Which of the international operations strategies involves high cost reductions and high local responsiveness?
Q1. The fundamental purpose of an organization’s mission statement is to:
a. create a good human relations climate in the organization.
b. define the organization’s purpose in society.
c. define the operational structure of the organization.
d. generate good public relations for the organization.
e. define the functional areas required by the organization.
Q2. Cost minimization is an appropriate strategy in which stage of the product life cycle?
a. introduction
b. growth
c. adolescence
d. decline
e. retirement
Q3. A strategy is a(n):
a. set of opportunities in the marketplace.
b. broad statement of purpose.
c. simulation used to test various product line options.
d. plan for cost reduction.
e. action plan to achieve the mission.
Q4. Core competencies are good candidates for outsourcing.
a. True
b. False
Q5. Which of the international operations strategies involves high cost reductions and high local responsiveness?
a. international strategy
b. global strategy
c. transnational strategy
d. multidomestic strategy
e. worldwide strategy
Q6. Multinational organizations can shop from country to country and cut costs through:
a. lower wage scales.
b. lower indirect costs.
c. less stringent regulations.
d. lower taxes and tariffs.
e. all of the above.
Q7. Many services maintain records of sales noting:
a. the day of the week.
b. unusual events.
c. the weather.
d. holiday impacts.
e. all of the above.
Q8. A forecast with a time horizon of about 3 months to 3 years is typically called a:
a. long-range forecast.
b. medium-range forecast.
c. short-range forecast.
d. weather forecast.
e. strategic forecast.
Q9. Cycles and random variations are both components of time series.
a. True
b. False
Q10. Forecasts may be influenced by a product’s position in its life cycle.
a. True
b. False
Q11. One use of short-range forecasts is to determine:
a. planning for new products.
b. capital expenditures.
c. research and development plans.
d. facility location.
e. job assignments.
Q12. Forecasts are usually classified by time horizon into which three categories?
a. short-range, medium-range, and long-range
b. finance/accounting, marketing, and operations
c. strategic, tactical, and operational
d. exponential smoothing, regression, and time series
e. departmental, organizational, and industrial
Q13. Product strategy may focus on developing a competitive advantage via differentiation, low cost, rapid response, or a combination of these.
a. True
b. False
Q14. Which of the following would likely cause a change in market opportunities based upon levels of income and wealth?
a. economic change
b. sociological and demographic change
c. technological change
d. political change
e. legal change
Q15. Which of the following is true regarding value engineering?
a. Value engineering occurs only after the product is selected and designed.
b. Value engineering creates fragile design.
c. Value engineering is oriented toward improvement of design.
d. Value engineering occurs during production when it is clear the product is a success.
e. Value engineering can save substantial amounts of product cost, but quality suffers.
Q16. Which of the following product development strategies has the highest product development risk?
a. acquiring the developer
b. alliances
c. joint ventures
d. new internally developed products
e. purchasing technology
Q17. ________ is used to rank a company’s products to determine which products represent the best use of the firm’s resources, or, perhaps, to determine which products are to be eliminated.
a. Value analysis
b. Value engineering
c. Financial analysis
d. Product-by-value analysis
e. Product cost justification
Q18. Value analysis takes place:
a. when the product is selected and designed.
b. during the initial stages of production when something needs to be done to assure product success.
c. when the product is first conceived.
d. during the production process when it is clear that the new product is a success.
e. when the product cost is very low.
Q19. Costs of dissatisfaction, repair costs, and warranty costs are elements of cost in the:
a. quality loss function.
b. Pareto chart.
c. ISO 9000 quality cost calculator.
d. process chart.
e. Ishikawa diagram.
