Deck 11: Managing Knowledge

Question 1

People with a bachelor's degree earn $25,000 a year more than people with a high school diploma, and the gap has been increasing over time.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Almost all organizations are using knowledge management to run their operations more efficiently and effectively.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Intellectual capital is knowledge that can only be used at the time it is developed.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Wal-Mart has spent less than $1 million on information technology.

Question 5

Firms should position themselves strategically based on their products and services rather than on the unique and valuable resources and capabilities from which they are derived.

Question 6

IBM generates more revenues from selling knowledge in the form of computer services than from selling computers.

Question 7

Knowledge is the only asset that can help a firm adapt to radical change as markets shift, uncertainty dominates and technologies proliferate.

Question 8

Intellectual property rights are knowledge resources that can be legally protected and thus potentially used as a competitive advantage.

Question 9

Public knowledge can be protected from others, and includes a firm's unique routines, processes, documentation and trade secrets.

Question 10

Explicit knowledge is developed through experience and depends on an individual or group's insight and intuition. It is more difficult to transfer to others and often requires interactive experience.

Question 11

Social capital theory is concerned with an individual's position in a social network of relationships and the resources embedded in, available through, or derived from these networks.

Question 12

Knowledge management is an organization's ability to acquire, integrate, share and apply knowledge resources for sustainable advantage.

Question 13

Seattle-based Brooks Sports uses an in-house laboratory to design and test its shoes.

Question 14

According to the Christian Science Monitor, 90 percent of all U.S. firms use continent employees.

Question 15

Spirals of knowledge occur when socialization, externalization, combination and internalization become an ongoing interactive process of learning.

Question 16

A learning organization is able to create, acquire, interpret, transfer and retain knowledge to purposefully improve the value they create.

Question 17

Benchmarking is used by organizations to compare their activities and outcomes with the activities and outcomes of successful firms.

Question 18

Externalization occurs as employees translate tacit knowledge into more explicit knowledge that can be more readily shared.

Question 19

Tacit knowledge is learned through experience and includes an individual's insight and intuition.

Question 20

Accenture is an example of a firm with a well-developed knowledge management strategy.

Question 21

Knowledge-intensive industries represent _____ percent of developed countries GDP.

A) 1-5%
B) 10-20%
C) 30-50%
D) 70-80%

Question 22

Which of the following is not true about YouTube?

A) Started by Chad Hurley and Steve Chen
B) Made agreements with Universal Music Group, CBS, Sony BMG and Warner
C) Purchased by Microsoft
D) Includes both homemade and commercially developed music videos

Question 23

Which of the following firms has the smallest ratio of knowledge capital to physical capital?

A) Personal trainers
B) Financial advisory
C) Manufacturing firms
D) Adventure travel firms

Question 24

Which of the following is not a traditional capital asset?

A) Engines
B) Employees
C) Turbines
D) Machinery

Question 25

The company Nucor famously revolutionized which industry by reducing the labour to produce one ton down from 3-4 hours to 45 minutes?

A) Sugar
B) Sheet steel
C) Bricks
D) Candy

Question 26

What resource is generally considered to be the most unique and most likely to create sustained advantage?

A) Finance
B) Knowledge
C) Social capital
D) Equipment

Question 27

Which of the following is not true about human capital theory?

A) Examines the role of individual's competence, focusing on how an individual's knowledge enhances cognitive abilities and can result in more effective activities
B) Was developed after assessing the role of the tragic loss of lives in World War II
C) Focuses on individual's networks with others and the value derived from these networks.

Question 28

What percentage of employees in a Harris poll report that they believe "Wrong decisions are regularly made because employee knowledge isn't effectively tapped."

A) 1%
B) 11%
C) 31%
D) 51%

Question 29

Which of the following is true about knowledge?

A) Most of the cost is in the distribution, rather than the development.
B) Knowledge always loses its value as more people use it.
C) Knowledge can be distributed widely.
D) Knowledge is raw input such as facts, words and numbers.

Question 30

Which of the following is true about explicit knowledge?

A) Not easily taught
B) Not easily written down
C) Commonly resides in standard operating procedures, information systems, and rules
D) Large firms have very little explicit knowledge.

Question 31

Which of the following is not an example of organizational memory?

A) Written documentation
B) Structured electronic databases
C) Contract employees

Question 32

_____________ knowledge is shared among individuals and is more compelling and more likely to be used than __________ knowledge.

A) Codified, personalized
B) Personalized, codified
C) Personalized, organizational
D) Organizational, personalized

Question 33

Former CEO John Browne's peer assist program at British Petroleum (BP) is an example of a _____________ process.

A) Signature
B) Best practice
C) Combination

Question 34

External sources of knowledge include all of the following except:

A) Alliances
B) Outsourcing
C) External consultants
D) Organizational culture

Question 35

Which of the following is not a means of gathering information and knowledge from the external environment?

A) Organization structure
B) Contingent employees
C) Cooperative agreements with other organizations
D) Customers

Question 36

_______________ describes the experience-sharing process of conveying tacit knowledge from one person to another, whereby a more experienced individual communicates mental models, technical skills, and other tacit knowledge.

A) Socialization
B) Externalization
C) Personalization
D) Codification

Question 37

Nonaka and Takeuchi's four aspects of knowledge creation are:

A) Socialization, Externalization, Personalization, Codification
B) Socialization, Personalization, Internalization, Codification
C) Socialization, Externalization, Combination, Internalization
D) Combination, Internalization, Codification, Externalization

Question 38

In the context of knowledge management and firm governance, what does CIO stand for?

A) Chief Information Officer
B) Central Intelligence Office
C) Chief Executive Officer

Question 39

Which of the following is true about benchmarking?

A) Involves collecting data and other intelligence only from inside the firm.
B) Focuses on how well units of the firm are doing compared to one another
C) Seeks to identify best practices from outside and take actions to improve a firm's position

Question 40

Which of the following is true about strategic alliances?

A) Include research consortiums, joint ventures, long-term supplier relationships
B) Are always successful
C) Include only networks between firms located in different countries
D) Do not include transfers of knowledge

Question 41

What are some of the most important external sources of knowledge?

Question 42

Define the terms: knowledge, data and information. What is the relationship among them?

Question 43

Provide examples of formal and informal knowledge management activities.

Question 44

What are the four types of knowledge creation which Nonaka and Takeuchi defined? Provide an example of each.

Question 45

Provide three examples each of intrinsic and extrinsic incentives to share knowledge.

Question 46

Provide three examples each of technological and organizational components of knowledge management.

Question 47

What are the four essential knowledge management processes? What are some ways to facilitate each?

Question 48

Imagine you have recruited a new member to your team at work. What formal and informal means would you use to share tacit and explicit knowledge? Provide examples.

Question 49

How do organizational systems affect knowledge management? Provide examples.