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Chpater 1 : Productivity and Operation

Identify two operations-related tasks carried out by Hard Rock Caf. Match each to its area

of the Ten Critical Decisions.

Providing custom mealsdesign of goods and services; designing, testing, and costing meals

design of goods and services; acquiring, receiving , and storing suppliessupply chain management;

recruiting and training employeeshuman resources and job design; preparing employee

schedulesintermediate and short-term scheduling; designing efficient restaurant layoutslayout

strategy. (Global company profile, moderate)

Define operations management. Will your definition accommodate both manufacturing and

service operations?

Operations management can be defined as the management of all activities directly related to the

creation of goods and/or services through the transformation of inputs into outputs.

How do services differ from goods? Identify five ways.

Pick from the following: a service is usually intangible; it is often produced and consumed

simultaneously; often unique; it involves high customer interaction; product definition is

inconsistent; often knowledge-based; and frequently dispersed. (Operations in the service sector,

moderate)

6) What are some of the ethical and social challenges faced by operations managers?

Answer: Managers are challenged to develop and produce safe, high-quality green products; train,

retain, and motivate employees in a safe workplace; and honor stakeholder commitments.

32) As the administrative manager in a law office, you have been asked to develop a system for

evaluating the productivity of the 15 lawyers in the office. What difficulties are you going to have in

doing this, and how are you going to overcome them?

Answer: Productivity measures for a law office are difficult. Simple criteria, like number of cases

processed, fail to consider complexity of the case. Even counting wins is difficult, as many cases are

settled with some sort of compromise. External elements such as the quality of the opposing counsel

and the tenacity of the opposition also make counting look rather silly.

Categories of cases can help (i.e., uncontested divorce, no personal injury auto case, etc.). However,

many firms end up counting hours billed. This in turn leads to other problems, as noted by the

number of false billing cases.

Chapter 2 ;

State two examples of cultural and ethical issues that face operations managers in a global

environment.

Student responses will vary, but there are several issues on which there are wide differences from

country to country, culture to culture. Among those listed in the text are bribery, child labor, slave

labor, and intellectual property rights. Students may bring forward from an earlier chapter issues

such as environmental regulation or safe work environment, and may raise issues such as product

safety.

Provide an example of an organization that achieves competitive advantage through

experience differentiation. Explain.

Answers will vary, but Disney and Hard Rock Caf are illustrated in the text. Competing on

experience differentiation implies providing uniqueness to your service offering through immersion

of the consumer into the service, with visual or sound elements to turn the service into an

experience. (Achieving competitive advantage through operations, moderate)

Identify and explain the four basic global operations strategies. Give an example of each

strategy.

The multidomestic strategy decentralizes operating decisions to each country to enhance local

responsiveness. The primary example from the textbook is McDonald's. The global strategy

centralizes operating decisions, with headquarters coordinating the standardization and learning

between facilities. The textbook names Texas Instruments and Caterpillar. The international strategy

uses exports and licenses to penetrate the global markets. Students may cite Pier One, World

Market, or any wine store. The transnational strategy exploits the economies of scale and learning,

as well as pressure for responsiveness, by recognizing that core competence does not reside in just

the "home" country, but can exist anywhere in the organization. Examples from the textbook include

Bertelsmann, Reuters and Nestl. (Global operations strategy options, difficult) {AACSB: Multiculture

and Diversity}

Chapter 3 : project management

What are the three phases of a project? Describe each in a sentence or two.

The three phases are planning, scheduling, and controlling. Planning includes goal setting, defining

the project, and team organization. Scheduling relates people, money, and supplies to specific

activities and relates activities to each other. Controlling is where the firm monitors resources, costs,

quality, and budgets. It also revises or changes plans and shifts resources to meet time and cost

demands. (Introduction, moderate)

Identify the responsibilities of project managers.

Project managers are directly responsible for making sure that (1) all necessary activities are finished

in proper sequence and on time; (2) the project comes in within budget; (3) the project meets its

quality goals; and (4) the people assigned to the project receive the motivation, direction, and

information needed to do their jobs. (Project planning, moderate)

What is the objective of critical path analysis?

Critical path analysis determines the longest path through a network of activities. This longest path is

the key to making the schedule that provides for completing all activities in the shortest time. Critical

path analysis identifies those activities critical to timely completion of all activities so they can

receive management focus. (Project management techniques: PERT and CPM, moderate)

Explain why the critical path is the longest, not the shortest, path through a network.

