MANA 3335 Exam 2

resources

the assets, capabilities, processes, employee time, information, and knowledge that an organization uses to improve its effectiveness and efficiency and create and sustain competitive advantage

competitive advantage

providing greater value for customers than competitors can

sustainable competitive advantage

a competitive advantage that other companies have tried unsuccessfully to duplicate and have, for the moment, stopped trying to duplicate

valuable resource

a resource that allows companies to improve efficiency and effectiveness. resources that are congruent with company goals (for example, a phone company wouldn't be buying tea leaves)

rare resource

a resource that is not controlled or possessed by many competing firms

imperfectly imitable resource

a resource that is impossible or extremely costly or difficult for other firms to duplicate (for example, social networks within a company that a competitor can't recreate)

nonsubstitutable resource

a resource that produces value or competitive advantage and has no equivalent substitutes or replacements (for example, copyrights and patents)

competitive inertia

a reluctance to change strategies or competitive practices that have been successful in the past

strategic dissonance

a discrepancy between a company's intended strategy and the strategic actions managers take when implementing that strategy

situational (SWOT) analysis

an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in an organization's internal environment and the opportunities and threats in its external environment (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)

core capabilities

the internal decision-making routines, problem-solving processes, and organizational cultures that determine how efficiently inputs can be turned into outputs

strategic group

a group of companies within an industry against which top managers compare, evaluate, and benchmark strategic threats and opportunities

core firms

the central companies in a strategic group

secondary firms

the firms in a strategic group that follow strategics related to but somewhat different from those of the core firms

strategic reference points

the strategic targets managers use to measure whether a firm has developed the core competencies it needs to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage

corporate-level strategy

the overall organizational strategy that addresses the question "What business or businesses are we in or should we be in?"

diversification

a strategy for reducing risk by buying a variety of items (stocks or, in the case of a corporation, types of businesses) so that the failure of one stock or one business does not doom the entire portfolio

portfolio strategy

a corporate-level strategy that minimizes risk by diversifying investment among various businesses or product lines

acquisition

the purchase of a company by another company

unrelated diversification

creating or acquiring companies in completely unrelated businesses

BCG matrix

a portfolio strategy developed by the Boston Consulting Group that categorizes a corporation's businesses by growth rate and relative market share and helps managers decide how to invest corporate funds

star

On the BCG matrix, a company with a large share of a fast-growing market

question mark

On the BCG matrix, a company with a small share of a fast-growing market

cash cows

On the BCG matrix, a company with a large share of a slow-growing market

dogs

On the BCG matrix, a company with a small share of a slow-growing market

related diversification

creating or acquiring companies that share similar products, manufacturing, marketing, technology, or cultures

grand strategy

a strategy that focuses on increasing profits, revenues, market shares, or the number of places in which the company does business

stability strategy

a strategy that focuses on improving the way in which company sells the same products or services to the same customers

retrenchment strategy

a strategy that focuses on turning around very poor company performance by shrinking the size or scope of the business

recovery

the strategic actions taken after retrenchment to return to a growth strategy

character of the rivalry

One of the five industry forces. A measure of the intensity of competitive behavior between companies in an industry

threat of new entrants

One of the five industry forces. A measure of the degree to which barriers to entry make it easy or difficult for new companies to get started in an industry

threat of substitute products or services

One of the five industry forces. A measure of the ease with which customers can find substitutes for an industry's products or services

bargaining power of suppliers

One of the five industry forces. A measure of the influence that suppliers of parts, materials, and services to firms in an industry have on the prices of these inputs

bargaining power of buyers

One of the five industry forces. A measure of the influence that customers have on a firm's prices.

cost leadership

the positioning strategy of producing a product or service of acceptable quality at consistently lower production costs than competitors can, so that the firm can offer the product or service at the lowest price in the industry

differentiation

the positioning strategy of providing a product or service that is sufficiently different from competitors' offerings that customers are willing to pay a premium price for it

focus strategy

the positioning strategy of using cost leadership or differentiation to produce a specialized product or service for a limited, specially targeted group of customers in a particular geographic region or market segment

defenders

companies using a adaptive strategy aimed at defending strategic positions by seeking moderate, steady growth and by offering a limited range of high-quality products and services to a well-defined set of customers

prospectors

companies using an adaptive strategy that seeks fast growth by searching for new market opportunities, encouraging risk taking, and being the first to bring innovative products to market

organizational innovation

the successful implementation of creative ideas in organizations

technology cycle

a cycle that begins with the birth of a new technology and ends when that technology reaches its limits and is replaced by a newer, substantially better technology

s-curve pattern of innovation

a pattern of technological innovation characterized by slow initial process again as a technology matures and reaches its limits

innovation streams

patterns of innovation over time that can create sustainable competitive advantage

begins with technological discontinuity

followed by discontinuous change

pursued by dominant design

leads to incremental change

technological discontinuity

the phase of an innovation stream in which a scientific advance or unique combination of existing technologies creates a significant breakthrough in performance or functions

