Deck 2: Corporate Strategy, Performance, and Sustainability

Question 1

The chapter begins with a quote: "Most really great companies try to set up strategies and come out stronger than when they went in." Who made that statement?

A)Jack Welch
B)Jeff Immelt
C)Sergey Brin
D)Frederick Smith
E)Anil Ambani

Answer 1

Frederick Smith

Question 2

The Dow Chemical Company developed its Code of Business Conduct during Phase _______ of its ethics and sustainability initiative.

A)1
B)2
C)3
D)4
E)5

Answer 2

1

Question 3

The Dow Chemical Company began thinking in terms of the triple bottom line during Phase 2 of its ethics and sustainability initiative. The triple bottom line includes the impact of which of these factors on Dow's operations?

A)Economic
B)Social
C)Environmental
D)All of these factors

Answer 3

All of these factors

Question 4

Which of the following trends have become drivers of corporate strategy initiatives?

A)Increasing number of global competitors
B)Demands by customers for companies to become more ethically and environmentally focused
C)The rising costs of fuels and materials
D)Desire to deliver more innovative products more frequently and cheaply than competitors
E)All of these

Question 5

An organization's _______ is a description of how it intends to compete, or provide value to its customers, both now and into the future.

A)operations strategy
B)strategy
C)core competence
D)economies of scale
E)service recovery

Question 6

The process of determining a firm's long-term goals, plans, and policies is called _______.

A)operations strategy
B)business process reengineering
C)strategic planning
D)economies of scale
E)service recovery

Question 7

The firm's _______ provides direction for its strategic plan and should address questions such as, "Who are we now?" and "What do we want to be?"

A)operations strategy
B)strategy
C)business plan
D)mission statement
E)core capabilities

Question 8

"We will be the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use," is the mission statement of _______.

A)CVS Pharmacy
B)Rite Aid Pharmacy
C)Walgreens
D)ADV Care Pharmacy
E)Walmart

Question 9

Firms compete using some combinations of the three competitive dimensions. The three competitive dimensions are

A)Cost, customer service, and delivery
B)Customer service, quality, and timeliness
C)Cost, quality, and innovation
D)Cost, quality, and customer service
E)Customer service, quality, and innovation

Question 10

Competing on _______ requires attention on reducing the costs of purchases, labor, equipment, manufacturing, overhead, and other cost items included in the products and services sold to customers.

A)quality
B)delivery
C)customer service
D)cost
E)innovation

Question 11

Retailers like Walmart, for example, can sell items for low prices in part because

A)They purchase in very large quantities, which reduces purchase costs per unit
B)They have their own distribution centers and trucks
C)They help their supply chain members to reduce their costs
D)They offer little in the way of assistance to customers in the retail stores
E)All of these

Question 12

Purchasing and manufacturing in bulk to reduce per-unit costs is also referred to as creating _______.

A)a business plan
B)virtual integration
C)economies of scale
D)core competence
E)service recovery

Question 13

According to the textbook, which country in Western Europe has emerged as one of the lowest cost manufacturing locations?

A)Romania
B)United Kingdom
C)Sweden
D)Turkey
E)Denmark

Question 14

Competing on _______ typically means providing a great or unique product or service.

A)quality
B)delivery
C)customer service
D)cost
E)innovation

Question 15

Why do higher quality goods and services generally command higher prices?

A)To cover the costs of higher quality parts
B)To cover the costs for closer attention to meeting design specifications
C)To cover the costs for better trained personnel
D)To cover the costs for the use of better equipment and technology
E)All of these

Question 16

According to the textbook, which global consulting firm based in New York City uncovers the world's most reputable companies annually?

A)Booz Allen Hamilton
B)IBM Global Business Services
C)McKinsey & Company
D)Reputation Institute
E)Target

Question 17

Which one of these aspects is usually NOT included within the customer service dimension?

A)Server knowledge and empathy
B)Service recovery
C)Cost
D)Reliability
E)Flexibility

Question 18

_______ refers to the firm's ability to respond to a wide variety of customer expectations. It can also mean the firm can accommodate varying demand levels.

A)Flexibility
B)Reliability
C)Server knowledge and empathy
D)Speed
E)Service recovery

Question 19

_______ refers to the ability to complete the service quickly.

A)Flexibility
B)Reliability
C)Server knowledge and empathy
D)Speed
E)Service recovery

Question 20

In customer service terms, _______ refers to delivering a good or service as promised.

A)flexibility
B)reliability
C)server knowledge and empathy
D)speed
E)service recovery

Question 21

When a customer service experience goes wrong-the product fails to operate correctly or the restaurant's food is cold-customers expect an equitable compensation or arrangement. This capability is also known as _______.

A)flexibility
B)reliability
C)server knowledge and empathy
D)speed
E)service recovery

Question 22

To create customer value and compete, firms can utilize which one of the strategic combinations?

A)High cost, high quality, and poor customer service
B)Low cost, low quality, and poor customer service
C)Low cost, high quality, and great customer service
D)High cost, low quality, and great customer service
E)High cost, low quality, and poor customer service

Question 23

_______ is/are the collective capabilities or skill sets possessed by the firm that distinguish it from its competitors.

A)Operations capabilities
B)Competitive advantages
C)Core competencies
D)Business acumen
E)Artificial intelligence

Question 24

Core competencies

A)Create competitive advantage
B)Are dynamic
C)Are difficult to imitate
D)All of these

Question 25

Which of the following operations strategies is NOT aligned with the firm's strategic plan of a low-cost strategy?

