BUSI 411 Quiz 1 Defining Services & New Service Development solutions complete answers

BUSI 411 Quiz 1 Defining Services & New Service Development solutions complete answers

 

Remanufacturing refers to replacing worn-out components of old products to extend the products’ useful life.

 

Which of the following might be used to develop an estimate ofthe cyclical component of a forecast?

 

Operations managers are responsible for assessing consumer wants and needs and selling and promoting the organization's goods or services. 
 

 

Often, the collective success or failure of companies' operations functions will impact the ability of a nation to compete with other nations. 
 



Companies are either producing goods or delivering services. This means that only one of the two types of operations management strategies are used. 
 

 

Operations, marketing, and finance function independently of each other in most organizations. 
 

 

The greater the degree of customer involvement, the more challenging the design and management of operations. 
 

 

Goods-producing organizations are not involved in service activities. 
 

 

Service operations require additional inventory because of the unpredictability of consumer demand. 
 

 

In for-profit organizations, the value of outputs is measured by the prices customers are willing to pay for goods or services. 
 

 

The use of models will guarantee the best possible decisions. 
 

 

People who work in the field of operations should have skills that include both knowledge and people skills. 
 

 

Assembly lines improved productivity by using interchangeable parts and craft production. 
 

The operations manager has primary responsibility for making operations system design decisions, such as system capacity and location of facilities. 
 

The word "technology" is used only to refer to "information technology." 



"Value added" by definition is always a positive number since "added" implies increases. 



 

Service often requires relatively greater labor content when compared to manufacturing. 
 

 

Measurement of productivity in service is more straightforward than in manufacturing since it is not necessary to take into account the cost of materials. 
 

 

Specialized machinery or equipment is a common way of offering increased customization in manufacturing or services without taking on additional labor costs. 
 

 

One concern in the design of production systems is the degree of standardization. 
 

 

Most people encounter operations only in profit-making organizations. 
 

 

Service typically involves a much higher degree of customer contact than manufacturing.  
 

 

A systems approach emphasizes interrelationships among subsystems, but its main theme is that the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts. 
 

 

The Pareto phenomenon is one of the most important and pervasive concepts that can be applied at all levels of management. 
 

 

Operations managers, who usually use quantitative approaches, are not really concerned with ethical decision making. 
 

 

The optimal solutions produced by quantitative techniques should always be evaluated in terms of the larger framework. 
 

 

Managers should most often rely on quantitative techniques for important decisions since quantitative approaches result in more accurate decisions. 
 

 

Many operations management decisions can be described as trade-offs. 
 

 

A systems approach means that we concentrate on efficiency within a subsystem and thereby assure overall efficiency. 
 

 

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, goods were produced primarily by craftsmen or their apprentices using custom-made parts. 
 

 

Elton Mayo's Hawthorne experiments were significant contributions to the human relations movement, which emphasized the importance of the human element in job design. 
 

 

Among Ford's many contributions was the introduction of mass production, using the concepts of interchangeable parts and division of labor. 
 

 

Operations and sales are the two functional areas that exist to support activities in other functions such as accounting, finance, IT, and human resources.  
 

 

Lean production systems incorporate the advantages of both mass production and craft production. 
 

 

As an abstraction of reality, a model is a simplified version of a real phenomenon. 
 

 

In addition to operations, which of the following is considered a "line" function?
 

Marketing personnel and product designers must work closely with operations to successfully develop and produce new products because operations personnel can best judge how _____________ new product designs will be. 
 

Managing the supply chain has become more important as a result of firms increasing their levels of: 

 

Which of the following would tend to increase the importance of supply chain management? 
 

In their chief role of _________, operations managers exert considerable influence over the degree to which the goals and objectives of the organization are realized. 



A "product package" consists of: 
 

Business organizations consist of three major functional areas which, ideally: 
 

Which of the following is a type of transformation process used by operations to convert inputs into outputs?

 

Technology choices can have a major impact on:  
 

Measurements taken at various points in the transformation process for control purposes are called: 
 

Budgeting, analysis of investment proposals, and provision of funds are activities associated with the _______ function. 
 

Which one of the following would not generally be classified under the heading of transformation? 



Buying goods or services instead of producing or providing them in-house is called: 



Product design and process selection are examples of _______ decisions. 
 

The responsibilities of the operations manager include: 
 

Knowledge skills usually don't include: 



Which of the following is not true about the systems approach?

 

Which of the following is a system in which low-skilled workers use specialized equipment to produce high volumes of standardized goods? 



Production systems with customized outputs typically have relatively: 



Which is not an area of significant difference between manufacturing and service operations? 
 

Which of the following is not a characteristic of service operations? 



Which of the following most involves coordinating the activities among all the elements of the business including its suppliers and distributors? 



Farming is an example of:

 

Dealing with the fact that certain aspects of any management situation are more important than others is called: 
 

The fact that a few improvements in a few key areas of operations will have more impact than many improvements in many other areas is consistent with the: 
 

The process of comparing outputs to previously established standards to determine if corrective action is needed is called: 
 

Which of the following does not relate to system design? 
 

Taking a systems viewpoint with regard to operations in today's environment increasingly leads decision makers to consider ______________ in response to the ___________. 
 

Some companies attempt to maximize the revenue they receive from fixed operating capacity by influencing demands through price manipulation. This is an example of: 
 

Which of the following is not an ongoing trend in manufacturing? 
 

Which of the following is not a benefit of using models in decision making? 
 

Modern firms increasingly rely on other firms to supply goods and services instead of doing these tasks themselves. This increased level of _____________ is leading to increased emphasis on ____________ management. 
 

