Ever-improving levels of efficiency enhance profit margins for a cost leader. This affects which of the following forces of industry structure most directly?

Religious beliefs are an example of customer segmentation by __________ factors.

A major pharmaceutical company formed a nonequity strategic alliance with an outsourcing firm to monitor its drug safety claims. The outsourcing firm did not have the requisite knowledge to identify all possible side effects and categorize their severity. This best illustrates the risk associated with inadequate contracts

An advantage of using horizontal, vertical, or related acquisitions is that they are not subject to regulatory review

In place of what historically were relatively stable and predictable domestic markets, firms across the globe find that they are now competing in relatively unstable and unpredictable global markets

Because of U.S. legal restrictions concerning large foreign acquisitions, American firms can only enter into diversifying alliances with other U.S. firms

Sustained competitive advantage is most achievable in a __________ market.

Using business-level strategic alliances to hedge against risk and uncertainty is most common in the slow-cycle markets

The Publicis Groupe has three major groups of business (advertising, media, and digital) that share resources and activities. The Publicis Groupe is using a(n) __________ diversification strategy.

Before a firm decides what products to offer and what benefits and features they will have, it must determine all of the following EXCEPT: