Question 1

The strength of the global factory as an organizational form lies in its ability to extend fundamental economic principles of specialization, coordination, and integration.

Accepted Answer

The statement is true. The effectiveness of the global factory results from its ability to extend and refine these well-established principles and not from unique technologies or processes unavailable to others.

Question 2

Global factory model dominates industries like technology, service and banking.

Accepted Answer

Global factory is an evolutionary form of international business that has come to dominate industries such as clothing, footwear, consumer electronics, automobiles, and generic pharmaceuticals, and which appears poised to disrupt a number of other sectors.

Question 3

For the global factory, the combination of extreme specialization, externalization, and coordinative capability brings massive competitive advantage.

Accepted Answer

For the global factory, this combination of extreme specialization, externalization, and coordinative capability brings massive competitive advantage. Such factories have access to the world's best specialists-suppliers, assemblers, and facilitators-and their bargaining strength ensures that they enjoy favourable commercial terms.

Question 4

Lead firms are those that orchestrate the GVC

Accepted Answer

True: The ability to access the resources (plant, equipment, know-how, and relationships) of others reduces the capital expenditures and risk exposure that lead firms would need to assume if they undertook these activities themselves (internally).

Question 5

GVC coordination can be explained by the resource-based view (Barney, 1991)

Accepted Answer

The statement is false. This capability goes beyond traditional concepts of firm advantage, such as the resource-based view (Barney, 1991).

Question 6

Coordination skills are a source of sustainable competitive advantage

Accepted Answer

The sustainable nature of coordination skills results from the considerable time and investment that lead firms commit to creating such capability and the difficulty for competitors to emulate such facilities.

Question 7

An organization with a competitive advantage built around coordination skills will always enjoy a sustainable edge.

Accepted Answer

The statement is unlikely to be true. While coordination skills are highly valuable and may be difficult to emulate, it is not inevitable that they will always be enjoyed by the same organization or that they will be deployed in the same ways.

Question 8

The global factory is a contributor to, but not a beneficiary, of globalization.

Accepted Answer

The statement is incorrect because the global factory both contributes to, and benefits from, globalization. It benefits from the increased ease of locating and coordinating activities in a global world and the opportunities provided by high growth emerging markets, for example.

Question 9

A key defining characteristic of the global factory is its ability to achieve simultaneous, low-cost, high quality and flexibility.

Accepted Answer

This is an argument made consistently in this book that the global factory is an important form of organization in global production systems because it appears able to overcome or minimize the traditional trade-offs in areas such as cost vs differentiation, efficiency vs local responsiveness and equilibrium vs disequilibrium.

Question 10

Anti-globalization is now so strong that globalization seems to be in reverse.

Accepted Answer

Anti-globalization has triggered a rethink of the recent globalization wave and may have slowed it, but it is not in reverse. Opposition is selective and some areas of globalization, such as business internationalization global growth are strong. Similarly, support for globalization is higher in Asia than in parts of North America or Europe at the moment.

Question 11

The coexistence of global economic processes and largely national political structures are incongruent in an era of globalization.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The coexistence of global economic processes and...

Question 12

Global business and international trade are interchangeable terms.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Global business and international trade are interchangeable...

Question 13

Globalization would be more acceptable if losers from the process (unemployed workers, displaced firms and depressed areas) received more support for adjustment.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Globalization would be more acceptable if losers...

Question 14

The locational advantages of global factory systems will not be affected by new additive technologies such as 3D manufacturing.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The locational advantages of global factory systems...

Question 15

The global factory system is likely to impact&#10;A) economic development and inequality&#10;B) exchange of things of value&#10;C) complexity&#10;D) a cross-border alliance

Accepted Answer

The answer of The global factory system is likely to...

Question 16

A _______ describes a value chain.&#10;A) line of exclusive products endorsed by celebrity designers&#10;B) process involved in creating high quality products at lowest cost&#10;C) budgetary approach to maximizing value from expenditures&#10;D) series of steps that involve understanding and responding to customer wants

Accepted Answer

The answer of A _______ describes a value chain.&#10;A) line...

Question 17

The supporting activities of the value chain model are:&#10;A) Inbound logistics, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, procurement.&#10;B) Infrastructure of the firm, human resources department, technology department, procurement.&#10;C) Infrastructure of the firm, human resources department, technology department, marketing and sales.&#10;D) Infrastructure of the firm, service, technology department, procurement.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The supporting activities of the value chain...

Question 18

Fine-slicing will tend to reinforce existing locational advantage because&#10;A) Some locations are ignored&#10;B) Some locations could be confined to the less profitable stages of assembly.&#10;C) Some locations will be denied the higher value stages of the global value chain, such as R&D and marketing&#10;D) Some locations do not have valuable information

Accepted Answer

The answer of Fine-slicing will tend to reinforce existing locational...

Question 19

The extent of CSR of a lead firm within a global value chain should be limited to activities _______&#10;A) that it owns.&#10;B) that are profitable.&#10;C) that it impacts both directly and indirectly in its decision-making.&#10;D) that are associated with possible labour exploitation.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The extent of CSR of a lead...

Question 20

The likelihood of increased government involvement in economic affairs is seen&#10;A) As unfair&#10;B) With growing public acceptance after COVID19&#10;C) As welcome&#10;D) With indifference

Accepted Answer

The answer of The likelihood of increased government involvement in...

Deck 19: Conclusions