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Q:
In the context of s-curves in technological improvement, as a technology begins to reach its inherent limits, the cost of each marginal improvement decreases, and the s-curve flattens.
Q:
In the context of s-curves in technological improvement, performance improvement in the early stages of a technology is rapid if the fundamentals of the technology are poorly understood.
Q:
When a technology's performance is plotted against the amount of effort and money invested in the technology, it typically shows slow initial improvement, then accelerated improvement, then diminishing improvement.
Q:
S-curves in technology performance and s-curves in technology diffusion are fundamentally different processes.
Q:
For a firm to adopt a component innovation, it requires architectural knowledge about the way components link and integrate to form a whole system.
Q:
A modular innovation significantly affects the overall configuration of a system.
Q:
An innovation can be competence enhancing to one firm, while competence destroying for another.
Q:
Product innovations are more important than process innovations to organizations because they are less visible than process innovations.
Q:
The path a technology follows through time is termed as technology trajectory.
Q:
Explain the concept of technology spillovers. What are the factors affecting the likelihood of technological spillovers?
Q:
What are some of the downsides to geographical clustering?
Q:
Explain the terms basic research and applied research.
Q:
In the context of government-funded research, explain the term incubator.
Q:
What are the most important intellectual abilities for creative thinking? What is the impact of knowledge on creativity?
Q:
A variety of rice created by Biocrop Inc. through recombinant DNA technology was found to be rich in both carbohydrates and proteins. After the success of this rice variety, recombinant DNA technology was implemented by less-developed countries to increase the nutrient levels of fruits, pulses, and greens in order to feed their malnourished children. This is an example of _____.
A. technological dissonance
B. technological spillover
C. technological retardation
D. technological determinism
Q:
_____ is a positive externality from R&D resulting from the spread of knowledge across organizational or regional boundaries.
A. Technological discombobulation
B. Technological determinism
C. Technological spillover
D. Technological dissonance
Q:
_____ are individuals or organizations that transfer information from one domain to another in which it can be usefully applied.
A. Knowledge brokers
B. Incubation workers
C. Complementors
D. Category captains
Q:
The benefits firms reap by locating in close geographical proximity to each other are known collectively as _____.
A. agglomeration economies
B. incubator economies
C. virtual economies
D. shadow economies
Q:
Which of the following statements is true of geographical clustering?
A. The proximity of many competitors serving a local market leads to competition that increases their pricing power in their relationships with both buyers and suppliers.
B. Close proximity of firms eliminates the likelihood of a firm's competitors gaining access to the firm's proprietary knowledge.
C. Clustering invariably leads to lower concentration of pollution and inordinately low housing costs.
D. Proximate firms have an advantage in sharing information that can lead to greater innovation productivity.
Q:
_____ are regional groups of firms that have a connection to a common technology and may engage in buyer, supplier, and complementor relationships, as well as research collaboration.
A. Technology transfer offices
B. Technology incubators
C. Strategic business units
D. Technology clusters
Q:
Which of the following is true of interfirm collaborative research and development networks?
A. Collaborative research networks are not important or viable in high-technology sectors.
B. Interfirm networks can enable firms to achieve much more than they could achieve individually.
C. The flow of information and other resources through a network is independent of the network's size.
D. Information diffusion is fairly slow and limited in collaborative research networks with dense structures and many paths for information to travel.
Q:
Institutions designed to nurture the development of new businesses that might otherwise lack access to adequate funding or advices are called _____.
A. complementors
B. research collaboration offices
C. incubators
D. technology clusters
Q:
In 2001, Shanghai's municipal government set aside 13 square kilometers of land near the Huangpu River for university laboratories and start-up firms in microelectronics, digital technology, and life sciences. The project aimed to foster research in microelectronics, the development of a technologically advanced labor pool, and the creation of new industries in Shanghai. This project would be best termed a _____.
A. complementor
B. strategic unit
C. science park
D. free trade area
Q:
Regional districts, typically set up by government, to foster R&D collaboration between government, universities, and private firms are called _____.
A. technological trajectories
B. free trade areas
C. complementors
D. science parks
Q:
Which of the following statements is true about the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980?
A. It made university technology transfer activities illegal and unethical.
B. It allowed universities to collect royalties on inventions funded with taxpayer dollars.
C. It restricted provision of patents for inventions developed at universities.
D. It made investment in research and technology mandatory for public companies.
Q:
The president of Mountain Home University has been asked by the board of trustees to set up a separate unit to facilitate the commercialization of technology developed by the research students at the university. Such a unit is typically called a _____.
A. strategic business unit
B. commercialization office
C. technology transfer office
D. science park
Q:
_____ is the ability of an organization to recognize, assimilate, and utilize new knowledge.
A. Cognitive dissonance
B. Absorptive capacity
C. Organizational obsolescence
D. Built-in obsolescence
Q:
(p. 27) Organizations that manufacture products such as light bulbs for lamps or DVDs for DVD players are examples of _____.
