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Chapter 6 - Multiproduct Strategies
TRUE/FALSE
2. Loganfield Papers generates 80% of its revenues from its extensive line of papers for watercolor
artists. The remaining 20% of its revenues come from a line of specialty papers it sells to printers of
greeting cards. This company is using the unrelated diversification multiproduct strategy.
4. Firms using the unrelated-diversified multiproduct strategy dominate the private sector in Latin
American countries, Korea, China, and India.
5. Large firms in the U.S. are most likely to use the dominant business multiproduct strategy.
6. Firms using the unrelated strategy emphasize operational competencies to create economies of scope.
7. The sharing of tangible resources among businesses within an SBU is easier than transferring
intangible core competencies among the same businesses.
ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: Page 131 OBJ: Learning Objective 3
KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
8. Restructuring can create financial economies when a firm buys another company’s assets with the
intention of selling them as soon as it finds ways to make the assets more productive.
10. In general, it is easier to create financial economies by restructuring the assets of firms in
high-technology business than firms in low-technology businesses.
11. Divisional managers bear the main responsibility for insuring that managers do not over-diversify the
organization.
12. If a domestic firm using a dominant-business multiproduct strategy decides to market its products
internationally, it will move to a multidivisional structure.
13. A key objective of division heads in the SBU form of the M-form structure is to determine whether
two or more divisions’ resources could be combined to create an intangible capability that could
become a core competence.
15. Textron’s success can be traced to its use of the unrelated diversification multiproduct strategy.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Because less than 70 percent of its sales revenues come from any one business and because some
resources and activities that are needed to produce and sell products and services in different markets
are shared across businesses, Hewlett-Packard is using the ____ multiproduct strategy.
a. related linked c. unrelated diversification
b. related constrained d. dominant business
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: Page 125 OBJ: Learning Objective 1
KEY: Application
MSC: AACSB: Reflective Thinking | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy
& Innovation
2. Firms use multiproduct strategies to diversify for all of the following reasons except
a. smoothing out revenue and earnings flows.
b. reducing the risk of having a single product line.
c. developing economies of scale.
d. gaining exposure to different technologies.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: Page 124-125
OBJ: Learning Objective 2 KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
4. Valve-Tech manufactures valves for pipelines for the oil industry. The company has been in this
business for the past 35 years, and focuses exclusively on valves. As a specialist in all variety of valves
for oil pipelines, it is widely known and respected in the oil industry. Valve-Tech is an example of a
____ multiproduct strategy.
a. single business c. related constrained
b. dominant business d. related linked
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: Page 125 OBJ: Learning Objective 2
KEY: Application
MSC: AACSB: Reflective Thinking | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy
& Innovation
5. Bell Tower Productions produces educational videos for use in private religious-based elementary
schools. This generates approximately 80 percent of Bell Tower’s revenues. As a side line, the
company also produces videos for use by churches for Sunday school classes and church summer
camps. Bell Tower is using the ____ diversification multiproduct strategy.
a. single business c. related-diversification
b. dominant business d. unrelated-diversification
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: Page 126 OBJ: Learning Objective 2
KEY: Application
MSC: AACSB: Reflective Thinking | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy
& Innovation
6. Cost savings that the firm accrues when it successfully shares some of its resources and activities or
some of its core competencies between its businesses are called
a. core economies. c. economies of scope.
b. economies of competence. d. economies of scale.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: Page 128 OBJ: Learning Objective 3
KEY: Knowledge
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
7. When the businesses within an organization share some products, markets, or technologies and each
business generates less than 70 percent of the sales revenue of the organization, the firm is using the
____ diversification multiproduct strategy.
a. related-constrained c. unrelated
b. related-linked d. nondominant
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: Page 128 OBJ: Learning Objective 3
KEY: Knowledge
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
9. Another term for companies that use the unrelated-diversification multiproduct strategy is
a. combinations. c. global organizations.
b. aggregations. d. conglomerates.
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: Page 128 OBJ: Learning Objective 4
KEY: Knowledge
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
10. Crested Eagle Enterprises uses the related linked multiproduct strategy. One of its businesses
developed in-depth marketing knowledge of the Northwest region of the U.S. which has traditionally
been a weak spot for Crested Eagle’s businesses. This marketing knowledge is being transferred
throughout Crested Eagle’s businesses through a series of seminars and training courses. This is an
example of
a. operational transference. c. operational relatedness.
b. corporate relatedness. d. competency transference.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: Page 129 OBJ: Learning Objective 3
KEY: Application
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
11. Firms that use the related linked diversification multiproduct strategy create economies of scope by
achieving ____ relatedness.
