The Management Of Technology And Innovation A Strategic Approach 2nd Edition By Margaret – Test Bank

Overview

Part 4, Chapter 9
Building Capabilities for MTI Success

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. The basis for competitive advantage of a technology focused firm ____.
a. is difficult to identify
b. is the capabilities of the firm
c. will be changed every year
d. can not be overcome due to patents held by the firm
e. is a daily struggle for the firm to maintain

ANS: B
PTS: 1

2. All of the following are strategic capabilities that a firm needs for success except ____.
a. leadership
b. a culture of support
c. appropriate industry structure
d. an organizational structure that fits with goals
e. skills necessary to implement given strategy

ANS: C
PTS: 1

3. When a company is developing its capabilities, it should do all of the following except:
a. Develop a clear strategic logic for processing information and sharing knowledge
b. Put into place the appropriate structures and processes for technical and nontechnical activities
c. Motivate employees to take advantage of capabilities
d. Make sure the structure of the organization is hierarchical and well-defined
e. Allow resources to be captured by the right people at the right place at the right time to make a competitive difference

ANS: D
PTS: 1

4. For technology and innovation focused firms their competitive advantage is a function of all of the following except ____.
a. technological complexity
b. capabilities of the organization such as human skill
c. capabilities of the organization such as knowledge
d. the location of the firm in a cluster of excellence
e. ability of the firm to learn from its activities

ANS: D
PTS: 1

5. Which of the following industries is described in the text as hypercompetitive?
a. Cell phones
b. Ulcer medications
c. Wood processing machinery
d. Heart medications
e. Automobiles

ANS: A
PTS: 1

6. To increase the capabilities of the firm:
a. The lessons for the future must be captured and documented
b. Human skill and knowledge must be more closely linked to technological complexity
c. Managers of the firm must make the decision to increase capabilities
d. There must be an “ah-ha” moment of discovery
e. Increasing capabilities is difficult to do and no one knows how that can be accomplished

ANS: B
PTS: 1

7. The characteristics of hypercompetition include all of the following except:
a. flexible, aggressive, innovative competitors moving into existing markets
b. constant disequilibrium and change
c. increased uncertainty, dynamism, and heterogeneity of players
d. hostility in the competitive marketplace
e. slow cycle changes in technology

ANS: E
PTS: 1

8. If the environment of a firm is described as fast cycle the key to success for a firm would be:
a. adequate financing to overcome competitive pressures
b. marketing capability to explain differences in the firm’s product
c. high levels of investment in capital assets in order to control output
d. continuous improvement in the firm
e. patent protection to prevent copying of their ideas by others

ANS: D
PTS: 1

9. The competitive pressures in a standard cycle environment are typically focused on ____.
a. competitive imitation
b. radical innovation
c. efficiency
d. hypercompetition
e. disruptive technology

ANS: A
PTS: 1

10. The key to building a competitive advantage with either a low-cost or differentiation strategy is:
a. the external environment accepts the firm’s choice of strategy
b. the strategy chosen is the standard for the industry
c. that the various strategic capabilities of the firm are consistent with the strategy
d. that process innovation be applied throughout the firm to increase efficiency
e. cutting-edge products become the norm

ANS: C
PTS: 1

11. A firm like General Electric with a very large number of different businesses in a corporation would be expected to have a(n) ____ organizational structure.
a. simple
b. functional
c. divisional
d. matrix
e. SBU

ANS: E
PTS: 1