A. moderators
B. lead users
C. complementors
D. incubators
Q:
The demand-pull approach to research and development refers to research and development that:
A. focuses on developing products that are expected to increase demand in a particular market segment.
B. begins by examining the outcomes of the firm's basic research and the potential commercial applications that may be constructed from those outcomes.
C. focuses on developing products that are expected to decrease the demand for their substitute products.
D. originates as a response to the specific problems or suggestions of customers.
Q:
Breaking Ventures Inc. realized that most parents are worried about their teenage children going out on their own. Based on this information, the company developed a device that could be fixed into teenagers' cell phones, and it helped parents keep track of their children's location. This approach to research and development is referred to as _____.
A. demand-pull
B. supply-push
C. science-push
D. research-pull
Q:
Which of the following is the correct sequence of steps for the science-push approach to research and development?
A. Customers express an unmet need, R&D develops the product to meet that need, the product is manufactured, and finally the marketing team promotes the product.
B. Scientific discovery leads to an invention, the engineering team designs the product, it is manufactured, and finally the marketing team promotes it.
C. Marketing discovers a need, R&D comes up with the product concept that is refined by engineering, the manufacturing team produces it, and finally the product is sold.
D. Manufacturing sees a way to improve a product, the engineering team redesigns it, and finally the marketing team creates awareness about the improved product.
Q:
Which of the following is an example of user innovation?
A. Samuel has invented a detachable bicycle in order to make profits by selling it to a reputed bicycle manufacturing firm.
B. Sandra, an engineer, has developed a device that helps track the location of her teenage daughter's car.
C. Jessica, an ace designer for a clothing brand, has been asked to work on a dyeing technique that changes fabric color according to the room temperature.
D. Ivan, a scientist at a reputed pharmaceutical company, has developed an anti-inflammatory drug for the company to commercialize.
Q:
Which of the following is a characteristic of most successful inventors?
A. They specialize solely in a single field rather than several fields simultaneously.
B. They are curious and more interested in solutions than in problems.
C. They blindly accept the assumptions made in previous works in their field.
D. They seek global solutions rather than local solutions.
Q:
Erison Group, an advertising company, wants to hire someone as its creative head. Who among the following would be best suited for this position?
A. An individual who completely adheres to the existing logic and paradigms and has extensive knowledge of the field
B. An individual who has low tolerance for ambiguity and avoids taking risks
C. An individual who has a moderate degree of knowledge of the field but is intrinsically motivated
D. An individual who prefers to look at problems in conventional ways
Q:
The degree to which innovative activities are geographically clustered is independent of the national differences in the way technology development is funded or protected.
Q:
Knowledge that is explicit requires more frequent and close interaction to be meaningfully exchanged than knowledge that is tacit.
Q:
Proximity and interaction can directly influence firms' ability and willingness to exchange knowledge.
Q:
Knowledge that cannot be readily codified is called explicit knowledge.
Q:
Collaborative research is prohibited in high-technology sectors.
Q:
The decline in the government share of spending on R&D is largely due to the rapid increase in industry R&D funding rather than a real decline in the absolute amount spent by the government.
Q:
Incubators are regional districts, typically set up by government, to foster R&D collaboration between government, universities, and private firms.
Q:
Typically, the intellectual property policies of a university embrace both patentable and unpatentable innovations.
Q:
Firms often form alliances with competitors to jointly work on an innovation project or to exchange information in pursuit of innovation.
Q:
The science-push approach to research and development argued that innovation was driven by the perceived demand of potential users.
Q:
Innovation often originates with those who create solutions for their own needs.
Q:
The terms research and development represent different kinds of investment in innovation-related activities.
Q:
Sometimes, monetary rewards undermine creativity by encouraging employees to focus on extrinsic rather than intrinsic motivation.
Q:
An organization's overall creativity level is a simple aggregate of the creativity of the individuals it employs.
Q:
If an individual knows a field too well, it can stifle his ability to come up with solutions that require an alternative perspective.
Q:
Explain how an understanding of the innovation funnel might influence a company's view of research and development.
Q:
Why is it important for a company to have a well-defined process for strategically managing its new product development process?
Q:
What are some of the negative impacts on society due to technological innovation? How would you respond to critics of technological innovation who cite these negative impacts?
Q:
Explain how the globalization of markets affects the importance of innovation.
Q:
Explain the impact of computer-aided design and flexible manufacturing technologies on firms.
Q:
Walter is the new director of R&D at Good Health Inc., a pharmaceutical company. Which of the following statements, if made by Walter, would indicate that he believes in the concept of the innovation funnel?
A. "Innovation is a freewheeling process that is unconstrained by rules and plans."
B. "While there are many potential new product ideas going in the wide end, very few make it through the development process."
C. "I believe that Good Health should limit new idea generation to save time and other resources."
D. "I believe that Good Health should allow all new ideas generated in the company to make it to the development process."
Q:
Jordan, the CEO of Early Bird Corp., believes that it is important to focus on the quantity of new product ideas generated rather than the quality of ideas generated. He encourages everyone in the company to come up with product ideas, and those that seem feasible are further developed. According to him, it takes several raw ideas to develop one successful new product. Jordan's views reflect the concept of:
A. innovation adolescence.
B. innovation diffusion.
C. innovation readiness.
D. innovation funnel.
Q:
Unicorn Medicines Inc., a pharmaceutical company based in the United States, has its research and development units spread across the globe. Lately, these research and development units have not been receiving adequate financial support. Which of the following is most likely to be the cause for such a situation?
