Tb01 Russell
Tb01 Russell
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other business
functions. Operations can be viewed as a transformation process that converts inputs into
outputs of greater value. Operations management is the study of processes directly related to
the creation and distribution of goods and services. Increasingly, these operations are taking
place outside of the boundaries of a traditional enterprise. Thus, while today’s managers need
to understand how to efficiently manage operations within their own firm, they also need to
develop skills in coordinating operations across a global supply chain. This text teaches
students how to analyze processes, ensure quality, create value, and manage the flow of
information, products, and services across a network of customers, enterprises, and supply
chain partners. Operations is the technical core or “hub” of the organization, interacting with the
other functional areas and suppliers to produce goods and provide services for customers.
2. Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations and the
initiation of supply chain management. Operations management did not really begin until the
Industrial Revolution. Before then, products were made by skilled craftpersons and their
apprentices, one at a time. With the rise of factories, though, came an increased division of
labour, where workers were only responsible for one small part of the total production process.
For many years, factories were dominated by the concept of mass production, but this
eventually gave way to the realization that production should be tied to customer demands (the
quality revolution). The field of supply chain management was born to manage the flow of
information, products, and services across a network of customers, enterprises, and supply
chain partners.
3. Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles China and
India play in the current global market. Two-thirds of today’s businesses operate globally
through global markets, global operations, global financing, and global supply chains. Many
companies are now outsourcing much of their production and service functions to other
countries. China accounts for 20% of the world’s population and is the world’s largest
manufacturer. India, on the other hand, is known as the world’s service provider. India has an
enormous resource of highly skilled engineers, scientists, and technically trained workers
available at less than half the cost of those located in developed countries.
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Operations Management 1-2
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1-3 Test Bank for Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chain, Canadian Edition
TRUE-FALSE STATEMENTS
Answer: False
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
Answer: False
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
5. The four primary functional areas of a firm are marketing, finance, operations, and human
resources.
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
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Operations Management 1-4
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
6. A transformation process is a series of activities from supplier to customer that add value to a
product or service.
Answer: False
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
7. Human resources management provides demand estimates that are used in production
decisions.
Answer: False
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations
and the initiation of supply chain management.
Section Reference: 1.2 The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations
and the initiation of supply chain management.
Section Reference: 1.2 The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
10. Operations research is concerned with the systematic analysis of work methods.
Answer: False
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1-5 Test Bank for Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chain, Canadian Edition
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations
and the initiation of supply chain management.
Section Reference: 1.2 The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations
and the initiation of supply chain management.
Section Reference: 1.2 The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
12. The adaptation of mass production to emphasize efficiency, rather than quality is known as
lean production.
Answer: False
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations
and the initiation of supply chain management.
Section Reference: 1.2 The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
13. The set of activities that create and deliver products to the customer is known as the supply
chain.
Answer: True
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations
and the initiation of supply chain management.
Section Reference: 1.2 The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
14. The process of producing high-volume, standardized products for a large market is known
as craft production.
Answer: False
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles
China and India play in the current global market.
Section Reference: 1.3 Globalization
15. The European Union requires that strict quality and environmental standards be met before
companies can do business with member countries.
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Operations Management 1-6
Answer: True
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles
China and India play in the current global market.
Section Reference: 1.3 Globalization
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles
China and India play in the current global market.
Section Reference: 1.3 Globalization
Answer: True
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles
China and India play in the current global market.
Section Reference: 1.3 Globalization
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles
China and India play in the current global market.
Section Reference: 1.3 Globalization
19. Globalization requires that firms compete on cost and not quality, speed, or flexibility.
Answer: False
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles
China and India play in the current global market.
Section Reference: 1.3 Globalization
20. Globalization of the supply chain for many products has many pros and few, if any, cons.
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1-7 Test Bank for Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chain, Canadian Edition
Answer: False
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles
China and India play in the current global market.
Section Reference: 1.3 Globalization
21. A major challenge and opportunity for many firms is the globalization of the supply chain.
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles
China and India play in the current global market.
