Chapter 2

Question 1

Competitiveness

Answer 1

How effectively an organisation meets the wants and needs of customers relative to other organisations that offer similar goods/services.

Question 2

Organisations compete through some combination of:

Answer 2

price, delivery time and product/service differentiation.

Question 3

Through what does marketing influence competitiveness?

Answer 3

1) Identifying consumer wants or needs.
2) Price and quality
3) Advertising and promotion

Question 4

Through what does operations influence competitiveness?

Answer 4

1) Product/ Service Design
2) Cost
3) Location
4) Quality
5) Quick response
6) Flexibility
7) Inventory management
8) Supply chain management
9) Service
10) Managers and workers

Question 5

Why do some organisations fail?

Answer 5

1) Neglecting operations strategies.
2) Not taking advantages of Stengths/Opportunities, failing to recognize threats.
3) Too much emphasis on product/service design, rather than on process design and improvement.
4) Neglecting investments in capital and human resources.
5) Bad internal communications and cooperation among functional areas
6) Failing to consider customer wants/needs.

Question 6

Mission

Answer 6

The reason the organisation exists.

Question 7

Mission statement.

Answer 7

States the purpose of an organization.

Question 8

Goals

Answer 8

Provide detail and scope of the mission.

Question 9

What are three basic business strategies?

Answer 9

• Low cost
• Responsiveness
• Differentiation from competitors

Question 10

Tactics

Answer 10

Methods and actions taken to accomplish strategies. (More specific than strategies.)

Question 11

Different strategies an organization might choose from.

Answer 11

• Low cost
• Scale-based strategies
• Specialization
• Newness
• Flexible operations
• High quality
• Service
• Sustainability

Question 12

Core competencies

Answer 12

Special attributes or abilities that give an organization a competitive edge.