Question 1

The exploding growth in piracy or fakery of patented pharmaceuticals, software, and other products has added new barriers to economic viability.

Accepted Answer

Piracy is a barrier to economic viability. Globalization has created a worldwide market for goods produced by low-cost counterfeiters and pirates overseas, which have the added advantage that they do not have to incur research and development expense, causing a barrier to economic viability for the authentic manufacturers.

Question 2

Because of today's quick-moving technological advances, technical obstacles are overcome easily and no longer represent a concern for managers.

Accepted Answer

Managers must consider the feasibility of technological innovations. Visions can stay unrealized for a long time because technical obstacles may represent barriers to progress. For example, in the oil industry, technological barriers prevent exploration and drilling in the deepest parts of the ocean.

Question 3

Key roles in acquiring and developing new technologies are the technical innovator, product positioner, and executive developer.

Accepted Answer

Key roles in acquiring and developing new technologies are the technical innovator, product champion, and executive champion.

Question 4

If a product champion lacks the power and financial resources to initiate innovations alone, he or she may seek an executive champion.

Accepted Answer

If a product champion lacks the power and financial resources to make the required changes independently, she or he must convince people who have such authority to support the innovation. In other words, product champions must get sponsorship. Sponsorship comes from the executive champion, who has the status, authority, and financial resources to support the project and protect the product champion.

Question 5

In developing a strategy for technological innovation, the first consideration that should be addressed is market potential.

Accepted Answer

The first consideration that needs to be addressed is market potential. In assessing market receptiveness, executives need to make two determinations: (1) in the short run, the new technology should have an immediate, valuable application; (2) in the long run, the technology must be able to satisfy a market need or needs.

Question 6

Compared to benchmarking, scanning focuses on newer technologies like pacing or emerging ones.

Accepted Answer

Whereas benchmarking focuses on what is being done currently, scanning focuses on what can be done and what is being developed. In other words, benchmarking examines key and perhaps some pacing technologies, while scanning seeks out pacing and emerging technologies.

Question 7

The majority of scientific innovations originate at universities.

Accepted Answer

In many industries, the primary sources of new technology are the organizations that use it. For instance, more than three-fourths of scientific innovations are developed by the users of the scientific instruments being improved and subsequently may be licensed or sold to manufacturers or suppliers.

Question 8

___________ is a change in method or technology, a useful departure from previous ways of doing things.
A) Innovation
B) Technology
C) Process
D) Invention
E) Discovery

Accepted Answer

Innovation is a change in method or technology; it is a positive, useful departure from previous ways of doing things.

Question 9

Bureaucracy, by its very nature, helps innovation to thrive.

Accepted Answer

Bureaucracy is an enemy of innovation. While bureaucracy is useful to maintain orderliness and gain efficiencies, it also can work directly against innovativeness. Developing radically different technologies requires a more fluid and flexible (organic) structure that does not restrict thought and action.

Question 10

The sociotechnical systems approach to job design attempts to redesign tasks to optimize operation of a new technology while preserving employees' interpersonal relationships and other human aspects of the work.

Accepted Answer

Sociotechnical systems are an approach to job design that attempts to redesign tasks to optimize operation of a new technology while preserving employees' interpersonal relationships and other human aspects of the work.

Question 11

Analyzer firms have cultures that are the most outward-looking and opportunistic in their approach to technological innovation.

Accepted Answer

Executives in prospector firms give considerable priority to developing and exploiting technological expertise. These proactive "technology-push" innovators tend to have cultures that are more outward-looking and opportunistic. A hybrid analyzer firm, such as Microsoft, needs to stay technologically competitive but tends to allow others to demonstrate solid demand in new arenas before it responds.

Question 12

Even rival organizations may use technology trading to acquire new technology.

Accepted Answer

Sometimes even rival companies use technology trading. Not all industries are amenable to this kind of sharing, but technology trading is becoming increasingly common because of the high cost of developing advanced technologies independently.

Question 13

A CIO personally trains individual employees how to efficiently operate a company's information system.

Accepted Answer

The chief information officer (CIO) is a senior position at the corporate level with broad, integrative responsibilities. CIOs coordinate the technological efforts of the various business units; act as a voice for technology in the top management team; identify ways that technology can support the company's strategy; and supervise new technology development. They also manage their organization's information technology (IT) group.

Question 14

Most development projects benefit from having lengthy time horizons and high levels of resources devoted to them.

Accepted Answer

A development project is a focused organizational effort to create a new product or process via technological advances. Because of their urgency and strategic importance, most development projects are conducted under intense time and budget pressures, thus presenting a real-time test of the company's ability to innovate.

Question 15

The technical innovator is the person who promotes a new technology throughout the organization in an effort to obtain acceptance of and support for it.

Accepted Answer

The technical innovator develops the new technology or has the key skills needed to install and operate the technology. This person possesses the requisite technical skills, but he or she may not have the managerial skills needed to push the idea forward and secure acceptance within the organization.

Question 16

Development projects are focused on creating a new product or process via technological advances.

Accepted Answer

A powerful tool for managing technology and innovations is the development project. A development project is a focused organizational effort to create a new product or process via technological advances.

Question 17

Firms that are early adopters of new technologies tend to be more profitable.

Accepted Answer

Firms that are early adopters of new technologies tend to be larger, more profitable, and more specialized. Therefore, they are in an economic position to absorb the risks associated with early adoption while profiting more from its advantages.

Question 18

There are several ways to acquire new technology including internal development, forced adoption, and licensing.

Accepted Answer

There are many alternatives for acquiring new technology, and each has advantages and disadvantages. Some common options include internal development, purchase, contracted development, and licensing.

Question 19

The systematic application of scientific knowledge to a new product, process, or service is called
A) Planning.
B) Organizing.
C) Technology.
D) Controlling.
E) Management.

Accepted Answer

Technology can be thought of as the commercialization of science: the systematic application of scientific knowledge to a new product, process, or service. In this sense, technology is embedded in every product, service, and procedure used or produced.

Question 20

Even firms that are not technology-oriented must pay attention to changing technology.

Accepted Answer

A firm may not be technology oriented, but it still must pay attention to changing technology because it sometimes will need new capabilities to survive. For example, when Amazon.com changed the face of e-retailing in the 1990s, traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores had to adapt quickly. To regain competitiveness, they had to bolster their information technology capabilities.

Quiz 17: Managing Technology and Innovation