Quiz 4 (Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 8) – Flashcards

A firm's financial performance that consistently outperforms its industry's peers is known as _____.

Which of the following represents one of the primary components of the value chain? A) Human resource management B) Procurement C) Firm infrastructure D) Outbound logistics E) Research and development

_____ Law is said to be at play when the value of a product or service increases as its number of users expands.

The _____ problem exists when rivals watch a pioneer's efforts, learn from their successes and missteps, and then enter the market quickly with a comparable or superior product at a lower cost.

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

A firm is said to be _____ when it attempts to match the benefits of a successful position while maintaining its existing position.

_____ exist when consumers incur an expense to move from one product or service to another.

Zara negates the risk of maintaining high inventory by:

Zara's staff members regularly collect data from customers at its stores. This data is used to:

How does Zara differ from its competitors in converting ideas into products?

Zara's production costs could rise at higher rates than its competitors because its costs are pegged to the _____.

What implications do rising fuel costs have on Zara's operating model?

_____ represents an integrated solution that combines hardware, software, data, procedures, and the people who interact with and are impacted by the system.

In an industry where nearly every major player outsources manufacturing to low-cost countries, Zara is highly _____, keeping huge swaths of its production process in-house.

Which of the following factors represents one of the sources of value derived from network effects? A) Congestion B) Information symmetry C) Price transparency D) Staying power E) Complementary cost

The video game business is said to be a two-sided market. Customers buy a video game console largely based on the number of really great games available for the system. Software developers write games based on:

eBay auctions more books over its portal than any of its rivals. Similarly, Second Life has more virtual storefronts than its rivals. This is because:

Which of the following products or services is not subject to network effects? A) Video game consoles B) Cell phone services C) Banking services D) Laundry services E) Social networks

A market is said to be _____ if it derives most of its value from a single class of users.

Which of the following terms is used as an alternative to switching costs? A) Network impedance B) Lock-in C) Exchange benefits D) Straddling costs E) Complementary benefits

The set of activities through which a product or service is created and delivered to customers is known as a(n) _____.

According to the resource-based view of competitive advantage, if a firm is to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage, it must control a set of resources that have four critical characteristics. Which of the following is one of those characteristics?

Which of the following statements about technology is true? A) Technological improvements are not important in strengthening a firm's strategic advantages. B) Technology cannot be used by late entrants to gain a share of the industry. C) Technology plays a marginal role in creating strategic differences. D) Technology alone is enough to provide sustainable competitive advantage to a firm E) Technological improvements can be copied by rivals, leading to a profit-eroding arms race.

According to an independent study, Zara books some 85 percent of its products at full price compared to the industry average markdown ratio of 50 percent. This is made possible by:

In retail in general and fashion in particular, having _____ is considered the kiss of death.

As the world's largest chain of coffee houses, Starbucks sources most of its raw materials such as coffee beans and vegetables from suppliers owned by it. It also holds equal or majority stakes in most of the foreign direct investment it carries out in other countries to set up franchisee coffee shops. Based on this information, Starbucks can be said to be:

_____ involves outsourcing production to third-party firms.

Dell's fall in market share due to rivals copying its value chain is cited as a precedent for Zara. However, which of the following factors suggests that Zara's value chain might be more difficult to copy?

Which of the following is an example of a one-sided market? A) Nintendo games B) Operating systems C) Cell phone networks D) Yellow pages E) Credit card services

Metcalfe's Law is also known as:

Windows OS, the iPhone, the Wii, and Facebook's application programming interfaces allow for the development and integration of complementary goods by third parties. Based on this evidence, all these products or services are said to be _____.

A market dominated by a small number of powerful sellers is known as a(n) _____ .

Businesses benefit from economies of scale when the cost of an investment can be:

Moving first pays off when the time lead is used to create:

The paths through which products or services get to customers are known as _____.

_____ are critical for capturing sales data, and are usually linked to inventory systems to subtract out any sold items.

_____ are products or services that add additional value to the primary product or service that makes up a network.