Exam 3: Assessing the Internal Environment of the Firm

The total debt ratio is used to measure profitability.

Competition among organizations is played out over time. As circumstances, capabilities, and strategies change, _________ techniques do not reveal the dynamics of the competitive environment.

In a retail service industry, which of the following is not a primary value-chain activity?

Several pharmaceutical firms have seen the value of patent protection erode in the face of new drugs that are based on different production processes and act in different ways, but can be used in similar treatment regimes. This example illustrates the lack of sustainable competitive advantage being offered by the product.

A crash R&D program by one firm cannot replicate a successful technology developed by another firm, when research findings cumulate. This is an example of

Company strengths and weaknesses are tied to its stated goals and objectives.

A primary benefit of the balanced scorecard is that it complements financial indicators with operational measures of customer satisfaction, internal processes, and the innovation and improvement activities of the organization.

Two valuable firm resources (or two bundles of resources) are strategically equivalent when each one can be exploited separately to implement the same strategies.

In an interview with Lise Saari, former director of global workforce research at IBM, she notes that HR must be a true partner of the business, with a deep and up-to-date understanding of business realities and objectives, and must ensure HR initiatives fully support them at all points of the value chain. This is an example of

In making the decision to enter the pharmaceutical industry, a company would not need to consider which of the following?

At Sephora.com, a customer service representative taking a phone call from a repeat customer has instant access to what shade of lipstick she likes best. This is an example of a procurement support activity in the value chain.

In order to be considered strategic resources that contribute competitive advantage, they must have several characteristics. Which of the following is not one of these?

For the balanced scorecard to work, managers must articulate goals for five categories of customer concerns: time, quality, performance and service, cost, and design.

The culture of a firm also may be a resource that provides competitive advantage. Which of these companies might be a good example of this intangible resource?

A key __________ of SWOT is that it is primarily a static assessment.

Which of the following is not an advantage of Just-In-Time inventory systems?

The internal measures should reflect business processes that have ______ impact on customer satisfaction. These include factors that affect cycle time, quality, employee skills, and productivity.

In considering the business from the internal business perspective using the balanced scorecard, customer-based measures must be translated into indicators of what the firm must do internally to meet customer expectations.

For an engineering services firm, ________________ provides inputs, the transformation process is the engineering itself, and innovative designs and practical solutions are the outputs.

The return on assets ratio is used to measure short-term solvency of the firm.