Accounting
Anthropology
Archaeology
Art History
Banking
Biology & Life Science
Business
Business Communication
Business Development
Business Ethics
Business Law
Chemistry
Communication
Computer Science
Counseling
Criminal Law
Curriculum & Instruction
Design
Earth Science
Economic
Education
Engineering
Finance
History & Theory
Humanities
Human Resource
International Business
Investments & Securities
Journalism
Law
Management
Marketing
Medicine
Medicine & Health Science
Nursing
Philosophy
Physic
Psychology
Real Estate
Science
Social Science
Sociology
Special Education
Speech
Visual Arts
Business Development
Q:
Strategic alliances are particularly valuable in facilitating market entry and exit when the value of market entry or exit is
A) high.
B) low.
C) moderate.
D) uncertain.
Q:
(p. 244) Business strategies require all of these EXCEPT which feature for success in emerging industry setting?
A. Shape the industry's structure
B. Rapidly improve product quality
C. Strong product design skills
D. Forecast future competitors
Q:
________ exists when firms coordinate their production and pricing decisions not by directly communicating with each other but by exchanging signals with other firms about their intent to cooperate.
A) Economies of scale
B) Explicit collusion
C) A learning race
D) Tacit collusion
Q:
(p. 244) For success in emerging industry setting, business strategies require which of these features?
A. Ability to rapidly improve product qualities and performance features
B. Ability to differentiate the firm's products from competitors entering the market
C. Emphasis on process innovation that permits low-cost product design, manufacturing methods and distribution synergy
D. Gradually harvest the business
Q:
________ exists when firms directly communicate with each other to coordinate their levels of production and/or their prices.
A) Economies of scale
B) Explicit collusion
C) A learning race
D) Tacit collusion
Q:
(p. 244) Which key functional area and which strategy focus are critical at the decline stage of the industry evolution?
A. Engineering; market penetration
B. Sales; consumer loyalty and market share
C. Production; successor products
D. Finance; maximum investment recovery
Q:
In one study almost ________ percent of the managers in entrepreneurial firms felt unfairly exploited by their large-firm alliance partners.
A) 80
B) 20
C) 50
D) 10
Q:
(p. 244) Which key functional area and which strategy focus are critical at the maturity stage of industry evolution?
A. Production; successor products
B. Engineering; market penetration
C. Sales; consumer loyalty and market share
D. Finance; maximum investment recovery
Q:
A firm's ability to learn is known as its
A) competitive position.
B) competitive advantage.
C) distinctive competence.
D) absorptive capacity.
Q:
(p. 244) Which key functional area and which strategy focus are critical at the growth stage of industry evolution?
A. Production; successor products
B. Engineering; market penetration
C. Sales; consumer loyalty and market share
D. Finance; maximum investment recovery
Q:
Network industries are characterized by
A) increasing diseconomies of scale.
B) increasing returns to scale.
C) decreasing returns to scale.
D) decreasing economies of scale.
Q:
(p. 244) Which key functional area is critical at the introduction stage of industry evolution and which strategy should be focused on?
A. Production; successor products
B. Engineering; market penetration
C. Sales; consumer loyalty and market share
D. Finance; maximum investment recovery
Q:
When both parties to an alliance are seeking to learn something from that alliance, a ________ can evolve.
A) learning race
B) dynamic race
C) learning dynamic
D) learning curve
Q:
(p. 244) Ability to reduce costs, develop variants and differentiate products represent the maturity stage of industry evolution capabilities which functional area?
A. Engineering and R&D
B. Marketing
C. Production operations
D. Personnel
Q:
Strategic alliances can create economic value through helping firms improve their current operations by
A) facilitating the development of technology standards.
B) facilitating tacit collusion.
C) exploiting economies of scale.
D) managing uncertainty.
Q:
(p. 244) Skill in quality and new feature development; ability to start developing successor product represent engineering and R&D capabilities at which stage of the industry evolution?
