Question

LaserTech is a manufacturer of industrial lasers and has developed a new, patented technology that allows its customers to manufacture their products more precisely with a higher level of consistency and at a lower cost than they could previously. LaserTech's executives believe that no rivals have a similar technology and that it would be very difficult for rivals to copy this technology since the benefits of the new technology can only be realized within LaserTech's system, which includes processes that are protected by trade secrets, making it difficult for rivals to understand the relationship between the company's new technology and its competitive advantage.

LaserTech's new technology appears to be
A) valuable and rare but not costly to imitate.
B) valuable and either rare or costly to imitate.
C) valuable but neither rare nor costly to imitate.
D) valuable, rare and costly to imitate.

Answer 1

LaserTech's new technology is valuable, rare, and costly to imitate due to patent protection and integration with proprietary systems protected by trade secrets, creating significant barriers to competitors.

Step-by-step explanation:

LaserTech's new technology offers competitive advantages that are valuable, rare, and also costly to imitate. The difficulty in replicating this technology is because it is not only patented but integrated into a system protected by trade secrets, similar to the protection of the famous Coca-Cola formula.

This integration into LaserTech's proprietary system creates a significant barrier for competitors, which prevents easy imitation. Additionally, considering the parallel of technological advancements in a hypothetical company Technotron, we see that innovation can lead to market disruptions, which are often considered necessary for progress.

These market shifts reward companies like LaserTech that can create new technologies hence providing them with long-term industry advantages.