Exam 3: Managers and the Strategic Decision Making in Business Firms

Mental models tend to be used over and over again even as the environment changes, so that they become more and more accurate or appropriate over time.

Managers of business firms have causal beliefs about a wide array of phenomena.

Recognizing that a product lacks features that will appeal to the product's target market is an an example of ____________.

Categorical knowledge is the knowledge individuals use to distinguish between and among categories of people, objects, and other phenomena.

The quality of decision making is significantly influenced by the accuracy and completeness of mental models.

What problems can arise when mental models are not updated to keep them aligned with the pace of change in the business environment?

Culture is a minor source of mental models as it carries with it only a few implicit beliefs and understandings.

Researchers consider something creative if it is both novel and inappropriate.

When business leaders hold beliefs-mental models-about their industry that differ fundamentally from most other leaders, the result will be different mental models that result in unique strategies.

Why are managers more likely to trust "hunches" and "gut feelings" than objective evidence?

If managers conclude that adopting a partcular strategy leads to positive performance outcomes, they will probably develop a belief in the ___________ of that strategy.

Assumptions and understandings, but not beliefs, comprise the prinicpal elements of mental models.

A strategy taken out of its context will usually not be as successful for which of the following reasons?

Cognitive biases foster rational thinking.

Because mental models already contain our attitudes, beliefs, and understandings, they have little influence over our responses to the stimuli we notice.

______________ is the filtering of information and focusing of attention component of mental models .

Cognitive biases undermine rational thinking so that decisions are often made more on the basis of _________ than evidence

A strength of imitation strategies that are based on or copied from other firms is that they are more distinctive than innovative strategies.

One key characteristic common to all mental models is their completeness.

Mental models are inherently unobservable.