A nation’s relative ability to design, produce, distribute, or service products within an
international trading context, while earning increasing returns on its resources, is known
as national competitiveness.
Country and segment are units of analysis for market screening.
Two of the concerns that management faces in designing the organizational structure for
an international company are (1) finding the most effective way to take advantage of
geographic differences and (2) coordinating the activities of departments to enable the
firm to meet its overall objectives.
A low level of literacy in a country makes the use of mail questionnaires more
appropriate for market research.
One benefit of exporting is that it can enable a company to serve markets where the
company has no or limited production facilities.
The length of the investment in a foreign country has no impact on the risk assessment
for that investment. What matters is the economic and political situations in the country.
The experience of suppliers to the youth market indicates that this market is essentially
an international market segment.
According to the text, Zara’s strategy focuses on continual renewal of its clothing lines.
In Hall’s use, context is the irrelevant environment in a communication act.
Currencies float because they are allowed to make their own adjustments in the
marketplace.
Nuclear power is a leading contributor to the French energy grid.
The horizontal organization has been characterized as antiorganization because its
designers try to remove the constraints imposed by the conventional organizational
structure.
Buyers of industrial goods and luxury products usually act on the same motives the
world over, lending themselves to a standardized approach.
Limits, interdependence, and equity are characteristics of sustainable business practices.
Organizational structure deals with how an international business should be organized
in order to ensure that its worldwide business activities are integrated.
Countries in which strong competition already exists are eliminated from consideration
by most managers.
Historically, foreign direct investment has followed foreign trade, and one reason is that
foreign trade is typically less costly and less risky than making a direct investment into
foreign markets.
Knowledge that an individual has but that is difficult to express clearly in words,
pictures, or formulae, and therefore difficult to transmit to others, is called explicit
knowledge.
Unlike the topography, the political climate of a country has relatively little influence
on its exports.
The planning process that begins at the highest level in the organization and continues
downward is top-down planning.
Reverse trade missions try to find import sources in foreign countries for U.S.
producers.
The United States has only about 10 percent of the world’s population, so the vast
proportion of most companies’ potential customers are located elsewhere.
A multidomestic company is an organization that attempts to standardize and integrate
operations worldwide in all functional areas.
As discussed in the text, global sourcing arrangements include overseas joint ventures,
independent overseas manufacturers, and wholly owned subsidiaries.
Expectations of team leadership style are the same in all cultures.
(p. 93)-There are few cultural misunderstandings in the discipline of marketing.
The Bank for International Settlements operates as the banker for central banks.
Subsidies from the United States to its sugar industry have been critical in helping to
prevent a loss of jobs from American companies that are high users of sugar.
Leadership is synonymous with management.
The largest portion of proven oil reserves can be categorized as being at the highest
level of investment risk.
A company’s international operating environment, both currently and as it is expected to
be in the future, is the primary determinant of its organizational structure.
According to the text, which of the following is true regarding “corporate
anthropology”?
A. It involves extensive use of historical data on cultures.
B. It involves extensive use of surveys.
C. It involves watching consumers use products.
D. All of the above.
E. B and C.
The total product:
A. all of B, C, and D.
B. includes the accessories, and after-sales service.
C. includes after-sales service.
D. includes warranty and instructions for use.
E. two of B, C, and D.
To avoid translation errors, the experienced advertising manager will use:
A. plenty of illustrations with short copy.
B. local translators.
C. back translation.
D. all of the above.
E. two of A, B, and C.
According to the text, including such items as maintenance, repair, operating supplies,
office equipment, and other services and supplies, indirect procurement can account for
as much as what percent of the total purchasing expenditures in companies?
A. 15 percent
B. 30 percent
C. 50 percent
D. 70 percent
E. 80 percent
According to trade theory:
A. traders need to know the exchange rate between their own currency and that of the
nation they are considering trading with before they can decide whether it is
advantageous to import, export, or buy locally.
B. if a currency’s exchange rate strengthens, then its exporters will no longer be able to
profitably export their products.
C. devaluation of a currency will automatically cause a nation’s products to be
price-competitive in international markets.
D. all of the above.
E. two of A, B, and C.
Fixed-rate relationships among currencies could not stay fixed, according to Obstfeld
and Rogoff, because:
A. the volume of global transactions started to exceed most countries’ foreign exchange
reserves, so governments couldn’t intervene to sustain the value of their currency.
B. the complexity of international trade demanded return of the gold standard.
C. Walmart and other leading firms argued successfully at the Federal Reserve that
fixed rates were too costly to maintain.
D. the EU had decided to float the euro.
Problems associated with e-procurement include:
A. it cannot be isolated from the company’s overall business system.
B. it must be completed before the firm can engage in other purchasing functions, such
as supplier determination and analysis.
