CH 9

_____ tags help boost logistics efficiency and speed in the distribution system and even at some retailers.

RFID (radio frequency identification tags)

Alyssa then turned her attention to the technology changes that could help her organization to become more agile. Which of the following technology changes could her boss use successfully in this scenario?

flexible manufacturing

An operation that achieves increased efficiency while simultaneously improving effectiveness is best described as practicing _____________.

lean manufacturing

An organization that is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights is known as a ____ organization.

learning

According to Deming's 14 points of quality, which of the following has to be eliminated, as they are contrary to the idea of continuous improvement?

numerical quotas

When the manager at Big League Bats wants to assess where the company gets the wood used to make the bats, the part of the value chain is he most likely to look at is ____.

operations

According to Dr. Kenichi Ohmae, which of the following constitutes the strategic triangle of a business unit?

Customers, corporation, and competitors

Which of the following statements is true about strategic alliances?

For the alliance to work, the partners should consider one another's areas of expertise

A series of quality standards developed by a committee working under the International Organization for Standardization to improve total quality in all businesses for the benefit of both producers and consumers is known as ____.

ISO 9001

Which of the following statements is true about the organic structure?

Jobholders rely more heavily on judgment than on rules

Phil has been assigned with the task of efficient downsizing. Which of the following should Phil avoid while performing this task?

Making slow, small, and frequent layoffs

_____ refers to the production of varied, individually customized products at the low cost of standardized, mass-produced products.

Mass customization

Which of the following is true of small batch technologies?

The emphasis is on mutual adjustment among people

Which of the following statements is true of a high-involvement organization?

The organizational form is a flat, decentralized structure built around a customer, good, or service.

_____ is an integrative approach to management that supports the attainment of customer satisfaction through a wide variety of tools and techniques that result in goods and services of high standards.

Total quality management

A mechanistic organization is best described as:

a form of organization that seeks to maximize internal efficiency

Scenario D. While working on a project with the company president who was also her boss, Alyssa was reminded of a quote by Jack Welch: "An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage." Alyssa's project was to transition the firm from a bureaucracy to one with agility. Alyssa knew that the particular structure an organization adopts to accomplish agility will depend on its strategy, its customers, and its technology. One aspect that Alyssa considered was to be sure that the firm focused on its competitiveness and managed its core capabilities to obtain competitive advantage. Which of the following should Alyssa recommend to her boss to best accomplish this goal?

accumulate the right resources and eliminate resources that don't provide value

_____ engineering refers to a design approach in which all relevant functions cooperate jointly and continually in a maximum effort aimed at producing high-quality products that meet customers' needs.

concurrent

Alyssa was considering forming a strategic alliance to enter a new market. In order to be successful at doing so, Alyssa recommended that before making a decision to move forward with the strategic alliance, her boss must first:

consider the other firm's area of expertise

In a business unit setup, kaizen refers to ____.

continuous improvement

In the realm of customer relations, _____ includes continually changing in order to connect with customers, even without waiting for customers to make the first move.

continuous improvement

Total quality management is a way of managing in which everyone is committed to the _____ of his or her part of the operation.

continuous improvement

The formal structure of an organization is primarily put in place to:

control people, decisions, and actions

A _____ is the knowledge, expertise, or skill that underlies a company's ability to be a leader in providing a range of specific goods or services.

core capability

Diseconomies of scale refers to the:

costs associated with an organization being too big

Will is the marketing head of a firm. He usually strives for long-term improvement rather than short-term profit, regardless of the economic environment. In the context of Deming's 14 points of quality, this is an example of:

creating constancy of purpose

Which of the following is one of the criteria for receiving the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award?

customer and market focus

A multifaceted process focusing on creating two-way exchanges with customers to foster intimate knowledge of their needs, wants, and buying patterns is called _____ management.

customer relationship

Scenario E. PetFood Inc. is a dog food manufacturer. The top management of the company sits down for an annual meeting. The company's chairman, Bruce, wants to create processes that will help the company interact with customers and gather knowledge of their wants, needs, and buying patterns. He also wants to improve internal quality management by using some ideas from Deming's "14 points" theory. The president of the company, Tony, wants to use an approach to management that helps to attain customer satisfaction through tools that deliver high-quality goods. The senior managers agree with Tony and say that the company should adopt a method to analyze the causes of defects in products that need to be eliminated to improve customer satisfaction. Which of the following best describes what Bruce was referring to in the meeting?

customer relationship management

According to Christine, efficiency can be improved by avoiding:

diseconomies of scale

Phoenix Paint, a manufacturer of designer indoor paint, is in the process of eliminating some positions in its organization. Its management has carefully analyzed all of the jobs and strategically determined which to keep, with an eye toward protecting its most talented people. Which of the following refers to what Phoenix is doing in this scenario?

downsizing

Which of the following involves eliminating functions, hierarchical levels, or even whole units?

downsizing

Scenario B. Three students—John, Christine, and Bob—are discussing how to improve efficiency in a manufacturing context. John says that the company must work toward lower costs per unit of production. Bob believes that the company should use the same resources to make more related products. And, Christine holds that avoiding the costs of growing too large and creating waste will improve efficiency. In Scenario B, John refers to:

economies of scale

In Scenario B, Bob talks about:

economies of scope

Which of the following is one of W. Edwards Deming's 14 points of quality?

