Chapter 3

Question 1

a strategic analysis of an organization that uses value-creating activities.

Answer 1

value-chain analysis

Question 2

sequential activities of the value chain that refer to the physical creation of the product or service, its sale and transfer to the buyer, and its service after sale, including inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service.

Answer 2

primary activities

Question 3

activities of the value chain that either add value by themselves or add value through important relationships with both primary activities and other support activities; including procurement, technology development, human resource management, and general administration.

Answer 3

support activities

Question 4

receiving, storing, and distributing inputs of a product.

Answer 4

inbound logistics

Question 5

all activities associated with transforming inputs into the final product form.

Answer 5

operations

Question 6

collecting, storing, and distributing the product or service to buyers.

Answer 6

outbound logistics

Question 7

activities associated with purchases of products and services by end users and the inducements used to get them to make purchases.

Answer 7

marketing and sales

Question 8

actions associated with providing service to enhance or maintain the value of the product.

Answer 8

service

Question 9

the function of purchasing inputs used in the firm’s value chain, including raw materials, supplies, and other consumable items as well as assets such as machinery, laboratory equipment, office equipment, and buildings.

Answer 9

procurement

Question 10

activities associated with the development of new knowledge that is applied to the firm’s operations.

Answer 10

technology development

Question 11

activities involved in the recruiting, hiring, training, development and compensation of all types of personnel.

Answer 11

human resource management

Question 12

general management, planning, finance, accounting, legal and government affairs, quality management, and information systems; activities that support the entire value chain and not individual activities.

Answer 12

general administration

Question 13

collaborative and strategic exchange relationships between value-chain activities either (a) within firms or (b) between firms. Strategic exchange relationships involve exchange of resources such as information, people, technology, or money that contribute to the success of the firm.

Answer 13

interrelationships

Question 14

perspective that firms’ competitive advantages are due to their endowment of strategic resources that are valuable, rare, costly to imitate, and costly to substitute.

Answer 14

resource-based view of the firm

Question 15

organizational assets that are relatively easy to identify, including physical assets, financial resources, organizational resources, and technological resources.

Answer 15

tangible resources

Question 16

organizational assets that are difficult to identify and account for and are typically embedded in unique routines and practices, including human resources, innovation resources, and reputation resources.

Answer 16

intangible resources

Question 17

the competencies and skills that a firm employs to transform inputs into outputs.

Answer 17

organizational capabilities

Question 18

a characteristic of resources that is developed and/or accumulated through a unique series of events.

Answer 18

path dependency

Question 19

a characteristic of a firm’s resources that is costly to imitate because a competitor cannot determine what the resource is and/or how it can be re-created.

Answer 19

causal ambiguity

Question 20

a characteristic of a firm’s resources that is costly to imitate because the social engineering required is beyond the capability of competitors, including interpersonal relations among managers, organizational culture, and reputation with suppliers and customers.

Answer 20

social complexity

Question 21

a technique for measuring the performance of a firm according to its balance sheet, income statement, and market valuation.

Answer 21

financial ratio analysis

Question 22

a method of evaluating a firm’s performance using performance measures from the customers’, internal, innovation and learning, and financial perspectives.

Answer 22

balanced scorecard

Question 23

measures of firm performance that indicate how well firms are satisfying customers’ expectations.

Answer 23

customer perspective

Question 24

measures of firm performance that indicate how well firms’ internal processes, decisions and actions are contributing to customer satisfaction.

Answer 24

internal business perspective

Question 25

measures of firm performance that indicate how well firms are changing their product and service offerings to adapt to changes in the internal and external environments.

Answer 25

innovation and learning perspective

Question 26

measures of firms’ financial performance that indicate how well strategy, implementation and execution are contributing bottom-line improvement.

Answer 26

financial perspective

Question 27

five primary activities

Answer 27

inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service

Question 28

support activities

Answer 28

procurement, technology development, human resource management, and general administration