a. corporate c. operational
b. competency d. both operational and corporate
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: Page 129 OBJ: Learning Objective 3
KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
12. Fresh from Nature, Inc., has several lines of heat-and-eat frozen foods sold in grocery stores. These
include the Auntie Jean line of American-style casseroles, the Tia Juana line of Mexican foods, and the
Oma Gertie line of German and East European dishes. Fresh from Nature contracts with a dozen
producers of organic beef, pork, and chicken which it provides to all three food lines. This is an
example of ____ relatedness.
a. economic c. operational
b. corporate d. competency
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: Page 129 OBJ: Learning Objective 3
KEY: Application
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
13. A typical risk with resource sharing in the attempt to achieve economies of scope is that
a. supply of the resource may not match the demand for the resource.
b. resources shared internally tend to be more expensive than those acquired externally.
c. the quality of resources generated internally is usually not as high as those acquired
externally.
d. the organization tends to over-rely on internal supplies of resources.
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: Page 130 OBJ: Learning Objective 3
KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
14. Kohl’s sells an array of products while using the ____ multiproduct strategy.
a. related constrained
b. dominant business
c. single business
d. related linked
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: Page 125 OBJ: Learning Objective 3
KEY: Application
MSC: AACSB: Reflective Thinking | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy
& Innovation
15. Firms which have successfully achieved both operational relatedness and corporate relatedness
a. are termed diversified corporations.
b. are unstable because of the difficulty of maintaining this “hybrid” strategy.
c. are difficult for competitors to imitate.
d. rely almost entirely on the transfer of intangible core competencies for their success.
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: Page 131 OBJ: Learning Objective 3
KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
16. In a firm using the unrelated-diversification multiproduct strategy, the organizations’ corporate
headquarters personnel act as ____ for the entire organization.
a. a capital market c. a source of core competencies
b. a coordinator of tangible resources d. a separate SBU
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: Page 132 OBJ: Learning Objective 4
KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
17. Bravissimo Nutriceuticals was bought by MegaVitamin, Inc. Bravissimo was restructured by
MegaVitamin, and resold for a price more than MegaVitamin’s investment. Which of the following
statements is true?
a. This is an example of a successful unrelated-diversification multiproduct strategy by
MegaVitamin.
b. This is an example of a typical conglomerate strategy, such as is practiced in Latin
America.
c. This is an example of a successful related linked diversification strategy by MegaVitamin.
d. This is an example of a failed related constrained diversification strategy by Bravissimo.
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: Page 132 OBJ: Learning Objective 4
KEY: Application
MSC: AACSB: Reflective Thinking | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy
& Innovation
18. The main reason that an internal capital market would generate superior returns for shareholders as
compared with external capital markets is
a. the effective transfer of core competencies within an internal capital market.
b. the increased operational and corporate relatedness generated by an internal capital
market.
c. the improved access to information about SBUs.
d. the higher motivation by managers of SBUs when competing for funds.
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: Page 132-133
OBJ: Learning Objective 4 KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
21. The main check on managerial desires to over-diversify the firm is/are the
a. external capital markets. c. shareholders.
b. internal capital market. d. board of directors.
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: Page 134 OBJ: Learning Objective 5
KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
22. The ____ M-form structure uses horizontal integration so that resources and activities can be shared
among product divisions.
a. cooperative c. competitive
b. SBU form d. collaborative
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: Page 135 OBJ: Learning Objective 6
KEY: Knowledge
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
23. Temporary teams or task forces that cross organizational divisions are most likely to be used in the
____ version of the M-form structure.
a. SBU form c. competitive
b. cooperative d. collaborative
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: Page 135-136
OBJ: Learning Objective 6 KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
24. Profit centers are a dominant feature of the ____ form of the M-form structure.
a. cooperative c. competitive
b. collaborative d. SBU
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: Page 136-137
OBJ: Learning Objective 6 KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
25. In the SBU form of the M-form structure, headquarters staff use ____ controls to evaluate the
performance of each SBU.
a. strategic c. financial
b. marketing d. operational
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: Page 136-137
OBJ: Learning Objective 6 KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
26. Firms using the unrelated-diversification multiproduct strategy use the ____ form of the M-form
structure.
a. competitive c. cooperative
b. SBU d. collaborative
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: Page 137 OBJ: Learning Objective 6
KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
27. Division managers in the ____ form of the M-form structure would have very little contact with one
another and would have little or no motivation to form relationships across divisions.
a. cooperative c. competitive
b. SBU d. collaborative
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: Page 138 OBJ: Learning Objective 6
KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Managing Strategy &
Innovation
ESSAY
1. Explain the differences among the following levels of diversification in terms of the two
value-creating strategies: related constrained, related linked, and unrelated. Define the two
value-creating strategies.
