Question 1

Typically the most important factor in the relationship between companies and their suppliers is ____.

Accepted Answer

The level of dependence between a company and its supplier is a crucial factor in their relationship. If one party is highly dependent on the other, it can create power imbalances and affect the overall effectiveness of the partnership. Factors like knowledge, culture, and product type can also play a role, but dependence is typically the most important.

Question 2

An increase in ____ can lead to opportunistic behavior in which one party benefits at the expense of the other.

Accepted Answer

Buyer dependence can lead to opportunistic behavior because when one party is heavily reliant on another, the more powerful party may exploit this dependence to their advantage.

Question 3

The term ____ refers to the events and trends inside an organization that affect management, employees, and the organizational culture.

Accepted Answer

The term "internal environment" refers to the events and trends inside an organization that affect management, employees, and the organizational culture. The other options, including managerial environment, industry environment, general environment, and organizational structure, do not specifically refer to the events and trends within an organization.

Question 4

Two homebuilders are building homes in nearby subdivisions. One is offering 2,500-square-foot homes with two-acre yards. The other is offering a similar size of house with quarter-acre yards. The builder offering the smaller lots cannot keep up with demand. The builder offering the larger lots has several unsold houses. The builder with the smaller lots most likely used ____ to determine what homebuyers desired.

Accepted Answer

The builder with the smaller lots used proactive customer monitoring to determine what homebuyers desired. Proactive customer monitoring involves actively seeking feedback and input from customers to understand their preferences and needs. In contrast, reactive customer monitoring involves only responding to customer feedback and complaints after they are received. The fact that the builder offering smaller lots is unable to keep up with demand indicates that they were able to effectively anticipate and meet customer needs based on proactive customer monitoring.

Question 5

The creation of Ingram Distribution allows booksellers to streamline the ordering and return procedures of their books. Ingram made all the books bookstore owners wanted available in one centralized warehouse. Many new bookstore owners would be unwilling and/or unable to return to the method of ordering books from the individual publishers. This is an example of the creation of ____.

Accepted Answer

The creation of Ingram Distribution created high buyer dependence on the supplier, as it streamlined the ordering and return process of books for bookstore owners by making all the books they wanted available in one centralized warehouse. Bookstore owners became reliant on Ingram as their primary supplier.

Question 6

Which of the following is one of the steps in the process that managers use to make sense of their changing environments?

Accepted Answer

Acting on threats and opportunities is one of the steps in the process that managers use to make sense of their changing environments. This involves identifying external factors that could positively or negatively impact the organization and taking action to respond to them.

Question 7

The first step managers use to make sense of their changing environments is ____.

Accepted Answer

Environmental scanning is the process of monitoring and analyzing the external environment to identify opportunities and threats that may impact the organization. This is the first step in making sense of the changing environment.

Question 8

A high degree of buyer or seller dependence can lead to ____ in which one party benefits at the expense of the other.

Accepted Answer

Opportunistic behavior occurs when one party takes advantage of the dependence of the other party to benefit at their expense, often due to an imbalance in power or information.

Question 9

In setting up his new office, an attorney wanted furnishings that were elegant and that would make him look successful. He wanted thick, plush carpeting in his office, but federal regulations state that his office must be wheelchair accessible because it is a public area. Wheelchairs do not maneuver well in thick carpeting. The building inspector had him remove the expensive carpeting and replace it with a carpet that did allow for wheelchair maneuverability. This is an example of how the ____ component of a company's specific environment influences it.

Accepted Answer

The situation describes how industry regulations, specifically federal regulations regarding accessibility, influence the attorney's office setup.

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT a potential legal risk associated with traditional managerial decisions like recruiting, hiring, and firing employees?

Accepted Answer

Product liability is related to the responsibility of manufacturers and sellers to ensure that products are safe and free from defects, and is not typically associated with employment decisions like recruiting, hiring, and firing.

Question 11

Advocacy groups use a variety of tactics to convince businesses to comply with the group's stand on issues. Which of the following advocacy group tactics would be most likely to cause a business to fail?

Accepted Answer

Product boycotts can directly impact a business's revenue by encouraging consumers not to purchase its products, potentially leading to financial failure if the boycott is widespread and sustained.

Question 12

Small manufacturers are successful often because Wal-Mart agrees to carry their products. If Wal-Mart does not like a price increase, it often will refuse to do business with the manufacturer. At this point, many small manufacturers will offer price reductions because they fear failure if they lose the Wal-Mart account. The relationship between these small manufacturers and Wal-Mart can be described as ____.

Accepted Answer

The relationship is buyer dependent because the small manufacturers rely heavily on Wal-Mart to carry their products, and Wal-Mart has significant power over them.

Question 13

____ is a tactic in which an advocacy group actively tries to convince consumers not to purchase a company's product or service.

Accepted Answer

Product boycott is a tactic in which an advocacy group actively tries to convince consumers not to purchase a company's product or service. This can be done through various means such as social media campaigns, protests, and public statements. The purpose of a product boycott is to put pressure on the company to change its policies or practices that the advocacy group considers harmful or unacceptable.

Question 14

A fast-food restaurant chain is famous for its small, square hamburgers. Which of the following would be an industry regulation component of its specific environment?

Accepted Answer

Local health inspectors are part of the specific environment as they directly regulate and inspect the restaurant's operations to ensure compliance with health and safety standards.

Question 15

Two homebuilders are building homes in nearby subdivisions. One is offering 2,500-square-foot homes with two-acre yards. The other is offering a similarly sized house with quarter-acre yards. The builder offering the smaller lots cannot keep up with demand. The builder offering the larger lots has several unsold houses. The builder with the larger lots could use ____ to determine why his homes are not selling.

Accepted Answer

Reactive customer monitoring is defined as identifying and addressing customer trends and problems after they occur.

Question 16

____ involves deciding who your competitors are, anticipating competitors' moves, and determining competitors' strengths and weaknesses.

Accepted Answer

The description given fits the definition of a competitive analysis, which involves identifying competitors, analyzing their strategies and strengths, and anticipating their future moves. Other options such as SWOT analysis and market audit may be relevant but are not specific to analyzing competition.

Question 17

Companies doing a competitive analysis typically err by ____.

Accepted Answer

Managers tend to focus on two or three well-known competitors and may overlook less visible/familiar competitors.

Question 18

An emphasis on ____ is likely to decrease opportunistic behavior but will never completely eliminate it.

Accepted Answer

Emphasizing relationship behavior can help decrease opportunistic behavior as it encourages both parties to prioritize trust, communication, and mutual benefit. However, it is difficult to completely eliminate opportunistic behavior as it can arise from various factors such as individual motives, external factors, and the nature of the relationship itself.

Question 19

____ is used to refer to a company's practice of identifying and addressing customer trends and problems after they occur.

Accepted Answer

Reactive customer monitoring is the practice of identifying and addressing customer trends and problems after they occur. This approach is in contrast to proactive customer monitoring, which aims to anticipate customer needs and address them before they become problems.

Question 20

Kodak makes digital cameras and paper for prints. Kodak would view the ubiquity of digital cameras as a(n)____ in its external environment if it considered how digital cameras affect sales of cameras that use film. On the other hand, Kodak would view the growing popularity of digital cameras as a(n)____ in its external environment if it considered the amount of Kodak processing paper used in printing pictures made by digital cameras.

Accepted Answer

The ubiquity of digital cameras is a threat to Kodak's film camera sales, but an opportunity for its digital printing paper sales.

Quiz 2: Organizational Environments and Culture