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Business Development
Q:
Suppliers can contribute ideas for product improvement or increased development efficiency.
Q:
Firms always make decisions about projects on the basis of marketing criteria.
Q:
Many firms use beta testing to get customer input early in the development process.
Q:
A firm can benefit from developing "antichampions."
Q:
The use of executive sponsors reduces the effectiveness of a development process.
Q:
Parallel development processes are universally endorsed.
Q:
A sequential process has an early warning system to indicate that planned features are not manufacturable.
Q:
A company with a short development cycle can quickly revise or upgrade its offering as design flaws are revealed or technology advances.
Q:
The majority of all new product development projects result in an economic return.
Q:
Oxygenic Corp. uses photodynamic therapy to treat cancer and has major divisions in Germany, Russia, and the United States. The scientists in Russia develop the cancer treatment methods, treatment clinics are organized in Germany, and the U.S. division gathers the finance and markets the treatment methods. What type of strategy is being employed by Oxygenic, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of strategy?
Q:
Phoenix Motor Corp. is considering using a loosely coupled organizational structure. They have asked for your evaluation of such a structure and if you would recommend it for an automobile manufacturer. What will your answer be?
Q:
Explain why a mechanistic organizational structure stifles creativity.
Q:
Biotrue Inc. produces tissues and diagnostics substances for three market segments: hospitals, universities, and pharmaceutical companies. The firm is trying to decide whether to decentralize its R&D activities by division or not. You have been called in as a consultant to explain the advantages and disadvantages of such a move. What will your opinion be?
Q:
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of large firms in terms of R&D?
Q:
In a locally leveraged strategy to innovation, the R&D divisions _____.
A. are completely centralized
B. play different roles in the company's overall R&D strategy
C. work on the full scope of development activities relevant to their business unit
D. do not share creative resources and innovative developments
Q:
Oxygenic Inc. is a company with major decentralized divisions in Germany, Russia, and the United States. The scientists in Russia develop cancer treatment methods. Treatment clinics are organized in Germany. The U.S. division gathers finance and markets the treatment methods. The activities of the different divisions are coordinated by the central office of the firm to meet companywide objectives. This is most clearly an example of a _____ strategy.
A. center-for-global
B. local-for-local
C. locally leveraged
D. globally linked
Q:
Not-invented-here syndrome occurs when:
A. a division of a firm is reluctant to adopt other divisions' innovations.
B. a firm tends to adopt innovations developed by competitors.
C. an innovation is openly accepted without testing its suitability.
D. developers of a failed innovation refuse to take responsibility for its failure.
Q:
M&P Inc., a consumer goods manufacturing firm, has subsidiaries throughout the globe that have to respond to varying local market requirements. Therefore, the firm has planned to adopt a local-for-local approach to innovation. Which of the following statement is true in this context?
A. The subsidiaries of M&P and their R&D divisions will be highly autonomous.
B. The subsidiaries will achieve abundance of scale in R&D activities.
C. This approach will make diffusion of valuable innovations across the company simple.
D. This approach will eliminate redundancy in activities.
Q:
Which of the following statements is true of loosely coupled organizational structures?
A. In loosely coupled structures, development and production activities achieve coordination through their adherence to shared objectives.
B. The possibility of achieving synergies is very high in loosely coupled structures.
C. They are most useful in organizations characterized by activities that require the frequent exchange of complex or tacit knowledge.
D. They provide mechanisms for resolving conflict that are more effective or less expensive than those available in the market.
Q:
ErgoWorld Inc. manufactures office furniture. The company is considering adopting a modular production system. A modular system would offer greater value to ErgoWorld if:
A. most customers are likely to agree on a single product configuration.
B. its customers prefer to upgrade their products by replacing their entire system.
C. its customers are willing to pay a premium price for extreme customization and personalization.
D. its customers have heterogeneous demands that need to be met in a cost-effective way.
Q:
According to Schoonhoven and Jelinek, quasiformal structures are:
A. slow to respond to the need for changes.
B. most useful in fostering interactions based on hierarchy.
C. less problem-focused than other structures of companies.
D. not part of the formal reporting structure.
Q:
Which of the following statements is true of skunk works?
