measure whether their firm has developed the core competencies that it needs to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

Strategic reference points

Which of the following should be a key issue for a company once it decides to go global?

Strike the right balance between global consistency and local adaptation.

Which of the following is an aspect of the compression approach to innovation?

Supplier involvement

Management by objectives (MBO) is a management technique often used to develop and carry out ________.

Tactical plans

_____ is defined as the knowledge, tools, and techniques used to transform inputs into outputs.

Technology

The strategy-making process begins with:

The assessment of the need for strategic change

Which of the following statements is true about tactical plans?

They direct behavior and efforts for six to two years.

According to Michael Porter, _____ is one of the five industry forces that determine an industry's overall attractiveness and potential for long-term profitability.

Threat of new entrants

Souzia, a small tropical country, boycotted the products of an international clothing store because the company manufactures and exports some of its goods from Argonia, the country with which Souzia has long standing political problems. This boycott is an example of _____.

Trade barrier

A creative work environment requires organizational encouragement and supervisory encouragement as well as work group encouragement.

True

An innovation stream begins with a technological discontinuity, which is a scientific advance or a unique combination of existing technologies creating a significant breakthrough in performance or function.

True

Based on the research evidence, related diversification appears to be a better strategy for portfolio management than unrelated diversification.

True

Companies use their resources to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

True

Dominant designs emerge because they solve a practical problem, because of the negotiations of independent standards bodies, or because of critical mass.

True

Even though education and communication, participation, negotiation, top management support, and coercion can all be used to manage resistance to change, coercion should be used only in a crisis or as a last resort.

True

Global joint ventures can be difficult to manage because they represent a merging of four cultures.

True

Groupthink is more likely to occur in a highly cohesive group that is insulated from others and has no established procedure for systematically defining problems and exploring alternatives.

True

Historically, companies have generally followed the phase model of globalization.

True

Strategic dissonance is a discrepancy between management's intended strategy and the strategy actually implemented by the managers.

True

Technological discontinuities are followed by discontinuous change, which is characterized by technological substitution and design competition.

True

The three kinds of standing plans are policies, procedures, and rules and regulations.

True

The two factors that determine the extent to which firms will be in direct competition with each other are market commonality and resource similarity

True

Two factors that help companies determine the growth potential of foreign markets are the purchasing power of the consumers and types of foreign competitors already in the market.

True

The term _____ is used by Hofstede to describe the degree to which people in a country are uncomfortable with unstructured, ambiguous, unpredictable situations.

Uncertainty avoidance