Answer the following statements true (T) or false (F)

Question

1. One of the strengths of Virgin Group Ltd. is its ability to enter new businesses quickly.
2. Successful large companies are more able than other firms to survive and prosper in an environment of radically innovative change.
3. China and India are changing the way American companies work, in part, through substantial labor savings.
4. Information is rapidly becoming the new competitive advantage.

Answer 1

1. TRUE
Virgin Group Ltd., headed by Sir Richard Branson, is known mainly for its music and airline businesses, but it has entered several new businesses (mobile phones, credit cards, hotels, games, trains, even space travel) one after the other and very quickly. Virgin Comics, aimed at India's multibillion-dollar comics market, went from idea to public announcement in less than 11 months.
2. FALSE
Clayton M. Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor, thinks it's very difficult for an existing successful company to take full advantage of a technological breakthrough such as digitalization, what he calls "disruptive innovation." Instead, he argues that such a company should set up an entirely separate organization that can operate much like a start-up.
3. TRUE
China, India, Mexico, the Philippines, and other countries offer workers and even professionals willing to work twice as hard for half the pay, giving American businesses substantial labor savings. These developing nations also, says BusinessWeek, offer "enormous gains in efficiency, productivity, quality, and revenues that can be achieved by fully leveraging offshore talent."
4. FALSE
"Information is rapidly becoming a profitless commodity, and knowledge is becoming the new competitive advantage," says San Diego management consultant Karl Albrecht. Unlike routine information handling, knowledge work is analytic and involves problem solving and abstract reasoning, exactly the kind of thing required of skillful managers, professionals, salespeople, and financial analysts.