A. They are isolated from the mainstream organization to which they belong.
B. They have a mechanistic structure.
C. They are bound by the demands of the rest of the organization.
D. They are teams that face high degrees of centralization of authority and bureaucracy.
Q:
Liam, an employee of Centaurs Inc., is part of a new product development team that operates in a completely different manner from its parent organization. Within the team, there is considerable decentralization of authority and limited bureaucracy. It also has its own unique culture. Liam's team can be most accurately referred to as:
A. a mechanistic team.
B. skunk works.
C. an inorganic group.
D. a mainstream circle.
Q:
Since much innovation arises from experimentation and improvisation, the _____ organization structure is typically considered better suited to creativity and innovation.
A. mechanistic
B. formalized
C. standardized
D. organic
Q:
Which of the following statements is true of ambidextrous organizations?
A. They have uniform incentive plans for all employees within the organization.
B. They achieve long-term innovation, but not short-term efficiency.
C. They fail to tolerate varying cultures and different sets of behavior from employees.
D. They have a complex organizational form that is composed of multiple internally inconsistent architectures.
Q:
A firm choosing to decentralize its R&D by divisions rather than centralizing it will have a greater possibility of:
A. maximizing economies of scale in R&D.
B. preventing redundant R&D activities from being performed in multiple divisions.
C. benefiting from the learning-curve effects.
D. matching new products to the requirements of the customers served.
Q:
Which of the following statements is true of standardization?
A. It can ensure that activities within a firm run smoothly and yield predictable outcomes.
B. It is defined as the degree to which a firm utilizes rules, procedures, and written documentation to structure the behavior of employees.
C. It involves the use of organic structures instead of mechanistic ones.
D. It encourages the creativity and experimentation that leads to innovative ideas.
Q:
Pioneer Systems Inc. has a high degree of formalization. Employees in Pioneer Systems are more likely to:
A. exhibit high levels creativity and experimentation.
B. feel empowered to implement new solutions.
C. face morale and motivation problems.
D. face ambiguity as a result of a lack of formal rules and procedures.
Q:
Urban Fashions Corp. has become very successful in the last few years and now employs a large number of people. Serena, the owner of the firm, had been very informal in running the company. However, because of the increase in the size of the firm, she now feels that the informal ways of management have become ineffective. In order to structure the behavior of employees, Serena wants to introduce written codes of conduct and regulations into the firm. This change being introduced in the company by Serena is referred to as _____.
A. disintermediation
B. formalization
C. nationalization
D. decentralization
Q:
Large and hierarchical firms disaggregate in order to:
A. lengthen new product development cycles.
B. prevent large-scale downsizing.
C. become more responsive to technological changes.
D. curb the entrepreneurial culture within them.
Q:
Since larger companies tend to have more bureaucracy, fixed costs, and commitments to large numbers of employees, customers, and suppliers than smaller firms, you can expect it to _____.
A. gamble more on big changes
B. be less responsive to technological changes
C. find it much simpler to monitor employees and reward them for their effort or success at innovation
D. experience higher rates of new product success
Q:
Altair Inc., a large firm in the electronics market, is facing stiff competition from a relatively smaller firm, Cygnus Corp. Which of the following is an advantage that Cygnus has over Altair due its size?
A. Larger fixed-asset bases
B. More layers of administration
C. More flexible and entrepreneurial culture
D. Greater bureaucratic inertia due to well-developed policies and procedures
Q:
In the 1980s and 1990s, Neon Corp. was the most successful firm in the television market. The firm believed that its competitors would never be able to produce televisions comparable to its quality and cost. As a result, it was unable to respond to the new generations of television with which its Japanese competitors had begun to infiltrate the market. Eventually, Neon lost its market leadership to its competitors. This scenario most clearly exemplifies the _____.
A. Giffen effect
B. Hawthorne effect
C. Idiosyncrasy Credit
D. Icarus Paradox
Q:
As a firm grows bigger, it becomes:
A. more effective in monitoring and motivating employees.
B. less vulnerable to bureaucratic inertia.
C. less efficient in R&D due to loss of managerial control.
D. increasingly easy for individual scientists to appropriate the returns of their efforts.
Q:
The customization of products and processes to a local market makes them particularly difficult to transfer to divisions serving different markets.
Q:
The transnational approach to R&D leverages resources and capabilities that exist anywhere within a firm and deploys them when and where any opportunity arises.
Q:
A loosely coupled structure is best suited for activities that involve exchange of tacit knowledge.
