31.

Capabilities refer to a company's:

c. skills at using resources effectively.

32. Which of the following is not true regarding a company's distinctive competencies?

e. They are shared by many firms in an industry.

34. Competitive advantage is based on:

a. distinctive competencies.

36. Which of the following is true of the impact of high product quality on competitive advantage?

b. It lowers unit costs of the products.

40. Kodak possesses the leading imaging technology. This technology has allowed the company to differentiate its
products from those offered by rivals. Imaging technology is Kodak's:

a. distinctive competence.

42. One of the basic building blocks of competitive advantage is:

e. innovation.

43. Efficiency is:

b. the quantity of inputs required to produce an output.

44. Customer response time is:

e. the time taken for a good to be delivered or a service to be performed.

45. The concept of quality applies to:

a. all products produced by a finn.

46. Which of the following is an important attribute for a product from a quality-as-reliability perspective?

e. Performance
 47. Intel's invention of the microprocessor in the early 1970s, Cisco's development of the router for routing data over
the Internet in the mid-1980s, and Apple's development of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad in the 2000s can be referred to as

innovations.

b. product

48. Innovation refers to the act of:

b. creating new products and processes.

49. Which of the following best describes product innovation?

c. Creating products that have superior attributes than existing products.

50. Which primary activity in the value chain is concerned with the design of products and production processes?

a. Research and development

51. Using the value chain model, which of the following primary activities is performed first, as inputs are transformed
into outputs?

a. Research and development

52. Using the value chain model, which of the following primary activities is performed last, as inputs are transformed
into outputs?

c. Service and support

53. Ford Motors developed the Explorer sports utility vehicle, the number I selling sports utility vehicle in the United
States, based on an extensive study of customer preferences. Which value chain activity of Ford conducted those
studies?

d. Marketing and sales

55. Cost accountants are responsible for gathering and monitoring data used for controlling the organization's costs. In
which value chain activity do cost accountants work?

e. Company infrastructure
56. Which of the following support activities in the value chain refers to the transmission of physical materials from
procurement through production and into distribution?

d. Logistics

58. Research and development activities are concerned with:

a. design of products.

59. The term value chain refers to the idea that a company is:

c. a series of activities that transform inputs into products that customers value.

60. Ray, a toymaker, knits a stuffed unicorn for Belle. Which function of the value chain is illustrated in this scenario?

d. Production

61. The ratio of net profit to invested capital is known as:

a. return on invested capital.

62. One of the most widely used measures of financial performance is:

a. return on invested capital.

63. Which of the following determines the cost of goods sold?

d. The income statement

64. Ted is an accountant at ABC Company. He calculates the difference between total revenues and total costs before
tax. Ted calculates the:

a. net profit.

69. Industry dynamism refers to:

c. a rapidly changing industry envirornnent.

70. According to Ghernawat, a strategic commitment is:

e. a company's dedication to developing a particular set of resources and capabilities.

71. The argument states that companies find it hard to change their strategies and structures to adapt to changing
competitive conditions.

a. inertia.

74. Benchmarking can be defmed as the practice of:

d. measuring a company against the products, practices, and services of some of its most efficient global competitors.

75. When Rollie's car wash began to lose business to rivals, Rollie read publications for car wash owners to learn the best
practices in the industry. Then she implemented the best practices. Rollie is using to improve her car wash.

b. benchmarking