Operations and sales are the two ________ functions in businesses. 



Marketing depends on operations for information regarding: 
 

Two widely used metrics of variation are the __________ and the _________. 



Which of the following statements about variation is false?



Which of the following is essential to consider with respect to managing a process to meet demand? 



Which of the following refers to service and production processes that use resources in ways that do not harm ecological systems? 



Which of the following principles emphasizes that actions should make the community as a whole better off? 
 

If one organization is better able than most to respond to changes in demands or opportunities, we say that organization exhibits higher: 



Supplying operations with parts and materials, performing work on products, and/or performing services are part of the firm's: 
 

 

1.
The assessment of the environmental impact of a product or service throughout its useful life is called: 

A. flow diagramming.
B. service blueprinting.
C. quality function deployment.
D. process mapping.
E. life cycle analysis.

Life cycle analysis is also known as cradle-to-grave assessment.
 
 
2.
Designing for recycling helps facilitate: 

A. reduced legal liability.
B. compliance with regulatory environments.
C. increased product reliability.
D. reduced standardization costs.
E. better customer service.
 
 
3.
A disadvantage of global teams for product design is that: 

A. customers may have different needs in different countries.
B. the product designed may have increased marketability and utility.
C. the diversity of an international team may be a detriment.
D. ease of face-to-face meetings is absent since members are located everywhere.
E. technology allows constant contact with team members.
 
 
4.
Elements of the service process in which there is no contact with the customer are referred to as: 

A. robust.
B. delayed differentiators.
C. back-of-the-house.
D. user-friendly.
E. mission-consistent.
 
 
5.
Excitement characteristics are categories in the _________ model. 

A. bipolar
B. Kano
C. Pareto
D. quality
E. service matrix
 
 
6.
A formal way to ensure customer requirements are factored into the product and service development process is: 

A. consumer surveys.
B. quality function deployment.
C. focus groups.
D. the Delphi technique.
E. a sales/marketing matrix.
 
 
7.
Incorporating design for disassembly principles in product design helps firms with ___________ design issues. 

A. legal
B. social
C. reuse
D. reverse engineering
E. reengineering
 
 
8.
In the area of product and service design, the acronym CAD refers to: 

A. conceptually appropriate design.
B. computer-aided design.
C. commercial applications design.
D. competitive advantage design.
E. completely automated design.
 
 
9.
Making plans for how products that have reached the end of their useful lives will be dealt with is the primary subject of: 

A. cradle-to-grave assessment.
B. end-of-life programs.
C. life-cycle analysis.
D. three R's programs.
E. process mapping.
 
 
10.
Mobile phones have evolved from devices intended to place and receive phone calls into handheld multimedia communications devices, but in the eyes of some customers these new features make the phones less desirable. This is an example of: 

A. robust design.
B. creeping featurism.
C. sustainable design.
D. quality function deployment.
E. component commonality.
 
 
11.
One of these is not a characteristic of a well-designed service system: 

A. user friendly
B. robust
C. distributed computer networks
D. cost effective
E. easy to sustain
 
 
12.
One possible disadvantage of modular design is that: 

A. replacement and repair are more difficult.
B. failure diagnosis is more complex.
C. the number of configurations of modules decreases.
D. individual parts lose their identities.
E. inventory problems arise.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

13.
One step that is not part of service blueprinting is: 

A. Eliminate boundaries for the service and decide on the level of interaction needed.
B. Identify and determine the sequence of customer and service actions and interactions.
C. Develop time estimates for each phase of the process.
D. Understand the time variability involved.
E. Identify potential failure points and develop a plan to minimize them.
 
 
14.
One structured approach for integrating customer requirements into every aspect of product development is: 

A. total quality management.
B. customer satisfaction.
C. quality function deployment.
D. customer integration.
E. a product development team.
 
 
15.
One way to increase reliability is to: 

A. eliminate backup components.
B. improve preventive maintenance procedures.
C. increase mean repair time.
D. increase the number of independent components.
E. use a global supply chain.
 
 
16.
One way to increase reliability is to: 

A. improve component design.
B. increase the number of service stations.
C. increase mean repair time.
D. increase the number of dependent components.
E. reduce production capacity.
 
 
17.
The process of dismantling and inspecting a competitor's new or revised product for the purpose of gleaning design ideas is called: 

A. design by imitation.
B. product analysis.
C. reverse engineering.
D. benchmarking.
E. disassembly.
 
 
18.
Product life cycle management (PLM) incorporates all of the following except: 

A. Applied research
B. Product design and development.
C. Working with suppliers.
D. Managing warranties.
E. Strategies for product recycling.
 
 
19.
Products or services with a high degree of similarity of features and components are called: 

A. generic.
B. copy-cat.
C. rip-offs.
D. product families.
E. product/service matrix.
 
 
20.
The research and development activity which starts after positive research results are available and attempts to turn these results into useful commercial applications is: 

A. basic research.
B. applied research.
C. development.
D. redesign.
E. commercial research.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

21.
Service design generally differs from product design in which of the following ways? 

A. Service design tends to focus on tangible factors.
B. There is less latitude in detecting and correcting errors prior to delivery.
C. There is a lesser requirement to be aware of competitors' offerings.
D. There is less visibility to customers.
E. There is no difference.
 