ANS:
The two value creating strategies of diversification are operational and corporate relatedness.
Operational relatedness involves sharing resources and activities between businesses. Corporate
relatedness involves transferring core competencies between some of the organizations businesses
through corporate headquarters. The related constrained strategy uses high levels of operational
relatedness and low levels of corporate relatedness. The related linked strategy uses high levels of
corporate relatedness and low levels of operational relatedness. The unrelated strategy relies on neither
type of relatedness.
PTS: 1 REF: Page 129-131
OBJ: Learning Objective 2 | Learning Objective 3 | Learning Objective 4
KEY: Comprehension
MSC: AACSB: Analytic | Management: Strategy | Dierdorff & Rubin: Strategic & Systems Skills
2. Explain the difference between the unrelated diversification strategy and the two
related-diversification strategies in terms of how they create the economies that make them successful.
ANS:
The related-diversification strategies rely on economies of scope which they generate through either
operational relatedness or corporate relatedness. A few firms simultaneously seek both operational and
corporate relatedness, although this is very difficult and few firms achieve it. Both operational and
corporate relatedness are based on sharing either of resources or of core competencies. Unrelated
diversification strategies seek financial economies, and the divisions in these types of firms operate
separately competing for capital in the organization’s internal capital market.
3. Why would CEOs and presidents of organizations seek to diversify beyond the point where the
diversification benefits the organization? What is the main protection for the organization from this
overdiversification?
ANS:
Top managers of organizations are tempted to overdiversify by the fact that the larger the firm, the
more executives are paid. In addition, the more diversified the firm, the less likely all the divisions will
fail simultaneously. This gives the executives more job security, because at least portions of the
organization will survive. The main control on executive temptation to overdiversify is the
organization’s board of directors.
4. What are the three types of M-form structure and which of the diversification multiproduct strategies
does each fit? What key aspect of each structure is appropriate for each strategy?
ANS:
The cooperative M-form structure is suited to the related constrained diversification multiproduct
strategy. The key aspect of this structure is the provision of horizontal linkages that allows sharing of
resources. The SBU form of the M-form structure is suited to the related linked diversification
multiproduct strategy. The key aspect of this structure is the creation of each SBU as a profit center.
The competitive M-form structure is suited to the unrelated-diversification multiproduct strategy. The
key aspect of this structure is the creation of the internal capital market.
The photographs reproduced were taken by T. Lewis and by Harold Baker, both of
Birmingham.
Note.—The cost is given of all cottages where the
accommodation, materials, &c., are fully described, with the
exception of one or two cases in which the cottages are owned
privately. As most of the examples given have been built by the
Bournville Village Trust, it should be noted that the figures stated
include an addition to the net cost of 3¾ per cent. as builder’s profit.
PLATE II.
THE TRIANGLE.
BOURNVILLE.
THE BOURNVILLE VILLAGE.
Although many articles have already appeared from time to time in
newspaper and periodical respecting the Bournville Village, the
following account of its founding and development will doubtless be of
interest to the reader:—
In 1879 Messrs. Cadbury Brothers removed their works from
Birmingham to the present site at Bournville, and twenty-four cottages
were erected there for their workmen. This really formed the nucleus
out of which in recent years the village has developed. It was in 1895
that Mr. George Cadbury, the senior member of the present firm,
commenced the work of building a model village. One of the objects of
the scheme was that of “alleviating the evils which arise from the
insanitary and insufficient housing accommodation supplied to large
numbers of the working classes, and of securing to workers in
factories some of the advantages of outdoor village life, with
opportunities for the natural and healthful occupation of cultivating the
soil.” A simple and interesting statement of the motive behind the
experiment was made by Mr. Cadbury himself at the Garden City
Conference, held at Bournville in 1901. An intimate knowledge of the
lives of Birmingham working-men, gained by an experience of some
forty years, had shown him that the greatest drawback to their moral
and physical progress was the lack of any healthful occupation for
their leisure. Although many men took up carpentry and other crafts,
such hobbies, he said, had proved insufficiently recreative, and in
most cases the men soon tired of them. Realising this, he began to
think of new means. His conclusion was that the only practical thing
was to bring the factory worker out on to the land, that he might
pursue the most natural and healthful of all recreations, that of
gardening. It was impossible for working men to be healthy and have
healthy children, when after being confined all day in factories they
spent their evenings in an institute, club room, or public house. If it
were necessary for their health, as it undoubtedly was, that they
should get fresh air, it was equally to the advantage of their moral life
that they should be brought into contact with Nature. There was an
advantage, too, in bringing the working-man on to the land, for,
instead of his losing money in the amusements usually sought in the
towns, he saved it in his garden produce—a great consideration
where the poorer class of workman was concerned. The average yield
per garden in the 1901 tests at Bournville, after making allowance for
all outgoings, proved to be 1s. 11d. each per week. Mr. Cadbury also
thought that the increased consumption of fresh vegetable food,
instead of animal food, was further desirable. It was touching, he
thought, to see the interest and pleasure taken by town families when
on coming into the country they saw seeds germinate and vegetables
grown for the first time. Nor was the advantage of leaving the town for
the country restricted to the workmen. Mr. Cadbury showed that the
greater facilities there for obtaining land were also of advantage to the
manufacturer whose business was increasing.
