DBA Doctor of Business Administration/Business Management 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A company using a 'differentiation strategy' according to Porter's Generic Strategies seeks to:
- Achieve the lowest cost structure in the industry
- Offer unique products or services that justify premium pricing (Correct answer)
- Serve a narrow market niche with tailored offerings
- Maximize market share through aggressive pricing
Correct answer: Offer unique products or services that justify premium pricing
Differentiation strategy creates customer value through unique features, quality, or brand that competitors cannot easily replicate, supporting premium pricing.
Question 2: In human resource management, 'job enrichment' differs from 'job enlargement' in that job enrichment:
- Adds more tasks at the same skill level
- Increases the scope and variety of horizontal tasks
- Adds greater responsibility, autonomy, and complexity to the role (Correct answer)
- Rotates employees through multiple departments
Correct answer: Adds greater responsibility, autonomy, and complexity to the role
Job enrichment increases vertical responsibility and decision-making authority, improving motivation by addressing higher-order needs per Herzberg's theory.
Question 3: The Balanced Scorecard framework developed by Kaplan and Norton evaluates organizational performance across four perspectives. Which perspective directly assesses operational efficiency?
- Financial perspective
- Customer perspective
- Internal business process perspective (Correct answer)
- Learning and growth perspective
Correct answer: Internal business process perspective
The internal business process perspective measures cycle time, quality, throughput, and operational efficiency that create value for customers.
Question 4: In mergers and acquisitions, 'synergy' most accurately refers to:
- The premium paid above market price for target shares
- Value created when the combined entity exceeds the sum of its parts (Correct answer)
- Regulatory approval for the merger transaction
- Alignment of cultures between acquiring and target firms
Correct answer: Value created when the combined entity exceeds the sum of its parts
Synergy occurs when the merged firm generates higher cash flows or lower costs than the two companies would independently, justifying acquisition premiums.
Question 5: Which macroeconomic indicator is most closely monitored to assess inflationary pressures on consumer purchasing power?
- Producer Price Index (PPI)
- Consumer Price Index (CPI) (Correct answer)
- GDP deflator
- Federal funds rate
Correct answer: Consumer Price Index (CPI)
The CPI tracks the average price change of a market basket of consumer goods and services, directly measuring cost-of-living inflation.
Question 6: A business pursuing a 'market penetration' strategy in Ansoff's Growth Matrix is focusing on:
- Selling existing products to new markets
- Developing new products for existing markets
- Growing sales of existing products in existing markets (Correct answer)
- Diversifying into entirely new products and markets
Correct answer: Growing sales of existing products in existing markets
Market penetration seeks to increase market share with current products in current markets through lower prices, promotions, or improved distribution.
Question 7: In quantitative business research, 'multicollinearity' is a problem that occurs when:
- The dependent variable has a non-normal distribution
- Two or more independent variables are highly correlated with each other (Correct answer)
- Sample size is insufficient to achieve statistical significance
- Survey responses contain systematic response bias
Correct answer: Two or more independent variables are highly correlated with each other
Multicollinearity inflates standard errors in regression models, making it difficult to isolate individual predictor effects and producing unreliable coefficients.
DBA Doctor of Business Administration/Business Management 4
A company using a 'differentiation strategy' according to Porter's Generic Strategies seeks to: