Exam 17: Introduction to Controlling

________ is the search for the best practices among competitors or noncompetitors that lead to their superior performance.

Concurrent control relies on feedback.

Research suggests that best practices frequently already exist within an organization, ________.

Some control criteria need to recognize ________.

The Industry Leader (Scenario) Farid, the new CEO for Amana, is working hard to turn around the formerly successful real estate business. His goal is to make Amana a leader in the industry. Farid is currently at a meeting with senior officers and is informing them about measuring the company's performance. -Before he begins his discussion, Farid defines ________ as the accumulated end results of all the organization's work processes and activities.

Bahrul Kabeer's Control (Scenario) Bahrul Kabeer, Inc., is a statistical software company based in Kuwait. This publicly traded firm has grown in a systematic fashion over its 25 year existence and now claims more than 12,000 employees worldwide. As it has grown, the company has adopted a hierarchical structure, which emphasizes organizational authority. Management relies heavily on administrative rules, regulations, and policies in order to meet its goals. However, the company has struggled to meet projected revenues for each of the past 10 quarters. While it is true that world financial markets have been in a free-fall over the past three years, demand for the firm's products has typically been fairly recession-proof in the past. The board of directors is growing increasingly impatient with the management team. The firm's president, Samira is concerned that recent performance indicates that management has lost control of the workforce. She has hired Majid, an expert in control system design, to evaluate Bahrul Kabeer, Inc., and offer suggestions to improve the firm's performance. -Samira asks how management will know whether the new control system is working. Majid tells Samira that final judgments regarding the effectiveness of a control system rests upon ________.

The ________ ratios measure how efficiently a firm is using its assets.

If employees or managers don't meet the standard, the first thing they're likely to accuse is ________.

Financial Ratios (Scenario) Jana was in a big hurry. She had just been given the assignment of reporting on the financial health of her company to the new divisional vice president. Dania, the new vice president, had asked Jana to work up several calculations to help her gain an understanding of the company's financial shape. Jana was working hard and had a big order to fill, one that could make or break her reputation with Dania. She quickly pulled out her old financial management textbook and turned to the chapter on financial ratios to help her answer the questions that were asked. -Dania was also very interested in examining the organization's use of debt to finance its assets. Jana needed to calculate a(n) ________ ratio.

Understating sales is not nearly as troublesome as overstating them.

Corporate governance is ________.

The ________ approach to performance measurement was introduced as a way to evaluate organizational performance from more than just the financial perspective.

The ________ ratios measure an organization's ability to meet its current debt obligations.

The first step in the control process is ________.

What common source of information for measuring performance has the advantages of being comprehensive, formal, and easy to file and retrieve?

The service profit chain is the service sequence from employees to customers to profit. According to this concept, the company's strategy and service delivery system determines ________.

An organization that hires additional personnel as soon as a major contract has been awarded is using which control system?

In a short essay, list and briefly explain the steps, processes, and best practices managers typically utilize in the control process. Provide examples where appropriate.

What is the final step in the management process?

All of the following are popular company rankings in the Arab world except ________.