 
22.
A software company is weighing whether to release a new version of its software as scheduled. The company can go ahead and release the version as scheduled and correct flaws with subsequent patches or upgrades, or it can wait until the new version is reasonably bug-free. Choosing to delay release until the bugs can be worked out is an example of: 

A. life cycle analysis.
B. value analysis.
C. vaporware.
D. concurrent engineering.
E. design for production.
 
 
23.
The term "degrees of newness" is associated with: 

A. average age of employees.
B. average length of time on the job.
C. total years of business experience.
D. degree of design change.
E. average age of the capital equipment.
 
 
24.
The term "standardization" is closely associated with: 

A. customization.
B. high cost.
C. longer lead times.
D. variety.
E. interchangeability.
 
 
25.
Which of the following is an example of a postponement tactic? 

A. mass customization
B. standardization
C. process mapping
D. delayed differentiation
E. service blueprinting
 
 
26.
Which of the following is a systematic approach to managing the series of changes a product goes through, from its conception, design and development, through production and any redesign, to its end of life? 

A. Cradle-to-grave assessment.
B. Life cycle analysis.
C. End-of-life programs.
D. Enterprise resource planning.
E. Product life cycle management.
 
 
27.
Which of the following is least likely to result in product innovations that have near-term commercial application? 

A. process blueprinting
B. development
C. applied research
D. quality function deployment
E. basic research
 
 
28.
Which of the following is not an advantage of standardization? 

A. The opportunity to freeze design at a very early stage.
B. Fewer parts to deal with in inventory.
C. Reduced training cost and time.
D. Purchasing is more routine.
E. Inventory management is less complex.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

29.
Which of the following is not a reason for redesigning a product or service? 

A. to reduce labor or material cost
B. to increase the level of employee satisfaction
C. to increase the level of customer satisfaction
D. to attract and increase customer demand
E. to increase quality
 
 
30.
Which of the following is not one of the 3 Rs? 

A. reuse
B. reduce
C. reposition
D. recycle
E. retrofit
 
 
31.
Which of the following is not one of the phases of product design and development? 

A. Specify product specifications.
B. Conduct market test.
C. Specify process specifications.
D. Conduct design review.
E. Perform applied research.
 
 
32.
Which of the following is not true about remanufacturing? 

A. Remanufactured products can be sold at lower cost.
B. The process requires mostly unskilled and semiskilled workers.
C. There is less depletion of natural resources.
D. It produces high-quality products easily.
E. Remanufacturing is made easier by Design for Disassembly (DFD).
 
 
33.
Which of the following questions is least appropriate during value analysis? 

A. How can we reduce the cost of parts?
B. How can we improve the performance of the product?
C. How can we incorporate more cultural values in the design of our global system?
D. Can we find a way to use less energy in the production of our product?
E. Could a given component in our product be simplified or combined with another?
 
 
34.
Which of the following statements about CAD is not true? 

A. It increases the productivity of designers.
B. It uses computer graphics.
C. It requires a good database.
D. Some systems permit engineering or cost analysis of proposed designs.
E. It is used successfully by all manufacturing companies.
 
 
35.
Which of these pairs of functions would tend to be affected most dramatically by a product or service redesign? 

A. Operations and Accounting
B. Marketing and Operations
C. Finance and Human Resources
D. Engineering and Accounting
E. Finance and Engineering
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

36.
Which one of the following is not a factor of successful product and service design? 

A. Be aware of what the competitors are doing.
B. Be aware of what customers want.
C. Know what government regulations are.
D. Use computerized design techniques.
E. Know what new technologies are available.
 
 
 

 

1. Operations managers are responsible for assessing consumer wants and needs and selling and promoting the organization's goods or services. 
2. Often, the collective success or failure of companies' operations functions will impact the ability of a nation to compete with other nations. 
3. Companies are either producing goods or delivering services. This means that only one of the two types of operations management strategies are used. 
4. Operations, marketing, and finance function independently of each other in most organizations. 
5. The greater the degree of customer involvement, the more challenging the design and management of operations. 
6. Goods producing organizations are not involved in service activities 
7. Service operations require additional inventory because of the unpredictability of consumer demand. 
8. The value of outputs is measured by the prices customers are willing to pay for goods or services. 
9. The use of models will guarantee the best possible decisions. 
10. People who work in the field of operations should have skills that include both knowledge and people skills. 
11. Assembly lines achieved productivity but at the expense of standard of living. 
12. The operations manager has primary responsibility for making operations system design decisions, such as system capacity and location of facilities. 
13. The word "technology" is used only to refer to 'information technology'. 
14. ‘Value added' by definition is always a positive number since 'added' implies increases. 
15. Service often requires greater labor content, whereas manufacturing is more capital intensive. 
16. Measurement of productivity in service is more straightforward than in manufacturing since it is not necessary to take into account the cost of materials. 
17. Special-purpose technology is a common way of offering increased customization in manufacturing or services without taking on additional labor costs. 
18. One method of classifying production systems is the degree of standardization. 
19. Most people encounter operations only in profit-making organizations. 
20. Service involves a much higher degree of customer contact than manufacturing. 
21. A systems approach emphasizes interrelationships among subsystems, but its main theme is that the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts. 
22. The Pareto phenomenon is one of the most important and pervasive concepts that can be applied at all levels of management. 
23. Operations managers, who usually use quantitative approaches, are not really concerned with ethical decision-making. 
24. The optimal solutions produced by quantitative techniques should always be evaluated in terms of the larger framework. 
25. Managers should most often rely on quantitative techniques for important decisions since quantitative approaches result in more accuratedecisions. 
26. Many operations management decisions can be described as tradeoffs. 
27. A systems approach means that we concentrate on efficiency within a subsystem and thereby assure overall efficiency. 
28. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, goods were produced primarily by craftsmen or their apprentices using custom made parts. 
29. Elton Mayo's "Hawthorne Experiment" was the focal point of the Human Relations Movement, which emphasized the importance of the human element in job design. 
30. Among Ford's many contributions was the introduction of mass production, using the concept of interchangeable parts and division of labor. 
31. Operations management and marketing are the two functional areas that exist to support activities in other functions such as accounting, finance, IT and human resources. 
32. Lean production systems incorporate the advantages of both mass production and craft production. 
33. As an abstraction of reality, a model is a simplified version of a real phenomenon. 
34. Lean production systems use a highly skilled work force and flexible equipment. 
35. The lean production philosophy has been slow to be adopted in service industries. 
36. Operations Management activities will be less important in the future because many firms are becoming service-oriented operations rather than goods producing operations. 
37. A modern firm has two supply chain considerations – external links with suppliers and customers, and an internal network of flows to and between the operations function itself. 
38. Operations management involves continuous decision-making; hopefully most decisions made will be: 
A. redundant
B. minor in nature
C. informed
D. quantitative
E. none of the above

