Deck 3: Types and Patterns of Innovation

Question 1

A technology's S-curve of performance improvement is unrelated to its S-curve of diffusion.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The path a technology follows through time is termed its technology map.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The first phase in the technology cycle is involves incremental improvements until one company finds a major breakthrough.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In the era of ferment,firms focus on efficiency and market penetration.

Question 5

Technologies always get the opportunity to reach their performance limits before being replaced by a new technology.

Question 6

When personal data assistants (PDAs)were first introduced there was a time when there was great uncertainty about this technology and its market.This is called the fluid phase of the technological cycle according to Utterback and Abernathy.

Question 7

Managers can almost always use the S-curve model to effectively plan their technology investment decisions.

Question 8

A firm can influence the shape of the S-curve by revamping the architecture design of the technology.

Question 9

The adoption of new technology and the diffusion of information about it takes place at the same rate.

Question 10

The radicalness of an innovation is absolute.

Question 11

Product innovation can enable process innovation.

Question 12

As a firm's expertise becomes oriented around maximizing its ability to compete in the existing dominant design,it can become a barrier to the firm's recognizing and reacting to a new technology architecture.

Question 13

The S-curve in technological improvement is a plot of performance against effort and money invested in that technology.

Question 14

To develop the technology diffusion s- curve,you need to plot the cumulative number of adopters of the technology against time.

Question 15

Innovators represent the largest category of adopters according to research.

Question 16

Until a new technology has established a degree of legitimacy,it may be difficult to attract other researchers to participate in its development.

Question 17

Many companies are now coming up with better ways to make personal data assistants (PDAs)perform their functions better.This is the specific phase of the technological cycle according to Utterback and Abernathy.

Question 18

"Moore's Law" refers to the rapidly increasing density of transistors on integrated circuits that enabled microprocessor performance to increase dramatically.This increase in density is expected to always continue at the same rate.

Question 19

In order to initiate a component innovation,a firm requires knowledge about the way components link and integrate to form the whole system.

Question 20

Radical innovation entails changing the overall design of the system or the way that components interact with each other.

Question 21

Ron can be described as being highly skeptical about new ideas and products.He has not yet bought a satellite dish for his home because he is still unsure that it really works.Ron is also very worried about the expense of purchasing the satellite dish.According to this description,Ron is most likely a(n)

A) member of the early majority.
B) innovator
C) laggard.
D) early adopter.

Question 22

If one plots a technology's S-curve with performance against time rather than effort,the resulting curve

A) will be more accurate.
B) may obscure the true relationship if effort is not constant over time.
C) will be the same as if it were plotted the other way around.
D) will not be representative of a technology's rate of performance improvement or adoption.

Question 23

Since product and process innovations often occur in tandem,which is most likely to occur first?

A) New processes making new products possible
B) New products which enable new processes
C) They are both equally likely to be developed first
D) Process and product innovations are independent of one another.

Question 24

When the first personal computers were introduced,Bill started using a spreadsheet program to balance his checkbook.Bill discovered that this new method was much slower for him and that if he typed in the wrong data,it led to more mistakes.This illustrates how a(n)_____ technology may initially have lower performance than the _____ technology.

A) incumbent, discontinuous
B) logical extension, discontinuous
C) discontinuous, incumbent
D) discontinuous, modular

Question 25

During the late 1980s,a pizza chain was able to develop a pizza oven to bake pizzas in 10 minutes rather than the standard 20 minutes.This was most likely a(n)_____ innovation.

A) competence-enhancing
B) competence-destroying
C) architectural
D) radical

Question 26

When a company that produced vinyl records for the music industry learned that music could be recorded on compact disks to sell,it was facing a competence _____ innovation.

A) enhancing
B) destroying
C) rationalizing
D) synergizing

Question 27

A marketing research company has just informed Jane that she can be classified as an early adopter.Which of the following characteristics will Jane most likely have?

A) She waits until uncertainty about a new product is resolved.
B) She is well-integrated into her social system.
C) She has a skeptical attitude about new ideas.
D) She makes decisions based primarily on past experience.

Question 28

Handheld calculators replaced slide rules.This is an example of a(n)_____ innovation.

A) logical extension
B) incremental
C) component
D) discontinuous

Question 29

Which of the following statements is true regarding the different types of innovations?

A) Process innovations are more visible than product innovations.
B) A radical innovation may eventually become incremental.
C) Component innovations have far-reaching and complex influences on competitors and users.
D) A competence-destroying innovation is one that attacks the strengths of competitors.

Question 30

Which of the following describes the most typical evolution of technology's performance if it is plotted against effort and investment?

A) Slow initial improvement, accelerated improvement, diminishing improvement
B) Rapid initial improvement, slowed improvement, rapid improvement
C) Slow initial improvement, diminishing improvement, accelerated improvement
D) Rapid initial improvement, even faster improvement, diminishing improvement

Question 31

The CEO of an automobile manufacturer directed her R&D department to come up with a radical innovation.Which of the following ideas best fits the bill?

