IDSC 3001 TEST A QUESTIONS ANSWERED CORRECTLY LATEST UPDATE 2026
Commodity - Answers A basic good that can be interchanged with nearly identical offerings by others
Viral marketing - Answers Leverage consumers to promote a product or service
Value chain - Answers The set of activities through which a product or service is created and delivered
to customers
Distribution channel - Answers The path through which products or services get to customers
Brand - Answers The symbolic embodiment of all information connected with a product or service
Sustainable competitive advantage - Answers Financial performance that consistently outperforms
industry averages
Price transparency - Answers The degree to which complete information is available
Switching costs - Answers The cost a consumer incurs when moving from one product to another
Porter's 5 forces - Answers A framework considering the interplay between new entrants, existing
competitors, suppliers, buyers, and substitute products and services
Fast follower - Answers Exists when savvy rivals watch a pioneer's efforts, learn from their successes,
then enter the market with a comparable or superior product at a lower cost
Economies of scale - Answers When costs can be spread across increasing units of production or in
serving multiple customers
Metcalfe's Law (Network effects) - Answers When the value of a product or service increases as its
number of user expands
Moore's Law - Answers Chip performance per dollar doubles every eighteen months
Sarbannes-Oxley Act - Answers U.S. Legislation that raises executive and board responsibility and ties
criminal penalties to certain violations
Patents - Answers U.S. law that provides some protection from copycats attempting to identically
mimic products and methods
User-interface (UI) design - Answers Ensuring systems are intuitive and easy to use
Augmented reality - Answers A technology that superimposes content such as images and animation,
on top of real-world images
APIs - Answers Programming hooks, or guidelines, that tell other programs how to tap into a service
or to perform a task
Internet of Things (IoT) - Answers Embedding low-cost sensors, processors, and communication into
products and our environment
Server farms - Answers A large collection of computer servers running software to coordinate their
collective use
Market capitalization - Answers A publicly traded firm is its total value. Can be calculated by
multiplying the number of a firms shares by its current share price
R&D (research and development) - Answers The portion of a firm focused on innovation, typically
pioneering advances that will eventually arrive as new products and technologies
Microprocessors - Answers The part of the computer that executes the instructions of a computer
program
Operational effectiveness - Answers Performing the same tasks better than rivals perform them
Strategic positioning - Answers Performing different tasks than rivals, or the same tasks in a different
way
Resource-based view of a competitive advantage (VRIO) - Answers The strategic thinking approach
suggesting that if a firm is to maintain sustainable competitive advantage, it must control an
exploitable resource, or set of resources, that have four critical characteristics. These resources must
be (1) valuable, (2) rare, (3) imperfectly imitable, and (4) nonsubstitutable. Kind of like VRIO
Dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) - Answers A technology that increases the transmission
capacity (and hence speed) of fiber-optic cable.
Imitation-resistant value chain - Answers A way of doing business that competitors struggle to
replicate and that frequently involves technology in a key enabling role
Straddled - Answers In strategic management, this refers to a firm's attempt to occupy more than one
position, while failing to match the benefits of a more efficient, singularly focused rival
Scale advantages - Answers Advantages related to size
Bundling - Answers Selling products available separately as a single package
Affiliates - Answers Third parties that promote a product or service, typically in exchange for a cut of
any sales
Commodity - Answers A basic good that can be interchanged with nearly identical offerings by others
Viral marketing - Answers Leverage consumers to promote a product or service
Value chain - Answers The set of activities through which a product or service is created and delivered
to customers
Distribution channel - Answers The path through which products or services get to customers
Brand - Answers The symbolic embodiment of all information connected with a product or service
Sustainable competitive advantage - Answers Financial performance that consistently outperforms
industry averages
Price transparency - Answers The degree to which complete information is available
Switching costs - Answers The cost a consumer incurs when moving from one product to another
Porter's 5 forces - Answers A framework considering the interplay between new entrants, existing
competitors, suppliers, buyers, and substitute products and services
Fast follower - Answers Exists when savvy rivals watch a pioneer's efforts, learn from their successes,
then enter the market with a comparable or superior product at a lower cost
Economies of scale - Answers When costs can be spread across increasing units of production or in
serving multiple customers
Metcalfe's Law (Network effects) - Answers When the value of a product or service increases as its
number of user expands
Moore's Law - Answers Chip performance per dollar doubles every eighteen months
Sarbannes-Oxley Act - Answers U.S. Legislation that raises executive and board responsibility and ties
criminal penalties to certain violations
Patents - Answers U.S. law that provides some protection from copycats attempting to identically
mimic products and methods
User-interface (UI) design - Answers Ensuring systems are intuitive and easy to use
Augmented reality - Answers A technology that superimposes content such as images and animation,
on top of real-world images
APIs - Answers Programming hooks, or guidelines, that tell other programs how to tap into a service
or to perform a task
Internet of Things (IoT) - Answers Embedding low-cost sensors, processors, and communication into
products and our environment
Server farms - Answers A large collection of computer servers running software to coordinate their
collective use
Market capitalization - Answers A publicly traded firm is its total value. Can be calculated by
multiplying the number of a firms shares by its current share price
R&D (research and development) - Answers The portion of a firm focused on innovation, typically
pioneering advances that will eventually arrive as new products and technologies
Microprocessors - Answers The part of the computer that executes the instructions of a computer
program
Operational effectiveness - Answers Performing the same tasks better than rivals perform them
Strategic positioning - Answers Performing different tasks than rivals, or the same tasks in a different
way
Resource-based view of a competitive advantage (VRIO) - Answers The strategic thinking approach
suggesting that if a firm is to maintain sustainable competitive advantage, it must control an
exploitable resource, or set of resources, that have four critical characteristics. These resources must
be (1) valuable, (2) rare, (3) imperfectly imitable, and (4) nonsubstitutable. Kind of like VRIO
Dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) - Answers A technology that increases the transmission
capacity (and hence speed) of fiber-optic cable.
Imitation-resistant value chain - Answers A way of doing business that competitors struggle to
replicate and that frequently involves technology in a key enabling role
Straddled - Answers In strategic management, this refers to a firm's attempt to occupy more than one
position, while failing to match the benefits of a more efficient, singularly focused rival
Scale advantages - Answers Advantages related to size
Bundling - Answers Selling products available separately as a single package
Affiliates - Answers Third parties that promote a product or service, typically in exchange for a cut of
any sales
