SOM 306 FINAL EXAM (Tierney) QUESTIONS AND ACCURATE
ANSWERS RATED A+
What is operations? - ANSWER business organizations responsible for transforming inputs
into goods/services. Operations encompasses many cost elements, which affect price, does
not determine price to customers
Operations Management? - ANSWER The management of systems or processes that create
goods and/or provide services; organization that oversees activities directly related to the
supply chain
Effective/Effectiveness - ANSWER achievement of a goal or objective
Efficient/efficiency - ANSWER achieving the goal using fewer resources - Labor, material,
machines, less overhead
Goods/manufacturing vs. Services - ANSWER aspects/characteristics, similarities and
differences
- Degree of customer contact
- Uniformity of input/output
- Labor content of jobs
- measurement of productivity
- amount of inventory
,Three interconnected business functions - ANSWER Operations, marketing, finance
Strategy - ANSWER - A plan for achieving organizational goals. Serves as a roadmap for
reaching organizational destination.
Organizational Strategies - ANSWER Overall strategies that relate to the entire organization
Support the achievement of organizational goals and mission
Functional Level Strategies - ANSWER Strategies of functional areas that support achievement
of organization strategy
- Strategy formulation incorporates core competencies and SWOT analysis
Core Compentencies - ANSWER The special attributes or abilities that give an organization a
competitive edge
- Core compentencies are those strengths, skills, knowledge, and capability that separate a
company from their competition
- Are never a consideration for outsourcing
- Can reside in multiple functions (operations, finance, marketing, R&D)
Productivity - ANSWER measure of effectiveness regarding use of resources; ratio outputs/
inputs; need to be tracked over time, compared to previous internal results, industry results,
or national results
, Forecast - ANSWER a statement about the future value of a variable of interest
- Forecasts are usually wrong, but the margin of error varies greatly; goal is to be close, not
precise
- Forecasts for groups of items (higher level) are more accurate than for individual items
- Accuracy decreases as the horizon increases - short term forecasts tend to be more accurate
Naive - ANSWER use previous time period's value (stable series, seasonal variation, trends)
Average, Moving Average, Weighted Moving Average - ANSWER smooth variations, gradual
changes; uses history, moving changes with newer, actual data, if weighted more emphasis
put on most recent data
3 Rs - ANSWER reduce, reuse, recycle
Reduce - ANSWER function, cost (cheaper material, lower quality) and quantity of part
numbers used or can standard or parts used on other products/models vs. custom parts used?
Reuse (or remanufactured, refurbished) - ANSWER Worn out or defective parts replaced so
item can be resold (not "new"). Requires products be serviceable -> design for
assembly/service
Recycle - ANSWER Recovery of materials for future use - includes product, packaging,
ANSWERS RATED A+
What is operations? - ANSWER business organizations responsible for transforming inputs
into goods/services. Operations encompasses many cost elements, which affect price, does
not determine price to customers
Operations Management? - ANSWER The management of systems or processes that create
goods and/or provide services; organization that oversees activities directly related to the
supply chain
Effective/Effectiveness - ANSWER achievement of a goal or objective
Efficient/efficiency - ANSWER achieving the goal using fewer resources - Labor, material,
machines, less overhead
Goods/manufacturing vs. Services - ANSWER aspects/characteristics, similarities and
differences
- Degree of customer contact
- Uniformity of input/output
- Labor content of jobs
- measurement of productivity
- amount of inventory
,Three interconnected business functions - ANSWER Operations, marketing, finance
Strategy - ANSWER - A plan for achieving organizational goals. Serves as a roadmap for
reaching organizational destination.
Organizational Strategies - ANSWER Overall strategies that relate to the entire organization
Support the achievement of organizational goals and mission
Functional Level Strategies - ANSWER Strategies of functional areas that support achievement
of organization strategy
- Strategy formulation incorporates core competencies and SWOT analysis
Core Compentencies - ANSWER The special attributes or abilities that give an organization a
competitive edge
- Core compentencies are those strengths, skills, knowledge, and capability that separate a
company from their competition
- Are never a consideration for outsourcing
- Can reside in multiple functions (operations, finance, marketing, R&D)
Productivity - ANSWER measure of effectiveness regarding use of resources; ratio outputs/
inputs; need to be tracked over time, compared to previous internal results, industry results,
or national results
, Forecast - ANSWER a statement about the future value of a variable of interest
- Forecasts are usually wrong, but the margin of error varies greatly; goal is to be close, not
precise
- Forecasts for groups of items (higher level) are more accurate than for individual items
- Accuracy decreases as the horizon increases - short term forecasts tend to be more accurate
Naive - ANSWER use previous time period's value (stable series, seasonal variation, trends)
Average, Moving Average, Weighted Moving Average - ANSWER smooth variations, gradual
changes; uses history, moving changes with newer, actual data, if weighted more emphasis
put on most recent data
3 Rs - ANSWER reduce, reuse, recycle
Reduce - ANSWER function, cost (cheaper material, lower quality) and quantity of part
numbers used or can standard or parts used on other products/models vs. custom parts used?
Reuse (or remanufactured, refurbished) - ANSWER Worn out or defective parts replaced so
item can be resold (not "new"). Requires products be serviceable -> design for
assembly/service
Recycle - ANSWER Recovery of materials for future use - includes product, packaging,
