Deck 4: Leveraging Resources Capabilities

Question 1

A value chain analysis tells us how a bundle of resources and capabilities come together to add value.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The employees at GinesCorp.are tangible assets.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Ambidexterity is known as the ability to use one's two hands equally well,but in the management literature it describes capabilities to simultaneously deal with paradoxes.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

A leading tool in global business is SWOT analysis.It determines a firm's:

A) strengths,weaknesses,organizational skills,and teams.
B) strengths,weaknesses,opportunities,and threats.
C) savings,working capital,objectives,and teams.
D) strategies,working capital,outcomes,and threats.

Question 5

The driving force behind the recent outsourcing of service activities such as IT,HR,and logistics is that many firms,which used to view certain activities as a very special part of their industries,now believe that these activities have relatively generic attributes that can be shared across industries.

Question 6

Intangible assets can be broadly organized in four categories-financial,physical,technological,and organizational resources and capabilities.

Question 7

Which of the following statements is true of tangible resources?

A) They include reputational resources and capabilities.
B) They include human,innovation,and reputational resources and capabilities.
C) They are hard to observe and impossible to quantify.
D) They are organized as financial,physical,technological,and organizational resources.

Question 8

Which of the following best defines capabilities?

A) They are the tangible and intangible assets a firm uses to choose and implement its strategies.
B) They are the difficulties that arise when trying to outsource work to a domestic firm.
C) They refer to the socially complex ways of organizing typical of many firms.
D) They refer to the difficulty of identifying the causal determinants of successful firm performance.

Question 9

Which of the following statements is true of the resource-based view of global business?

A) It deals with the external opportunities and threats.
B) It concentrates on a firm's internal strengths and weaknesses.
C) It consists of only primary activities and support activities.
D) It refers to the difficulty of identifying the causal determinants of firm performance.

Question 10

Valuable but common resources and capabilities will lead to competitive parity but not an advantage.

Question 11

Offshoring,also known as international outsourcing,has proven to be a long term benefit to Western firms and economies.

Question 12

Valuable,rare,and hard-to-imitate resources determine the success and failure of firms around the globe.

Question 13

_____ are the tangible and intangible assets a firm uses to choose and implement its strategies.

A) Benchmarks
B) Commodities
C) Resources
D) Value chains

Question 14

The institution-based view of global business deals with the external opportunities and threats,whereas the resource-based view concentrates on a firm's internal strengths and weaknesses.

Question 15

The reputation that a firm gets based on positive press is an example of a tangible asset.

Question 16

Successful firms such as Apple do not know exactly what contributes to its success,and different managers of the same firm may have a different list,usually suggesting that it is many things in combination.

Question 17

The debate on offshoring is a relevant part of the larger debate on globalization and directly affects your future as a manager,a consumer,and a citizen.

Question 18

Only value-adding resources can lead to competitive advantage,whereas non-value-adding capabilities may lead to competitive disadvantage.

Question 19

SlimJims Inc.is an organization that possess strong capabilities in upstream activities,such as design,and downstream activities,such as marketing.It has given manufacturing contracts to suppliers in low-cost countries.This is an example of outsourcing.

Question 20

ShawnGraphy is a photography studio.The photography crew,makeup artists,and managers on the business side are the studio's tangible assets.

Question 21

Which of the following terms is also known as foreign direct investment?

A) Reshoring
B) Offshoring
C) Onshoring
D) Captive sourcing

Question 22

A _____ is a series of activities used in the production of goods and services that make a product or service more valuable.

A) rarity sequence
B) SWOT analysis
C) value framework
D) value chain

Question 23

The employees at Leo Corp.are _____ assets.They help the firm gain a competitive advantage.

A) complementary
B) tangible
C) intangible
D) material

Question 24

Which of the following assets is easy to imitate?

A) Current assets
B) Intangible assets
C) Tangible assets
D) Complementary assets

Question 25

Valuable and rare resources and capabilities can be a source of competitive advantage:

A) only if competitors have a difficult time imitating them.
B) only if value-adding resources become obsolete.
C) only if intangible capabilities can be imitated.
D) only if tangible resources can be reproduced.

Question 26

Which of the following statements is true of non-value adding capabilities?

A) They identify the causal determinants of successful firm performance.
B) They can lead to competitive disadvantage.
C) They give a firm a sustained competitive advantage even if it is not properly organized.
D) They consist of primary activities and support activities.

Question 27

_____ is moving formerly offshored activities back to the home country of the focal firm.

A) Domestic in-house activity
B) Foreign direct investment
C) Onshoring
D) Reshoring

Question 28

Which of the following assets is difficult to imitate?

A) Current assets
B) Intangible assets
C) Tangible assets
D) Material assets

Question 29

If managers find that their firm's particular activity is unsatisfactory,which of the following is a remedy for the situation?

A) Long Range Planning
B) Captive sourcing
C) Using a franchise model
D) Using a decision model

Question 30

_____ is a process of market competition through which unique products that command high prices and high margins gradually lose their ability to do so,thus becoming commodities.

A) Commodification
B) Singularization
C) Commoditization
D) Redistribution

Question 31

A _____ engages managers to ascertain a firm's strengths and weaknesses on an activity-by-activity basis,relative to rivals.

