Exam 2 Flashcards
What is absolute advantage?
specialization in the production of goods one area can produce more efficiently than any other
What is comparative advantage?
specialization in the production of goods one area can produce at the greatest relative advantage
all about lowest opportunity cost
What is competitive advantage? How is it sustained?
providing greater value for customers than competitors can
greater value that cannot be duplicated and they stop trying to duplicate
What are resources used for?
improve efficiency and effectiveness
gain competitive advantage
What are resources?
the assets, capabilities, employee time, information, and knowledge used by an organization
What are valuable resources?
allow companies to improve efficiency and effectiveness
What are rare resources?
resources are not controlled or possessed by many competing firms
What are imperfectly imitable resource?
impossible or extremely costly or difficult for other firms to duplicate
What are non-substitutable resource?
produces value or competitive advantage and has no equivalent substitutes or replacements
Who is Michael Porter and what did he say about competitive advantage?
Professor at Harvard that created Porter Diamond
specialization that results in cost and differentiation advantages, strategic management, providing grater value than competitors can
What is SWOT and give examples
Strength: Apple Brand Recognition
Weakness:
Opportunity
Threats
companies use when they want to
What is competitive inertia?
a reluctance to change strategies or competitive practices that have been successful in the psat
What are core firms
the central companies in a strategic group
What are secondary firms
firms in a strategic group that follow strategies related to but a little different from core firms.
What is diversification
strategy for reducing risk by buying a variety of types of businesses so that the failure of one does not doom the entire portfolio
What is a BCG matrix?
portfolio strategy developed by the Boston Consulting Group that categorizes a corporation’s business by growth rate and relative market share and helps managers decide how to invest corporate funds
cash cow - large segment of business and has low market growth (few competitors)
dogs - small segment of business with low market growth
? - small segment of business with high market growth (could become any of the others)
stars - large segment and high market growth
What is lost leadership:
producing a product or service of acceptable quality at consistently lower production costs than competitors can
What is product differentiation
providing a product or service that is sufficiently different from competitors offerings that customers are willing to pay a premium price for it
What is s-curve pattern of innovation
a pattern of technological innovation with slow initial progress, then rapid progress, then slow progress as it reaches its limits
What is technology cycle?
a cycle that begins with the birth of a new technology and ends when the technology reaches its limits and is replaced
What are innovation streams
patterns of innovation over time that can create sustainable competitive advantage
Phases of innovation streams
technological discontinuity - breakthrough by scientific advance or new idea
discontinuous change
- technological substitution: buy new tech to replace old ones
- design competition: competition between old and new tech to establish new technological standard
What is a dominant design?
a new technological design/process that becomes the accepted market standard
What is technological lockout?
inability of a company to competitively sell its products because it relies on non-dominant design
What are components of creative work environments?
organizational encouragement, challenging work, supervisory encouragement, work group encouragement, freedom, lack of organizational impediments
Experiential approach to innovation:
(let people try and learn from mistakes)
Why do we resist change:
self interest - fear that it will cost or deprive
misunderstanding/distrust = don’t understand why or don’t trust org.
some people are less capable of handling change
What is a multinational corporation? How common are they?
a corporation that owns businesses in two or more countries
extremely common nowadays
What is a direct foreign investment? Is US investment substantial?
a method of investment in which a company builds a new business or buys existing in foreign country
over 3 billion $ investment each way
What are trade barriers?
government imposed regulations that increase the coast and restrict the number of imported goods
What is a tariff?
a direct tax on IMPORTED goods
(will say export tariff if export)
What are nontariff barriers
non tax methods of increasing the cost or reducting the volume of imported goods
quotas, voluntary export restraints, government import standard, subsidies, customs classification
Who bares the brunt of tariffs and non-tariff barriers?
consumers
What is protectionism?
government’s use of trade barriers to shield domestic companies and their workers from foreign competition
Trade Barriers
say that they are to protect people, but are really to reduce cheap trade
What are quotas?
a limit on the number or volume of imported products
What are voluntary export restraints?
voluntarily imposed limits on the number or volume of products exported to a particular country
What is a government import standard?
a standard ostensibly established to protect the health and safety of citizens (but really to restrict imports)
What are subsidies?
government loans, grants, and tax deferments given to domestic companies to protect them from foreign competition (often commodity production [nat resource])
What are customs classifications?
classification assigned to imported products by gov officials that affects the size of the tariff and the imposition of import quotas
What is the WTO?
