Example Exam Questions (by Xaveria Vossen):
1. Open innovation’s purpose is…
A. To accelerate external innovation and expand the markets for internal use of innovation
B. To accelerate internal innovation and expand the markets for external use of innovation
C. To expand internal innovation and accelerate the markets for external use of innovation
D. To expand internal innovation and accelerate the markets for internal use of innovation
2. Have a look at the following statements:
I: Consumers are interested in the technical characteristics of a product
II: Sometimes the organization that discover and invent a new technology may not be
the ones that innovate with the idea or technology
A. Statement I is true, and Statement II is true
B. Statement I is true, and Statement II is false
C. Statement I is false, and Statement II is true
D. Statement I is false, and Statement II is false
3. What are the three facets of innovation?
A. Innovation Dissemination, Innovation Conceptualization, and Innovation Creation
B. Innovation Creation, Innovation Absorption, and Innovation Generation
C. Innovation Absorption, Innovation Dissemination, and Innovation Conceptualization
D. Innovation Generation, Innovation Dissemination, and Innovation Absorption
4. When we’re talking about closed innovation, which statement is true?
A. There are activities that are performed outside the walls of the organization
B. Ideas and project can start outside the knowledge base of the company
C. During the journey from the laboratory to the market, the company does not eliminate
projects
D. Only a subset of projects gets through to the market (weed out false positives).
5. How do you call it when project is stopped during the innovation process as they are
judged to be unpromising, while in practice they might not
A. A False negative
B. A False positive
C. Market uncertainty
D. Technical uncertainty
6. Which of the following statements is a contrasting principle between open and closed
innovation?
A. Where initially companies though that the best researchers and developers work for
them, now companies believe that continuously investing in internal knowledge will make
the difference even if not the best researchers and developers work for you.
B. Where initially companies thought that the first one with an innovation will dominate the
market, now companies believe that building better business models is more important
than entering the market first.
C. Where initially companies thought that they should control their Intellectual Property (IP)
themselves, now companies believe that an external spin-off of the company should do
that
D. Where initially companies thought that only the best use of idea made a company
successful in the market, now companies believe that the company with the most and
best ideas in the industry will be successful in the market
, 7. The book mentions how research projects within PARC (Xerox) work. How does this
work?
A. A project starts with an individual who is fascinated by a new technical possibility after
which he/she persists pursuing his vision and at least one other researcher in the lab
should be interested in joining the project
B. A project starts with some ideas about expanding a company’s IP’s.
C. A project starts when a multidisciplinary team is persistently pursing a vision which
directly leads to a new IP
D. A project starts with an individual who is fascinated by a new technical possibility
whenever it fits the current business strategy
8. What does deep vertical integration mean?
A. That technology was not produced inside a company and therefore valued less
B. That all activities: the R&D pipeline, creating new products and capture value from these
ideas and reinvest in further research, are conducted with the firm
C. That research is done by exploration of new frontiers
D. That the output of research is a process in itself
9. When considering the difference between research and development, which one is
described in the following terms: profit center, execution: how?, hit target, hit
schedules, minimize risk and solve problems within constraints?
A. Research
B. Development
C. Both research and development
D. None of them
10. The distribution of knowledge has shifted away from the R&D facilities, towards
variegated pools of knowledge distributed in an open environment. Which of the
following is NOT and erosion factor that caused this change?
A. The increasing availability and mobility of skilled workers
B. The Venture Capital Market
C. External Option for Ideas Sitting on the Shelf
D. Increased internal R&D Investment Budgets
11. Fill in the words in the gaps:
“Open Innovation firms may actually change their own technology strategies. They
learn ______ and adapt their own strategies _____ _____ as a result of coexisting with
an environment filled with venture capitalists and their start-up firms.
A. Slower, more efficient
B. Slower, less rapidly
C. Faster, more rapidly
D. Faster, less efficient
12. An implication of Open Innovation is that companies must increase the ‘metabolic
rate’. What does this mean?
A. They need to access, digest and utilize knowledge
B. They cannot treat their knowledge as static but as fundamentally dynamic
C. They cannot inventory technology advances on the shelf for the day they may prove
valuable
D. They use licensing extensively to create and extend market for their technology
E. All of the above
F. None of the above
