Which of the following is least likely to affect the cost an organization incurs in producing its products or services?
A. price
B. productivity
C. location
D. quality
E. inventory management
A. price
Relative to the other choices, price is least likely to affect cost.
Where a firm locates would typically not affect that firm's:
A. costs.
B. convenience for customers.
C. delivery times.
D. strategy.
E. transportation costs.
D. strategy.
Typically, strategy dictates where firms will locate, rather than location dictating strategy.
Which of the following is not among the chief reasons organizations fail?
A. overemphasis on short-term financial performance
B. emphasizing labor productivity in labor-intensive environments
C. poor internal communications
D. not investing in capital and human resources
E. overemphasis on product (or service) design
B. emphasizing labor productivity in labor-intensive environments
In labor-intensive environments, emphasizing labor productivity is a good idea.
The key to successfully competing is understanding what customers want and then __________ satisfy those wants.
A. training production workers to
B. finding suppliers who can
C. finding the best way to
D. designing products and services that
E. hiring enough workers to
C. finding the best way to
To successfully compete, two basic issues must be addressed: What do the customers want? What is the best way to satisfy those wants?
An organization's mission statement serves as the basis for:
A. environmental scanning.
B. core competencies.
C. operating procedures.
D. distinctiveness.
E. organizational goals.
E. organizational goals.
Organizations' missions serve as the broad underpinning for their goals.
Which of the following would be least important in the pursuit of a time-based strategy?
A. cost minimization
B. quick changeover times
C. operational agility
D. reduced complaint resolution times
E. flexible technology
A. cost minimization
Many means for minimizing cost would have the effect of making a time-based strategy less feasible.
Competitiveness doesn't include:
A. productivity.
B. effectiveness.
C. profitability.
D. operations strategy.
E. operations management.
C. profitability.
A company can be competitive relative to similar companies and still be unprofitable if the competitive environment is inherently unprofitable.
Product design and choice of location are examples of _______ decisions.
A. strategic
B. tactical
C. operational
D. customer-focused
E. design
A. strategic
These decisions are made high in the hierarchy.
Scheduling personnel is an example of an operations management:
A. mission implementation.
B. operational decision.
C. organizational strategy.
D. functional strategy.
E. tactical decision.
B. operational decision.
Staffing-level decisions are made low in the hierarchy.
