COB 300 Management Exam 2 with
complete solutions
external environments - Answers -are the forces and events outside a company that
have the potential to influence or affect it.
3 characteristics:
Resource scarcity
Environmental change
Environmental complexity
Environmental change - Answers -rate at which a company's general and specific
environments change.
stable environment - Answers -the rate of environmental change is slow.
Wholefoods
Dynamic environments - Answers -the rate of environmental change is fast.
Tech
punctuated equilibrium theory - Answers -companies go through long periods of stability
(equilibrium) during which incremental changes occur; followed by short, complex
periods of dynamic, fundamental change (revolutionary periods); and finishing with a
return to stability (new equilibrium). 4
Environmental Complexity - Answers -complexity refers to the number and the intensity
of external factors in the environment that affect organizations. Simple environments
have few environmental factors, whereas complex environments have many
environmental factors. The dairy industry is an excellent example of a relatively simple
external environment.
resource scarcity - Answers -the abundance or shortage of critical organizational
resources in an organization's external environment
Uncertainty - Answers -extent to which managers can understand or predict which
environmental changes and trends will affect their businesses
When environmental change and complexity are at high levels and resource scarcity is
high (i.e., resources are scarce), uncertainty is high, and managers may not be at all
,confident that they can understand, predict, and handle the external forces affecting
their businesses. When environmental change and complexity are at low levels and
resource scarcity is low (i.e., resources are plentiful), uncertainty is low, and managers
feel confident that they can understand, predict, and react to the external forces that
affect their businesses.
General environment - Answers -the economic, technological, sociocultural, and
political/legal trends that indirectly affect all organizations
Specific environment - Answers -the customers, competitors, suppliers, industry
regulations, and advocacy groups that are unique to an industry and directly affect how
a company does business
4 components of the general environment - Answers -the economy, the tech,
sociocultural, and political/legal trends that indirectly affect all organizations.
Business confidence indices - Answers -Because economic statistics can be poor
predictors, some managers try to predict future economic activity by keeping track of
business confidence.
Business confidence indices show how confident actual managers are about future
business growth.
Technology - Answers -Technology is the knowledge, tools, and techniques used to
transform inputs (raw materials, information, and so on) into outputs (products and
services). For example, the inputs of authors, editors, and artists (knowledge) and the
use of equipment like computers and printing presses (technology) transformed paper,
ink, and glue (raw materials) into this book (the finished product).
Although technological changes can benefit a business, they can also threaten it.
Companies must embrace new technology and find effective ways to use it to improve
their products and services or decrease costs. If they don't, they will lose out to those
companies that do.
Sociocultural changes and trends influence organizations in two important ways. -
Answers -First, changes in demographic characteristics, such as the number of people
with particular skills or the growth of or decline in the number of people with particular
population characteristics (marital status, age, gender, ethnicity) affect how companies
staff their businesses.
Second, sociocultural changes in behavior, attitudes, and beliefs also affect the demand
for a business's products and services.
two basic strategies for monitoring customers - Answers -reactive and proactive.
Reactive customer monitoring involves identifying and addressing customer trends and
, problems after they occur. Proactive monitoring of customers means identifying and
addressing customer needs, trends, and issues before they occur.
Competitors - Answers -companies in the same industry that sell similar products or
services to customers.
Competitive analysis - Answers -a process for monitoring the competition that involves
identifying competition, anticipating their moves, and determining their strengths and
weaknesses
Suppliers - Answers -are companies that provide material, human, financial, and
informational resources to other companies.
Supplier dependence - Answers -the degree to which a company relies on a supplier
because of the importance of the supplier's product to the company and the difficulty of
finding other sources of that product
for over a decade Apple has been highly dependent on Samsung for the computer chips
Buyer dependence - Answers -the degree to which a supplier relies on a buyer because
of the importance of that buyer to the supplier and the difficulty of finding other buyers
for its products
While Samsung is one of Apple's key suppliers (i.e., supplier dependence), Apple, in
turn, is Samsung's key buyer of computer components.
Opportunistic behavior - Answers -a transaction in which one party in the relationship
benefits at the expense of the other
Relationship behavior - Answers -the establishment of mutually beneficial, long-term
exchanges between buyers and suppliers
DreamWorks Studios, which makes films and TV shows, has had a long-term strategic
relationship with HewlettPackard (H-P), which makes computers and software.
Industry regulation - Answers -regulations and rules that govern the business practices
and procedures of specific industries, businesses, and professions
City Mayor Michael Bloomberg passed a controversial new law requiring restaurants,
movie theaters, and other food service locations in the city to limit the size of sugary
drinks
Advocacy groups - Answers -concerned citizens who band together to try to influence
the business practices of specific industries, businesses, and professions
complete solutions
external environments - Answers -are the forces and events outside a company that
have the potential to influence or affect it.