39. A 'product package' consists of: 
A. the exterior wrapping
B. the shipping container
C. a combination of goods and services
D. goods if a manufacturing organization
E. customer relations if a service organization

40. Business organizations consist of three major functions which, ideally: 
A. support one another
B. are mutually exclusive
C. exist independently of each other
D. function independently of each other
E. do not interface with each other

41. Which of the following is not a type of operations? 
A. goods production
B. storage/transportation
C. entertainment
D. communication
E. all the above involve operations

42. Technology choices seldom affect: 
A. costs.
B. productivity.
C. union activity.
D. quality.
E. flexibility.

43. Measurements taken at various points in the transformation process for control purposes are called: 
A. plans
B. directions
C. controls
D. feedback
E. budgets

44. Budgeting, analysis of investment proposals, and provision of funds are activities associated with the _______ function. 
A. operation
B. marketing
C. purchasing
D. finance
E. internal audit

45. Which one of the following would not generally be classified under the heading of transformation? 
A. assembling
B. teaching
C. staffing
D. farming
E. consulting

46. Manufacturing work sent to other countries is called: 
A. downsized
B. outsourced
C. internationalization
D. vertical integration
E. entrepreneurial ship

47. Product design and process selection are examples of decisions that are: 
A. financial
B. tactical
C. system design
D. system operation
E. forecasting

48. The responsibilities of the operations manager are: 
A. planning, organizing, staffing, procuring, and reviewing
B. planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling
C. forecasting, designing, planning, organizing, and controlling
D. forecasting, designing, operating, procuring, and reviewing
E. designing and operating

49. Knowledge skills usually don't include: 
A. process knowledge
B. accounting skills
C. communication skills
D. global knowledge
E. all of the above

50. Which of the following is not true about systems approach? 
A. A systems viewpoint is almost always beneficial in decision making.
B. A systems approach emphasizes interrelationships among subsystems.
C. A systems approach concentrates on efficiency within subsystems.
D. A systems approach is essential whenever something is being redesigned or improved.
E. All of the above are true.

51. What is credited with gains in industrial productivity, increased standards of living and affordable products? 
A. personal computers
B. the internet
C. mass transportation
D. assembly lines
E. multi-level marketing

52. Production systems with customized outputs typically have relatively: 
A. high volumes of output
B. low unit costs
C. high amount of specialized equipment
D. fast work movement
E. skilled workers

53. Which is not a significant difference between manufacturing and service operations? 
A. cost per unit
B. uniformity of output
C. labor content of jobs
D. customer contact
E. measurement of productivity

54. Which of the following is not a characteristic of service operations? 
A. intangible output
B. high customer contact
C. high labor content
D. easy measurement of productivity
E. low uniformity of output

55. Which of the following is a recent trend in business? 
A. pollution control
B. total quality management
C. supply chain management
D. competition from foreign manufacturers
E. technological change

56. Farming is an example of: 
A. an obsolete activity
B. a virtual organization
C. non-manufactured goods
D. a growth industry
E. customized manufacturing

57. Dealing with the fact that certain aspects of any management situation are more important than others is called: 
A. analysis of tradeoffs
B. sensitivity analysis
C. recognition of priorities
D. analysis of variance
E. decision table analysis

58. The fact that a few improvements in a few key areas of operations will have more impact than many improvements in many other areas is consistent with the: 
A. Irwin phenomenon
B. Pareto phenomenon
C. Stevenson phenomenon
D. Tellier phenomenon
E. Adam Smith phenomenon

59. The process of comparing outputs to previously established standards to determine if corrective action is needed is called: 
A. planning
B. directing
C. controlling
D. budgeting
E. disciplining

60. Which of the following does not relate to system design? 
A. altering the system capacity
B. location of facilities
C. inventory management
D. selection and acquisition of equipment
E. physical arrangement of departments

61. Taking a systems viewpoint with regard to operations in today's environment increasingly leads decision-makers to consider ______________ in response to the ____________. 
A. flexibility; pressure to be more efficient
B. offshoring; need to promote domestic production
C. sustainability; threat of global warming
D. technology; impact of random variation
E. forecasting; stabilization of demand

62. Some companies attempt to maximize the revenue they receive from fixed operating capacity by influencing demands through price manipulation. This is an example of _________________: 
A. Illegal price discrimination
B. Collusion
C. Volume analysis
D. Revenue management
E. Outsourcing

63. Which of the following is not an ongoing trend in manufacturing? 
A. globalization
B. quality improvement
C. flexibility and agility
D. mass production for greater economies of scale
E. technological advances

64. Which of the following is not a benefit of using models in decision making? 
A. They provide a standardized format for analyzing a problem.
B. They serve as a consistent tool for evaluation.
C. They are easy to use and less expensive than dealing with the actual situation.
D. All of the above are benefits.
E. None of the above is a benefit.