A. Technical innovation leads to lower market segmentation and slower product obsolescence.
B. Most innovative ideas do not become successful new products.
C. The product development cycle in the pharmaceutical industry is short.
D. The cost associated with pharmaceutical research and development is low.
Q:
The innovation process is often conceived of as a funnel because:
A. most innovative ideas become successful new products.
B. it decreases the amount of output achievable from a given quantity of labor and capital.
C. it increases the importance of production economies of scale.
D. there are many potential new product ideas and only a few make it through the development process.
Q:
Electronic waste results from the disposal of technological goods. This is an example of:
A. the Solow Residual.
B. a negative externality.
C. a negative variance.
D. the innovation funnel.
Q:
Which of the following is true of externalities?
A. All externalities are negative in nature.
B. They are only borne by individuals responsible for creating them.
C. Technological innovation results in complete eradication of negative externalities.
D. Externalities can be in the form of benefits reaped by individuals.
Q:
If a business builds a park in a community, it creates a(n) _____ for the community members.
A. social cost
B. positive externality
C. opportunity cost
D. negative variance
Q:
Technology is, in its purest essence, _____.
A. knowledge
B. dissonance
C. chaos
D. guesswork
Q:
Silk Work Inc., a manufacturer of silk garments, is planning to replace hand weaving with some modern machines that run on fuel. Which of the following consequences of this measure can be categorized as a negative externality?
A. Increased amount of output achievable from the given quantity of labor
B. Increase in the quality of the silk garments
C. Increased pollution as a result of the new technology
D. Increased need for investment to finance the modernization
Q:
Kroters Inc. decides to set up its manufacturing plant near Woodsville, a small community of farmers. Kroters is most likely to create a positive externality for the community members of Woodsville if it:
A. increases its product life cycle based on consumer demand.
B. sets up an organic farm near Woodsville.
C. follows the Solow Residual.
D. reduces the rate of product obsolescence for Woodsville residents.
Q:
Which of the following is most likely to create a positive externality for its neighboring community members?
A. A coal mine
B. An organic farm
C. A petroleum refinery
D. A dye manufacturing company
Q:
_____ refer to the costs (or benefits) of technological innovations that are borne by individuals other than those responsible for creating them.
A. Externalities
B. Innovation funnels
C. Opportunity costs
D. Cultural lags
Q:
The Solow Residual refers to the:
A. obsolete products left in a market due to accelerated product life cycles.
B. less developed nations of the world being left behind due to their obsolete technology.
C. increased amount of output achievable from a given quantity of labor and capital due to technological innovation.
D. process of dumping goods in developing and underdeveloped countries at a price lower than the home-market price.
Q:
If a country's GDP stands at $4,867 billion, it means that the country's _____ is worth $4,867 billion.
A. total annual output
B. investment on technological innovation
C. savings with the World Bank
D. negative variance in budget
Q:
Technological innovations increase:
A. the gross domestic product of an economy.
B. product life cycles.
C. the time required for product development and introduction.
D. the production costs of multiple product variations.
Q:
Virtual Inc., a manufacturing company, has recently entered the cell phone industry. This industry is characterized by rapid technological innovations. Which of the following is most likely to be true for Virtual?
A. The life cycle of its cell phones will be very long.
B. It will face rapid product obsolescence.
C. It will face low market segmentation in the cell phone industry.
D. It will have a lower need for product differentiation.
Q:
Which of the following is true of technological innovations?
A. Technological innovations help increase a country's gross domestic product.
B. Technological innovations decrease the amount of output achievable from a given quantity of labor and capital.
C. Technological innovations slow down product obsolescence and lengthen the product development cycles.
D. Technological innovations increase production costs and reduce product differentiation.
Q:
The _____ of an economy is its total annual output as measured by its final purchase price.
A. balance of payment
B. gross domestic product
C. cash reserve ratio
D. net national income
Q:
As a result of the rapid pace of innovation:
A. product life cycles have become short.
B. product development cycles have become significantly longer.
C. market segmentation has reduced.
D. product obsolescence has slowed down.
Q:
Which of the following is an advantage of flexible manufacturing technologies?
A. They have made shorter production runs economical.
B. They have increased the importance of production economies of scale.
C. They eliminate the need for differentiation from competitors.
D. They have reduced the importance of technological innovation in industries.
Q:
A firm's organizational structure and control systems have no influence on the generation of innovative ideas.
Q:
According to the concept of the innovation funnel, one new idea is usually responsible for several new products.
Q:
According to the concept of innovation funnel, the number of successful products launched will be greater than the number of raw ideas generated.
Q:
The majority of effort and money invested in technological innovation comes from nonindustrial firms.
Q:
The innovation process is often conceived of as a funnel because most potential new product ideas make it through the development process.
Q:
Most innovative ideas do not become successful new products.