Latest Test Bank for Strategic Management of Technological Innovation 6th Edition Schilling

Test Bank for Strategic Management of Technological Innovation 6th Edition Schilling 45. _____ is a positive externality of research and development efforts. a. Knowledge broker b. Agglomeration c. Technological spillover d. Technology cluster Answer: c Difficulty: Easy Page: 35 2-11 Essay 46. You have just been given an assignment within your company to design a creativity training program. Describe the elements you would include in the program and explain the rationale of each one. Answer: One element of a creativity training program would be to bring in a communications expert to teach managers how to encourage novel thinking and autonomy through the use of verbal and nonverbal cues. The program might also include exercises that encourage employees to consider simpler representations of a problem to avoid getting “bogged down” in the details, and develop rudimentary prototypes. The program probably should not entail extrinsic (e.g., monetary) rewards, and instead should encourage intrinsic rewards such as recognition, giving the employees considerable ownership over their projects, and emphasizing the beneficial impact new solutions have on the welfare of customers. Difficulty: Moderate Page: 20 47. If you were in charge of a Research and Development (R&D) department for a large pharmaceutical company, would you encourage your researchers to do basic research or applied research? Provide the rationale for your answer. Answer: The Research and Development (R&D) department for a large pharmaceutical company should probably encourage its researchers to do both basic research and applied research. Basic research is directed at increasing understanding of a topic or field. This type of knowledge will help the company to better understand the medical field and to come up with approaches to applied research. For example, research to understand why and how people develop diabetes would provide guidelines into approaches to treatment. Applied research is targeted at increasing knowledge for a specific application. The development of new methods of treatment based on the findings of basic research would be the next logical step to take. This type of research would also require creativity and innovation but would be targeted at treating an illness in a certain way. Difficulty: Hard Page: 25 48. At a retreat by the Salisbury City Council, community leaders held a discussion on attracting and developing new businesses and increasing employment rates in the city. One leader suggested that the city consider sponsoring a business incubator. Explain what an incubator is and how this might help the city meet its goals. Answer: An incubator is an institution designed to nurture the development of new businesses that might otherwise lack access to funding or advice. It allows companies to share costs and resources until they can stand on their own. If an incubator were started in Salisbury, it would help new businesses to grow and prosper. These businesses could then 2-12 move out to locations of their own and hire local residents as employees. The city would not have to offer tax breaks or compete with other cities for the location of existing companies, but would be growing their own businesses. Difficulty: Moderate Page: 28-30 49. If you were looking for a location for your software development company why might you consider Silicon Valley? What are the drawbacks to that location? Answer: A software development company would find Silicon Valley an attractive location because so many other high-tech computer-oriented companies are located there. The software company might be able to share information with complementors or to more easily find new employees who have been trained by other companies. Drawbacks to that location might include the fact that other companies hire away their employees or other companies might find out about proprietary technologies the company is developing. Current employees may follow the examples of others and leave the software development company to start their own company. Difficulty: Moderate Page: 34 50. Explain the concept of technology spillovers. Answer: Technological spillovers are a positive externality from R&D resulting from the spread of knowledge across organizational or regional boundaries. Technology spillovers are a significant influence on innovative activity. The likelihood of spillovers is also a function of the nature of the underlying knowledge base and the mobility of the labor pool. Difficulty: Easy Page: 35 2-13