Which are not costly to imitate capabilities that emerge for all of the given following reasons

A major reason outsourcing is effective is that

few firms possess superior capability in all primary and support activities.

Internal analysis enables a firm to determine what the firm

All core competencies have the potential to become core

Costly-to-imitate capabilities can emerge for all of the following reasons EXCEPT

lack of scientific transference.

When firms lay off employees, they are

eroding the organization's knowledge resources.

Which of the following is a true statement about capabilities?

Capabilities are often developed in specific functional areas such as manufacturing, R&D, and marketing.

Because firms combine tangible and intangible resources to create capabilities,

capabilities are often based on developing, carrying, and exchanging information and knowledge through the firm's human capital.

Organizational culture is

The three conditions that characterize difficult managerial decisions concerning resources, capabilities, and core competencies are

uncertainty, complexity, and intraorganizational conflicts.

If a firm offers a service that is valuable, rare, and costly to imitate, but a substitute exists for the service, the firm will

have a temporary competitive advantage.

A sustained or sustainable competitive advantage requires that:

other companies not be able to duplicate the strategy.

. Investors in a company judge the adequacy of the returns on their investment in relation to:

the returns on other investments of similar risk..

. The strategic management process is:

a dynamic process involving the full set of commitments, decisions, and actions related to the firm.

5. Which of the following is NOT an assumption of the resource-based model?

a. Each firm is a unique collection of resources and capabilities.
b. All firms possess the same strategically relevant resources.
c. Resources are not highly mobile across firms.
d. Firms acquire different resources and capabilities over time.

. All firms possess the same strategically relevant resources.

In contrast to the industrial organization model, in a resource-based model, which of the following factors would be considered a key to organizational success?

a. unique market niche.
b. weak competition.
c. economies of scale.
d. loyal employees.

The resource-based model of the firm argues that:

resources that are valuable, rare, costly to imitate, and non-substitutable form the basis of a firm's core competencies.

Which of the following is NOT an assumption of the Industrial Organization, or I/O, model? A.The external environment is assumed to impose pressures and constraints that determine the strategies that result in superior performance. B. Firms in given industries, or given industry segments, are assumed to control similar strategically relevant resources.

. Firms in given industries, or given industry segments, are assumed to control similar strategically relevant resources.

The I/O model and the resource-based view of the firm suggest conditions that firms should study in order to:

develop the most effective strategy.

is a statement of a firm's unique purpose and scope of operations.

The interests of an organization's stakeholders often conflict, and the organization must prioritize its stakeholders because it cannot satisfy them all. The ________ is the most critical criterion in prioritizing stakeholders.

power of each stakeholder

The __________ environment is composed of elements in the broader society that can influence an industry and the firms within it.

. The environmental segments that comprise the general environment typically will NOT include:

a. demographic factors.
b. sociocultural factors.
c. substitute products or services.
d. technological factors.

substitute products or services.

Which of the following is an opportunity for an entrepreneur who wishes to open a business doing therapeutic massage in his small community?
a. the average age of the population in his community is high
b. the level of unemployment in his community is high
c. a chiropractor and two independent physical therapists located in his community

a chiropractor and two independent physical therapists located in his community

The economic environment refers to:

the nature and direction of the economy in which a firm competes or may compete.

An industry is defined as:

a group of firms producing products that are close substitutes.

Which of the following is NOT an entry barrier to an industry?

a. expected competitor retaliation
b. economies of scale
c. customer product loyalty
d. bargaining power of suppliers

bargaining power of suppliers

Switching costs refer to the

one-time costs customers incur when buying from a different supplier

Suppliers are powerful when:

. they offer a credible threat of forward integration.

Buyers are powerful when:

There are no switching costs.

Upper limits on the prices a firm can charge are impacted by:

the cost of substitute products.

As defined in the text, resources:

are the source of the firm's capabilities.