65. Modern firms increasingly rely on other firms to supply goods and services instead of doing these tasks themselves. This increased level of _____________ is leading to increased emphasis on ____________ management. 
A. outsourcing; supply chain
B. offshoring; lean
C. downsizing; total quality
D. optimizing; inventory
E. internationalization; intercultural 

 

An example of a strategic operations management decision is the choice of where to locate

An example of an operational operations management decision is inventory level management

Government statistics are a good source of data about productivity trends in the service sector

An example of a tactical operations management decision is determining employment levels

Productivity is defined as the ratio of output to input

Productivity is defined as the ratio of input to output.

Competitiveness relates to the profitability of an organization in the marketplace

If people would only work harder, productivity would increase

Tracking productivity measures over time enables managers to judge organizational performance and decide where improvements are needed

Productivity is directly related to the ability of an organization to compete

A characteristic that was once an order winner may become an order qualifier, and vice versa

Outsourcing tends to improve quality but at the cost of lowered productivity

Productivity tends to be only a very minor factor in an organization's ability to compete.

An organization that is twice as productive as its competitor will be twice as profitable

National productivity is determined by averaging the productivity measures of various companies or industries

Wage and salary increases that are not accompanied by productivity increases tend to exert inflationary pressures on a nation's economy

Global competition really only applies to multinational organizations

A business that is rated highly by its customers for service quality will tend to be more profitable than a business that is rated poorly

Services often don't fit simple yield measurements

A mission statement should provide a guide for the formulation of strategies for the organization

The hierarchy and sequence of planning and decision making is: mission, organizational strategy, tactics, and operational decisions

Strategy includes both organizational and functional strategies

Organizational strategy should be determined without considering the realities of functional area strengths and weaknesses since they can be changed to meet our strategy

Mission statements should be as specific as possible regarding exactly how they will be accomplished

Improving efficiency will guarantee a similar improvement in productivity

As long as we match a competitor on quality and price we will gain market share

Environmental scanning is a search for events or trends that present either threats or opportunities to the organization

Standardization has the advantage of reducing variability

Traditional strategies of business organizations have tended to emphasize cost minimization or product differentiation

The majority of our textbook deals with tactical operations that support established functional strategies

Which of the following is least likely to affect the cost an organization incurs in producing its products or services

Where a firm locates would typically not affect that firm's

Which of the following is not among the chief reasons organizations fail

The key to successfully competing is understanding what customers want and then __________ satisfy those wants

An organization's mission statement serves as the basis for

Which of the following would be least important in the pursuit of a time-based strategy

Competitiveness doesn't include:

Product design and choice of location are examples of _______ decisions

Scheduling personnel is an example of an operations management

Productivity is expressed as:

In the 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, organizations concentrated on: 

Which of the following is not a factor that affects productivity? 

Which of these factors would be least likely to affect productivity? 

Which of the following is not a key step toward improving productivity? 

For an organization to grow its market share, it must: 

The ratio of good output to quantity of raw material input is called 

The fundamental purpose for the existence of any organization is described by its: 

A productivity increase in one operation that does not improve overall productivity of the business is not 

Value added can be calculated by: 

Which of the following is true?

Core competencies in organizations generally do not relate to: 

With regard to operations strategy, organization strategy should, ideally, take into account: 

Which of the following is not typically considered a cure for poor competitiveness? 

Time-based approaches of business organizations focus on reducing the time to accomplish certain necessary activities. Time reductions seldom apply to: 

The external elements of SWOT analysis are:

In an assembly operation at a furniture factory, six employees assembled an average of 450 standard dining chairs per five-day week. What is the labor productivity of this operation? 

Which of the following is not a reason for poor performance of our organization in the marketplace? 

The manager of a carpet store is trying to determine the best installation crew size. He has tried various crew sizes with the results shown below. Based on productivity, what crew size do you recommend?

Which of the following is not a key factor of competitiveness? 

Gourmet Pretzels bakes soft pretzels on an assembly line. It currently bakes 800 pretzels each eight-hour shift. If the production is increased to 1,200 pretzels each shift, then productivity will have increased by: 

The weekly output of a fabrication process is shown below, together with data for labor and material inputs. Standard selling price is $125 per unit. Overhead is charged weekly at the rate of $1,500 plus .5 times direct labor cost. Assume a 40-hour week and an hourly wage of $16. Material cost is $10 per foot. What is the average multifactor productivity?

The Balanced Scorecard is a useful tool for helping managers translate their strategy into action in the following areas: 

A firm pursuing a strategy based on customization and variety will tend to structure and manage its supply chain to accommodate more _____________ than a firm pursuing a strategy based on low cost and high volume

Unique attributes of firms that give them a competitive edge are called:

Years ago in the overnight delivery business, providing package tracking capability gave some firms a competitive advantage. Now, all firms must offer this capability simply to be in this line of business. This is an example of ______________ becoming ____________ over time. 

For firms competing in worldwide markets, conducting __________________ is more complex, since what works in one country or region might not work in another.

Increasing the service offered to the customer makes it more difficult to compete on the basis of: 

___________ is generally used to facilitate an organization strategy that emphasizes low cost

Which of the following factors would tend to reduce productivity? 