A. Decline
B. Introduction
C. Growth
D. Maturity
Q:
In a ________, cooperating firms create a legally independent firm in which they invest and from which they share any profits that are created.
A) licensing agreement
B) supply agreement
C) distribution agreement
D) joint venture
Q:
(p. 244) Which of these personnel capabilities match the maturity stage of the industry evolution?
A. Capacity to reduce and relocate personnel
B. Ability to cost effectively, reduce workforce, increase efficiency
C. Flexibility in staffing and training new management
D. Existence of an ability to add skilled personnel; motivated and loyal workforce
Q:
A ________ is a form of nonequity alliance that exists when one firm allows another to use its brand name to sell its products.
A) supply agreement
B) distribution agreement
C) licensing agreement
D) joint venture
Q:
(p. 244) Existence of an ability to add skilled personnel motivated and loyal workforce represent personnel capabilities at which stage of the industry evolution?
A. Maturity
B. Decline
C. Introduction
D. Growth
Q:
A(n) ________ exists whenever two or more independent organizations cooperate in the development, manufacture, or sale of products or services.
A) vertical market
B) strategic alliance
C) initial public offering
D) market transaction
Q:
(p. 244) Ability to reuse or liquidate unneeded equipment; advantage in cost facilities; control system accuracy; and streamlined management control represent decline stage of industry evolution for which functional area?
A. Marketing
B. Production operations
C. Finance
D. Engineering and R&D
Q:
In the computer technology-based industries, over ________ alliances were created between 2001 and 2005.
A) 5,700
B) 1,200
C) 2,200
D) 3,100
Q:
(p. 244) Resources to support high net cash overflow and initial losses and ability to use leverage effectively represent finance area's capability at which stage of industry evolution?
A. Growth
B. Introduction
C. Decline
D. Maturity
Q:
When the probability of cheating in a cooperative relationship is lowest, a joint venture is usually the preferred form of cooperation.
Q:
(p. 244) Ability to expand capacity effectively, limit number of designs and develop standards represents the introduction stage of industry evolution for which function?
A. Production operations
B. Marketing
C. Finance
D. R & D
Q:
In comparison to strategic alliances, joint ventures increase the threat of cheating by partners.
Q:
(p. 244) Which of these represent marketing capabilities at the decline state of industry evolution?
A. Skills in aggressively promoting products to new markets and holding existing markets and pricing flexibility
B. Ability to establish brand recognition, find niche, reduce price, solidity strong distribution relations and develop new channels
C. Cost effective means of efficient access to selected channels and markets and strong customer loyalty or dependence
D. Resources/skills to create widespread awareness and find acceptance from customers; advantageous access to distribution
Q:
Sometimes the value of cheating in a joint venture is sufficiently large that a firm cheats even though doing so hurts the joint venture and forecloses future opportunities.
Q:
In general, contracts are sufficient to resolve all the problems associated with cheating in an alliance.
Q:
(p. 244) Which of these represent marketing capabilities at the growth stage of industry evolution?
A. Skills in aggressively promoting products to new markets and holding existing markets and pricing flexibility
B. Ability to establish brand recognition, find niche, reduce price, solidity strong distribution relations and develop new channels
C. Cost effective means of efficient access to selected channels and markets and strong customer loyalty or dependence
D. Resources/skills to create widespread awareness and find acceptance from customers; advantageous access to distribution
Q:
The primary purpose of organizing a strategic alliance is to enable partners in the alliance to gain all the benefits associated with cooperation while minimizing the probability that cooperating firms will cheat on their cooperative agreements.
Q:
(p. 244) Production operations' capabilities to improve product and reduce costs and ability to share or reduce capacity is associated with which of the strategies of industry growth?
A. Growth
B. Decline
C. Introduction
D. Maturity
Q:
An alliance will be preferred to an acquisition when there are legal constraints on acquisitions.
Q:
(p. 244) Which of these is NOT a stage of industry evolution?