A) value chain analysis
B) cause and effect analysis
C) VRIO framework
D) franchise model

Question 32

Which of the following statements is true of captive sourcing?

A) It means setting up subsidiaries to perform in-house work in foreign locations.
B) It means moving offshored activities back to the home country.
C) It means outsourcing to an international firm.
D) It means outsourcing to a domestic firm.

Question 33

In the context of the VRIO framework,the question of _____ is a reminder of the cliché: If everyone has it,an individual cannot make money from it.

A) organization
B) imitation
C) rarity
D) value

Question 34

Which of the following statements is true of a VRIO framework?

A) It focuses on visual analysis,range,impact,and objective of resources and capabilities.
B) It focuses on value,rarity,imitability,and organizational aspects of resources and capabilities.
C) It involves the difficulty of identifying the actual cause of a firm's successful performance.
D) It involves a series of activities used in the production of goods and services that make a product.

Question 35

Which of the following statements is true of benchmarking?

A) It focuses on a VRIO framework.
B) It deals with setting up subsidiaries to perform in-house work in foreign locations.
C) It is a process in SWOT analysis.
D) It is the process of turning over an activity to an outside supplier.

Question 36

Which of the following statements is true of onshoring?

A) It means moving offshored activities back to the home country.
B) It means setting up subsidiaries abroad.
C) It means outsourcing to an international firm.
D) It means outsourcing to a domestic firm.

Question 37

Lavalle is a movie studio in New Jersey.Its components include photography crews,musicians,singers,makeup artists,animation specialists,and managers on the business side.These components are called _____.

A) current assets
B) material assets
C) tangible assets
D) complementary assets

Question 38

Years & Years Group is a luxury fashion house.It has no shortage of competitors,but it has valuable,rare,and hard-to-imitate resources and capabilities.This will lead to _____.

A) social complexity
B) competitive advantage
C) competitive disadvantage
D) social simplicity

Question 39

Which of the following statements is true of intangible resources?

A) They include human,innovation,and reputational resources.
B) They include technological and organizational resources and capabilities.
C) They are organized as financial and physical resources.
D) They are observable and quantifiable.

Question 40

Critics of ______ make the political argument that many large firms in developed economies are unethical and are interested only in the cheapest and most exploitable labor.Not only is work commoditized,but people are also degraded as tradable commodities that can be jettisoned.

A) offshoring
B) environmental law
C) reshoring
D) benchmarking

Question 41

______ enables firms to anticipate future needs and move early to identify,develop,and leverage resources and capabilities for future competition.

A) Strategic foresight
B) Social complexity
C) Valuable,rare,and hard-to-imitate resources
D) Easily imitable capabilities

Question 42

Define ambidexterity and social complexity.

Question 43

Managers attempt,via the _____,to distinguish resources and capabilities that are valuable,rare,hard-to-imitate,and organizationally embedded from those that do not share these attributes.

A) statistical analysis
B) cause and effect analysis
C) VRIO framework
D) SWOT analysis

Question 44

According to the resource-based view of management,an implication for action is that managers need to build firm strengths based on the _____.

A) VRIO framework
B) SWOT analysis
C) decision model
D) system dynamics

Question 45

_____ refers to the socially elaborate ways of organizing typical of many firms.

A) Social constructionism
B) Structuralism
C) Interactionism
D) Social complexity

Question 46

Which of the following is an implication for action based on the resource-based view of management?

A) Managers do not need to build up resources and capabilities.
B) Relentless imitation is likely to be a successful strategy.
C) Benchmarking is an important and successful strategy which will lead to competitive advantage.
D) Students need to make themselves into "untouchables" whose jobs cannot be easily outsourced.

Question 47

A small Austrian fishery firm wanted to expand into a new region of the country,but was in competition with a bigger,more established firm.The smaller firm,however,was successful in developing and maintaining key political relationships and were ultimately granted the necessary government permits.Which of the following was key to the smaller firm's success?

A) causal ambiguity
B) commoditization
C) social complexity
D) ambidexterity

Question 48

_____ helps managers make decisions on what capabilities to focus on in-house and what to outsource.

A) Value chain analysis
B) Cause and effect analysis
C) Strategic management
D) System dynamics

Question 49

Explain the question of imitability.

Question 50

JB and Sons is a firm that has valuable,rare,and hard-to-imitate capabilities that are organizationally embedded and exploited.JB and Sons can expect _____ firm performance.

A) below average
B) average
C) above average
D) persistently above average

Question 51

According to the resource-based view of management,an implication for action is that _____ though important,is not likely to be a successful strategy.

A) benchmarking
B) commoditization
C) reshoring
D) ambidexterity

Question 52

Define resources and describe tangible and intangible resource.

Question 53

If a firm is a bundle of resources and capabilities,how do the resources and capabilities come together to add value?

Question 54

A "LEGO" view of a firm:

A) fails to realize that social capital associated with complex relationships and knowledge permeating many firms can be a source of competitive advantage.
B) states that in order to attain competitive advantage,market-based and nonmarket- based (political)capabilities need to complement each other
C) is another way of saying "casual ambiguity"
D) is a term used to describe a firm's ambidexterity

Question 55

What is outsourcing? Provide an example.