Introduction to Operations & Supply Chain Management, 5e (Bozarth)
Chapter 2 Operations and Supply Chain Strategies
2.1 Elements of the Business
1) Structural elements of a business include:
A) policies.
B) people.
C) decision rules.
D) computer systems.
2) A(n) ________ is an example of an infrastructural element.
A) building
B) organizational structure
C) office equipment
D) fleet of delivery trucks
3) A business is defined by its structural and infrastructural elements.
4) Policies and decision rules are infrastructural elements.
5) Tangible resources are infrastructural elements in an organization.
6) ________ are tangible resources such as buildings, equipment, and computer systems.
7) ________ are the people, policies, and organizational structure choices made by a firm.
8) Define and describe the differences between structural and infrastructural elements of a business.
2.2 Strategy
1) The firm’s targeted customers, time frames, and performance objectives are identified by their:
A) mission statement.
B) core competencies.
C) business strategy.
D) functional strategy.
2) Core competencies can be described as:
A) a declaration of mission that is focused on specific skills.
B) organizational strengths and abilities that have been developed over time.
C) only those processes that create products or provide services.
D) elements of the supply chain that create value.
3) The success of a strategy depends on doing many things well and:
A) adjusting the company mission to match what you excel at.
B) performing at a high level.
C) doing them better than your competitors.
D) integrating among them.
4) Which of the following statements about functional strategies is best?
A) Functional strategies determine the mission statement.
B) Functional strategies determine the overall business strategy.
C) Many functional level strategies could readily be described as cross-functional.
D) A firm’s operations and supply chain strategy is more important than their marketing, finance and
engineering strategies.
5) No one could turn around a failing restaurant as expertly as Gordon, whose experience and cadre of
trained professionals was available at a moment’s notice should his services be needed. This ability, some
might call it a gift, was developed to such a level that other restaurant consultants were unable to match
his results. This ability is best described as his:
A) business strategy.
B) core competency.
C) mission statement.
D) operations and supply chain strategy.
6) A mechanism that identifies a firm’s targeted customers and sets time frames and performance
objectives for the business is called a mission statement.
7) The mission statement addresses a company’s reason for existence, core values, and domain.
8) As long as each functional area in a company operates efficiently, their strategies can be very different.
9) In general, core competencies drive functional strategies.
10) A business’s core competencies can shift over time.
11) A firm’s ________ explains why an organization exists.
12) Organizational strengths or abilities, developed over a long period of time that customers find
valuable and competitors find difficult or impossible to copy are ________.
13) When you translate an overall business strategy into a level of detail suitable for the marketing area,
you create a(n) ________.
14) A ________ is an organizational strength that customers value and competitors have great difficulty
duplicating.
15) Define mission statement and business strategy and describe the relationship between the two.
16) Offer a definition of the term core competency and explain the core competency of your university.
17) What is the core competency of Amazon? Defend your choice. Has Amazon’s core competency
changed since its founding in the early 1990’s?
2.3 Operations and Supply Chain Strategies
1) Which of these is NOT one of the primary objectives of an operations and supply chain strategy?
A) To help management choose the right mix of structural and infrastructural elements, based on a clear
understanding of the performance dimensions valued by customers and the trade–offs involved.
B) To ensure that the firm’s structural and infrastructural choices are strategically aligned with the firm‘s
business strategy.
C) To support the development of core competencies in the firm’s operations and supply chains.
D) To align structural and infrastructural elements to convert order winners into order qualifiers as
determined by the mission statement.
2) Which of these is a major operations and supply chain structural decision category?
A) organization
B) planning and control
C) capacity
D) product and service development
3) Which of these is a major operations and supply chain infrastructural decision category?
A) organization
B) facilities
C) capacity
D) technology
4) Damron Inc. wants to purchase a shear for their sheet metal shop and chooses dimensions of cost,
reliability, and flexibility as critical to their long term success. They evaluate three different shears and
rate their performance on each criterion on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). What is the value index
for the shear made by Belsky Manufacturing?
Dimension
Importance
Belsky Mfg.
Reber Ind.
Floyd Co.
Cost
4
1
5
3
Reliability
2
5
2
1
Flexibility
3
3
3
4
A) 9
B) 18
C) 23
D) 81
5) Damron Inc. wants to purchase a shear for their sheet metal shop and chooses dimensions of cost,
reliability, and flexibility as critical to their long term success. They evaluate four different shears and rate
their performance on each criterion on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Which shear should be
purchased?
Dimension
Importance
Belsky Mfg.
Reber Ind.
Estelle LLC
Floyd Co.
Cost
4
4
4
3
3
Reliability
2
3
2
3
1
Flexibility
3
2
3
3
4
A) Belsky
B) Reber
C) Estelle
D) Floyd
6) Electra wants to purchase a laptop for use in her MBA program so she can work on assignments and
surf the web while the professor drones on endlessly. After consulting with her colleagues, she chooses
the dimensions of cost, weight, processor speed, and touchscreen capability as critical to her long term
success and amusement. She evaluates four different laptops and rates their performance on each
criterion on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Which laptop should Electra purchase?
