Reference no: EM133186418

1) According to Porter, the nature of the interaction between potential industry entrants, buyers, substitute products, suppliers, and rival firms determines:

A) whether or not the government will launch an antitrust investigation.

B) the industry's profit potential in terms of long-run return on invested capital.

C) whether a country can generate a balance of payments surplus.

D) whether a country can create a comparative advantage in the production of differentiated 

2) Which of the following is not identified by Porter as one of the five forces of competition?

A) threat of new entrants

B) threat of substitute products or services

C) bargaining power of suppliers

D) bargaining power of competitors

3) Which of the following is not identified by Porter as one possible type of barriers to entry?

A) loose bricks

B) switching costs

C) economies of scale

D) product differentiation

4) New entrants to an industry bring all the following except:

A) new capacity.

B) a desire to gain market share.

C) a desire to gain market position.

D) a desire to compete

5) Which of the following assumptions does not belong in a list of characteristics of lean production?

A) labor is more costly than machines

B) set up time can be reduced

C) minimize inventory to cut costs and wastage

D) maximize backwards integration

6) About 90 percent of the world's nearly one billion PCs use Microsoft's operating systems and 80 percent use Intel's microprocessors. This represents which aspect of the Porter's five forces model?

A) bargaining power of suppliers

B) bargaining power of buyers

C) threat of substitute products

D) rivalry among competitors

7) Which of the following does not contribute to the establishment of an international division?

A) an organizational unit should be headed by a committed senior manager

B) complexity of international operations to make its own decisions

C) recognition of the need for internal specialists

D) a lack of desire by management to scan the globe for opportunities and threats

8) Factors which determine suppliers' ability to gain leverage over other firms include the following but: 

A) large numbers and relatively few.

B) suppliers' products or services are important to user firms.

C) suppliers' products or services are highly differentiated.

D) alternative products do not threaten suppliers' business.

9) Walmart refuses to stock CDs bearing parental advisory stickers for explicit lyrics or violent imagery. Under Porter's five forces, this is an example of:

A) buyer power.

B) supplier power.

C) threat of new entrants.

D) threat of substitute products.

10) Factors that can create intense rivalry among firms include all the following except:

A) firms focus on market share at the expense of others.

B) firms feel pressure due to fixed costs and produce at full capacity.

C) lack of differentiation in products and services.

D) upward pressure on prices and profitability.

11) Porter's four generic strategies for achieving competitive advantage are:

A) price determination, cost leadership, product differentiation, distribution savings.

B) cost leadership, product differentiation, cost challenger, product challenger.

C) price leadership, product differentiation, price challenger, cost differentiation.

D) cost leadership, product differentiation, cost focus, focused differentiation.

12) Maytag has been called "the Rolls-Royce of washers and dryers." Maytag markets Neptune, a high-tech machine, at a substantially higher than regular washer price. This is an example of:

A) cost leadership.

B) differentiation.

C) cost focus.

D) focused differentiation.

13) The characteristics of home demand for a firm's products or services include all the following except:

A) the composition of home demand.

B) the size of the home demand.

C) the pattern of growth of the home demand.

D) the size of the competitors' share of the home demand.

14) According to the hyper competition model of competitive advantage, which of the following allows the firm to creatING entirely new product or market?

A) know-how advantage

B) timing advantage

C) outflanking

D) switching costs

15) The rivalry between Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Gateway, Compaq, and Apple forces all the players to undertake all the following except:

A) develop new products.

B) improve existing products.

C) lower costs and prices.

D) change the rules of engagement.

16) Hundreds of small companies compete in the high-end segment of the consumer electronics industry. If analyzed in terms of Porter's generic strategies framework, such companies might be pursuing competitive advantage via:

A) cost leadership.

B) differentiation.

C) cost focus.

D) focused differentiation.

17) The issue of sustainability is central to which strategy concept:

A) cost leadership.

B) differentiation.

C) cost focus.

D) focused differentiation.

18) Many firms have gained competitive advantage by disadvantaging rivals through:

A) engagement.

B) collaboration.

C) competitive innovation.

D) focused differentiation.

19) The key to maintaining competitive advantage is:

A) being committed to constant improvement.

B) being first to market with all products.

C) outsourcing key components.

D) challenging all market leaders.

20) A nation's banking system, health care system, transportation system, and communications system, as well as the availability and cost of using these systems are considered as ________ resources available for competitive advantage of a business.

A) knowledge

B) physical

C) human

D) infrastructure

21) The differences between lean producers and U.S. mass producers is in the way they deal with all of the following groups except:

A) dealers

B) distributors.

C) customers.

D) managers

22) In contrast to the lean producers, U.S. mass producers typically maintain operations that involve all the following except:

A) less mechanization.

B) greater labor direct content.

C) divide employees with no overlap.

D) employee teamwork.

23) Secondary stakeholders include all the following except:

A) media.

B) employees.

C) local community groups.

D) nongovernmental organizations.

24) In the terminology of the strategic intent framework for competitive advantage, a firm that establishes advantages in several different areas has:

A) attribute diversity.

B) marketing breadth.

C) comparative advantage.

D) layers of advantage.

25) In developing countries, globalization's opponents accuse companies of:

A) undermining local cultures.

B) placing intellectual property rights ahead of human rights.

C) promoting unhealthy diets and unsafe food technologies.

D) all above

26) In a socially responsible firm, employees perform all the following except:

A) conduct business in an ethical manner.

B) pursue goals and policies that are in society's best interest.

C) use moral principles as guidelines.

D) develop their own core ideologies.

27) An approach to competitive advantage that exploits weaknesses in competitors' narrow-focus strategies is called a ________ strategy.

A) loose bricks

B) collaboration

C) layers of advantage

D) supplier power

28) When company management decides that it is unwilling to follow the "conventional wisdom" and instead finds a new way to gain competitive advantage, it might be said to be:

A) searching for loose bricks.

B) changing the rules of engagement.

C) collaborating.

D) building layers of advantage.

29) According to Michael Porter's research on the competitive advantage of nations, human, physical, knowledge, capital, and infrastructure resources are all components of a country's:

A) factor conditions.

B) demand conditions.

C) strategy, structure, and rivalry.

D) related and supporting industries.

30) Walmart has been under heavy criticism by critics for:

A) Paying minimum wages

B) Not paying minimum wages

C) paying higher wages

D) None above