Critical path is that set of activities in a project network that controls the duration of the entire

project. The controlling element to completion of all activities is the longest path; any shorter path

will not allow for all activities to be completed. (Project management techniques: PERT and CPM,

moderate)

What is the basic difference between PERT and CPM?

The basic difference between PERT and CPM is that PERT requires three time estimates of activity

completion time, whereas CPM uses only a single estimate. (Project management techniques: PERT

and CPM, moderate)

Chapter 4 ; Forecasting

Describe the three forecasting time horizons and their use.

Forecasting time horizons are: short rangegenerally less than three months, used for purchasing,

job scheduling, work force levels, production levels; medium rangeusually from three months up

to three years, used for sales planning, production planning and budgeting, cash budgeting,

analyzing operating plans; long rangeusually three years or more, used for new product

development, capital expenditures, facility planning, and R&D.

List and briefly describe the three major types of forecasts.

The three types are economic, technological, and demand; economic refers to macroeconomic,

growth and financial variables; technological refers to forecasting amount of technological advance,

or futurism; demand refers to product demand. (Types of forecasts, moderate)

What are the differences between quantitative and qualitative forecasting methods?

Quantitative methods use mathematical models to analyze historical data. Qualitative methods

incorporate such factors as the decision maker's intuition, emotions, personal experiences, and

value systems in determining the forecast. (Forecasting approaches, moderate)

Name and discuss three qualitative forecasting methods.

Qualitative forecasting methods include: jury of executive opinion, where high-level managers arrive

at a group estimate of demand; sales force composite, where salespersons estimates are

aggregated; Delphi method, where respondents provide inputs to a group of decision makers; the

group of decision makers, often experts, then make the actual forecast; consumer market survey,

where consumers are queried about their future purchase plans. (Forecasting approaches,

moderate)

Chapter 5: Design product and goods

What is a product-by-value analysis, and what type of decision does it help managers make?

A product-by-value analysis lists products in descending order of their individual dollar contribution

to the firm, as well as the total annual dollar contribution of the product. It helps managers evaluate

possible strategies for each product. The product-by-value report focuses management's attention

on the strategic direction for each product. (Goods and services selection, moderate)

Is it possible for a product's life cycle stage to affect its product strategy?

In particular, describe how one product in growth and another in maturity might have different

product strategies. There is no reason for the strategy to be static through the life cycle stages.

Organizations often treat new products differently than older ones, in terms of support for changes,

aggressiveness in pursuit of market, etc. In particular, growth is associated with stabilization of

design, and with ensuring that sufficient capacity exists. Maturity is a time for high-volume

operations and cost control. (Goods and services selection, moderate)

Provide some examples of recent product changes, i.e. new products that are replacing

older ones.

Answers will vary. The list in the text includes: TV to HDTV, radio to satellite radio, coffee shops to

Starbucks lifestyle coffee, traveling circuses to Cirque du Soleil, land lines to cell phones, cell phone

to Blackberry, Walkman to iPod, and mops to Swiffers. (Generating new products, moderate)

Chapter 6 :Managing Quality

identify the four costs of quality. Which one is hardest to evaluate? Explain.

The four costs are internal, external, prevention, and appraisal. The hardest to estimate are external

costs, or costs that occur after delivery of defective part or services. These costs are very hard to

quantify. (Defining quality, moderate)

Quality has at least three categories of definitions; identify them.

Provide a brief explanation of each. The three categories of quality are user-based (in the eyes of the

beholder), manufacturingbased (conforming to standards), and product-based (measurable content

of product). (Defining quality, moderate)

Chapter 7 : Process Strategy

Why is Harley-Davidson identified as a repetitive manufacturer, not a mass customizer?

Harley-Davidson manufactures a variety of motorcycles on an assembly line. They are not a product-

focused process. While Harley-Davidson's motorcycles display lots of variety, they are not as

individualized as Dell's personal computers. The variety comes from choices in predefined modules,

and there is apparently no place for a customer to get customization that would go beyond what is

available in these modules. (Four process strategies, moderate)

How are modules useful in manufacturing processes?

Modules are parts or components of a product previously prepared. By using modules, the product

can be quickly assembled. Using a different combination of modules allows for quasi-customization.

(Four process strategies, moderate)

Provide an example of the postponement strategy for improving service productivity.

The postponement strategy refers to customizing the product at delivery, not at production.

Examples will vary, but a home builder might leave some tasks unfinished until the house is sold, so

that the buyer can make those final decisions. Carpeting, paint colors, cabinet doors, and some

appliance choices might be good examples.