Cost Management 6th Edition by Edward Blocher,David Stout ,Paul Juras,Gary Cokins

Exercise 8

Research Assignment; Value Chain To complete this assignment, read the article by Noah P. Barsky and Anthony H. Catanach Jr., titled, "Every Manager Can Be an Innovator" ( Strategic Finance, August 2011, pp. 22-29). The article provides a comprehensive discussion of how companies can use the value chain as a tool to help guide their efforts to provide ongoing innovation in their companies.
The article is available in the Cases and Readings book that comes with the text and which has a link on the text website.
Required
1. Explain briefly the difference between disruptive and sustaining innovation.
2. What are the five activities in the value chain depicted in the article
3. What is the role of strategy in looking for innovation in each of the activities in the value chain
4. Describe an example of an opportunity for innovation in market analysis.
5. Describe an example of an opportunity for innovation in product development and design.
6. Describe an example of an opportunity for innovation in sales and marketing.
7. Describe an example of an opportunity for innovation in procurement, production, and distribution.
8. Describe an example of an opportunity for innovation in after-sale customer service.