CH 2: Competitiveness, Strategic Planning, and Productivity

Question 1

competiveness

Answer 1

how effectively an organization meets the wants and needs of customers relative to others that offer similar goods or services

Question 2

key purchasing criteria

Answer 2

price, quality, variety, on time delivery (timeliness)

Question 3

order qualifiers

Answer 3

minimum standards of acceptability for purchase, allow product to be considered

Question 4

order winners

Answer 4

create perception of being better than the competitors, allow product to be purchased

Question 5

competitive priorities

Answer 5

compete by emphasizing one or more of the key purchasing criteria in their operations

Question 6

why do organizations fail

Answer 6

neglect strategy, fail to take advantage of strengths and opportunities, fail to recognize threats and weaknesses, too much emphasis on short term financial performance, neglecting investments in capital and human resources, fail to establish good internal communications, fail to consider customer wants and needs

Question 7

business strategy

Answer 7

defines long range plan for company

Question 8

marketing strategy

Answer 8

defines marketing plans to support business strategy

Question 9

operations strategy

Answer 9

develops a plan for the operations function to support the business strategy

Question 10

finance strategy

Answer 10

develops financial plans to support the business strategy

Question 11

three inputs in developing a business strategy

Answer 11

environmental scanning, mission, core competencies

Question 12

environmental scanning

Answer 12

monitoring the business environment for market trends, threats, and opportunities

Question 13

core competencies

Answer 13

unique strengths that can help business win in the market

Question 14

mission

Answer 14

statement of what the business is, who the clients are, and how values define the business

Question 15

vision

Answer 15

where the organization desires to be in the future

Question 16

values

Answer 16

shared beliefs of the organizations stakeholders

Question 17

goals and objectives

Answer 17

provide detail and scope of mission

Question 18

strategies

Answer 18

plans that determine direction for achieving organizational goals

Question 19

tactics

Answer 19

the specific methods and actions taken to accomplish startegies

Question 20

hierarchical strategic planning

Answer 20

mission/vision - goals - organizational strategy - functional strategies - policies and action plans

Question 21

strategy formulation

Answer 21

takes into account the way organizations compete and a particular organizations assessment of its own strengths and weaknesses to take advantage of core competencies

Question 22

SWOT analysis

Answer 22

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis to help link organizational strategy and operatioms strategy

Question 23

key internal factors

Answer 23

human resources, facilities, equipment, financial resources, customers, products and services, technology

Question 24

key external factors

Answer 24

economic conditions, political conditions, legal environment, technology, competition, customers, suppliers, markets

Question 25

trends in the environment

Answer 25

marketplace, economic, political, social

Question 26

economic trends

Answer 26

recession inflation, interest rates, and general economic conditions

Question 27

political trends

Answer 27

political climate - local, national, and international - changes

Question 28

social trends

Answer 28

changes in society that have an impact on business - dangers of smoking awareness

Question 29

supply chain strategy

Answer 29

specifies how to cooperate with the organizations supply chain to achieve supply chain goals and to be competitive

Question 30

sustainability strategy

Answer 30

developing a sustainability vision to the level of the organizational governance

Question 31

operations strategy

Answer 31

comprises a set of well-coordinated policies, objectives, and action plans, directly affecting the operations function, which is aimed at securing a long-term sustainable advantage over the competition

Question 32

formulation of operations strategy

Answer 32

link the organizational goals, categorize customers into types, group product lines into types, conduct an operations audit, assess the degree of focus at each plant, develop an operation strategy

Question 33

key competitive priorities

Answer 33

cost, quality, time, flexibility

Question 34

competing on cost

Answer 34

offer product at lower price, limit product range with little customization, automation to increase productivity, extra training to employees, cutting costs and eliminating waste, operations process as efficient as possible

Question 35

competing on quality

Answer 35

high performance design, superior features, close tolerances, high durability, and excellent customer service, consistency

Question 36

competing on time

Answer 36

rapid or on time delivery, shorter time between order placement and delivering product exactly when needed every time

Question 37

competing on flexibility

Answer 37

accommodate to change by being flexible, offer wide variety of goods/services, customization, easily drop or add products to meet demand, ability to increase or decrease production to match demand

Question 38

need for trade-offs

Answer 38

must emphasize priorities that support business strategy, must focus on order qualifiers and order winners,

Question 39

balanced scorecard

Answer 39

is a top down management strategic planning system that organizations can use to clarify their vision and strategy and transform them into action

Question 40

productivity

Answer 40

measure the output per unit of input used to produce it

Question 41

total productivity equation

Answer 41

outputs / inputs

Question 42

partial productivity equation

Answer 42

output / specific input

Question 43

multi factor productivity equation

Answer 43

output / input 1 + input 2