Suppose a country's productivity last year was 84. If this country's productivity growth rate of 5 percent is to be maintained, this means that this year's productivity will have to be

 

Forecasting techniques generally assume an existing causal system that will continue to exist in the future

For new products in a strong growth mode, a low alpha will minimize forecast errors when using exponential smoothing techniques

Once accepted by managers, forecasts should be held firm regardless of new input since many plans have been made using the original forecast

Forecasts for groups of items tend to be less accurate than forecasts for individual items because forecasts for individual items don't include as many influencing factors

Forecasts help managers both to plan the system itself and to provide valuable information for using the system

Organizations that are capable of responding quickly to changing requirements can use a shorter forecast horizon and therefore benefit from more accurate forecasts

When new products or services are introduced, focus forecasting models are an attractive option

The purpose of the forecast should be established first so that the level of detail, amount of resources, and accuracy level can be understood

Forecasts based on time-series (historical) data are referred to as associative forecasts

Time-series techniques involve the identification of explanatory variables that can be used to predict future demand

A consumer survey is an easy and sure way to obtain accurate input from future customers since most people enjoy participating in surveys

The Delphi approach involves the use of a series of questionnaires to achieve a consensus forecast

Exponential smoothing adds a percentage (called alpha) of the last period's forecast to estimate the next period's demand

The shorter the forecast period, the more accurately the forecasts tend to track what actually happens

Forecasting techniques that are based on time-series data assume that future values of the series will duplicate past values

Trend-adjusted exponential smoothing uses double smoothing to add twice the forecast error to last period's actual demand

Forecasts based on an average tend to exhibit less variability than the original data

The naive approach to forecasting requires a linear trend line

The naive forecast is limited in its application to series that reflect no trend or seasonality

The naive forecast can serve as a quick and easy standard of comparison against which to judge the cost and accuracy of other techniques

A moving average forecast tends to be more responsive to changes in the data series when more data points are included in the average

In order to update a moving average forecast, the values of each data point in the average must be known

Forecasts of future demand are used by operations people to plan capacity

An advantage of a weighted moving average is that recent actual results can be given more importance than what occurred a while ago

Exponential smoothing is a form of weighted averaging

A smoothing constant of .1 will cause an exponential smoothing forecast to react more quickly to a sudden change than a smoothing constant value of .3

The T in the model TAF = S + T represents the time dimension (which is usually expressed in weeks or months). 

Trend-adjusted exponential smoothing requires selection of two smoothing constants

An advantage of trend-adjusted exponential smoothing over the linear trend equation is its ability to adjust over time to changes in the trend

A seasonal relative (or seasonal indexes) is expressed as a percentage of average or trend

In order to compute seasonal relatives, the trend of past data must be computed or known, which means that for brand-new products this approach cannot be used

Removing the seasonal component from a data series (deseasonalizing) can be accomplished by dividing each data point by its appropriate seasonal relative

If a pattern appears when a dependent variable is plotted against time, one should use time series analysis instead of regression analysis

Curvilinear and multiple regression procedures permit us to extend associative models to relationships that are nonlinear or involve more than one predictor variable

The sample standard deviation of forecast error is equal to the square root of MSE

Correlation measures the strength and direction of a relationship between variables

MAD is equal to the square root of MSE, which is why we calculate the easier MSE and then calculate the more difficult MAD

In exponential smoothing, an alpha of 1.0 will generate the same forecast that a naive forecast would yield

A forecast method is generally deemed to perform adequately when the errors exhibit an identifiable pattern

A control chart involves setting action limits for cumulative forecast error

A tracking signal focuses on the ratio of cumulative forecast error to the corresponding value of MAD. 

The use of a control chart assumes that errors are normally distributed about a mean of zero

Bias exists when forecasts tend to be greater or less than the actual values of time series. 

Bias is measured by the cumulative sum of forecast errors

Seasonal relatives can be used to deseasonalize data or incorporate seasonality in a forecast

The best forecast is not necessarily the most accurate

Which of the following is a potential shortcoming of using sales force opinions in demand forecasting? 

Suppose a four-period weighted average is being used to forecast demand. Weights for the periods are as follows: wt-4 = 0.1, wt-3 = 0.2, wt-2 = 0.3 and wt-1 = 0.4. Demand observed in the previous four periods was as follows: At-4 = 380, At-3 = 410, At-2 = 390, At-1 = 400. What will be the demand forecast for period t

Suppose a three-period weighted average is being used to forecast demand. Weights for the periods are as follows: wt-3 = 0.2, wt-2 = 0.3 and wt-1 = 0.5. Demand observed in the previous three periods was as follows: At-3 = 2,200, At-2 = 1,950, At-1 = 2,050. What will be the demand forecast for period t?

When choosing a forecasting technique, a critical trade-off that must be considered is that between

The more novel a new product or service design is, the more forecasters have to rely on

Forecasts based on judgment and opinion do not include

Which of the following is/are a primary input into capacity, sales, and production planning

Which of the following features would not generally be considered common to all forecasts

Which of the following is not a step in the forecasting process

Minimizing the sum of the squared deviations around the line is called

The two general approaches to forecasting are

Which of the following is not a type of judgmental forecasting? 

Accuracy in forecasting can be measured by

Which of the following would be an advantage of using a sales force composite to develop a demand forecast?

Which phrase most closely describes the Delphi technique

The forecasting method which uses anonymous questionnaires to achieve a consensus forecast is

One reason for using the Delphi method in forecasting is to: 

Detecting nonrandomness in errors can be done using: 

Gradual, long-term movement in time series data is called

The primary difference between seasonality and cycles is

Averaging techniques are useful for: 
Putting forecast errors into perspective is best done using 

Using the latest observation in a sequence of data to forecast the next period is: 
For the data given below, what would the naive forecast be for period 5?

