WorksheetsSET 2
Total questions: 51
Worksheet time: 26mins
"Knowledge push" refers to:
A software tool for accelerating product development
Creating innovation opportunities from the results of knowledge production—for example through R&D
A government policy approach to fund high tech cities
A venture capital agency
"Need pull" only refers to innovations linked to commercial markets.
True
False
Innovations only emerge as a result of scientific R&D.
True
False
Understanding user needs is only relevant as a source of innovation in consumer product markets.
True
False
Innovation at the base of the pyramid refers to:
Construction innovation approaches to new structures
Exploration of innovation opportunities for products/services in high volume but low income markets
Segmentation of consumer product marketing innovation
Disruptive innovation always occurs when a new technology replaces an existing one.
True
False
"Reverse innovation" refers to:
A novel approach to project management
The condition where innovations developed for a different market (for example, in low income emerging countries) migrate to an established market where its features are valued
A creative thinking technique
"Mass customization" refers to:
An improved version of Henry Ford’s original approach for car manufacturing
An approach that tries to customise products/services to specific user needs without incurring cost penalties of high variety production
A series of innovations in the Catholic church
User-led innovation is a marketing technique that involves asking potential users whether they will adopt an innovation.
True
False
Which of the following did not emerge first as a user-led innovation?
The pickup truck
Linux software
The iPhone
The Internet
"Jugaad innovation" refers to:
A Bollywood film
An approach to innovation that emphasises improvisation and simple solutions
A project management tool for accelerating product development
"Recombinant innovation" is:
A technique in genetic engineering
A cross-functional team approach to new product development
Applying innovation ideas from one sector in another
Government regulation always stifles innovation.
True
False
Accidents and mistakes are sometimes a rich source of innovation.
True
False
"Absorptive capacity" refers to:
Performance measurement of sponges and tissue paper
The ability of an organization to recognize, acquire, assimilate and use new knowledge from external sources
The knowledge base of the enterprise, measured in terms of the number of university degrees of its staff
For successful innovation the ratio between "exploit" and "explore" search behaviour should be 80%/20%.
True
False
"Sending out scouts" is:
A technique to enhance peripheral search for innovation opportunities
A strategy used in military maneuvers
A market research tool based on working with community groups
"Ethnography" refers to
A study of handwriting
A tool (originally derived from anthropology) to understand user needs by observing closely their behaviour in context
A market research tool based on questionnaire surveys
Innovations can always be traced back to a single source.
True
False
Haagen-Dazs ice cream is the result of knowledge push innovation.
True
False
Which of the following is not the result of knowledge push innovation?
Polyethylene plastics
Float glass manufacture
ARM’s chipset for mobile phones
Haagen-Dazs ice cream
Four factors have a major influence on the ability of a firm to develop and create value through innovation. Which of the following is not one of these factors?
Its ability to identify and exploit external sources of innovation, especially international networks.
Its ability to invest in basic science and technology.
Its power and market position within the international value chain, which in part defines the innovation-based opportunities and threats that it faces.
The national system of innovation in which the firm is embedded, and which in part defines its range of choices in dealing with opportunities and threats.
In his popular book, The World is Flat: The globalized world in the 21st century (Penguin, 2006), Thomas Friedman argues that developments in technology and trade, in particular information and communications technologies (ICTs), are spreading the benefits of globalization to the merging economies, promoting their development and growth. Which of the following is not true?
Technology and innovation are evenly distributed globally.
Technology and innovation are not easily transferred across regions or firms.
Different national contexts influence the ability of firms to absorb such technology and innovation.
The position of firms in international value chains can constrain their ability to exploit innovation.
Deciding where to locate and perform R&D depends on a number of factors. Which of the following is not a significant influence?
R&D supporting overseas production should be located close to that of overseas production.
R&D supporting existing businesses (i.e. products, processes, divisions) should be located in established divisions.
R&D supporting global products and services should be located overseas.
R&D supporting new businesses should initially be located in central laboratories, then transferred to divisions for exploitation.
Which of the following is not one of the main factors influencing the decision where to locate R&D globally?
The importance of external sources of technical and market knowledge, e.g. sources of technology, suppliers, and customers
The quality of the science and technology base
The importance and costs of internal transactions, e.g. between engineering and production
The cost and disruption of relocating key personnel to the chosen site
Firms have many reasons for monitoring and learning from the development of technological, production and organizational competencies of systems of innovation in other countries, and especially from those that are growing and strong. Which of the following is not a significant reason?
Understanding and imitating foreign systems of innovation
Firms can benefit more specifically from the technology generated in foreign systems of innovation
Potential sources of improvement in the corporate management of innovation
Identify and plan for firms with a potential capacity to compete through innovation
Which of the following is the least common method used by firms to learn about competitors’ innovations?
Licensing
Reverse engineering
Patent analysis
Publications
The national system of innovation in which a firm is embedded matters greatly, because it strongly influences both the direction and the vigor of its own innovative activities. This includes national market incentives and pressures to which firms have to respond. Which of the following is not a significant incentive?