A. Decline
B. Growth
C. Merge
D. Introduction
Q:
Transaction cost economics suggests that going it alone is not a substitute for strategic alliances since they are best chosen only when other alternatives are not viable.
Q:
(p. 243) The absence of rules in emerging industries presents both a _____ and a(n) _____
A. risk, opportunity
B. strength, weakness
C. problem, risk
D. strength, risk
Q:
(p. 243) From the standpoint of strategy formulation, the essential characteristics of an emerging industry is that
A. There are no "rules of the game"
B. It is highly regulated industry
C. The industry lifecycle essentially jumps from introduction directly to decline
D. There are way too many entry barriers
Q:
When there is low uncertainty about the future value of an exchange, an alliance will be preferred to going it alone.
Q:
Capabilities theory suggests that an alliance will be preferred over going it alone when an exchange partner possesses valuable, rare, and costly-to-imitate resources and capabilities.
Q:
(p. 243) Business strategies in emerging industries must be concerned with which of the following characteristics?
A. Proprietary technology in the pioneering firms with moderate to high amounts of competitive uncertainty
B. Low initial costs with hefty cost increases through time
C. Many entry barriers
D. Easy to obtain raw materials
Q:
In general, firms will prefer to go it alone rather than enter into a strategic alliance when the level of transaction-specific investment required to complete an exchange is low.
Q:
(p. 243) An industry that has growing sales across all the companies in the industry based on growing demand for the relatively new products, technologies and/or services made available by the firms participating in this industry is called a(n) _______ industry.
A. Mature
B. Emerging
C. Focus
D. Low-cost
Q:
Successful strategic alliances are often based on socially complex relations among alliance partners but virtually every firm in a given industry is likely to have the organizational and relationship-building skills required for alliance building making the possibility of direct duplication of strategic alliances very high.
Q:
In the short-run, firms can gain some advantages by cheating their alliance partners but research suggests that cheating does not pay in the long run.
Q:
(p. 241) When a firm competes in a geographically defined specific area, it is using a(n) _______ strategy.
A. market focus
B. Cost
C. Differentiation
D. Integration
Q:
(p. 241) The extent to which a business concentrates on a narrowly defined market, it is called a(n) __________ strategy.
A. Integration
B. Market focus
C. Formula facility
D. Tightly managed decentralization
Q:
The rarity of strategic alliances depends solely on the number of competing firms that have already implemented an alliance.
Q:
(p. 240) The use of preapproved online suppliers into production is a feature of which strategy?
A. Speed-based
B. Cost
C. Differentiation
D. Integration
Q:
For a strategic alliance to be a source of sustained competitive advantage it must be valuable in that it exploits an opportunity but avoids a threat and it must also be rare and costly to imitate.
Q:
(p. 240) Speed-based competitive advantage can be created around all of these activities EXCEPT:
A. Customer responsiveness
B. Product development cycles
C. Information sharing and technology
D. Brand loyalty
Q:
Although holdup is a form of cheating in strategic alliances, the threat of holdup can also be a motivation for creating an alliance.
Q:
Research on international joint ventures suggests that the existence of transaction-specific investments in their relationships makes these agreements relatively immune to holdup problems.
Q:
(p. 240) Organizational requirements to support and sustain rapid response activities include which of these?
A. Strong delegation to operating personnel
B. Subjective measurements and incentives
C. Amenities to attract highly skilled labor and creative people
D. Frequent, detained control reports
Q:
(p. 240) All of the following are skills or resources that foster rapid response (speed) EXCEPT:
A. Process engineering skills
B. Excellent inbound and outbound logistics
C. High level of automation
D. Creative talent and flair
Q:
In an alliance a holdup occurs when a firm that has not made significant transaction-specific investments demands returns from an alliance that are higher than what the partners agreed to when they created the alliance.