C. it can expose the company to a wide range of potential security issues.
D. all of the above.
E. two of A, B, and C.
In debt markets, the corporate trend is to:
A. raise debt-based capital in the home country first.
B. raise debt capital in the local markets first.
C. raise equity capital first.
D. rely first on retained earnings before debt is incurred.
Cote d’Ivoire uses child labor, often imported and kidnapped, in the cultivation and
harvesting of:
A. marijuana.
B. palm oil.
C. cocoa bean.
D. poppy.
E. none of the above.
The major globalization drivers include all of the following except:
A. competitive.
B. cultural.
C. cost.
D. market.
E. none of the above. All of the above are major kinds of globalization drivers identified
in the text.
Leading and lagging is a practice:
A. of timing, leading with receivables in a weakening currency and payables in
strengthening currencies.
B. a defensive marketing strategy with finance implications.
C. of interest rate manipulation, borrowing in low-rate environments and lending in
high-rate environments.
D. of leading with payables in weakening currencies and with receivables in
strengthening currencies.
Which of the following elements are included in Porter’s Diamond Model of national
advantage?
A. Competitive conditions
B. Export conditions
C. Social conditions
D. Supply conditions
E. None of the above
With increasing inflation, borrowing becomes:
A. more attractive because repayment can be made with cheaper money.
B. less attractive because repayment is made with dearer money.
C. impossible because money has lost its value.
D. a mute issue because of liquidity issues.
A follower firm stands the best chance for success in market-share leadership when:
A. there are high barriers to entry.
B. the firm has small size.
C. there is high potential for imitation.
D. all of the above.
E. two of A, B, and C.
With privatization:
A. assets are transferred from the public sector to the private sector.
B. stock is bought back so that the company no longer has public shareholders.
C. state activities are moved into private management through contracts.
D. all of the above.
E. two of A, B, and C.
Economic exposure results from:
A. exchange rate variations on projected cash flows.
B. operating exposure.
C. A and B.
D. poor planning.
Which of the following dimensions has (have) been identified as being associated with
cross-cultural adjustment?
A. Work context
B. Gender
C. General environment
D. all of the above
E. two of A, B, and C
The route to global leadership:
A. is well established on the MBA foundation.
B. has many options, depending on context.
C. involves recognizing the traits early because global leaders have skills they were
born with.
D. is dependent on early career success in accounting or auditing and knowledge of
foreign languages.
E. A and D.
In general, with regard to exchange controls, developed countries:
A. rarely use them.
B. use them only to discourage foreign investment.
C. use them when needed to implement monetary policy.
D. use them secretly.
Team leadership has these main activities:
A. directing and evaluating.
B. directing and organizing.
C. establishing, coaching, and assessing.
D. establishing, coaching, and setting norms.
E. A and C.
Arbitration is often preferred because it is:
A. easier to influence an arbiter than a judge.
B. quicker and more private than the U.S. court system, although often more expensive.
C. more discreet, although more costly than the court system.
D. less bureaucratic than the court system of any country.
E. none of the above.
WIPO and TRIPS represent:
A. patent harmonization agreements in Southeast Asia and the EU, respectively.
B. anticounterfeiting agreements in Korea and North America, respectively.
C. WTO and UN agreements on IP.
D. UN and WTO agencies or programs that focus on IP.
E. international governments during litigation at the World Court.
Regarding repatriation:
A. expatriates often struggle with the higher autonomy of their work context when they
return home.
B. planning for an expat’s return should start while the employee is abroad.
C. 49 percent of expatriates report that they do not have any guaranteed position in their
IC after the end of their international assignment.
D. two of the above.
E. none of the above.
The importance of personal selling compared with advertising depends to a great extent
on:
A. the type of product sold.
B. media availability.
C. availability of funds.
D. all of the above.
E. two of A, B, and C.
In low-context cultures:
A. there is subtlety and innuendo.
B. what you say tends to be what you mean, in that communication tends to be explicit.
C. indirection is prized because it recognizes the ability of the other.
D. leadership is mostly from behind, allowing the work group to self-direct.
In high-context cultures, relationships tend to be:
A. short term.
B. medium term, except for family.
C. long term.
D. pragmatic.
Executive compensation packages sometimes include payments called perks that are
extras and are:
A. usually illegal.
B. always legal.
C. uncommon.
D. symbols of rank in the company hierarchy.
E. none of the above.
McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Subway are examples of:
A. joint ventures.
B. licensing.
C. franchising.
D. strategic alliances.
E. none of the above.
The total number of Incoterms as of 2011 is:
A. 11.
B. 25.
C. 15.
D. variable. (They vary as need dictates.)
E. 45.
If a student wants to become a global leader, she or he might:
A. study abroad and live with host families.
B. build language and cultural fluency.
C. take international internships.
D. travel as much as possible.
E. all of the above.
Although it pollutes heavily, this energy source is on the rise everywhere, especially in
China:
A. natural gas.
B. coal.
C. nuclear.
D. diesel.