1. Research and development is one area of the value chain dedicated to:

a. the identification of new industries and ways to meet customers' needs through technology.

b. the development of new products, enhancing existing products and improving processes to reduce the production cost for existing products.

c. the description of customer markets and demographics that companies can market existing products to.

d. the improvement of ways to support customers after they've purchased a product and require service.

2. Which of these companies in the news in recent years would benefit from a strategy that enhances quality to build and maintain its competitive advantage?

a. Comcast is consistently criticized for its call center wait times and communications.

b. Takata Corporation issues a recall for 34 million air bags installed on a variety of car brands due to potential faults and defects.

c. Research in Motion works to launch new smartphones but continues to fall behind Apple and Android sales because of a lack of Blackberry apps.

d. Delta's cost per available seat mile flown is $16.80 compared to rivals American Airlines $15.84 and Southwest $13.76.