Q:
With advances in information technology, loosely coupled organizational structures are losing their popularity.
Q:
In a loosely coupled structure, development and production activities achieve coordination through tight integration.
Q:
Modular products become more valuable when customers have heterogeneous demands and there are diverse options for meeting them.
Q:
Quasiformal structures foster interactions based on hierarchy rather than on interests.
Q:
As a firm grows, it becomes more difficult to exercise direct managerial oversight.
Q:
A high degree of formalization and standardization in firms results in organic structures.
Q:
It is possible for organizations to have a highly decentralized mechanistic structure.
Q:
A firm's prior success in the market increases its ability to respond to new technological generations. This is known as an Icarus Paradox.
Q:
In the context of innovation productivity, a firm's overall size is not an easy-to-manipulate attribute of the firm.
Q:
Coalitions of small firms typically have a well-defined system of authority and control.
Q:
If a firm codifies all of its activities with detailed procedures, it may stifle employee creativity.
Q:
According to Joseph Schumpeter, small firms are likely to have better-developed complementary activities such as marketing or financial planning that enable them to be more effective innovators than larger firms.
Q:
George has come up with a new computer program to help sellers manage online auctions at sites such as eBay. It is more efficient than just using a spreadsheet to track auctions. He would like his program to become the dominant design, but he also wants to earn a profit from all his hard work. What can George do to most effectively meet both these objectives?
Q:
What is a copyright? Discuss the provisions of the section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act.
Q:
What is a trademark? How can the rights to a trademark or service mark be established?
Q:
Albert has designed a license plate holder for automobiles that makes theft of the license plate practically impossible. He has limited income and feels that he needs to protect his patent in numerous countries so that he can sell his product there in the future. Discuss how Albert can accomplish this.
Q:
Jonathan has recently developed a new kind of camera. He has a working prototype and plans to patent his invention. He needs to raise money for production, so he wants articles about his camera to appear in various publications. Discuss the problems that Jonathan might have to face if he wants to seek patents in other countries in the future.
Q:
Singing Cards Corp. has decided to make the technology behind its musical cards open. Which of the following is most likely to be one of the advantages associated with this decision?
A. The technology will accrue more rapid adoptions.
B. The price of the technology will rise exponentially.
C. The production of complementary goods will cease.
D. The technology's installed base will accumulate much more slowly.
Q:
LiteShoes Inc. has recently obtained architectural control for its shoe glider technology. By doing so, the company has:
A. improved its efficiency in controlling the rate at which the technology is upgraded or refined.
B. limited its ability to measure the product's compatibility with the complements produced by others.
C. limited its potential to influence other firms in the industry.
D. eliminated the possibilities of "feature creep."
Q:
Sally has come up with a unique recipe for cookies and is selling them through exclusive outlets all across Atlanta. As the sales skyrocket, her friends tell her to patent the recipe. However, she is so protective of her recipe that she does not even want to reveal her secret ingredients to a government agency. Is there anything she can do to keep the recipe legally protected?
A. No, she cannot protect her recipe unless she is willing to get her recipe patented.
B. Yes, her recipe can be considered a trade secret and she can legally prevent others from benefiting from her recipe without her permission.
C. Yes, she can declare her recipe to be a trade secret and register it with the U.S. Trade Secret Agency.
D. No, the recipe is not a tangible product and therefore cannot be protected.
Q:
Software whose code is made freely available to others for use, augmentation, and resale is referred to as: A. wholly proprietary systems.B. patented software.C. open source software.D. copyright protected systems.
Q:
_____ specifies a minimum level of copyright protection for all member countries, and it requires member countries to offer the same protection to both its own citizens and foreign nationals. A. The Berne ConventionB. Treaty of EastonC. The Patent Cooperation TreatyD. The Madrid Agreement
Q:
Which of the following can be protected by a copyright? A. Familiar symbolsB. Names of peopleC. An improvisational speech that has not been recordedD. A novel
Q:
Stevenson, a U.S. citizen, wrote a book called The Ten Commandments of Leadership. He gave away copies of the book to the people who attended his workshops on leadership. The copyright protection for this book: A. is nonexistent unless Stevenson registers it with the Copyright Office.B. is in effect from the time the book was created and fixed in a copy.C. will be valid for only 20 years since the publication of the book.D. will be valid till Stevenson dies.