discontinuous change

the phase of a technology cycle characterized by technological substitution and design competition

technological substitution

the purchase of new technologies to replace older ones

design competition

competition between old and new technologies to establish a new technological standard or dominant design

dominant design

a new technological design or process that becomes the accepted market standard

technological lockout

the inability of a company to competitively sell its products because it relies on old technology or a nondominant design

incremental change

the phase of a technology cycle in which companies innovate by lowering costs and improving the functioning and performance of the dominant technological design

creative work environments

workplace cultures in which workers perceive that new ideas are welcomed, valued, and encouraged

flow

a psychological state of effortlessness, in which you become completely absorbed in which you're doing the time seems to pass quickly

experiential approach innovation

an approach to innovation that assumes a highly uncertain environment and uses intuition, flexible options, and hand-on experience to reduce uncertainty and accelerate learning and understanding

design iteration

a cycle repetition in which a company tests a prototype of a new product or service, improves on that design, and then builds and tests the improved prototype

product prototype

a full-scale, working model that is being tested for design, function, and reliability

testing

the systematic comparison of different product designs or design iterations

milestones

formal project review points used to access progress and performance

multifunctional teams

work teams composed of people from different departments

compression approach to innovation

an approach to innovation that assumes that incremental innovation can be planned using a series of steps and that compressing those steps can speed innovation

generational change

change based on incremental improvements to a dominant technological design such that the improved technology is fully backward compatible with the older technology

organizational decline

a large decrease in organizational performance that occurs when companies don't anticipate, recognize, neutralize, or adapt to the internal or external pressures that threaten their survival

occurs when companies don't recognize the need for change

change forces

forces that produce differences in the form, quality, or condition of an organization over time

resistance forces

forces that support the existing conditions in organizations

support to the status quo

resistance to change

opposition to change resulting form self-interest, misunderstanding and distrust, and a general intolerance for change

People may do this out of fear that change will result in a loss of pay, power, responsibility, or one's job

unfreezing

getting the people affected by change to believe that change is needed

change intervention

the process used to get workers and managers to change their behaviors and work practices

refreezing

supporting and reinforcing new changes so that they stick

coercion

the use of formal power and authority to force others to change

results-driven change

change created quickly by focusing on the measurement and improvement of results

general electric workout

a three-day meeting in which managers and employees from different levels and parts of an organization quickly generate and act on solutions to specific business problems

organizational development

a philosophy and collection of planned change interventions designed to improve an organization's long-term health and performance

change agent

the person formally in charge of guiding a change effort

work team

a small number of people with complementary skills who hold themselves mutually accountable for pursuing a common purpose, achieving performance goals, and improving interdependent work process

cross-training

training team members to do all or most of the jobs performed by the other team members

social loafing

behavior in which team members withhold their efforts to fail to perform their share of the work

traditional work groups

a group composed of two or more people who work together to achieve a shared goal

employee involvement team

team that provides advice or makes suggestions to management concerning specific issues

semi-autonomous work groups

a group that has the authority to make decisions and solve problems related to the major tasks of producing a product or service

self-managing team

a team that manages and controls all of the major tasks of producing a product or service

self-designing team

a team that has the characteristics of self-managing teams but also controls team design, work tasks, and team membership

cross-functional team

a team composed of employees from different functional areas of the organization

virtual team

a team composed of geographically and/or organizationally dispersed coworkers who use telecommunication and information technologies to accomplish an organizational task

project team

a team created to complete specific, one-time projects or task within a limited team

norms

informally agreed-on standards that regulate team behavior

cohesiveness

the extent to which team members are attached to a team and motivated to remain in it

forming

the first stage of team development, in which team members meet each other, form initial impressions, and begin to establish team norms

storming

the second stage of development, characterized by conflict and disagreement, in which team members disagree over what the team should do and how it should do it

norming

the third stage of team development, in which team members begin to settle into their roles, group cohesion grows, and positive team norms develop

performing

the fourth and final stage of team development, in which performance improves because the team has matured into an effective, fully functioning team

de-norming

a reversal of the norming stage, in which team performance begins to decline as the size, scope, goal, or members of the team change

de-storming

a reversal of the storming phase, in which the team's comfort level decreases, team cohesion weakens, and angry emotions and conflict may flare

de-forming

a reversal of the forming stage, in which team members position themselves to control pieces of the team, avoid each other, and isolate themselves from team leaders

stages of team development

structural accommodation

the ability to change organizational structures, policies, and practices in order to meet stretch goals

bureaucratic immunity

the ability to make changes without first getting approval from managers or other parts of an organization

individualism-collectivism

the degree to which a person believes that people should be self-sufficient and that loyalty to one's self is more important than loyalty to team or company

team level

the average level of ability, experience, personality, or any other factor on a team

team diversity

the variances or differences in ability, experience, personality, or any other factor on a team

interpersonal skills

skills, such as listening, communicating, questioning, and providing feedback, that enable people to have effective working relationships with others