eliminate slogans and buzzwords

Managers who want to strengthen their firms' competitiveness via core capabilities need to focus on:

extending capabilities to find new applications and opportunities

Structurally, a high-involvement organization is usually ____.

flat and decentralized

Which of the following is an effective practice in downsizing?

giving special attention and help to those who have lost their jobs

Which of the following is a characteristic of flexible factories?

having relatively shorter production runs

In a _____ organization, top management ensures that there is consensus about the direction in which the business is heading.

high-involvement

Executives at a pharmaceuticals company have been working with a consultant to implement ISO 9001. They have established the company's vision and goals, and have been working hard to provide inspiration to their employees and establish trust. Which of the following principles is the company addressing here?

leadership

Scenario C. Recently, the president of Big League Bats received a large amount of fan mail. They indicated their displeasure with the firm's use of wood from the Brazilian rain forest for bats used by the major league baseball players. For this reason, the company is reviewing its entire process. A manager is appointed to assess how the company gets the wood used to make the bats and the process used in making them. The manager should also determine what the major league players are looking for in the products. Moreover, the players are very demanding and specific when it comes to the design of their bats. When the manager at Big League Bats wants to assess where the company gets the wood used to make the bats, the part of the value chain is he most likely to look at is ____.

inbound logistics

Which of the following is a point from Deming's "14 points" theory that the company can use?

institute training and retraining

A small office with only a physician, a nurse, and a bookkeeper is an example of a _____ shop.

job

A system that calls for subassemblies and components to be manufactured in very small lots and delivered to the next stage in the production process as they are needed is known as a ____.

just-in-time (JIT) operation

Perfect quality, elimination of waste, value added manufacturing, and employee involvement are all components of ____.

just-in-time operations

McDonald's and Burger King have production processes that tend to be standardized, and all customers receive similar if not identical products. These organizations are examples of ____.

large batch technologies

Which of the following aspects of an organization creates scale economies and economies of scope and leads to advantages like lower operating costs, greater purchasing power, and easier access to capital?

large size

Which of the following types of organizations pursues activities such as engaging in disciplined thinking, searching constantly for new knowledge, benchmarking, and sharing ideas throughout the organization via information systems?

learning organizations

Problems with which of the following is most likely to result in products going out of stock and consumers choosing alternatives?

logistics

Survivor's syndrome refers to the:

loss of productivity and morale in employees who remain after downsizing

Which of the following is a characteristic of continuous process technologies?

machines and/or computers do all the work

When the manager considers the players' requirements, the part of the value chain is he most likely looking at is ____.

marketing and sales

Economies of scope refers to the idea that:

materials and processes employed in one product can be used to make other related products

The _____ structure is an organizational form that emphasizes flexibility.

organic

The factor that differentiates flexible factories from traditional factories is that flexible factories:

organize work flow around products

Downsizing in organizations refers to the:

planned elimination of organizational positions

Which of the following is a support activity in the generic value chain?

procurement

A company that asks itself "If you were the customer, how would you like us to operate?" and then takes action to transform itself is best described as using the notion of ____.

reengineering

The term logistics refers to the movement of:

resources into the organization and products from the organization to its customers

The principal idea of reengineering is to:

revolutionize key organizational systems and processes

Scenario A. At Purple Lotus Inc., Mark is the chairman and Phil is the HR manager. The company is going through difficult times and Phil has been told that they need to layoff some people in order to maintain business and try to regain lost market share. Mark has been assigned with the task of estimating the appropriate size at which the company can perform. Phil has been assigned with the task of enabling efficient downsizing. Mark's task to successfully achieve an appropriate size at which the company can perform most effectively is known as ____.

rightsizing

The ability to utilize processes or materials for multiple related products and thereby gain efficiencies is referred to as economies of ____.

scope

Which of the following is a primary activity in the generic value chain?

service

Which of the following should the company use to analyze the causes of product defects and eliminate them to improve customer satisfaction?

six sigma

One of the most important contributors to total quality management has been the introduction of statistical tools to analyze the causes of product defects in an approach called ____.

six sigma quality

A(n) _____ is a formal relationship created among independent organizations with the purpose of joint pursuit of mutual goals.

strategic alliance

Slim Center Counseling and ASA Software recently joined forces to produce a meal planning program for use on home computers. The two organizations are working together on the project since neither could have developed it using only their own resources. Both will own the resulting program. This is an example of a ____.

strategic alliance

According to Dr. Kenichi Ohmae, customers, corporation, and competitors make up the ____.

strategic triangle

Employees who retain their jobs after downsizing often experience heavier workloads and loss of organizational commitment and become risk-averse, which are usually symptoms of ____.

survivor's syndrome

As organizations focus on responding to customer needs, they soon find that the traditional meaning of a customer expands to include internal customers. The word customer now refers to ____.

the next process

The sequence of activities that flow from raw materials to the delivery of a good or service, with additional value created at each step, is known as ____.

the value chain

_____ refers to strategies aimed at reducing the total duration it takes to deliver a product or service.

time-base competition

Which of the following best describes what Tony was referring to in the meeting?

total quality management