A) A door that is unlocked by recognizing the fingerprints of the owner.
B) Seats that vibrate to massage the backs of passengers.
C) A windshield that tints in sunlight and lightens in darkness automatically.
D) A car that drives itself to the nearest exit if the driver is incapacitated by a medical emergency.

Question 32

Julie is somewhat skeptical about new innovations and is likely to adopt something new after getting some pressure from her peers.However,she is not so risk averse that she will wait until all uncertainty of a new technology has been resolved; she's willing to accept a little uncertainty if her peers already use the product.Julie is most likely a(n)

A) early adopter.
B) early majority person.
C) late majority person.
D) laggard

Question 33

Many technologies become valuable to a wide range of potential users only after a set of _____ are developed for them.

A) substitutes
B) complementary resources
C) uniform features
D) quality standards

Question 34

Which of the following statements is true regarding technology diffusion?

A) S-curves in technology diffusion are obtained by plotting performance against time.
B) Information diffusion is slower than technology diffusion.
C) A drop in prices can accelerate technology diffusion.
D) Most of the knowledge about a technology is explicitly stated and transmitted.

Question 35

Mr.Inman discovered that if he put garlic salt on a regular hamburger it made it taste more like steak.He could then use a less expensive meat for the "chuckwagon steak" sandwich he sold.This is an example of a(n)_____ innovation.

A) radical
B) competence destroying
C) architectural
D) component

Question 36

When gutter shields were developed,they replaced gutter cleaning services for homeowners wishing to keep leaves and debris out of their gutters.In other words,the same need was met by an entirely new technology.This is an example of a(n)_____ technology.

A) complementary
B) logical extension
C) discontinuous
D) incremental

Question 37

The replacement of the typewriter by the word processor is an example of a

A) incremental innovation.
B) component innovation.
C) discontinuous technology.
D) process innovation.

Question 38

Susan,a highly skilled office worker,came home with a personal computer she had just purchased.Her husband Bill soon discovered that Susan did not know how to use half the features of the computer or its software.This is most likely due to the fact that

A) the company's market research findings are faulty.
B) the company has added features faster than customer requirements.
C) those features do not really work.
D) Susan is not a part of the company's target market.

Question 39

A CEO recently asked a consultant if it was a good idea to use the S-curve model to predict when a technology would reach its limits.The wise consultant might cite as a limitation that

A) using the S-curve would be too expensive.
B) the perceived limitation can be extended by multiple factors.
C) this is a highly illegal activity.
D) the data to develop an S-curve cannot be found in the real world.

Question 40

Which of the following is most clearly an example of process innovation?

A) A pizza chain is able to develop a method that enables pizzas to be baked in 10 minutes rather than the standard 20 minutes during the late 1980s.
B) A potato chip company introduces a line of its potato chips with a new type of seasoning.
C) A major motion picture studio releases a new 3D movie.
D) A tire manufacturer develops a tire that re-inflates itself instantly when it is punctured.

Question 41

Briefly explain the different types of innovation.

Question 42

A product design that is adopted by the majority of producers,typically creating a stable architecture on which the industry can focus its efforts is known as

A) dominant design.
B) design uniformity.
C) standardization.
D) product semblance.

Question 43

In the era of incremental change,companies

A) abandon old technology in favor of the new.
B) cannot find a dominant design
C) focus on efficiency and market penetration.
D) seldom agree about how the major subsystems of a technology should be configured.

Question 44

If a company learns of the cost and efficiency advantages of a new technology to replace one it is currently using will it then adopt the technology as quickly as it can? Explain the reason for your answer.

Question 45

Why did Schumpeter call the technology cycle one of creative destruction? In your answer explain what is meant by this term and why it is appropriately applied to the technology cycle.

Question 46

Lately computer users have been using USB Jump Drives to copy and store files.These are also called "thumb drives," "pen drives," and other names.These are small drives you can attach to a key chain and plug into any USB port and have the utility of a hard drive.The size of their memory varies from 16 kilobytes to several gigabytes.Assume you are the CEO of the Ajax Thumb Drive Company.How might you use the S-curve model to predict when to switch to a new technology? What would be the limitations of this approach?

Question 47

When hardware and software were first introduced,Bill found it to be very confusing.He heard conflicting claims about which hardware to buy and which software system to use.When he finally bought something it did not work very well.This probably illustrates which stage of the technology evolution model as described by Utterback and Abernathy?

A) Fluid phase
B) Dominant design phase
C) Specific phase
D) Incremental phase

Question 48

Once a dominant design of a new product is reached

A) the product is no longer profitable.
B) a new technology has already arrived.
C) you have begun the fluid phase.
D) companies focus on making the production more effective and efficient.

Question 49

The Ajax Computer Company is spending heavily on R&D to develop new designs for wireless networks instead of trying to refine how well they make their current wireless network hardware components.Ajax is probably in the

A) decline stage.
B) era of incremental change.
C) era of ferment.
D) specific phase.

Question 50

Briefly define Roger's five adopter categories and explain how a marketer might use this knowledge.