WGU C483 Exam Principles of Management Graded A+

Open Systems - ANSWER-Organizations that are affected by, and that affect, their environment. Inputs - ANSWER-Goods and services organizations take in and use to create products or services. Outputs - ANSWER-The products and services organizations create. External Environment - ANSWER-All relevant forces outside a firm's boundaries, such as competitors, customers, the government, and the economy. Competitive Environment - ANSWER-The immediate environment surrounding a firm; includes suppliers, customers, rivals, and the like. Macroenvironment - ANSWER-The general environment; includes governments, economic conditions, and other fundamental factors that generally affect all organizations. Demographics - ANSWER-Measures of various characteristics of the people who make up groups or other social units. Barriers to Entry - ANSWER-Conditions that prevent new companies from entering an industry. Switching Costs - ANSWER-Fixed costs buyers face when they change suppliers. Supply Chain Management - ANSWER-The managing of the network of facilities and people that obtain materials from outside the organization, transform them into products, and distribute them to customers. Final Consumer - ANSWER-A customer who purchases products in their finished form. Intermediate Consumer - ANSWER-A customer who purchases raw materials or wholesale products before selling them to final customers. Environmental Scanning - ANSWER-Searching for and sorting through information about the environment. Competitive Intelligence - ANSWER-Information that helps managers determine how to compete better. Scenario - ANSWER-A narrative that describes a particular set of conditions. Forecasting - ANSWER-Method for predicting how variables will change the future. Benchmarking - ANSWER-The process of comparing an organization's practices and technologies with those of other companies. Strategic Maneuvering - ANSWER-An organization's conscious efforts to change the boundaries of its task environment. Domain Selection - ANSWER-Entering a new market or industry with an existing expertise. Diverisfication - ANSWER-A firm's investment in a different product, business, or geographic area. Merger - ANSWER-One or more companies combining with another. Acquisition - ANSWER-One firm buying another. Divestiture - ANSWER-A firm selling one or more businesses. Prospectors - ANSWER-Companies that continually change the boundaries for their task environments by seeking new products and markets, diversifying and merging, or acquiring new enterprises. Defenders - ANSWER-Companies that stay within a stable product domain as a strategic maneuver. Independent Strategies - ANSWER-Strategies that an organization acting on its own uses to change some aspect of its current environment. Cooperative Strategies - ANSWER-Strategies used by two or more organizations working together to manage the external environment. Empowerment - ANSWER-The process of sharing power with employees, thereby enhancing their confidence in their ability to perform their jobs and their belief that they are influential contributors to the organization. Buffering - ANSWER-Creating supplies of excess resources in case of unpredictable needs. Smoothing - ANSWER-Leveling normal fluctuations at the boundaries of the environment.