Tangible resources include:

a. assets that are people dependent such as know-how.
b. assets that can be seen and quantified.
c. organizational culture.
d. a firm's reputation.

assets that can be seen and quantified.

Compared to tangible resources, intangible resources are:

a more potent source of competitive advantage.

3. Intangible assets include:

a. the firm's reputation.
b. a firm's borrowing capacity.
c. depreciated capital assets.
d. manufacturing facilities.

5. Which of the following is a true statement about capabilities?
a. Capabilities emerge over time through complex interactions of tangible and intangible resources.
b. Valuable capabilities are based almost entirely on tangible resources. c. The link between firm financial performance and capabilities is dependent on whether the capabilities are based on tangible or intangible resources.

Capabilities emerge over time through complex interactions of tangible and intangible resources.

What is the job of a Chief Learning Officer?

developing an environment in which knowledge is widespread among employees

A major department store chain has a strict policy of banning photographs of its sales floor or back room operations. It also does not allow academics to include it in research studies for publication in research journals. In fact, some of its own top managers refer to the store policies on secrecy as "verging on paranoid." These policies indicate that the top management of the firm believes the organization's core competencies are:

. When a resource or capability is valuable, rare, costly to imitate, and nonsubstitutable firms may obtain:

a sustainable competitive advantage.

Costly-to-imitate capabilities can emerge for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

a. scientific transference.
b. social complexity
c. historical conditions
d. causal ambiguity

An integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions designed to exploit core competencies and gain a competitive advantage in a specific product market is a definition of:

In evaluating its customers, which of the following is NOT a relevant question?

a. How will core competencies meet the customer's needs?
b. Who is the customer?
c. What are the customers' needs?
d. How will our top management team interact with the customer?

How will our top management team interact with the customer?

Customer needs are related to the

benefits and features of a good or service that customers want to purchase.

Business-level strategies are concerned specifically with:

creating differences between the firm's position and its rivals.

A company using a narrow scope in its business strategy is:

limiting the group of product segments served.

A cost leadership strategy provides goods or services with features that are:

When the costs of supplies increase in an industry, the low-cost leader may:

be the only firm able to pay the higher prices and continue to earn average or above- average returns.

The risks of a cost leadership strategy include:

production and distribution processes becoming obsolete

A firm successfully implementing a differentiation strategy would expect:

a. customers to be sensitive to price increases.
b. to charge premium prices.
c. customers to perceive the product as standard.
d. to automatically have high levels of power over suppliers.

b. to charge premium prices.

A differentiation strategy provides products that customers perceive as having:

features that are non-standardized for which they are willing to pay a premium.

The differentiation strategy can be effective in controlling the power of rivalry with existing competitors in an industry because:

customers are loyal to brands that are differentiated in meaningful ways.

When implementing a focus strategy, the firm seeks:

to serve the specialized needs of a market segment.

T or F? Firms operating in the same market, offering similar products and targeting similar customers are competitors.

T or F? Intensified rivalry within an industry results in decreased average profitability for the firms within it

T or F? Competitive dynamics indicates that firms and their strategic actions are independent

T or F? Extensive market commonality guarantees intense competition in an industry

T or F? Two firms that have similar resources, but do not share markets would NOT be direct and mutually acknowledged competitors.

T or F? Wal-Mart has recently moved to Alsatia, Missouri. Several local small retailers have decided that choosing not to respond to Wal-Mart's competitive actions is a viable long-term option, because although the companies have high market commonality they have little resource similarity. These small retailers are correct in their decision

T or F? A competitive action is a strategic or tactical action taken by a firm to gain or defend a competitive advantage.

T or F? First movers can gain a sustained competitive advantage when they reduce their costs through reverse engineering.

T or F? Product quality is a universal theme and is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for competitive success.

T or F? The probability of a competitive response to a competitive action is based partly on the reputation of the competitor

A firm has achieved ____ when it successfully formulates and implements a value-creating strategy.

legal and ethical core values

Above-average returns are:

profits in excess of what an investor expects to earn from other investments with a similar level of risk

The strategic management process is

the full set of commitments, decisions, and actions required for the firm to achieve above-average returns and strategic competitiveness.

