and All Correct Answers Graded A+
2025-2026 Updated.
Which support function in the value chain involves investing in organizational functions in ways
that will support the firm's efforts to produce and distribute its products in the short and long
term?
a. Marketing
b. Finance
c. Human resources
d. Operations - Answer b. Finance
Apple has combined financial resources and research laboratories with scientists, engineers,
and organizational routines to excel in research and development (R&D) to provide innovation.
In this scenario, R&D is a(n):
a. tangible resource.
b. intangible resource.
c. capability.
d. core competence. - Answer c. capability
Capabilities are often based on developing, carrying, and exchanging information and
knowledge through the firm's:
a. human capital.
b. intranet.
c. grapevine.
d. management information systems. - Answer a. human capital
Which of the following statements regarding intangible resources is true?
a. They can be observed.
b. They are relatively difficult for competitors to analyze and imitate.
c. They can be quantified.
d. They can be acquired quickly. - Answer b. They are relatively difficult for competitors to
analyze and imitate.
When firms have strong positive relationships with suppliers and customers, they are said to
have:
a. value.
,b. a rare capability.
c. social capital.
d. a sustainable competitive advantage. - Answer c. social capital
The strategic decisions that managers make about the internal organization:
a. are routine.
b. are directly related to compensation.
c. have no ethical implications.
d. directly impact the firm's level of returns. - Answer d. directly impact the firm's level of
returns
A _____ competitive advantage exists only when competitors are unable to duplicate the
benefits of a firm's strategy or when they lack the resources to attempt imitation.
a. profitable
b. temporary
c. rare
d. sustainable - Answer d. sustainable
Developing employees' work schedules and designing production processes are both examples
of what type of value chain activity?
a. Operations
b. Human resources
c. Supply-chain management
d. Distribution - Answer a. operations
In which of the following situations have decision makers sometimes proven to be more focused
and productive when seeking to find resources that have the potential to be formed into core
competencies?
a. When the firm's total set of resources is constrained
b. When the firm has ample human capital
c. When the firm has excess financial capital
d. When the firm seeks resources prior to developing core competencies - Answer a. When
the firm's total set of resources is constrained
If a firm does not have core competencies in an area required to achieve a competitive
advantage, it must:
a. change its product line.
,b. acquire the resources needed to build those competencies.
c. analyze the internal organization to identify strengths.
d. analyze the internal organization to identify weaknesses. - Answer b. acquire the
resources needed to build those competencies.
Which of the following is a support function, rather than a value chain activity, on the value
chain?
a. Operations
b. Distribution
c. Marketing
d. Human resources - Answer d. Human resources
When a core competency becomes a core rigidity, it can:
a. promote innovation.
b. generate inertia.
c. strengthen a competitive advantage.
d. create value. - Answer b. generate inertia
Pat and Lee have been asked to complete a value chain analysis. Which component of an
internal analysis are they performing?
a. Identifying tangible resources
b. Exploring capabilities
c. Discovering core competencies
d. Analyzing strategic competitiveness - Answer c. discovering core competencies
When Greenwall Company uses point-of-purchase data collection to effectively and efficiently
control its inventory, it does this through which functional area of the firm?
a. Distribution
b. Manufacturing
c. Marketing
d. Management information systems - Answer d. Management information systems
One criterion to determine if a capability is a core competence and a source of competitive
advantage is if it allows the firm to perform:
a. an activity in a manner that provides value similar to that provided by competitors.
b. a value-creating activity that competitors also perform.
, c. an activity in a manner that yields a profit.
d. a value-creating activity that competitors cannot perform. - Answer d. a value-creating
activity that competitors cannot perform.
A company can earn above-average returns only when the value it creates is:
a. equal to the costs incurred to create that value.
b. less than the costs incurred to create that value.
c. greater than the costs incurred to create that value.
d. both rare and substitutable. - Answer c. greater than the costs incurred to create that
value.
Which of the following is NOT one of the primary categories of tangible resources?
a. Financial
b. Organizational
c. Technological
d. Innovation - Answer d. innovation
RTX Power Tools has seen sales decline on its gas-powered tools. The market seems to be
shifting to tools using rechargeable batteries, but it is not clear if that market segment has
staying power. The RTX managers are making decisions under conditions of:
a. certainty.
b. uncertainty.
c. intraorganizational conflict.
d. interorganizational conflict. - Answer c. intraorganizational conflict.
When a company assumes that a core competence will be a permanent competitive advantage,
that competency runs the risk of becoming a core:
a. rigidity.
b. incompetence.
c. disadvantage.
d. resource. - Answer a. rigidity.
Which of the following is a tangible resource?
a. Production equipment
b. Knowledge
c. Brand name