Reference no: EM132246050
This item appears at the end of each chapter. It is intended to focus your attention on three key issues for business organizations in general, and operations management in particular. Those issues are trade-off decisions, collaboration among various functional areas of the organization, and the impact of technology. You will see three or more questions relating to these issues. Here is the first set of questions:
1. What are trade-offs? Why careful consideration of trade is-offs important in decision making?
2. Why is it important for the various functional areas of a business organization to collaborate?
3. In what general ways does technology have an impact on operations management decision making?
1. From time to time, various groups clamor for import restrictions or tariffs on foreign-produced goods, particularly automobiles. How might these be helpful? Harmful?
2. List the key ways that organizations compete.
3. Explain the importance of identifying and differentiating order qualifiers and order winners.
4. Select two stores you shop at, and state how they compete.
5. What is the Balanced Scorecard and how is it useful?
6. Contrast the terms strategies and tactics.
7. Contrast organization strategy and operations strategy.
8. Explain the term time-based strategies and give three examples.
9. Productivity should be a concern of every business organization. a. How is productivity defined? b. How are productivity measures used? c. Why is productivity important? d. What part of the organization has primary responsibility for productivity? e. How is efficiency different from productivity?
10. List some factors that can affect productivity and some ways that productivity can be improved.
11. It has been said that a typical Japanese automobile manufacturer produces more cars with fewer workers than its U.S. counterpart. What are some possible explanations for this, assuming that U.S. workers are as hard working as Japanese workers?
12. Boeing’s strategy appears to focus on its 777 midsize plane’s ability to fly into smaller, nonhub airports. Rival European Airbus’s strategy appears to focus on large planes. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of these two strategies.
13. Name 10 ways that banks compete for customers.
14. Explain the rationale of an operations strategy that seeks to increase the opportunity for use of technology by reducing variability in processing requirements.
15. Identify two companies that have time-based strategies, and two that have quality-based strategies. 1. Who needs to be involved in formulating organizational strategy? 2. Name some of the competitive trade-offs that might arise in a fast-food restaurant. 3. How can technology improve? a. Competitiveness? b. Productivity?