Exam 18: Planning and Control Techniques

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Allocating Resources at Planning Plus Inc. (Scenario) Management from all levels of Planning Plus Inc. (PPI) has been making decisions about how to best accomplish next year's organizational goals. The production department has been making numerical plans to project such items as person-hours per machine, capacity usage, and production volume. Accounting has been trying to determine the production quantity at which total revenues will equal total costs. Purchasing has been establishing delivery dates for raw materials that meet the weekly inventory requirements of the production department. Finally, the marketing department has been planning the introduction of a new product. Marketing is essentially using a bar graph that displays time on the horizontal axis and activities to be completed on the vertical axis. -The bar graph used by marketing is called a __________.

Benchmarking involves evaluating company effectiveness against its own standards.

Which of the following is a good suggestion for improving forecasting effectiveness?

Jill is trying to predict next quarter's sales for her company by analyzing five years of previous sales data. Which specific forecasting technique should Jill use?

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Budgeting Bonanza (Scenario) Chuck Cartwright owns Ponderosa Video, a small chain of video stores based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The stores have been earning a modest profit, but Chuck needs to improve his budgeting process if he wants to compete against the big national chains. His financial advisor, Helga Hensler, suggested he develop a series of budgets for analysis. -Chuck combined the revenue and expense budgets form each store to develop a(n) __________ budget.

In a PERT network, the critical path is the __________.

Which of the following is an accurate statement concerning the process of competitor intelligence gathering?

The Chilliwack Volunteer Fire Department is selling cookbooks as a fundraiser. Each cookbook costs $3 to produce, and total fixed costs are $400. If the cookbooks sell for $8 each, how many do they have to sell to earn a $5,000 profit?

Buying a competitor's product for evaluation is an illegal form of competitor intelligence.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Forecasting (Scenario) Imagine that you are a manager in the construction industry in Calgary, Alberta. Calgary has recently been experiencing rapid growth, bringing with it increased demand for construction services and more intense competition. The provincial government has been easing restrictions on public land use and has promoted a business-friendly environment to attract more corporations to the area. Furthermore, the oil business is booming, and there is a severe shortage of housing and worker accommodations in the oil-producing regions. However, you are also aware of how quickly these factors can change and the impact that a change in government or a decline in the price of oil can have on the construction industry. Given these considerations, you try to develop a forecast to help plan your company's future. -Based on the value of the Canadian dollar, interest rates, and the strength of Alberta's economy, you forecast that the demand for new housing will continue to be strong well into next year. You have used which forecasting technique?

Often, the only real influence that project managers have is __________.

Which planning tool uses a bar graph to show output, both planned and actual, over a period of time?

The final step in the project planning process is to __________.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Breakeven Analysis at MRI (Scenario) Mike has just been hired as a sales manager at Mobile Research Inc. (MRI), makers of the popular Blueberry wireless phone. At his first management briefing, Mike is informed that the company is losing money, despite the immense popularity of the Blueberry phone. He learns that the company is facing intense competition from its main rival, Mandarin Communications, makers of the M-Phone. The M-Phone has the same popular features as the Blueberry and sells for $40 less. When Mike asked about the cost structure for the Blueberry he was informed that the selling price is $200, variable costs are $120, and total fixed costs are $800,000 per month. -If MRI decided to match the selling price of the M-Phone, how many Blueberry phones would they have to sell in a month in order to break even?

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Allocating Resources at Planning Plus Inc. (Scenario) Management from all levels of Planning Plus Inc. (PPI) has been making decisions about how to best accomplish next year's organizational goals. The production department has been making numerical plans to project such items as person-hours per machine, capacity usage, and production volume. Accounting has been trying to determine the production quantity at which total revenues will equal total costs. Purchasing has been establishing delivery dates for raw materials that meet the weekly inventory requirements of the production department. Finally, the marketing department has been planning the introduction of a new product. Marketing is essentially using a bar graph that displays time on the horizontal axis and activities to be completed on the vertical axis. -When purchasing establishes delivery dates for raw materials that meet the weekly inventory requirements of the production department, they are using which resource allocation technique?

A profit budget __________.

Many firms regularly buy competitors' products and have their own engineers study them to learn about new technical innovations. This process is called __________.

Which of the following is a qualitative forecasting technique?

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Budgeting Bonanza (Scenario) Chuck Cartwright owns Ponderosa Video, a small chain of video stores based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The stores have been earning a modest profit, but Chuck needs to improve his budgeting process if he wants to compete against the big national chains. His financial advisor, Helga Hensler, suggested he develop a series of budgets for analysis. -Helga suggested that Chuck develop a(n) __________ budget to forecast his on-hand funding requirements.

Fixed costs are expenses that do not change, regardless of volume.