Exam 2: Strategy and Technology: Concepts and Frameworks for Understanding What Separates Winners From Losers

Relate your understanding of the Porter's Five Forces model to describe how the Internet affects the bargaining power of buyers and sellers according to whether offers commodity or differentiated products.

Network externalities exist when a product or service becomes less expensive as more people use it.

Uber is an example of a business model that has strengthened the bargaining power of suppliers (cab drivers) with respect to middlemen who took a cut of their services (e.g. cab companies).

Fast growing Groupon was able to dissuade rivals from entering its market because the firm's technology was so difficult to replicate.

What are Porter's views in relation to operational effectiveness and strategic positioning? Contrast the two concepts.

Many firms choose not to implement operational components of ERP software and instead elect to create their own propriety solutions in part because they see their uniqueness in certain operations areas as key to creating difficult-to-imitate competitive advantages.

Which of the following represents one of the primary components of the value chain?

Technology that that super-imposes content, such as images and animation on top of real world images is called:

According to Michael Porter, the reason many firms suffer margin-eroding competition is because they have defined themselves according to strategic positioning rather than operational effectiveness.

The patent system is often considered to be unfairly stacked against start-ups because:

Which of the following is one of Porter's five forces?

Rivals such as ________________ and ________________ once made their own chips, but sold off manufacturing when their smaller market shares couldn't justify the Intel-sized multi-billion dollar table stakes needed to stay in the game.

Startup firms can struggle to gain lower prices from rivals, but FreshDirect seems to have found several ways to gain lower supplier prices. FreshDirect buys direct from suppliers, eliminating any markup from a middleman. What else did FreshDirect offer suppliers in exchange for better pricing terms?

Apple's dominance of smartphone and tablet markets has allowed the firm to lock up 60 percent of the world's supply of advanced touch-screen displays, and to do so with better pricing than would be available to smaller rivals. This is an example of:

Metcalfe's Law is used to explain the concept of switching costs.

Benefits related to a firm's size are referred to as _____.

A salesperson's ability to effectively bargain with his/her consumers is called viral marketing.

_____ refers to performing different tasks than rivals or the same tasks in a different way.