Resources to implement strategies are firm-specific and attached to firms over the long-term.

All of the following are assumptions of the resource-based model EXCEPT
a. Each firm is a unique collection of resources and capabilities.
b. The industry's structural characteristics have little impact on a firm's performance over time.
c. Capabilities are highly mobile across firms.
d. Differences in resources and capabilities are the basis of competitive advantage.

Capabilities are highly mobile across firms.

In the resource-based model, which of the following factors would be considered a key to organizational success?
a. unique market niche
b. weak competition
c. economies of scale
d. skilled employees

All of the following are resources of an organization EXCEPT

a. an hourly production employee's ability to catch subtle quality defects in products.
b. oil drilling rights in a promising region.
c. weak competitors in the industry.
d. a charity's endowment of $400 million.

weak competitors in the industry.

The resource-based model of the firm argues that

resources and capabilities that are valuable, rare, costly to imitate, and non-substitutable form the basis of a firm's core competencies.

The goal of the organization's ____ is to capture the hearts and minds of employees, challenge them, and evoke their emotions and dreams.

is a statement of a firm's business in which it intends to compete and the customers which it intends to serve.

The environmental segments that comprise the general environment typically will NOT include
a. demographic factors.
b. sociocultural factors.
c. substitute products or services.
d. technological factors.

substitute products or services.

An analysis of the economic segment of the external environment would include all of the following EXCEPT
a. interest rates.
b. international trade.
c. the strength of the U.S. dollar.
d. the move toward a contingent workforce.

The move toward a contingent workforce.

Product differentiation refers to the

belief by customers that a product is unique.

Which of the following is NOT an entry barrier to an industry?
a. expected competitor retaliation
b. economies of scale
c. customer product loyalty
d. bargaining power of suppliers

bargaining power of suppliers

Switching costs refer to the:

one-time costs customers incur when buying from a different supplier.

New entrants to an industry are more likely when (i.e., entry barriers are low when...)
a. it is difficult to gain access to distribution channels.
b. economies of scale in the industry are high.
c. product differentiation in the industry is low.
d. capital requirements in the industry are high.

product differentiation in the industry is low

Suppliers are powerful when:
a. satisfactory substitutes are available.
b. they sell a commodity product.
c. they offer a credible threat of forward integration.
d. they are in a highly fragmented industry.

they offer a credible threat of forward integration.

The highest amount a firm can charge for its products is most directly affected by

The cost of substitute products.

All of the following are forces that create high rivalry within an industry EXCEPT
a. numerous or equally balanced competitors.
b. high fixed costs.
c. fast industry growth.
d. high storage costs.

According to the five factors model, an attractive industry would have all of the following characteristics EXCEPT:
a. low barriers to entry.
b. suppliers with low bargaining power.
c. a moderate degree of rivalry among competitors.
d. few good product substitutes.

Internal analysis enables a firm to determine what the firm

An external analysis enables a firm to determine what the firm

____ is/are the source of a firm's ____, which is/are the source of the firm's ____.

Resources, capabilities, core competencies

In the airline industry, frequent-flyer programs, ticket kiosks, and e-ticketing are all examples of capabilities that are

Compared to tangible resources, intangible resources are

. a more potent source of competitive advantage.

Capabilities emerge over time through complex interactions of tangible and intangible resources.

To be a core competency, a capability must satisfy all of the following criteria EXCEPT:
a. be technologically innovative.
b. be hard for competing firms to duplicate.
c. be without good substitutes.
d. be valuable to customers.

be technologically innovative.

Capabilities that other firms cannot develop easily are classified as

Costly-to-imitate capabilities can emerge for all of the following reasons EXCEPT
a. lack of scientific transference.
b. social complexity.
c. unique historical conditions.
d. causal ambiguity.

lack of scientific transference.

