Question 1

Which of the following constitutes the strategic triangle of a business unit?

Accepted Answer

Dr. Kenichi Ohmae points out that any business unit must take into account three key players: the company itself, the competition, and the customer. These components form what Ohmae refers to as the strategic triangle.

Question 2

In a _____ organization, top management ensures that there is consensus about the direction in which the business is heading.

Accepted Answer

In a high-involvement organization, top management ensures that there is a consensus about the direction in which the business is heading. The leader seeks input from his or her top management team and from lower levels of the company.

Question 3

McKittridge Consulting pursues activities such as engaging in disciplined thinking, searching constantly for new knowledge, benchmarking, and sharing ideas throughout the organization via information systems. Which type of organization is McKittridge Consulting?

Accepted Answer

Engaging in disciplined thinking and paying attention to detail, searching constantly for new knowledge, valuing and rewarding individuals, benchmarking, sharing ideas throughout the organization via reports and information systems are all some of the important activities of a learning organization.

Question 4

Which of the following aspects of an organization creates scale economies and economies of scope and leads to advantages like lower operating costs, greater purchasing power, and easier access to capital?

Accepted Answer

Large size creates scale economies-that is, lower costs per unit of production. And size can offer specific advantages such as lower operating costs, greater purchasing power, and easier access to capital. Size also creates economies of scope.

Question 5

Cancer Survivors Counseling and FlexiSolution Software recently joined forces to produce a nutrition-planning program for use on home computers. The two organizations are working together on the project since neither could have developed it using only their own resources. Both will own the resulting program. This is an example of a ____.

Accepted Answer

A strategic alliance is a formal relationship created with the purpose of joint pursuit of mutual goals such as the development of the nutrition-planning program. In a strategic alliance, individual organizations share administrative authority, form social links, and accept joint ownership.

Question 6

Which of the following statements is true about strategic alliances?

Accepted Answer

Managers typically devote plenty of time to screening potential partners in financial terms. But for the alliance to work, the partners also must consider one another's areas of expertise and the incentives involved in the structure of the alliance.

Question 7

Which of the following statements is true of a high-involvement organization?

Accepted Answer

In a high-involvement organization, top management ensures that there is a consensus about the direction in which the business is heading. High-involvement organizations use a flat, decentralized organizational form built around a customer, good, or service.

Question 8

Structurally, a high-involvement organization is usually ____.

Accepted Answer

Structurally, even lower-level employees in a high-involvement organization have a direct relationship with a customer or supplier and thus receive feedback and are held accountable for a good or service delivery. The organizational form is a flat, decentralized structure built around a customer, good, or service.

Question 9

Because Mega Corp. is very large, it has the ability to use the same process to manufacture multiple related products. This type of efficiency is referred to as an economy of ____.

Accepted Answer

Large size creates economies of scope; materials and processes employed in one product can be used to make other related products.

Question 10

Missy's company just went through the process of downsizing. Missy retained her job, but now she has a much heavier workload. Since the layoffs, Missy has been worried about her future and more reluctant to take risks on the job. Missy is showing the symptoms of ____.

Accepted Answer

Those who survive downsizing and keep their jobs tend to exhibit survivor's syndrome. They struggle with heavier workloads; wonder who will be next to go; try to figure out how to survive; lose commitment to the company and faith in their bosses; and become narrow-minded, self-absorbed, and risk-averse. As a consequence, morale and productivity usually drop.

Question 11

Survivor's syndrome refers to the

Accepted Answer

Those who survive downsizing and keep their jobs tend to exhibit survivor's syndrome. They struggle with heavier workloads; wonder who will be next to go; try to figure out how to survive; lose commitment to the company and faith in their bosses; and become narrow-minded, self-absorbed, and risk-averse. As a consequence, morale and productivity usually drop.

Question 12

What is a strategic alliance?

Accepted Answer

A strategic alliance is a formal relationship created with the purpose of joint pursuit of mutual goals. In a strategic alliance, individual organizations share administrative authority, form social links, and accept joint ownership.

Question 13

Economies of scope refers to the idea that

Accepted Answer

Large size creates economies of scope: materials and processes employed in one product can be used to make other related products.

Question 14

Iris Paint, a manufacturer of designer indoor paint, is in the process of eliminating some positions in its organization. Its management has carefully analyzed all of the jobs and strategically determined which to keep, with an eye toward protecting its most talented people. Which of the following refers to what Iris is doing in this scenario?

Accepted Answer

Downsizing is the planned elimination of positions or jobs. Common approaches to downsizing include eliminating functions, hierarchical levels, or even whole units.

Question 15

An organization that is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights is known as a ____ organization.

Accepted Answer

A learning organization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights. It is skilled at solving problems, experimenting with new approaches, learning from its own experiences, learning from other organizations, and spreading knowledge quickly and efficiently.

Question 16

Downsizing in organizations refers to the

Accepted Answer

Downsizing is the planned elimination of positions or jobs. Common approaches to downsizing include eliminating functions, hierarchical levels, or even whole units.

Question 17

Which of the following is an effective practice in downsizing?

Accepted Answer

Firms can engage in a number of positive practices to ease the pain and increase the effectiveness of downsizing, including giving special attention and help to those who have lost their jobs.

Question 18

Managers who want to strengthen their firms' competitiveness via core capabilities need to focus on

Accepted Answer

Managers who want to strengthen their firms' competitiveness via core capabilities need to focus on several related issues, including extending capabilities to find new applications and opportunities for the markets of tomorrow.

Question 19

The top management team at Gargantuan Industries has decided that it needs to close one of its divisions and eliminate a level of middle management at the surviving divisions. What process is Gargantuan going to implement?

Accepted Answer

Downsizing is the planned elimination of positions or jobs. Common approaches to downsizing include eliminating functions, hierarchical levels, or even whole units.

Question 20

Diseconomies of scale refers to the

Accepted Answer

Larger companies are more difficult to coordinate and control. While size may enhance efficiency by spreading fixed costs over more units, it also may create administrative difficulties that inhibit efficient performance. To describe this type of problem, a new term has entered the business vocabulary: diseconomies of scale, or the costs of being too big.

Quiz 9: Organizational Agility

Which of the following constitutes the strategic triangle of a business unit?

In a _____ organization, top management ensures that there is consensus about the direction in which the business is heading.

McKittridge Consulting pursues activities such as engaging in disciplined thinking, searching constantly for new knowledge, benchmarking, and sharing ideas throughout the organization via information systems. Which type of organization is McKittridge Consulting?

Which of the following aspects of an organization creates scale economies and economies of scope and leads to advantages like lower operating costs, greater purchasing power, and easier access to capital?

Which of the following statements is true about strategic alliances?

Which of the following statements is true of a high-involvement organization?

Structurally, a high-involvement organization is usually ____.

Because Mega Corp. is very large, it has the ability to use the same process to manufacture multiple related products. This type of efficiency is referred to as an economy of ____.

Missy's company just went through the process of downsizing. Missy retained her job, but now she has a much heavier workload. Since the layoffs, Missy has been worried about her future and more reluctant to take risks on the job. Missy is showing the symptoms of ____.

Survivor's syndrome refers to the

What is a strategic alliance?

Economies of scope refers to the idea that

An organization that is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights is known as a ____ organization.

Downsizing in organizations refers to the

Which of the following is an effective practice in downsizing?

Managers who want to strengthen their firms' competitiveness via core capabilities need to focus on

The top management team at Gargantuan Industries has decided that it needs to close one of its divisions and eliminate a level of middle management at the surviving divisions. What process is Gargantuan going to implement?

Diseconomies of scale refers to the