Moving average forecasting techniques do the following: 

Which is not a characteristic of simple moving averages applied to time series data?

In order to increase the responsiveness of a forecast made using the moving average technique, the number of data points in the average should be

A forecast based on the previous forecast plus a percentage of the forecast error is:

Which is not a characteristic of exponential smoothing?

Which of the following smoothing constants would make an exponential smoothing forecast equivalent to a naive forecast? 

Simple exponential smoothing is being used to forecast demand. The previous forecast of 66 turned out to be four units less than actual demand. The next forecast is 66.6, implying a smoothing constant, alpha, equal to:

Given an actual demand of 59, a previous forecast of 64, and an alpha of .3, what would the forecast for the next period be using simple exponential smoothing? 

Given an actual demand of 105, a forecasted value of 97, and an alpha of .4, the simple exponential smoothing forecast for the next period would be: 

Which of the following possible values of alpha would cause exponential smoothing to respond the most quickly to forecast errors? 

A manager uses the following equation to predict monthly receipts: Yt = 40,000 + 150t. What is the forecast for July if t = 0 in April of this year? 

In trend-adjusted exponential smoothing, the trend-adjusted forecast consists of:

In the additive model for seasonality, seasonality is expressed as a ______________ adjustment to the average; in the multiplicative model, seasonality is expressed as a __________ adjustment to the average

Which technique is used in computing seasonal relatives? 

A persistent tendency for forecasts to be greater than or less than the actual values is called

Which of the following might be used to indicate the cyclical component of a forecast? 

The primary method for associative forecasting is: 

Which term most closely relates to associative forecasting techniques? 

Which of the following corresponds to the predictor variable in simple linear regression? 

The mean absolute deviation is used to: 

Given forecast errors of 4, 8, and -3, what is the mean absolute deviation? 

Given forecast errors of 5, 0, -4, and 3, what is the mean absolute deviation? 

Given forecast errors of 5, 0, -4, and 3, what is the bias? 

Which of the following is used for constructing a control chart? 

The two most important factors in choosing a forecasting technique are

The degree of management involvement in short-range forecasts is

Which of the following is not necessarily an element of a good forecast

Forecasting techniques generally assume

A managerial approach toward forecasting which seeks to actively influence demand is

Customer service levels can be improved by better

Given the following historical data, what is the simple three-period moving average forecast for period 6?

Given the following historical data and weights of .5, .3, and .2, what is the three-period moving average forecast for period 5?

Use of simple linear regression analysis assumes that

Given forecast errors of -5, -10, and +15, the MAD is:

The president of State University wants to forecast student enrollments for this academic year based on the following historical data

The business analyst for Video Sales, Inc. wants to forecast this year's demand for DVD decoders 

What is the forecast for this year using the least squares trend line for these data

The business analyst for Video Sales, Inc. wants to forecast this year's demand for DVD decoders based on the following historical data

Professor Very Busy needs to allocate time next week to include time for office hours. He needs to forecast the number of students who will seek appointments. He has gathered the following data

What is this week's forecast using trend-adjusted (double) smoothing with alpha = .5 and beta = .1, if the forecast for last week was 65, the forecast for two weeks ago was 75, and the trend estimate for last week's forecast was -5? 

A concert promoter is forecasting this year's attendance for one of his concerts based on the following historical data

What is this year's forecast using the naive approach? 

What is this year's forecast using a two-year weighted moving average with weights of .7 and .3

What is this year's forecast using exponential smoothing with alpha = .2, if last year's smoothed forecast was 15,000? 

What is the forecast for this year using the naive approach? 

What is the forecast for this year using a four-year simple moving average? 

What is the forecast for this year using exponential smoothing with alpha = .5, if the forecast for two years ago was 16,000? 

What is the forecast for this year using the least squares trend line for these data? 
What is the forecast for this year using trend-adjusted (double) smoothing with alpha = .05 and beta = .3, if the forecast for last year was 21,000, the forecast for two years ago was 19,000, and the trend estimate for last year's forecast was 1,500? 
What is the forecast for this year using the naive approach? 

What is the forecast for this year using a three-year weighted moving average with weights of .5, .3, and .2? 
What is the forecast for this year using exponential smoothing with alpha = .4, if the forecast for two years ago was 750? 

What is the forecast for this year using trend-adjusted (double) smoothing with alpha = .3 and beta = .2, if the forecast for last year was 310, the forecast for two years ago was 430, and the trend estimate for last year's forecast was -150? 
What is this week's forecast using the naive approach? 
What is this week's forecast using a three-week simple moving average? 
What is this week's forecast using exponential smoothing with alpha = .2, if the forecast for two weeks ago was 90? 
What is this week's forecast using the least squares trend line for these data? 

What is this year's forecast using the least squares trend line for these data? 

The previous trend line had predicted 18,500 for two years ago, and 19,700 for last year. What was the mean absolute deviation for these forecasts? 
What is this year's forecast using the naive approach? 

The dean of a school of business is forecasting total student enrollment for this year's summer session classes based on the following historical data:
What is this year's forecast using a three-year simple moving average? 

What is this year's forecast using exponential smoothing with alpha = .4, if last year's smoothed forecast was 2,600? 

What is the annual rate of change (slope) of the least squares trend line for these data? 

What is this year's forecast using the least squares trend line for these data? 

The owner of Darkest Tans Unlimited in a local mall is forecasting this month's (October's) demand for the one new tanning booth based on the following historical data

What is this month's forecast using the naive approach? 