Q:
(p. 239) Speed-based strategies are a form of
A. differentiation
B. cost leadership
C. market focus
D. Integration
Q:
The existence of moral hazard in a strategic alliance proves that at least one of the parties is either malicious or dishonest.
Q:
(p. 239) Business strategies built around functional capabilities and activities that allow the company to meet customer needs more rapidly than its main competitors are referred to as __________ strategies.
A. Speed-based
B. Cost
C. Differentiation
D. Integration
Q:
Moral hazard occurs when partners in an alliance possess high-quality resources and capabilities of significant value in an alliance but fail to make those resources and capabilities available to alliance partners.
Q:
In general, the less tangible the resources and capabilities that are to be brought to a strategic alliance, the less costly it will be to estimate their value before an alliance is created and the more likely it is that adverse selection will occur.
Q:
(p. 238) A key risk associated with a differentiation strategy is:
The cost difference between low cost competitors & the differentiated business is too high
C. Obsessive cost cutting can shrink other competitive advantages
D. Cost differences often decline over time
Q:
(p. 237) Organizational requirements to support and sustain differentiation activities include which of these?
A. Frequent, detailed control reports
B. Structured organization and responsibilities
C. Tradition of closeness to key customers
D. Incentives based on meeting strict, quantitative targets
Q:
When potential cooperative partners misrepresent the skills, abilities, and other resources that they will bring to an alliance, this is a form of cheating known as adverse selection.
Q:
(p. 237) Common resources, skills and organizational requirements to support a "differentiation" generic strategy include all but:
A. Strong marketing abilities
B. Product engineering
C. Strong coordination among R&D, product development and marketing
D. Low-cost distribution system
Q:
Research shows that as many as two-thirds of strategic alliances do not meet the expectations of at least one alliance partner.
Q:
(p. 237) Skills and resources that foster differentiation are:
A. Product engineering skills
B. Sustained capital investment and access to capital
C. Minimal investment in product engineering and basic research
D. Products designed for ease of delivery
Q:
In new and uncertain environments it is not unusual for firms to develop numerous strategic alliances.
Q:
(p. 237) Skills and resources that foster differentiation are:
A. Strong marketing skills
B. Sustained capital investment and access to capital
C. Minimal investment in product engineering and basic research
D. Products designed for ease of delivery
Q:
When information asymmetry exists between firms that currently own assets and firms that may want to purchase these assets, the selling firm will often have difficulty obtaining the full economic value of these assets.
Q:
(p. 237) Which of the following is NOT a skill or a resource that fosters differentiation?
A. Process engineering skills
B. Strong cooperation for channels
C. Product engineering
D. Creative talent and flair
Q:
Alliances to facilitate entry into new industries are only valuable when the skills needed in these industries are complex and difficult to learn.
Q:
(p. 237) Rivalry is ____ when a business successfully differentiates itself.
A. increased
B. reduced
C. strengthened
D. confronted
Q:
Research shows that joint ventures between firms in the same industry may have collusive implications and that these kinds of joint ventures are relatively common.
Q:
(p. 236) __________ requires that the business have substantial advantages that allow it to provide buyers with something uniquely valuable to them.
A. Cost strategy
B. Integration
C. Differentiation
D. Speed-based strategy
Q:
Strategic alliances can help create the social setting within which tacit collusion may develop.
Q:
(p. 235) Cost differences often ____ over time.
A. increase
B. decline
C. strengthen
D. have no effect on
Q:
Tacit collusion exists when firms coordinate their pricing decisions not by directly communicating with each other but by exchanging signals with other firms about their intent to cooperate.
Q:
(p. 235) Which one of the following is NOT a key risk associated with a cost leadership oriented business strategy?A. Many cost-saving activates are easily duplicatedB. Cost differences seldom decline over timeC. Exclusive cost leadership can become a trapD. Obsessive cost cutting can shrink other competitive advantages involving key product attributes
Q:
Explicit collusion exists when firms directly communicate with each other to coordinate their levels of production or their prices and is legal in most countries.