Deck 12: Service Response Logistics

Question 1

The goal of an efficient queuing system is that customers never have to wait in a queue.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

An office setting could be an example of a departmental layout that maximizes closeness desirability.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

A self-service buffet restaurant layout would be designed to keep customers there over long time periods.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Departmental layouts that reduce distances traveled are designed to reduce the travel times of customers and servers when moving from one area to another.

Question 5

The optimal capacity utilization for an organization would be 100%.

Question 6

A retailer with two checkout stands is an example of a single-channel, multiple-phase queuing system.

Question 7

Service capacity is the number of customers per day the firm's service delivery systems are designed to serve.

Question 8

According to the text, good queue management consists of managing only what the customer perceives to be as the waiting time.

Question 9

In most services, customers are not involved in the production of the service itself.

Question 10

A very popular fast food restaurant is presently staffed with three cash register attendants that are taking orders.Upon entering the restaurant, customers must choose from three separate lines, each of which leads to one of the three registers.Immediately upon placing their order with the register attendant, customers are given their food and drinks by the register attendant.To analyze this situation you would use the queuing model for an infinite demand source, multiple servers, and multiple channels.

Question 11

Service firms differ from manufacturers in the labor content contained in the end products.

Question 12

Service response logistics is the management and coordination of the organization's activities that occur after the service has been performed.

Question 13

At a service facility it has been calculated that they can handle the demand per hour approximately 76 percent of the time at a rate of 4 per hour.This means that approximately 24 percent of the time, demand per hour will be greater than four customers, causing queues to develop.

Question 14

A firm is comparing two potential service layouts using the Closeness Desirability Rating.Option 1's closeness desirability score is 18.Option 2's closeness desirability score is 22.It can be concluded that Option 1 layout is better.

Question 15

Pure services, offer few, if any tangible products to customers.

Question 16

When demand exceeds capacity, a typical capacity management technique to cross-train workers.

Question 17

Managers use a balking technique to manage customers' perceived waiting times.

Question 18

Service organizations need to consider the fact that the services they provide are not consumed by the immediate customer, rather, services are typically passed on to customers farther down a distribution channel.

Question 19

Typically, quick recovery from service failures can keep customers loyal and coming back.

Question 20

When a level demand strategy is used for managing capacity, the firm is required to use a demand management or queue management tactic to deal with excess customers.

Question 21

A basic strategy for managing capacity is:

A) Differentiation strategy
B) Focus strategy
C) Level demand strategy
D) Queue management strategy

Question 22

When customer expectations are met or exceeded, the service is deemed to possess low quality.

Question 23

Which of the following would NOT be considered an acceptable option in managing capacity when demand exceeds available service capacity?

A) Cross-training and sharing employees
B) Utilizing technological tools like computers and automated systems
C) Utilizing fewer facilitating products
D) Using customers to provide services

Question 24

The four primary activities of concern in service response logistics are the management of:

A) Distribution channels, service quality, reputation and waiting times
B) Service capacity, waiting times, distribution channels and service quality
C) Labor standards, distribution channels, waiting times and service quality
D) Service capacity, visual workplace, waiting times and distribution channels

Question 25

When firms acknowledge receipt of an order via telephone, mail or e-mail, this is an example of starting the service.

Question 26

Capacity utilization =

A) Capacity x Actual customers served per period
B) Capacity / Actual customers served per period
C) Actual customers served per period x Capacity
D) Actual customers served per period / Capacity

Question 27

Customer satisfaction with the service depends not only on the ability of the firm to deliver what customers want, but on the customers' perceptions of the quality of service received.
.

Question 28

All of the following are considerations used in designing service layouts EXCEPT:

A) Reduction of time to restock
B) Impulse purchasing
C) Speed up customer throughput
D) Ease of access to parking lot

Question 29

Which of the following is an example of a person that would be considered to provide a Pure Service?

A) Attorney/Lawyer
B) Management Consultant
C) Musical Entertainer
D) All of the above

Question 30

The five dimensions of service quality include: reliability, durability, performance, aesthetics, and availability.

Question 31

According to the text, which of the following is a service strategy characterized by the idea that a service can serve a narrow target market better than a broad market?

A) Differentiation strategy
B) Demand strategy
C) Focus strategy
D) Transitional strategy

Question 32

As capacity utilization approaches 1.0, which of the following tends to happen?

A) Services become more congested
B) Service times decrease
C) Wait times decrease
D) Perceived quality of service improves

Question 33

Which of the following is a difference between goods and services?

A) Goods are often unique
B) Services cannot be inventoried
C) Goods have high customer-service interaction
D) All of the above

Question 34

A basic strategy for managing capacity when the firm utilizes a constant amount of capacity regardless of demand variations is:

A) Level demand strategy
B) Differentiation demand strategy
C) Chase demand strategy
D) Baumol's demand strategy

Question 35

Amazon.com is an example of a firm which uses the Pure Internet Distribution Strategy.

