Deck 2: Operations and Supply Strategy

Question 1

One of the competitive dimensions that form the competitive position of a company when planning their strategies is delivery speed.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

An operations and supply strategy is a long term commitment that must resist change.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The process when a company seeks to match the benefits of a successful position while maintaining its existing position by adding new features,services and technologies into its current portfolio it is called straddling.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

In the operations and supply strategy framework proposed in the textbook,financial management is considered a support platform.

Question 5

An operations and supply strategy involves decisions that relate to the design of a process and the infrastructure needed to support the process.

Question 6

Activity-system maps depict the geographic reach of a company's business strategies.

Question 7

An order winner is a set of screening criteria that permits a firm's products to be considered as possible candidates for purchase.

Question 8

Operations and supply management is significant since it relates to some of the components of strategy.

Question 9

The process when a company seeks to match the benefits of a successful position while maintaining its existing position by adding new features,services and technologies into its current portfolio is called innovation.

Question 10

Strategy describes how a firm intends to create and sustain shareholder value.

Question 11

Operations and supply strategy must be linked horizontally to the customer and vertically to other parts of the enterprise.

Question 12

Central to the concept of operations and supply strategy is the notion of operations focus and trade-offs.

Question 13

An order winner is a set of criteria that differentiates the products or services of one firm from another.

Question 14

Infrastructure decisions within operations and supply strategy include the selection of the appropriate technology,the role of inventory and the location of facilities.

Question 15

One of the competitive dimensions that form the competitive position of a company when planning their strategies is cost.

Question 16

Following a straddling strategy,firms will broaden their capabilities and effectively compete with more focused firms in markets requiring low cost for success.

Question 17

Activity-system maps are useful in understanding how well a system of activities fits the overall company's strategy.

Question 18

An effective operations and supply strategy must be integrated with the organization's corporate strategy.

Question 19

Activity-system maps show how a company's strategy is delivered through a set of tailored activities.

Question 20

An order qualifier is a set of screening criteria that permits a firm's products to be considered as possible candidates for purchase.

Question 21

Process-based capabilities in service operations involve the ability to master new technologies,design and introduce new products and bring new plants on line significantly faster than one's competitors.

Question 22

In a multifactor measure of productivity the numerator of the ratio would include all resources used or all inputs.

Question 23

The operations and supply strategy framework presented in the textbook includes which of the following enterprise capabilities?

A)Quality
B)Dependability
C)Flexibility
D)Price
E)People

Question 24

The operations and supply strategy framework presented in the textbook includes which of the following enterprise capabilities?

A)Customer Satisfaction
B)Product Leadership
C)Distribution
D)Price
E)Dependability

Question 25

Wall Street analysts are not particularly concerned with how efficient companies are from an operations and supply management view.

Question 26

In operations and supply strategy,a strategic priority does not have to make compromises with other priorities.

Question 27

A major competitive dimension that forms a company's strategic operational competitive position in their strategic planning is which of the following?

A)Cost or price
B)Trade-offs
C)Focus
D)Straddling
E)Activity-system maps

Question 28

Productivity is a relative measure.

Question 29

Once an operations and supply strategy is adopted and articulated,the primary emphasis becomes perfecting the system of activities that make up the strategy through detailed refinements over a long period of time.

Question 30

In developing an operations and supply strategy,which of the following would be an important product-specific criteria to consider?

A)Technical liaison
B)Product life cycle
C)Union status of workforce
D)Production lot-size
E)Total quality management

Question 31

The primary job of operations and supply strategy is to deliver the most feature-rich,highest quality product at the lowest price within specified parameters of delivery time and customization.

Question 32

Which of the following is not one of the major strategic operations and supply competitive dimensions that form a company's competitive position?

A)Cost or price
B)Delivery speed
C)Delivery reliability
D)Management acumen
E)Coping with changes in demand

Question 33

Core capabilities are the skills that differentiate the service or manufacturing firm from its competitors.

Question 34

When a company seeks to match the benefits of a successful position while maintaining its existing position in offering customers a variety of differing services,what is this process called?

A)Operations capability analysis
B)Straddling
C)Order qualifier
D)Order winners
E)Inter-functional analysis

Question 35

The operations and supply activities of the firm need to strategically support the competitive priorities of the firm.

Question 36

In a partial measure of productivity the denominator of the ratio would include all resources used or all inputs.

Question 37

Highly efficient firms usually fare poorly when demand drops during a recession since their low-cost structure requires a very large demand to maintain efficiency.

Question 38

In developing an operations and supply strategy,which of the following would be an important product-specific criteria to consider?

A)Focused factory
B)Production lot-size
C)Supplier after-sale support
D)Learning curve
E)Total quality management

Question 39

An activity-based map is which of the following?

A)A network guide to route airlines
B)A listing of activities that make up a project
C)A network that shows how a company's strategy is delivered to customers
D)A facility layout schematic noting what is done where
E)A timeline displaying major planned events

Question 40

Central to the concept of operations and supply strategy are the notions of focus and trade-offs.

Question 41

Which of the following is a multifactor measure of productivity?

A)Output/(Materials + Labor)
B)Output/(Labor + Capital + Energy)
C)Output/All resources used
D)Output/Inputs
E)All of the above

Question 42

Strategy typically breaks down into what three major components?

Question 43

A diagram showing how a company's strategy is delivered through a set of tailored activities is called what?

