Question 1

Which of the following is essential for good value chain management?

Accepted Answer

The marketing function plays an important part in the value chain, and good value chain management requires that marketing managers focus on defining their company's business in terms of the customer needs it is satisfying and not by the type of products it makes.

Question 2

Users of Adobe Reader, created by Adobe Systems Incorporated, are prompted to provide feedback on their experiences with the software in a bid to improve the product. Adobe Systems Incorporated, in this case, is trying to gain a competitive advantage through:

Accepted Answer

An organization that is responsive to customers tries to satisfy their needs and give them exactly what they want.

Question 3

Which of the following functions is responsible for transforming creating, assembling, or providing a good or service?

Accepted Answer

The production function is responsible for creating, assembling, or providing a good or service-for transforming inputs into outputs.

Question 4

Managers try to develop functional strategies that allow the organization's value chain to deliver to customers:

Accepted Answer

Managers try to develop functional strategies that allow the organization's value chain to deliver to customers either more desired product attributes for the same price or the same product attributes for a lower price.

Question 5

Attaining _____ includes all the other methods of achieving competitive advantage.

Accepted Answer

Achieving superior quality, efficiency, and innovation is part of attaining superior responsiveness to customers. Customers want value for their money, and managers who develop functional strategies that result in a value chain capable of creating innovative, high-quality, low-cost products best deliver this value to customers.

Question 6

A _____ is a plan of action to improve the ability of each of an organization's departments to perform its task-specific activities in ways that add value to an organization's goods and services.

Accepted Answer

A functional-level strategy is a plan of action to improve the ability of each of an organization's functions to perform its task-specific activities in ways that add value to an organization's goods and services.

Question 7

An organization gains competitive advantage when it:

Accepted Answer

Managers can lower costs or increase differentiation to obtain a competitive advantage.

Question 8

The development of a set of functional-level strategies that support a company's business-level strategy and strengthen its competitive advantage is known as:

Accepted Answer

Value chain management is the development of a set of functional-level strategies that support a company's business-level strategy and strengthen its competitive advantage.

Question 9

An organization that increases its quality can improve its profits by _____ the prices of its products due to increased reliability and _____ its operating costs due to increased productivity.

Accepted Answer

An organization that increases its quality can improve its profits by increasing the prices of its products due to increased reliability and reducing its operating costs due to increased productivity.

Question 10

The implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) is a method of improving an organization's _____.

Accepted Answer

A functional strategy managers can use to get close to customers and understand their needs is customer relationship management (CRM).

Question 11

A(n) _____ is a coordinated series or sequence of functional activities needed to transform inputs into finished goods or services.

Accepted Answer

A company's value chain is the coordinated series or sequence of functional activities necessary to transform inputs such as new product concepts, raw materials, component parts, or professional skills into the finished goods or services customers value and want to buy.

Question 12

_____ is a technique that uses IT to develop an ongoing relationship with the purchasers or buyers of an organization's product to maximize the value an organization can deliver to them over time.

Accepted Answer

Customer relationship management is a technique that uses IT to develop an ongoing relationship with customers to maximize the value an organization can deliver to them over time.

Question 13

A company with a strong _____ can create a perception of superior value in the minds of its clients by solving client problems and supporting clients after they have purchased its product.

Accepted Answer

The customer service function can create a perception of superior value by solving customer problems and supporting customers after they have purchased the product.

Question 14

A tire company's products are more expensive than those offered by its competitors, but are still sought after by customers since they are more durable and perform better under harsh conditions. The tire company, in this case, has achieved competitive advantage through _____.

Accepted Answer

Quality means producing goods and services that have attributes-such as design, styling, performance, and reliability-that customers perceive as being superior to those found in competing products.

Question 15

Which of the following should an organization do in order to obtain a competitive advantage through superior efficiency?

Accepted Answer

Efficiency is a measure of the amount of inputs required to produce a given amount of outputs. Reducing the number of inputs or increasing the manufacturing capabilities are methods of improving efficiency.

Question 16

Which of the following is a potential outcome when organizations offer a very high level of responsiveness to customers?

Accepted Answer

Offering a high level of responsiveness to customers can result in costs becoming too high-something that threatens an organization's future performance and survival.

Question 17

Which of the following functions can help increase customer perceptions of the utility of a company's product through brand positioning and advertising?

Accepted Answer

Marketing can help create value through brand positioning and advertising that increase customer perceptions of the utility of a company's product.

Question 18

The _____ function plays a crucial role in an organization's value chain by locating customers and then informing and persuading them to buy the company's products.

Accepted Answer

The sales function plays a crucial role in an organization's value chain by locating customers and then informing and persuading them to buy the company's products.

Question 19

Which of the following is not a product attribute or quality that most customers prefer?

Accepted Answer

Some general product attributes or qualities that most customers prefer: a lower price to a higher price; high-quality products to low-quality products; quick and good after-sales service to slow and poor after-sales service; products with many useful or valuable features to products with few features; products that are, as far as possible, customized or tailored to their unique needs.

Question 20

Which of the following should an organization do in order to obtain a competitive advantage through superior innovation?

Accepted Answer

Successful innovation gives an organization something unique or different about its products that rivals lack and helps an organization gain a competitive advantage.

Quiz 9: Value Chain Management: Functional Strategies for Competitive Advantage