Q:
Sandy lives in a country that is a member of the Madrid Union. She has registered her trademark within her country. Her trademark is now protected:
A. throughout the world.
B. only in the countries that Sandy chooses among the members of the Madrid Union.
C. only in her own country.
D. only in the countries where products with the trademark are manufactured.
Q:
The difference between copyrights and trademark protection is that: A. trademark is an indicator used to distinguish the source of a good.B. trademarks are a form of protection granted to works of authorship.C. copyrights are established by the legitimate use of a product.D. copyrights can last as long as the copyright is in use.
Q:
David and Sons Corp., a firm that manufactures home appliances, uses a symbol resembling a lightning strike to distinguish its products from other similar products in the market. This symbol is an example of a(n):
A. patent.
B. embargo.
C. statute.
D. trademark.
Q:
Joe's Burgers Corp. is a famous fast-food chain that uses a picture of a cook in a red hat as its symbol. It would not be legal for you to sell hamburgers with the same identification picture as that of Joe's Burgers because that would be a(n):
A. patent violation.
B. trademark violation.
C. embargo violation.
D. trade secret violation.
Q:
Angelo has designed a license plate holder for automobiles that makes theft of the license plate practically impossible. He has filed an application for a patent through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) office, and it has been approved. How long is this application going to protect his right to file for patent protection in the member countries of the PCT?
A. 3 days
B. 6 months
C. 1 year
D. 2 years
Q:
To ensure that companies do not receive patents in countries where they do not intend to set up production of the invention, some countries have a "working requirement," according to which:
A. if the product is not profitable, it will not be granted a patent.
B. patents in a country will only be granted to people who have been working in the country for at least one year.
C. the invention must be manufactured in the country where the patent was granted within a specified period of time.
D. the workers who manufacture the product must be from the country where the patent was granted.
Q:
In the United States, utility patent owners are granted a term of _____ years of protection.
A. 35
B. 20
C. 90
D. 50
Q:
Which of the following statements is true of a patent?
A. The laws governing patent protection are universal and do not differ from country to country.
B. A patent granted in one country provides protection in all other countries as well.
C. In the United States, an inventor can publish an invention up to a year before applying for the patent.
D. Discovery of scientific principles that pertain to natural laws can be patented.
Q:
Under U.S. patent law, which of the following is one of the mandatory requirements to be met by a new invention in order to be eligible for patent protection?
A. It must be obvious.
B. It must be novel.
C. It must substitute one material for another.
D. It must substitute an element for an equivalent element.
Q:
Felix has designed a pair of sunglasses that can be folded and put into a case that easily fits into a shirt or pant pocket. Felix wants to know if he can receive a patent on this invention. Which of the following responses would be most accurate according to U.S. patent law?A. He cannot receive a patent as the invention is only eligible for a copyright protection.B. He cannot receive a patent since he is merely making the sunglasses more portable.C. He cannot receive a patent as the invention is not useful.D. He can receive a patent as the invention is a tangible product.
Q:
After much research, Angela has designed a new automobile tire with a unique polycarbonate exterior that cannot be punctured. In the context of U.S. patent law, which of the following statements would be true for this invention?A. It can be patented as it is useful, novel, and not obvious.B. It can only receive a plant patent.C. It cannot be patented because tires are intangible products.D. It cannot be patented as it is only eligible for a copyright protection.
Q:
Tacit knowledge is best defined as the knowledge that:A. cannot be readily codified or transferred in written form.B. cannot be patented.C. has a very low degree of appropriability.D. is not eligible for copyright protection.
Q:
The scientists at Brainstorm Inc., a private medical research firm, have come up with a remarkable method for curing cancer. This cancer treatment technology is well protected and cannot be easily duplicated. Based on this information, it would be most accurate to say that this technology: A. cannot be patented.B. is easily imitable.C. is not socially complex.D. has a high degree of appropriability.
Q:
Technology trajectories are path dependent.
Q:
For technologies in which standardization and compatibility are important, maintaining the integrity of the core product is absolutely essential.
Q:
External development efforts typically lack the coordination of internal development.
Q:
When multiple firms can produce a technology, losing money on the technology in the short term to promote it as a standard is highly risky.
Q:
Wholly open systems are usually quickly commoditized and provide little appropriability of rents to their developers.
Q:
If multiple firms benefit from a technology's success, the developer of that technology has a much greater incentive to invest in further developing the technology.