Question 44

Various financial data for SunPath Manufacturing for 2008 & 2009 follow. $\begin{array}{llll} & & 2008 & 2009 \\\text { Output: } & \text { Sales } & \$ 300,000 & \$ 330,000 \\\text { Inputs: } & \text { Labor } & \$ 40,000 & \$ 43,000 \\& \text { Raw Materials: } & \$ 45,000 & \$ 51,000 \\& \text { Energy: } & \$ 10,000 & \$ 9,000 \\& \text { Capital Employed: } & \$ 250,000 & \$ 262,000 \\& \text { Other: } & \$ 2,000 & \$ 6,000\end{array}$
What is the percentage change in the multifactor labor and raw materials productivity measure for SunPath between 2008 & 2009?

A)-9.22
B)2.33
C)0.53
D)2.88
E)10.39

Question 45

The total output from a production system in one day is 900 units and the total labor necessary to produce the 900 units is 900 hours.Using the appropriate productivity measure,what is the resulting productivity ratio?

A)1.000
B)1.428
C)0.700
D)0.411
E)None of the above

Question 46

Larry's Auto Body Repair Shop had revenues that averaged $60,000 per week in April and $50,000 per week in May.During both months,the shop employed six full-time (40 hours/week)workers.In April the firm also had four part-time workers working 25 hours per week but in May there were only 2 part-time workers and they only worked 10 hours per week.What is the percentage change in labor productivity from April to May for Larry's Auto Body Repair?

A)17.65
B)15.84
C)8.97
D)1.76
E)19.23

Question 47

Various financial data for SunPath Manufacturing for 2008 & 2009 follow. $\begin{array}{llll} & & 2008 & 2009 \\\text { Output: } & \text { Sales } & \$ 300,000 & \$ 330,000 \\\text { Inputs: } & \text { Labor } & \$ 40,000 & \$ 43,000 \\& \text { Raw Materials: } & \$ 45,000 & \$ 51,000 \\& \text { Energy: } & \$ 10,000 & \$ 9,000 \\& \text { Capital Employed: } & \$ 250,000 & \$ 262,000 \\& \text { Other: } & \$ 2,000 & \$ 6,000\end{array}$
What is the percentage change in SunPath's total productivity measure between 2008 & 2009?

A)9.22
B)2.33
C)0.53
D)2.88
E)10.39

Question 48

The total output from a production system in one day is 500 units and the total labor necessary to produce the 500 units is 350 hours.Using the appropriate productivity measure,which of the following numbers represents the resulting productivity ratio?

A)1.000
B)1.428
C)0.700
D)0.411
E)None of the above

Question 49

Describe a specific example of the trade-offs between any two of the seven operational competitive dimensions?

Question 50

The skills that differentiate a manufacturing or service firm from its rivals are called what?

Question 51

Which of the following is not an enterprise capability presented in the textbook as part of the operations and supply strategy framework?

A)Technology
B)Systems
C)People
D)R&D
E)Price

Question 52

Various financial data for SunPath Manufacturing for 2008 & 2009 follow. $\begin{array}{llll} & & 2008 & 2009 \\\text { Output: } & \text { Sales } & \$ 300,000 & \$ 330,000 \\\text { Inputs: } & \text { Labor } & \$ 40,000 & \$ 43,000 \\& \text { Raw Materials: } & \$ 45,000 & \$ 51,000 \\& \text { Energy: } & \$ 10,000 & \$ 9,000 \\& \text { Capital Employed: } & \$ 250,000 & \$ 262,000 \\& \text { Other: } & \$ 2,000 & \$ 6,000\end{array}$
What is the percentage change in the energy partial productivity measure for SunPath between 2008 & 2009?

A)9.22
B)2.33
C)0.53
D)2.88
E)10.39

Question 53

If all you knew about a production system was that total daily output was 400 units and the total labor necessary to produce the 400 units was 350 hours and the total materials used were 425 units,what kind of productivity measure could you use to compute productivity?

A)Partial measure
B)Multifactor measure
C)Total measure
D)A and B above
E)B and C above

Question 54

Explain the role that "order qualifiers" and "order winners" play as the interface between marketing and operations?

Question 55

What is a criterion or product characteristic that differentiates a product from the products of competitors in a way meaningful to the market called?

Question 56

Which of the following is a partial measure of productivity?

A)Output/Materials
B)Output/(Labor + Capital + Energy)
C)Output/All resources used
D)Output/Inputs
E)All of the above

Question 57

In the operations and supply strategy framework presented in the textbook,which of the following is a support platform?

A)Sales force management
B)Information management
C)Production scheduling
D)Corporate management
E)Customers

Question 58

Which of the following is a total measure of productivity?

A)Output/Materials
B)Output/(Labor + Capital + Energy)
C)Output/Labor
D)Output/Inputs
E)All of the above

Question 59

If all you knew about a production system was that total daily output was 400 units and the total labor necessary to produce the 400 units was 350 hours,what kind of productivity measure could you use to compute productivity?

A)Partial measure
B)Multifactor measure
C)Total measure
D)Global measure
E)All of the above

Question 60

Various financial data for SunPath Manufacturing for 2008 & 2009 follow. $\begin{array}{llll} & & 2008 & 2009 \\\text { Output: } & \text { Sales } & \$ 300,000 & \$ 330,000 \\\text { Inputs: } & \text { Labor } & \$ 40,000 & \$ 43,000 \\& \text { Raw Materials: } & \$ 45,000 & \$ 51,000 \\& \text { Energy: } & \$ 10,000 & \$ 9,000 \\& \text { Capital Employed: } & \$ 250,000 & \$ 262,000 \\& \text { Other: } & \$ 2,000 & \$ 6,000\end{array}$
What is the percentage change in the labor partial productivity measure for SunPath between 2008 & 2009?

A)9.22
B)2.33
C)0.53
D)2.88
E)10.39

Question 61

Why might a partial productivity measure be preferred to the more comprehensive total factor measure of productivity?