World Trade Organization (WTO) - successor to GATT, to ensure trade flows smoothly and predictably
How is a regional trade agreement different than a bilateral trade agreement?
bilateral is between two parties
regional is that but with those that share a region
What is a franchise (cooperative contract)?
a collection of networked firms in which the manufacturer or marketer of a product/service licenses the entire business to another person/organization
What is a strategic alliance
agreement for companies to combine key resources, costs, risks, tech, and people
What is a joint venture?
strategic alliance in which two companies collaborate to form a third, independent company
What is global consistency?
when multinational company has locations in different countries and runs them all using the same rules, guideline, policies, and procedures
What is local adaptation?
modifying rules, guidelines, policies, and procedures to adapt to differences in foreign customers, government, and agencies
What are consistent cultural dimensions that exist across countries?
power distance - perception of power distrib
individualism - belief in self-sufficiency
masculinity/femininity
uncertainty avoidance
short/long term orientation
indulgence v. restraint
What is departmentalization?
subdividing work and workers into separate organizational units responsible for completing particular tasks
What is functional departmentalization?
organizing work and workers into separate units responsible for particular business functions
What is product departmentalization?
organizing work and workers into separate units responsible for producing particular products
What is customer departmentalization?
organizing work and workers into separate units responsible for particular kinds of customers
What is geographic departmentalization?
organizing work and workers into separate units responsible for doing business in particular geographic area
What is matrix departmentalization?
a hybrid organizational structure in which two or more forms of departmentalization, most often product and functional, are used together
What is a simple matrix?
a form of matrix departmentalization in which managers in different parts of the matrix negotiate conflicts and resources
What is a complex matrix?
a form of matrix departmentalization where managers in different parts of the matrix report to matrix managers, who help them sort out conflicts and problems
What is chain of command?
the vertical line of authority that clarifies who reports to whom throughout the organization
What is the unity of command?
a management principle that workers should report to just one boss
What is centralization of authority?
the location of most authority at the upper levels of the organization
What is decentralization?
the location of a significant amount of authority in the lower levels of the organization
What should companies do regarding degree of centralization?
centralize where standardization is important
decentralize where standardization is unimportant
What is job rotation?
periodically moving workers from one specialized job to another to give them more variety and the opportunity to use different skills
What is job enlargement?
increasing the number of different tasks that a worker performs within one particular job
What is job enrichment?
increasing the number of tasks in a particular job and giving workers the authority and control to make meaningful decisions about their work
What is the job characteristics model?
an approach to job redesign that seeks to formulate jobs in ways that motivate workers and create positive work outcomes
What are mechanistic organizations?
one characterized by specialized jobs and responsibilities, with well defined and unchanging roles and rigid chain of command
What are organic organizations?
characterized by broadly defined jobs and responsibilities, loosely defined roles and decentralized authority
What is pooled interdependence?
work completed by a department independently and added to a whole
What is sequential interdependence?
work completed in succession, one groups outputs become the next groups inputs
What is reciprocal interdependence?
work completed by different groups working together in a back and forth manner
What are the advantages of teams?
increase costumer satisfaction
improve output quality
increase speed and efficiency
can increase job satisfaction
share benefits of group decision making
What are the disadvantages of teams?
Not a guarantee of positive outcomes
initial high turnover
social loafing - team members withhold effort because the group will cover for them
groupthink
minority domination
What is employee involvement team?
provides advice to management concerning specific issues
What is semiautonomous work group?
group that has authority to make decisions and solve problems related to the major tasks of producing a product or service
What is self-managing team?
team that manages and controls all major tasks of a product or service
What is a cross-functional team?
team composed of employees from different functional areas of the organization
What is a virtual team?
team composed of geographically or organizationally dispersed workers who use telecommunication and tech to accomplish org tasks
What are work team characteristics?
team norms
team cohesiveness
team size
team conflict
stages of team development
What are the stages of team development?
Forming -
Storming -
Norming -
Performing -
Denorming - reversal of norming, performance declines as things change
De-storming - teams comfort decreases, cohesion weakens, more conflict
De-forming - reversal of forming, team members position themselves to control pieces of teams and isolate themselves
Does teamwork make the dreamwork?
No, have to select a cohesive team and people who have the skills necessary that mesh well with a team