Local production input prices, where international differences can help generate very different pressures for innovation
Local (private and public) investment activities, which create innovative opportunities for local suppliers
Patent analysis
Publications
Firms’ innovative behaviors are strongly influenced by the competencies of their managers and the ways in which their performance is judged and rewarded (and punished). Methods of judgment and reward vary considerably among countries, according to their national systems of corporate governance: in other words, the systems for exercising and changing corporate ownership and control. Which of the following is not generally true?
In the Anglo-Saxon system, corporate ownership (shareholders) is separate from corporate control (managers).
In the Anglo-Saxon system, investors are slow to deal with poor investment choices.
In the Nippon–Rhineland system, a higher priority is given to investment than to returns to shareholders.
In the Nippon–Rhineland system, banks, suppliers and customers are more heavily locked into the firms in which they invest.
Technological leadership in firms does not necessarily translate itself into economic benefits. The capacity of the firm to appropriate the benefits of its investment in technology depends on its position. Which of the following is not relevant?
Innovation “leadership”—where firms aim at being first to market, based on technological leadership
Complementary assets or capabilities in marketing and distribution
Capacity to defend its advantage against imitators, for example, through standards or intellectual property
The learning curve in production generates both lower costs, and a particular and powerful form of accumulated and largely tacit knowledge
Firms in emerging economies may pursue different routes to upgrading through innovation. Which of the following is not a common pathway?
Capability upgrading—improving the range of functions undertaken, or changing the mix of functions, for example, production versus development or marketing
Process upgrading—incremental process improvements to adapt to local inputs, reduce costs or to improve quality
Competitiveness upgrading—adopting best-practice methods from developed economies
Inter-sectoral upgrading—moving to different sectors, for example, to those with higher value-added
Prahalad and Hamel argue that the capacity to open new product markets requires distinctive core competencies, coupled with methods of corporate organization and evaluation that explicitly recognize the importance of these competencies. Which of the following is not true of core competencies?
Contribute to more than one core product, and to more than one business unit.
Suggests that large and multidivisional firms should be viewed as a collection of strategic business units.
Require focus: Companies are likely to lead in more than five or six core competencies.
Are supported by organizational competencies such communication, involvement, and a commitment to working across organizational boundaries.
David Teece and Gary Pisano integrate the various dimensions of innovation strategy into what they call the “dynamic capabilities” approach. This emphasizes the need to:
Manage strategically to adapt and re-configure capabilities
Make significant investments in emerging technological trajectories
Adopt a strategic position as market leader
Strategically anticipate future technologies and markets
The notions of core competence and dynamic capabilities are useful as they emphasize the importance of developing firm-level resources. However, there are a number of limitations to these approaches. Which of the following is not a significant limitation of the concepts?
A. Industries face differing potentials for technology-based diversification
B. The concepts are difficult to operationalize
C. The concepts are difficult to measure
D. The concepts are difficult to apply in practice
A strategic goal is to get the right balance between exploitation of existing competencies and the exploitation and development of new competencies. Which of the following is not a critical issue in this respect?
The breadth and limits of management cognition that influence decision-making
The skills and experience of employees and other human capital
The internal and external relationships that influence access to information and knowledge
The vision, control and power of senior managers
There is no widely accepted definition or method of measurement of competencies. Which of the following statements is not true?
Functional measures might include capabilities in design, development or production.
Need to identify the range of disciplines or fields that contribute to a technology.
Need to be based on specific strategic technological targets.
Need to identify the new competencies that must be developed.
For successful innovation the ratio between “exploit” and “explore” search behavior should be 80%/20%.
True
False
The iPhone is a good example of market pull innovation.
True
False
Which of these is not an example of incremental innovation?
Samsung’s Galaxy 8 smartphone
The first microwave oven
Windows 10 software
Innovation always follows a straight line diffusion path over time.
True
False
Which of these is not an aspect of knowledge flow for innovation?
Knowledge brokers
Communities of practice
Gatekeepers
Absorptive capacity
Knowledge supermarkets
The “sailing ship” effect relates to innovation in container ship design.
True
False
Ambidextrous organizations are those in which there is an equal balance of left and right handed people on the staff.
True
False
Which of these is not a search pattern associated with emergence and reframing?
Working with “extreme users”
Working with markets and users at “the bottom of the pyramid”
Working with your existing best group of loyal customers
Working with new geographical markets
24. Which of these is not a widely used search method to acquire new knowledge for innovation?
Random guessing
Market research
Customer feedback
Benchmarking
Which of these is not a way of finding new knowledge to support innovation?
Working with suppliers
Visiting trade fairs and exhibitions
Partnering with universities
Talking with a group of friends in the pub
Joining strategic knowledge alliances
“Open innovation” involves selling all the intellectual property that a firm possesses to as wide a market as possible.
True
False
Open innovation is a two way process in which an organization’s knowledge base is made available to others while at the same time the firm can find new sources of potentially useful knowledge from outside.
True
False
Which of these is not an aspect of absorptive capacity in organizations as seen by Zahra and George’s model?
Recognizing
Acquiring
Modernizing
Assimilating
Deploying
Open innovation is primarily concerned with external knowledge as a source of innovation.
True
False
Which of these is not a strategy for finding new knowledge to support innovation?
Sending out scouts
Working with active users
Exploring multiple futures
Solving crossword puzzles
Connecting with communities of practice