A)High inventories to avoid stockouts
B)Copying successful products instead of designing unproven products
C)Using low-cost, relatively unskilled labor
D)Offering minimally acceptable quality and customer service levels
E)Finding good deals on location sites

Question 26

According to the textbook, operations strategies such as the use of flexible processes and the use of the state-of-the-art equipment are aligned with which part of the firm's strategic plan?

A)High-customer-service strategy
B)High-quality strategy
C)Low-cost strategy
D)None of these

Question 27

When firms compete using product quality as their priority, operations managers must

A)Seek out high-quality suppliers
B)Make use of statistical process control techniques and continuous-improvement tools
C)Use highly qualified personnel and state-of-the-art equipment
D)Sometimes incorporate ethical and sustainable operating practices
E)All of these

Question 28

According to the textbook, with which part of the firm's strategic plan is customer satisfaction of the utmost importance?

A)High-customer-service strategy
B)High-quality strategy
C)Low-cost strategy
D)None of these

Question 29

According to the textbook, the use of decentralized distribution centers is aligned with which part of the firm's strategic plan?

A)High-customer-service strategy
B)High-quality strategy
C)Low-cost strategy
D)None of these

Question 30

_______ occur(s) in operations and other functional areas when doing more of one activity requires doing less of something else.

A)Operations capabilities
B)Strategic planning
C)Strategy trade-offs
D)Service recovery
E)Business planning

Question 31

Which of the following is an example of an operations strategy trade-off followed by Southwest Airlines?

A)Fly one model
B)Fly point to point to many smaller, regional airports
C)Exclusively use their website for reservations
D)Offer no assigned or first-class seating
E)All of these

Question 32

Which of the following is a common operations performance measure for the financial performance category?

A)Order delivery time accuracy
B)Number of processes using statistical process control
C)Number of sustainability awards received
D)Inventory turnover
E)Multiple-factor productivity

Question 33

According to the textbook, which of the following is a common operations performance measure for the quality performance category?

A)Number of service awards received
B)Average time between product failures
C)Percent of suppliers that are ISO 14000 certified
D)Total cost compared to standard or desired cost
E)Completeness of website

Question 34

According to the textbook, which of the following is a NOT a common operations performance measure for the customer service performance category?

A)Cost of poor quality
B)Order delivery time accuracy
C)Customer satisfaction score
D)Number of service awards received
E)Completeness of website

Question 35

According to the textbook, which of the following is a NOT a common operations performance measure for the ethics/sustainability performance category?

A)Percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (carbon footprint)
B)Percent of purchases from small, minority-owned, or women-owned suppliers
C)Customer satisfaction score
D)Percent of waste recycled
E)Number of fair trade products purchased

Question 36

-Find out the single-factor labor productivity for the year 2014 from the information provided above.

A)0.395
B)0.367
C)0.455
D)0.430
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 37

-Find out the single-factor labor productivity for the year 2015 from the information provided above.

A)0.395
B)0.367
C)0.455
D)0.430
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 38

-Find out the single-factor materials productivity for the year 2014 from the information provided above.

A)3.451
B)2.934
C)3.000
D)2.551
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 39

-Find out the single-factor materials productivity for the year 2015 from the information provided above.

A)3.451
B)2.934
C)3.000
D)2.551
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 40

-Find out the single-factor lease productivity for the year 2014 from the information provided above.

A)2.577
B)3.142
C)2.965
D)2.731
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 41

-Find out the single-factor lease productivity for the year 2015 from the information provided above.

A)2.577
B)3.142
C)2.965
D)2.731
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 42

-Find out the single-factor energy productivity for the year 2014 from the information provided above.

A)5.545
B)6.379
C)6.151
D)7.076
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 43

-Find out the single-factor energy productivity for the year 2015 from the information provided above.

A)5.545
B)6.379
C)6.151
D)7.076
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 44

-Find out the total productivity for the year 2014 from the information provided above.

A)0.318
B)0.337
C)0.293
D)0.276
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 45

-Find out the total productivity for the year 2015 from the information provided above.

A)0.318
B)0.337
C)0.293
D)0.276
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 46

-Find out the growth of labor productivity from 2014 to 2015 from the information provided above.

A)8.14% decrease
B)8.86% decrease
C)8.86% increase
D)8.14% increase
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 47

-Find out the materials productivity growth rate from 2014 to 2015 from the information provided above.

A)2.21% decrease
B)2.26% decrease
C)2.31% increase
D)2.27% increase
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 48

-Find out the lease productivity growth rate from 2014 to 2015 from the information provided above.

A)7.87% decrease
B)8.55% increase
C)8.55% decrease
D)7.87% increase
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 49

-Find out the energy productivity growth rate from 2014 to 2015 from the information provided above.

A)27.61% decrease
B)21.64% increase
C)21.64% decrease
D)27.61% increase
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 50

-Find out the net profit margin from the information provided above.

A)44.3%
B)16.4%
C)15.2%
D)11.1%
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 51

-Find out the current ratio from the information provided above.

A)0.67
B)0.73
C)1.08
D)0.92
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 52

-Find out the inventory turnover from the information provided above.

A)1.1
B)0.3
C)1.6
D)0.9
E)Do not have enough information to compute

Question 53

-Which of the following is a category of the balanced scorecard instrument?

A)Financial
B)Key business processes
C)Customer
D)Learning and growth
E)All of these

Question 54

-Triple bottom line has also been referred as the three P's. What are they?

A)People, processes, and profits
B)People, planet, and processes
C)Processes, planet, and profits
D)People, planet, and profits
E)Processes, plants, and people

Question 55

-An ethical act that creates the greatest good for the greatest number of people is called _______.

A)utilitarianism
B)fair trade product
C)sustainability
D)scorecarding
E)chivalry