Question 36

A microfranchise is a type of franchising concept which is seen as a good way for economically disadvantaged people to make a living.

Question 37

Calculate the score for the layout below.Do not count the departments with just corners touching.The desirability ratings are based on a (-1 to 3) scale, where -1=undesirable, 0=unimportant, 1=slightly important, 2=moderately important and 3=very important. Existing Office Layout

Desirability Ratings

A) 8
B) 11
C) 15
D) 18

Question 38

Countries that shift from a manufacturing-oriented economy to a service-oriented economy sometimes see their productivity growth decline over time.This phenomenon is called:

A) Baumol's Disease
B) Deming's Decline
C) State Utility
D) Service Shrink

Question 39

Themed restaurants such as the ESPN zone (sports theme), Rainforest Cafe (jungle theme), and Chuck E.Cheese (kids theme) are all examples of Entertailment facilities.

Question 40

Layout strategies help firms maximize all of the following EXCEPT:

A) Service efficiencies
B) Four Ms
C) Customer service
D) Server productivity

Question 41

The difference between customer expectations and customer perceptions of what was actually received during the service encounter is referred to as service quality ________.

A) Blips
B) Bloops
C) Breakeven point
D) Gaps

Question 42

How do you calculate a firm's capacity utilization? If capacity utilization is greater than 1, what are some of the resulting impacts to the service firm?

Question 43

First-come-first-served is an example of a(n):

A) queue discipline
B) unfair waiting policy
C) channel queuing arrangement
D) single-phase queue design

Question 44

Service provided by multiple servers acting in parallel is referred to as:

A) Multi-platform servicescape
B) Multiple-phase queuing system
C) Multiple-channel queuing system
D) Multi-delivery servicescape

Question 45

A bank provides service through a call center to customers internationally.Explain the importance of each of the following in terms of designing the call center and managing the daily operations:
a.Queuing management
b.Global service considerations
c.Facilitating products
d.Service quality expectations

Question 46

Determine a full and part-time working schedule for the following work requirements:

Question 47

What are three key differences between services and manufacturing?

Question 48

The average transaction at an automatic teller can be completed in six minutes and customers arrive at the average rate of one every ten minutes.On average, how many customers are there in the queue?

A) 4.000 Customers
B) 0.900 Customers
C) 1.160 Customers
D) 0.375 Customers

Question 49

A customer who enters the waiting line but leaves the system prior to receiving service is said to have:

A) Balked
B) Reneged
C) Stalled
D) Disposed

Question 50

The dimension of service quality concerned with using knowledgeable, competent, courteous employees who convey trust and confidence to customers is referred to as:

A) Reliability
B) Responsiveness
C) Reasonability
D) Assurance

Question 51

Which of the following is NOT a technique for managing customers' perceived waiting times:

A) Grouping customers
B) Hiding the wait time
C) Keeping customers occupied
D) Starting the service quickly

Question 52

A service had 1320 customers in one week, with 200 labor hours.The next week, the service had 1380 customers with 220 labor hours.What was the productivity growth from period 1 to period 2?

Question 53

David Maister's First Rule of Service is:

A) It always takes longer than you think to perform the service
B) You can't please all the customers all the time
C) Satisfaction = perception -expectation
D) Under-promise and over-deliver

Question 54

All of the following are included in the five dimensions of service quality EXCEPT:

A) Reliability
B) Responsiveness
C) Reasonability
D) Assurance

Question 55

If the average service rate is 12 minutes per customer, and assuming the negative exponential distribution is used to describe the randomness of the service time distribution, then determine the probability that the service time will be less than or equal to 10 minutes.

A) 0.000
B) 0.565
C) 0.283
D) 0.624

Question 56

The average transaction at a single channel, single phase automatic teller can be completed in 7.5 minutes and customers arrive at the average rate of one every ten minutes.On average, what is the server utilization? (Choose the closest answer.)

A) 0.167
B) 0.75
C) 0.125
D) 1.33

Question 57

If ?= 6 CUSTOMERS/HOUR and µ=9 CUSTOMERS/HOUR, in a single server model, find the probability that there will be exactly 2 people in line.

A) 0.162
B) 0.297
C) 0.148
D) 0.135

Question 58

The order in which customers are served is called the:

A) Input order
B) Queue discipline
C) Output arrangement
D) Service characteristic

Question 59

As a manager of a queuing system, list five important system details you would like to know about in order to manage the system effectively:

Question 60

Assuming the number of arrivals per time period is Poisson distributed with a mean arrival rate of 3 customers per hour, determine the mean interarrival time.

A) 20 minutes
B) 3 minutes
C) 60 minutes
D) 12 minutes

Question 61

Define service response logistics and describe the important elements.

Question 62

Explain two service layout strategies that help to maximize customer service, server productivity, and service efficiencies, which support the overall business strategy.

Question 63

Discuss four important issues involved in managing a global service.