Exam 3: Organizational Strategy, Information Systems, and Competitive Advantage

Organizations cannot gain a competitive advantage by enhancing existing products or services.

Focused differentiation refers to providing a better product or service within an industry segment.

Porter defines value as the amount of money that a customer is willing to pay for a resource, product, or service.

According to Porter's five forces model, which of the following firms would be least affected by the threat of substitutes?

Each stage of the generic value chain accumulates costs and adds value to the product. The net result of this process is the total margin of the chain.

A major drawback of Porter's five forces model is that it does not analyze the threat of substitutes when forming a corporate strategy.

Information systems create competitive advantage by providing support to a product rather than by becoming a part of the product.

What are the various support activities in a value chain?

The sales process involves sales and marketing as well as outbound logistics activities.

A business that selects a differentiation strategy would invariably structure itself around low-cost activities.

Which of the following value chain activities involves collecting, storing, and physically distributing the product to buyers?

A large software manufacturer attempts to lock in customers by making it difficult for customers to change to another product. The strategy used by the company is referred to as ________.

Streamlining of business processes to increase margin is key to obtaining competitive advantage.

International Zoological club publishes a monthly magazine for zoology enthusiasts. Members are required to pay an up-front fee to cover the first two years of the subscription when registering with International Zoological club. By doing this, which competitive strategy is International Zoological club implementing?

The automobile industry is characterized by many manufacturers and intense competition among them. According to Porter's five forces model, this statement illustrates ________.

A(n) ________ is a network of activities that generate value by transforming inputs into outputs.

The difference between the value that an activity generates and the cost of the activity is called the ________.

In a manufacturing business, the ________ transforms finished goods into cash.

Briefly explain the process implementation competitive strategies.

An organization that minimizes the costs associated with the delivery of its products uses a product implementation tactic to obtain competitive advantage.