Dimension
Importance
Sir Face
Toybook Air
High Priced
Weight
3
4
4
5
Speed
5
4
4
3
Cost
2
2
2
1
Touchscreen
1
5
2
3
A) Sir Face
B) Toybook Air
C) Knockoff
D) High Priced
7) Electra wants to purchase a laptop for use in her MBA program so she can work on assignments and
surf the web while the professor drones on endlessly. After consulting with her colleagues, she chooses
the dimensions of cost, weight, processor speed, and touchscreen capability as critical to her long term
success and amusement. She evaluates four different laptops and rates their performance on each
criterion on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). She is struggling with her assessment of the importance
of the Cost criterion. As an avid lottery player, she is pretty sure that tonight’s drawing will mean at least
two numbers match on the ticket she bought on the way to class and it could possibly mean a three–
number match. Given her uncertainty, she would like to choose the laptop that performs the best overall
across the entire spectrum of possibilities of the outcome of tonight’s lottery. Which would you
recommend?
Dimension
Importance
Sir Face
Toybook Air
High Priced
Weight
3
4
4
5
Speed
5
4
4
3
Cost
??
2
4
1
Touchscreen
1
5
2
3
A) High Priced
B) Knockoff
C) Toybook Air
D) Sir Face
8) Which of the following is NOT a generic performance dimension of operations and supply chain
activities?
A) quality
B) time
C) flexibility
D) social responsibility
9) Whether the product was made or service performed to specifications is a question of:
A) conformance quality.
B) performance quality.
C) reliability quality.
D) value indices.
10) Which of these statements about time performance is best?
A) A supplier with high delivery speed must have high delivery reliability.
B) A customer with a narrow delivery window should have a supplier with high delivery reliability.
C) A supplier with low delivery reliability must have low delivery speed.
D) A customer with a wide delivery window should have a supplier with low delivery reliability.
11) Lieutenant Columbo donned his raincoat and hopped into his 1959 Peugeot, hot on the trail of
another condescending millionaire murder suspect. The Peugeot always drew stares, not because it was a
rare automobile, but because it was an eyesore. It had one redeeming quality; every time he sat behind
the wheel and turned the key in the ignition, it would start. Thus, the car scored well on the:
A) mix flexibility scale.
B) changeover flexibility scale.
C) reliability quality scale.
D) delivery reliability scale.
12) We have all experienced the endless wait for repair technicians to show up at our house. If the cable
company would provide an estimate of “Your installer will arrive at your house between 2 pm and 3 pm
on Wednesday,” instead of “Your installer will arrive at your house between 8 am and 5 pm on
Wednesday,” we would be impressed with their service and their:
A) performance quality.
B) delivery speed.
C) delivery reliability.
D) delivery window.
13) The ability to produce a wide range of products or services is:
A) mix flexibility.
B) changeover flexibility.
C) volume flexibility.
D) run flexibility.
14) Which type of flexibility would be the most difficult to achieve for a two-chair barbershop?
A) mix flexibility
B) changeover flexibility
C) volume flexibility
D) run flexibility
15) Mutt’s Amazing Dogs offers a hot dog with mustard and a hot dog with relish and mustard. The
difference between the two (the relish) is achieved by flipping a single lever, which changes the dispenser
from mustard, to a perfectly proportioned mix of relish and mustard. This lever responds instantly to the
feathery touch of Mutt, who provides his customers a high level of:
A) mix flexibility.
B) volume flexibility.
C) delivery flexibility.
D) changeover flexibility.
16) Performance dimensions on which customers expect a minimum level of performance are called:
A) order winners.
B) minimum performers.
C) recommended daily allowances.
D) order qualifiers.
17) Four engineering firms completed the request for proposal to develop something called the Arpanet,
but the firm of Bolt Beranek and Newman demonstrated a camaraderie and tighter team concept that
proved to be the ________ that resulted in their selection to develop a four node network that became the
Internet.
A) order winners
B) minimum performers
C) recommended daily allowances
D) order qualifiers
18) The latex division of Vandelay Industries provided support after the sale that could not be matched
by any of the other players in the latex industry. This unique attribute was responsible for perhaps 60% of
their sales volume and could be described as:
A) a trade-off.
B) a core competency.
C) an order winner.
D) externally neutral.
19) Department chair Robert knew that his Entrepreneurship major was destined to be successful. Yes, he
had sacrificed many of the features like qualified faculty and captivating guest speakers for lower course
fees that made this the least expensive program in the entire college, which was a popular notion in
today’s tough economic times. Once enrollment blossomed, he would feel:
A) his trade-off was validated.
B) his core competency was mix flexibility.
C) his order winner was now a qualifier.
D) the need for an updated mission statement.
20) Which of these strategic moves represents a trade-off?
A) Art Vandelay decides to quit exporting and focus just on importing.
B) Wealthy industrialist H.E. Pennypacker decides to open a silver mine rather than an iron mine.
C) J Peterman opts for delivery speed in lieu of product mix variety in his fall catalog.
D) Kenny Bania believes that they should change the name from Ovaltine to Roundtine.