Chapter 3

Question 1

Competitive Advantage

Answer 1

denotes a firm’s ability to achieve market and financial superiority over its competitors.

Question 2

Order Qualifiers

Answer 2

Basic customer expectations are generally considered the minimum performance level required to stay in business and are often called

Question 3

Order winners

Answer 3

are goods and service features and performance characteristics that differentiate one customer benefit package from another and win the customer’s business.

Question 4

Search attributes

Answer 4

are those that a customer can determine prior to purchasing the goods and/or services.

Question 5

Experience attributes

Answer 5

are those that can be discerned only after purchase or during consumption or use.

Question 6

Credence attributes

Answer 6

are any aspects of a good or service that the customer must believe in but cannot personally evaluate even after purchase and consumption.

Question 7

Competitive priorities

Answer 7

represent the strategic emphasis that a firm places on certain performance measures and operational capabilities within a value chain.

Question 8

Mass customization

Answer 8

is being able to make whatever goods and services the customer wants, at any volume, at any time, for anybody, and for a global organization, from any place in the world.

Question 9

Innovation

Answer 9

is the discovery and practical application or commercialization of a device, method, or idea that differs from existing norms.

Question 10

Strategy

Answer 10

is a pattern or plan that integrates an organization’s major goals, policies, and action sequences into a cohesive whole

Question 11

Core competencies

Answer 11

are the strengths that are unique to an organization.

Question 12

operations strategy

Answer 12

is the set of decisions across the value chain that supports the implementation of higher-level business strategies.

Question 13

Operations design choices

Answer 13

are the decisions management must make as to what type of process structure is best suited to produce goods or create services.

Question 14

Infrastructure

Answer 14

focuses on the nonprocess features and capabilities of the organization and includes the workforce, operating plans and control systems, quality control, organizational structure, compensation systems, learning and innovation systems, and support services.