Weekly Review Quiz As of 2009-02-26

Weekly Review Quiz as of 2009-04-23 Strategic Management

Oracle Snatches Sun, Foiling IBM by Don Clark and Ben Worthen 04/21/2009 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124022726514434703.html

1. Although Oracle has less overlap with Sun than IBM does, for Oracle this does have the cited advantage of a) less internal political conflict after the merger. b) allaying customer concerns that Oracle is growing too big and powerful. c) providing a good pretext for exiting the software industry. d) reducing the need for layoffs. * e) facilitating antitrust scrutiny.

2. If post-merger integration proves difficult, one likely move by Oracle would be to a) sell Sun's operations to IBM. b) manage Sun as an entirely separate company. * c) divest the hardware business of Sun. d) use Sun as a base for selling telecommunications services. e) promote Scott McNealy to the top ranks of Oracle.

Founders Step Aside at MySpace by Emily Steel 04/23/2009 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124043324710044929.html

3. Based on the information provided in the article, on what dimension is MySpace less competitive than Facebook?

* a) global market share b) solidity of the balance sheet c) ROI and ROE d) net margin e) gross margin

4. Extrapolating from information provided in the article, in what area has MySpace evidently been much less successful than Facebook? a) In attracting high-profile partners like Google * b) In growing the number of users outside the US c) In finding adequate sources of funds for investment d) In retaining the original culture of the start-up company e) In being seen as the leading social-networking site in the US 5. Within the News Corp. empire, MySpace a) created jealousy in other divisions because of its success. b) struggled to find funding for investment. c) conflicted with the culture of print media. * d) was supposed to help transform News Corp. into a new media titan. e) floundered for lack of a real champion at the corporate level.