The Bournville idea was at first regarded as an impracticable one,
even apart from the economic side of the question, but the realisation
of the scheme has proved otherwise. The average garden space
allotted to the Bournville cottages is 600 square yards, this being as
much as most men can conveniently cultivate, and, almost without
exception, the Bournville tenants are the most enthusiastic gardeners
—a statement no one surely will traverse who has paid a visit to the
village in the summer.
PLATE III.
SHOPS,
BOURNVILLE.
PLATE IV.
LINDEN ROAD,
BOURNVILLE.
PLATE V.
THE OLD FARM
INN, BOURNVILLE.
While it was the first aim of the founder to provide dwellings for the
factory worker which should have adequate accommodation and large
gardens, it was not intended that at Bournville provision should be
made alone for the poorer working class. It might be pointed out that
one of the most prominent ideals in the scheme of the Garden Suburb
Trust, already referred to, is “that all classes may live in kindly
neighbourliness,” and the amalgamation of the factory-worker and the
brain-worker in the same district is catered for as being expressly
desirable. At Bournville there has always been a demand for houses
both on the part of the skilled artisan and others, and this demand has
been provided for from the first. Rents in the village range from 4s. 6d.
a week, rates not included, to 12s. a week; and there are also a few
houses of a still larger class at higher rentals. Nor are the houses let
to Messrs. Cadbury’s own workpeople exclusively, as the following
figures will show—figures based on a private census taken during
1901, and here quoted from a booklet issued by the Village Trust:—
Proportion of Householders working in
—
Bournville per
41·2 cent.
Villages within a mile of Bournville 18·6 „
Birmingham 40·2 „
Occupations of Householders—
Employed at indoor work in per
factories 50·7 cent.
Clerks and travellers 13·3 „
Mechanics, carpenters, bricklayers,
and various occupations not
admitting of exact classification 36·0 „
The village is four miles from Birmingham, and is easily accessible
by cycle, rail, or electric car. The last come within easy distance of the
village, workmen’s fares being 2d. return.
Under the founder’s first scheme the land was let upon leases of
999 years, subject to a ground rent varying from ½d. to 1d. per yard
(600 square yards at ½d. and 1d. = £1 5s. and £2 10s. respectively).
Arrangements were made to find capital on mortgages granted at the
rate of Three per cent. to those who paid less than half the cost of the
house and Two and a-half per cent. to those who paid more. Although
a stipulation was made that no one person should be allowed to build
more than four houses, it was found necessary to revise the
arrangement in order to prevent speculation. In 1900, therefore, the
estate was handed over to a Trust on behalf of the nation, the whole
income to be directed to solving the housing problem. The houses
now built are let to tenants at moderate weekly rentals, which include
the annual ground rent, equal to about 1d. per yard (according to its
value), and which should yield Four per cent. net. The revenue of
house and ground rents is employed, after provision has been made
for the maintenance and repair of present property, in the
development of the village itself, and in the laying out and
development of other villages elsewhere, the Trust being empowered
under the deed of foundation to acquire land in any part of Great
Britain. Subsequently to the formation of the Trust, additional land
adjacent to Bournville has been added to the founder’s gift, and
included in the village, which now extends over 458 acres. Already
upwards of 100 acres of land have been laid out for building. There
are now about 450 houses in the hands of the Trust, which number,
added to the 143 sold under the first scheme, makes a total of nearly
600. With the income of the Trust, building is being steadily proceeded
with, and there is a continual demand for houses.
PLATE VI.
SYCAMORE ROAD,
BOURNVILLE.
PLATE VII.
THE SCHOOLS,
BOURNVILLE
SEE PAGE 13.
PLATE VIII.
CARVED STONE PANELS
FOR SCHOOLS.
PLATE IX.
RUSKIN HALL,
BOURNVILLE.
PLATE X.
MEETING HOUSE,
BOURNVILLE.
PLATE XI.
MEETING HOUSE,
BOURNVILLE.