Assignment 1001

Assessment

Tick the correct answer:

1. BlackBerry had the potential to spearhead innovation but could not do so due lack of

a) Market Capital
b) Lack of Customer Focus
c) Lack of paradigm shift
d) Both b & c

2. Motorola was once a leading player in the mobile industry because of their sharp focus on

a) Hardware
b) Software
c) Customers
d) Future trends

3. General Motors formed General Motors Corporation by joining hands with

a) Tata Motors
b) GMC
c) Toyota
d) Suzuki

4. One of the major causes of GM’s downfall was

a) Profit mindedness
b) Diversification to other businesses
c) Untimely innovation
d) Allying with a rival

5. Xerox did not want to go digital because

a) They did not have enough infrastructure to support the change

b) They thought the market was not ready yet
c) They thought it would be too expensive
d) They did not want to break the image of “XEROX means COPY”
6. The miscalculation of XEROX resulted in

a) Idea lost in implementation

b) Idea lost in indecision
c) Loss in market share
d) Loss of revenue

7. Kodak was so eager to launch their first digital camera that they called Steve Sassan “cute”

a. True
b. False

8. One of the reasons behind Kodak's downfall was

a) they took innovation for granted

b) they feared the loss revenue
c) Political changes in the United States of America
d) None of the above

9. One of the primary reasons behind BlackBerry’s failure was

a) They weren’t investing enough in sales and marketing

b) Ineffective distribution process
c) They weren’t thinking of the user experience
d) They weren’t able to beat the pricing of their competitors

10. In a business like that of Kodak's, ________________ could encourage innovation.

a) Revenue
b) Robust top management
c) Proper Culture
d) All of these
 Assignment: Answer Key

1.d) – Option 2 & 3

Explanation: Of course, Blackberry was more focused on technological innovations, rather than
understanding customer focus for the upcoming trends. And that created a lot of problem for the
company.

2.a) - Hardware

Explanation: At the beginning of mobile phone era, Motorola was popular because of its focus on
hardware. Gradually, their insistence to stay with hardware innovation led to the decline because the
market wanted better services in terms of software and not hardware.

3.c) – Toyota

Explanation: It was in the summer of 1984, General Motors had a joint venture which Japanese
company Toyota in California. But unfortunately this joint venture did not work out very well for
General Motors.

4.a) - Profit mindedness

Explanation: The management of General Motors where focusing mostly on making profit and did not
care much about innovation in parts and products. And that created a lot of problem for General
Motors in times to come.

5.c) - They thought it would be too expensive

Explanation: It is surprising to know that a company like Xerox, which invented PC first and was way
ahead of its time, unfortunately thought going digital would be too expensive for them and did not
utilize the right opportunity.

6.a) - Idea lost in implementation

Explanation: At an inspiration level, Xerox had a brilliant idea; but due to lethargic corporate
structure, somehow the idea lost is focus and was not implemented properly and that became a
tragedy for Xerox.
7.a) - True

Explanation: Yes, Steve Sasson, the engineer who invented first digital camera back in 1975 was
laughed at by the management of Kodak and they called his idea to be ‘cute’ and asked him not to tell
about that idea to anyone because he would be laughed at.

8.a) - They took innovation for granted

Explanation: Yes at the age of analogue cameras, when one of the engineers of Kodak actually
invented digital camera, they did not take this innovation seriously and took it very lightly. This is
remembered to be one of the biggest mistakes done by Kodak in the history of business.

9.c) - Weren't thinking of the user experience

Explanation: Yes, at that point of time, customers were looking for better services, better software,
high functioning battery usage and other conveniences, but unfortunately Blackberry did not focus on
those upcoming changes in the customers’ demands.

10.c) - Proper culture

Explanation: Organizational culture is extremely important for employees to feel encouraged to come
up with innovative ideas which can help the organization. Unfortunately, Kodak could not create that
kind of culture and that’s why a brilliant idea of digital camera was ignored which created a lot of
problem for the company in near future.
of mobile handset business.