MGMT 640 EXAM 2/FINAL EXAM
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. VERIFIED
2026.
The Innovation Process - ANS - Process begins with two creative acts:
① Idea Generation and
② Opportunity Recognition
- Idea Evaluation/Incubation → Opportunity Recognition
- Commercialization → Final Phase: Moving Ideas to the Market
-Creativity plays a critical role in the innovation process. It sparks the initial idea, and it helps to
improve the idea as it moves forward
S-Curves - ANS - Visually depict how a product, service, technology or business progress and
evolves over time.
- Can be viewed on an incremental level to map product evolutions and opportunities or on a
macro scale to describe the evolution of businesses and industries
3 "Lessons" from S-Curve Concept - ANS ① Technology improves slowly at first because it is
poorly understood
1 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
,② Then accelerates as understanding increases
③ Then tapers off as approaches limits
① Defenders face difficult choices
ⓐ Abandon the business the already own, with all its cash flow and certainty, in favor of the
rival technology
ⓑ Hold onto what they have and work hard to make it better or useful to more customers
ⓒ Hold onto the existing business and begin investing in the new technology as a hedge against
the future; Seems logical, but has problems:
- company may not have the competencies to develop new technology (film vs. digital
photography)
- culture of the organization may not welcome the new technology (IBM mainframe computing
vs. desktop computing)
- existing customers may pressure the company to stay in the old business (tyranny of served
markets)
② Leaders in one generation of technology are seldom leaders in the next
ⓐ Defenders can enlist various strategies to defeat upstart technical challenges:
Leapfrog the attacker's technology
Acquire the attacker
ⓑ Examples:
- when mini-computers cam along, upstart Digital Equipment became the leader, not IBM, the
then dominant computer company
- GM and Ford dominated US market until small, efficient vehicles became popular and foreign
competition took leadership
③ Attackers enjoy certain advantages
ⓐ An undivided focus:
2 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
, Managers of upstart companies spend little time on internal operations and people issues
They devote most of their attention to development of the new technology or business model
ⓑ An ability to attract talent:
Capable technical and managerial talent are often attracted to new ideas with promising
futures, especially when stock options are significant portions of compensation
ⓒ The are not captives of powerful customers
Powerful customers persuade established companies to con
(Look of the) Rate of a technology's improvement (and its rate of market diffusion) -
ANS Typically follow S-Shape Curve
3 Types of Technological Change - ANS ① Platform Innovation
② Component Innovation
③ Design Innovation
Platform Innovation - ANS (3 Types of Technological Change)
- the emergence of a new technology based on scientific principles that are distinctly different
from those of existing ones (Ex: CD)
Component Innovation - ANS (3 Types of Technological Change)
- one that uses new parts or materials within the same technological platform (Ex: magnetic
tape, floppy disk, and zip disk)
Design Innovation - ANS (3 Types of Technological Change)
- a reconfiguration of the linkages and layout of components within the same technological
platform (Ex: the decrease in size of floppy disks)
3 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. VERIFIED
2026.
The Innovation Process - ANS - Process begins with two creative acts:
① Idea Generation and
② Opportunity Recognition
- Idea Evaluation/Incubation → Opportunity Recognition
- Commercialization → Final Phase: Moving Ideas to the Market
-Creativity plays a critical role in the innovation process. It sparks the initial idea, and it helps to
improve the idea as it moves forward
S-Curves - ANS - Visually depict how a product, service, technology or business progress and
evolves over time.
- Can be viewed on an incremental level to map product evolutions and opportunities or on a
macro scale to describe the evolution of businesses and industries
3 "Lessons" from S-Curve Concept - ANS ① Technology improves slowly at first because it is
poorly understood
1 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
,② Then accelerates as understanding increases
③ Then tapers off as approaches limits
① Defenders face difficult choices
ⓐ Abandon the business the already own, with all its cash flow and certainty, in favor of the
rival technology
ⓑ Hold onto what they have and work hard to make it better or useful to more customers
ⓒ Hold onto the existing business and begin investing in the new technology as a hedge against
the future; Seems logical, but has problems:
- company may not have the competencies to develop new technology (film vs. digital
photography)
- culture of the organization may not welcome the new technology (IBM mainframe computing
vs. desktop computing)
- existing customers may pressure the company to stay in the old business (tyranny of served
markets)
② Leaders in one generation of technology are seldom leaders in the next
ⓐ Defenders can enlist various strategies to defeat upstart technical challenges:
Leapfrog the attacker's technology
Acquire the attacker
ⓑ Examples:
- when mini-computers cam along, upstart Digital Equipment became the leader, not IBM, the
then dominant computer company
- GM and Ford dominated US market until small, efficient vehicles became popular and foreign
competition took leadership
③ Attackers enjoy certain advantages
ⓐ An undivided focus:
2 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
, Managers of upstart companies spend little time on internal operations and people issues
They devote most of their attention to development of the new technology or business model
ⓑ An ability to attract talent:
Capable technical and managerial talent are often attracted to new ideas with promising
futures, especially when stock options are significant portions of compensation
ⓒ The are not captives of powerful customers
Powerful customers persuade established companies to con
(Look of the) Rate of a technology's improvement (and its rate of market diffusion) -
ANS Typically follow S-Shape Curve
3 Types of Technological Change - ANS ① Platform Innovation
② Component Innovation
③ Design Innovation
Platform Innovation - ANS (3 Types of Technological Change)
- the emergence of a new technology based on scientific principles that are distinctly different
from those of existing ones (Ex: CD)
Component Innovation - ANS (3 Types of Technological Change)
- one that uses new parts or materials within the same technological platform (Ex: magnetic
tape, floppy disk, and zip disk)
Design Innovation - ANS (3 Types of Technological Change)
- a reconfiguration of the linkages and layout of components within the same technological
platform (Ex: the decrease in size of floppy disks)
3 @COPYRIGHT 2025/2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED.