Gamma, Inc., has struggled for industry dominance with Ardent, Inc., its main competitor, for years. Gamma has gathered and analyzed large amounts of competitive intelligence about Ardent. It has observed as much of the firm's internal functioning and technology as it can legally, yet Gamma cannot understand why ABC has a competitive advantage over it. The source of ABC's success is

Firms that achieve competitive parity can expect to earn

Business-level strategies detail commitments and actions taken to provide value to customers and gain competitive advantage by exploiting core competencies in

specific product markets.

The three dimensions of a firm's relationships with customers include all the following EXCEPT
a. exclusiveness.
b. affiliation.
c. richness.
d. reach.

The effectiveness of any of the generic business-level strategies is contingent upon

the match between the opportunities and threats in its external market and the strengths and weaknesses of its internal environment.

Business-level strategies are concerned specifically with:

creating differences between the firm's position and its rivals.

A cost leadership strategy targets the industry's ____ customers.

When the costs of supplies increase in an industry, the low-cost leader
a. may continue competing with rivals on the basis of product features.
b. will lose customers as a result of price increases.
c. will be unable to absorb higher costs because cost-leaders operate on very narrow profit margins.
d. may be the only firm able to pay the higher prices and continue to earn average or above- average returns.

may be the only firm able to pay the higher prices and continue to earn average or above- average returns.

When a product's unique attributes provide value to customers, the firm is implementing

a differentiation strategy.

A company pursuing a differentiation or focused differentiation strategy would

have strong capabilities in basic research.

T or F? A firm using a differentiation strategy can charge a premium price.

A differentiation strategy can be effective in controlling the power of substitutes in an industry because

customers develop brand loyalty.

Suppliers of raw materials erode the firm's profit margin with price increases

Competitive rivalry has the most effect on the firm's ____ strategies than the firm's other strategies.

Multimarket competition occurs when firms

compete against each other in several geographic or product markets.

Competitive dynamics refers to the

Total set of actions and responses taken by all firms competing within a market.

Firms with few competitive resources are more likely
a. to not respond to competitive actions.
b. respond quickly to competitive actions.
c. delay responding to competitive actions.
d. respond to strategic actions, but not to tactical actions.

delay responding to competitive actions

Which of the following would be an example of a strategic action?
a. a "two movies for the price of one" campaign by Blockbuster Video
b. use of product coupons by a local grocer
c. entry into the European market by Home Depot
d. fare increases by Southwest Airlines

entry into the European market by Home Depot

The chief disadvantage of being a first mover is the

On the whole there are more competitive responses to

tactical actions than to strategic actions.

Competitors are more likely to respond to competitive actions that are taken by
a. differentiators.
b. larger companies.
c. first movers.
d. market leaders.

Ninety percent of Wm. Wrigley Company's total revenue comes from chewing gum. This is an example of

All competitive advantages do not accrue to large sized firms. A major advantage of smaller firms is that they

can launch competitive actions more quickly.

Why it might be costly for one firm to imitate the resources and capabilities of another firm?

This article discusses four major reasons why it might be costly to imitate another firm's resources and capabilities, namely, unique historical conditions, causal ambiguity, social complexity and patents.

When a resource or capability is valuable rare costly to imitate and Nonsubstitutable firms may obtain?

8. When a resource or capability is valuable, rare, costly to imitate, and nonsubstitutable firms may obtain: a. a temporary competitive advantage.

Is the resource or capability difficult or costly to imitate?

Inimitable. An inimitable (the opposite of imitable) resource is difficult to imitate or to create ready substitutes for. A resource is inimitable and non-substitutable if it is difficult for another firm to acquire it or to substitute something else in its place.

Which of the following is a true statement about capability?

Which of the following is a true statement about capabilities? Capabilities based on human capital are more vulnerable to obsolescence than other intangible capabilities because of the tendency for employee knowledge to become outdated.