Q20. Which of the determinants of service quality involves performing the service right the first time?
a. access
b. courtesy
c. credibility
d. reliability
e. responsiveness
Q21. The goal of inspection is to:
a. detect a bad process immediately.
b. add value to a product or service.
c. correct deficiencies in products.
d. correct system deficiencies.
e. all of the above
Q22. The process of identifying other organizations that are best at some facet of your operations and then modeling your organization after them is known as:
a. continuous improvement.
b. employee empowerment.
c. benchmarking.
d. copycatting.
e. patent infringement.
Q23. Customer’s expectations are the standard against which the service is judged.
a. True
b. False
Q24. A recent consumer survey conducted for a car dealership indicates that, when buying a car, customers are primarily concerned with the salesperson’s ability to explain the car’s features, the salesperson’s friendliness, and the dealer’s honesty. The dealership should be ESPECIALLY concerned with which determinants of service quality?
a. communication, courtesy, and credibility
b. competence, courtesy, and security
c. competence, responsiveness, and reliability
d. communication, responsiveness, and reliability
e. understanding/knowing customer, responsiveness, and reliability
Q25. What is a drawing of the movement of material, product, or people?
a. flowchart
b. process chart
c. service blueprint
d. process map
e. vision system
Q26. Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) includes manufacturing systems that have:
a. computer-aided design, a flexible manufacturing system, inventory control, warehousing and shipping integrated.
b. transaction processing, management information systems, and decision support systems integrated.
c. automated guided vehicles, robots, and process control integrated.
d. robots, automated guided vehicles, and transfer equipment integrated.
e. all of their computers integrated with the marketing department.
Q27. For Service processes, Mass service and Professional service require the operations manager to focus extensively on:
a. automation.
b. equipment maintenance.
c. sophisticated scheduling.
d. human resources.
e. cost-cutting initiatives.
Q28. One use of camera-and-computer-based vision systems is to replace humans doing tedious and error-prone visual inspection activities.
a. True
b. False
Q29. The typical full-service restaurant uses a product-focused process.
a. True
b. False
Q30. The term focused processes refers to the quest for increased efficiency, whether in goods or services, that results from specialization.
a. True
b. False
Q31. A regional bookstore chain wants to build a distribution center that is centrally located for its eight retail outlets. It will most likely employ which of the following tools of analysis?
a. assembly line balancing
b. load-distance analysis
c. center-of-gravity method
d. linear programming
e. locational cost-volume analysis
Q32. The reason fast food restaurants often are found in close proximity to each other is:
a. they enjoy competition.
b. location clustering near high traffic flows.
c. low cost.
d. availability of skilled labor.
e. all of the above.
Q33. When making a location decision at the country level, which of these would be considered?
a. corporate desires
b. land/construction costs
c. air, rail, highway, waterway systems
d. zoning restrictions
e. Labor costs
Q34. A jewelry store is more likely than a jewelry manufacturer to consider ________ in making a location decision.
a. transportation costs
b. cost of raw materials
c. appearance/image of the location
d. quality of life
e. taxes
Q35. Productivity is generally more difficult to improve in the service sector than in the manufacturing sector.
a. True
b. False
Q36. Which of the following is one of the 10 strategic operations management decisions?
a. depreciation policy for tax returns
b. advertising
c. process and capacity design
d. pricing
e. debt/equity ratio
Q37. Productivity measurement is complicated by:
a. the competition’s output.
b. the fact that precise units of measure are often unavailable.
c. stable quality.
d. the workforce size.
e. the type of equipment used.
Q38. Which of the following are the primary functions of all organizations?
a. operations, marketing, and human resources
b. marketing, human resources, and finance
c. sales, quality control, and operations
d. marketing, operations, and finance
e. research and development, finance, and purchasing
Q39. Which of the following attributes is most typical of a service?
a. production and consumption occur simultaneously
b. tangible
c. mass production
d. consistency
e. easy to automate
Q40. Three commonly used productivity variables are:
a. quality, external elements, and precise units of measure.
b. labor, capital, and management.
c. technology, raw materials, and labor.
d. education, diet, and social overhead.
e. quality, efficiency, and low cost.