3 characteristics:
Resource scarcity
Environmental change
Environmental complexity
Environmental change - Answers -rate at which a company's general and specific
environments change.
stable environment - Answers -the rate of environmental change is slow.
Wholefoods
Dynamic environments - Answers -the rate of environmental change is fast.
Tech
punctuated equilibrium theory - Answers -companies go through long periods of stability
(equilibrium) during which incremental changes occur; followed by short, complex
periods of dynamic, fundamental change (revolutionary periods); and finishing with a
return to stability (new equilibrium). 4
Environmental Complexity - Answers -complexity refers to the number and the intensity
of external factors in the environment that affect organizations. Simple environments
have few environmental factors, whereas complex environments have many
environmental factors. The dairy industry is an excellent example of a relatively simple
external environment.
resource scarcity - Answers -the abundance or shortage of critical organizational
resources in an organization's external environment
Uncertainty - Answers -extent to which managers can understand or predict which
environmental changes and trends will affect their businesses
When environmental change and complexity are at high levels and resource scarcity is
high (i.e., resources are scarce), uncertainty is high, and managers may not be at all
,confident that they can understand, predict, and handle the external forces affecting
their businesses. When environmental change and complexity are at low levels and
resource scarcity is low (i.e., resources are plentiful), uncertainty is low, and managers
feel confident that they can understand, predict, and react to the external forces that
affect their businesses.
General environment - Answers -the economic, technological, sociocultural, and
political/legal trends that indirectly affect all organizations
Specific environment - Answers -the customers, competitors, suppliers, industry
regulations, and advocacy groups that are unique to an industry and directly affect how
a company does business
4 components of the general environment - Answers -the economy, the tech,
sociocultural, and political/legal trends that indirectly affect all organizations.
Business confidence indices - Answers -Because economic statistics can be poor
predictors, some managers try to predict future economic activity by keeping track of
business confidence.
Business confidence indices show how confident actual managers are about future
business growth.
Technology - Answers -Technology is the knowledge, tools, and techniques used to
transform inputs (raw materials, information, and so on) into outputs (products and
services). For example, the inputs of authors, editors, and artists (knowledge) and the
use of equipment like computers and printing presses (technology) transformed paper,
ink, and glue (raw materials) into this book (the finished product).
Although technological changes can benefit a business, they can also threaten it.
Companies must embrace new technology and find effective ways to use it to improve
their products and services or decrease costs. If they don't, they will lose out to those
companies that do.
Sociocultural changes and trends influence organizations in two important ways. -
Answers -First, changes in demographic characteristics, such as the number of people
with particular skills or the growth of or decline in the number of people with particular
population characteristics (marital status, age, gender, ethnicity) affect how companies
staff their businesses.
Second, sociocultural changes in behavior, attitudes, and beliefs also affect the demand
for a business's products and services.
two basic strategies for monitoring customers - Answers -reactive and proactive.
Reactive customer monitoring involves identifying and addressing customer trends and
, problems after they occur. Proactive monitoring of customers means identifying and
addressing customer needs, trends, and issues before they occur.
Competitors - Answers -companies in the same industry that sell similar products or
services to customers.
Competitive analysis - Answers -a process for monitoring the competition that involves
identifying competition, anticipating their moves, and determining their strengths and
weaknesses
Suppliers - Answers -are companies that provide material, human, financial, and
informational resources to other companies.
Supplier dependence - Answers -the degree to which a company relies on a supplier
because of the importance of the supplier's product to the company and the difficulty of
finding other sources of that product
for over a decade Apple has been highly dependent on Samsung for the computer chips
Buyer dependence - Answers -the degree to which a supplier relies on a buyer because
of the importance of that buyer to the supplier and the difficulty of finding other buyers
for its products
While Samsung is one of Apple's key suppliers (i.e., supplier dependence), Apple, in
turn, is Samsung's key buyer of computer components.
Opportunistic behavior - Answers -a transaction in which one party in the relationship
benefits at the expense of the other
Relationship behavior - Answers -the establishment of mutually beneficial, long-term
exchanges between buyers and suppliers
DreamWorks Studios, which makes films and TV shows, has had a long-term strategic
relationship with HewlettPackard (H-P), which makes computers and software.
Industry regulation - Answers -regulations and rules that govern the business practices
and procedures of specific industries, businesses, and professions
City Mayor Michael Bloomberg passed a controversial new law requiring restaurants,
movie theaters, and other food service locations in the city to limit the size of sugary
drinks
Advocacy groups - Answers -concerned citizens who band together to try to influence
the business practices of specific industries, businesses, and professions