What is this month's forecast using a four-month weighted moving average with weights of .4, .3, .2, and .1?

What is this month's forecast using exponential smoothing with alpha = .2, if August's forecast was 145? 

What is the monthly rate of change (slope) of the least squares trend line for these data? 

What is this month's forecast using the least squares trend line for these data? 

Which of the following mechanisms for enhancing profitability is most likely to result from improving short-term forecast performance? 

Which of the following changes would tend to shorten the time frame for short-term forecasting? 

Which of the following helps improve supply chain forecasting performance? 

Which of the following would tend to decrease forecast accuracy? 

Which of the following is the most valuable piece of information the sales force can bring into forecasting situations? 

 

Global teams provide diversity while eliminating conflicts and miscommunication

A ‘House of Quality' is achieved when no department in a single location has more than 15% rejects

Concurrent Engineering is another term for sequential development

One of the main advantages of standardization is that it increases the potential variety of products

A disadvantage of standardization is the possibility of standardizing designs too early, which may make it difficult to modify in the future

Reducing consumer choices makes service more efficient

Modular design increases costs of purchasing and controlling inventory compared to non-modular

Product failures can be easier to remedy with modular design

One motivation for an organization to redesign its product or service is to avoid the alternative of downsizing the organization

A major benefit of Computer Aided Design (CAD) is the increased productivity of designers

Most of the time what is called product or service design is actually a redesign of an existing product or service

A service blueprint is quite similar to an architectural drawing

The process of dismantling and inspecting a competitor's product to discover product improvement is called benchmarking

To save money, it is essential that designers revise the production capabilities to meet the requirements of the new products

Many US manufacturers are now shifting their focus from products to both product and process improvements

Applied research has the objective of achieving commercial applications for new ideas

Basic research is done with the expectation that discoveries will have near-term commercial application

"Design for production" takes into account the capabilities of the organization to produce or deliver a given product or service

Consumers tend to resist purchasing products containing recycled materials

"Concurrent engineering" brings people concerned with manufacturing into the design phase earlier than in the "over-the-wall" approach

"Concurrent engineering" means that at least two engineers are involved in product design at the same time

One approach to extending a product's life cycle is to promote alternate uses of the product

"Quality Function Deployment" is a structured approach that guarantees that the highest quality product or service will be designed

Product liability means that a manufacturer is liable for any injuries and damages caused by a faulty product because of poor workmanship or design

The process of dismantling and inspecting a competitor's product to discover improvement is called reverse engineering

Research and development (R&D) refers to organized efforts that are directed toward increasing scientific knowledge and product (or process) innovation

Standardization refers to the extent to which there is absence of variety in a product, service, or process

Re-manufacturing refers to removing some of the components of old products and reusing them in new products

The demand for a product and the rate of technological change have significant impact on the length of a given phase of the product life cycle

Robust design describes a product that will perform satisfactorily so long as it is used in a very narrow range of conditions

Taguchi design methods involve identifying the optimal operating or environmental conditions for a given product

Quality function deployment (QFD) is based on a set of standards which relate customer requirements to company capabilities.

The quality function deployment (QFD) matrices are often referred to as the "House of Quality" because, when completed, they "house" all of the customer's quality requirements

Service design often must take into account the degree of customer contact required

Reliability refers to the ability of a product to perform its intended function under normal conditions

Applied research is the major R & D effort of business organizations because of the desire for commercial applications

Commonality of components is beneficial for manufacturing but not for services

Standardization can at times lead to serious difficulties and competitive struggles, particularly when systems are running under different conditions

The term failure as applied to reliability means that a part or item does not function at all

Reliability can be defined in terms of a particular point in time or in terms of length of service

Reliability can be improved by the use of backup components

Delayed differentiation and modular design are tactics for mass customization

Life-cycle assessment involves incorporating where the product or service is in its life-cycle into system-design decision-making

The goal of life-cycle assessment is to incorporate the environmental impact of products or services into product-design or service-design decision-making

The three Rs – Reduce, Re-use and Recycle – are more applicable in service design than in product design

The goal of value analysis is to find ways of _________. 

When considering re-use issues for a given product, an important factor to take into account is that product's _________.

Incorporating design for disassembly (DFD) principles in product design helps firms with ___________ design issues. 

Designing for recycling helps facilitate ________. 

One way to increase reliability is to: 

Which of the following is not a reason for redesigning a product or service? 
A disadvantage of global teams for product design is that

The stage in a product or service life cycle where some firms adopt a defensive research posture is: 
One step that isn't part of service blueprinting is: 
The research and development activity which starts after positive research results are available and attempts to turn these results into useful commercial applications is: 

The advantages of standardization include which of the following?

Products or services with a high degree of similarity of features and components are called: 

"Must have", "expected" and "excitement" characteristics are categories in the ____ model. 

One possible disadvantage of modular design is that

In the area of product and service design, the acronym CAD refers to

Which of the following statements about CAD is not true? 

Which one of the following is not a factor of successful product and service design? 

As part of a strategy for improving competitiveness, a manager may have to initially sacrifice: 

Ideas for new or improved designs can come from

The process of dismantling and inspecting a competitor's new or revised product for the purpose of gleaning design ideas is called

The term ‘degrees of newness' is associated with:

The term ‘standardization' is closely associated with: 

Service design generally differs from product design in which of the following ways? 
The structural approach for integrating customer requirements into every aspect of product development is known as

Which of the following is an issue that designers must take into account in product and service design? 

One of these is not a characteristic of a well-designed service system: 

A formal way to document customer requirements is

Which of the following is not true about re-manufacturing?