Section Reference: 1.3 Globalization
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
Answer: False
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
Answer: True
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Operations Management 1-8
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
26. Canadian companies can become globally competitive by emphasizing the strategic
importance of operations.
Answer: True
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
27. Many companies now find it necessary to have some global presence to remain competitive.
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
29. Emphasizing the strategic role of operations enhances the competitiveness of Canadian
companies.
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
30. Deployment is a step in strategy formulation that evaluates the alignment between core
competencies and order winners.
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1-9 Test Bank for Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chain, Canadian Edition
Answer: False
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
31. Positioning is a step in strategy formulation that compares core competencies and order
winners.
Answer: True
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
32. Order qualifiers are the characteristics of a product that have to be satisfied just to be
considered for purchase by a customer.
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
Answer: False
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
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Operations Management 1 - 10
35. Strategy formulation starts with determining a firm’s order winners and order qualifiers.
Answer: False
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
36. Order winners and order qualifiers change over time in response to the dynamics of
changing market conditions.
Answer: True
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
37. To be competitive firms must create and sustain core competencies that are in tune with
their customer’s order winners.
Answer: True
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
38. Firms compete in the marketplace based on cost, speed, quality, and flexibility.
Answer: True
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
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1 - 11 Test Bank for Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chain, Canadian Edition
Answer: d
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
40. The transformation process associated with health care is best described as
a) locational.
b) exchange.
c) physiological.
d) informational.
Answer: c
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
41. Which of the following is not one of the four primary functional areas of a firm?
a) human resources
b) legal
c) marketing
d) operations
Answer: b
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
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Operations Management 1 - 12
Answer: a
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
Answer: d
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
44. Linear programming, simulation, and waiting line theory are most closely associated with
which era in the historical development of operations management?
a) human relations
b) operations research
c) globalization
d) Internet revolution
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
45. Which of the following is not an event or concept associated with the quality revolution?
a) TQM (total quality management)
b) PERT/CPM
c) Business process reengineering
d) JIT
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations
and the initiation of supply chain management.
Section Reference: 1.2 The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
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1 - 13 Test Bank for Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chain, Canadian Edition
Answer: b
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations
and the initiation of supply chain management.
Section Reference: 1.2 The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
47. Linear programming, waiting line, simulation, and PERT/CPM are all parts of which era of
operations management?
a) Quality Research
b) Operations Research
c) Internet Revolution
d) Globalization
Answer: b
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations
and the initiation of supply chain management.
Section Reference: 1.2 The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
48. The major factors impacting globalization of the supply chain include all the following except
a) creation of the WTO.
b) Regional Trade Agreements.
c) fall of communism.
d) advances in information and transportation technology.
Answer: c
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles
China and India play in the current global market.
Section Reference: 1.3 Globalization
Answer: d
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Operations Management 1 - 14
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles
China and India play in the current global market.
Section Reference: 1.3 Globalization
50. A manager of a global supply chain is concerned with all the following except
a) timeliness.
b) quality.
c) social issues.
d) All the above are concerns.
Answer: d
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally and explain the roles
China and India play in the current global market.
Section Reference: 1.3 Globalization
51. The production system that prizes flexibility over efficiency and quality over quantity is
known as
a) mass production.
b) craft production.
c) lean production.
d) electronic commerce.
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
52. Dividing a job into a series of small tasks each performed by a different worker is known as
a) craft production.
b) scientific management.
c) division of labour.
d) interchangeable parts.
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
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1 - 15 Test Bank for Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chain, Canadian Edition
53. The ratio of a firm’s monthly output to the number of labour hours used in the same month
would be a measure of
a) labour productivity.
b) capital productivity.
c) machine productivity.
d) multifactor productivity.
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
Answer: d
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
55. Japanese firms used the concept of ___ to convert from mass production to lean production.
a) division of labour
b) scientific management
c) just-in-time
d) interchangeable parts
Answer: c
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
Answer: b
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Operations Management 1 - 16
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
57. All of the following are characteristics of today’s consumer market except
a) longer product life cycles.
b) shorter product life cycles.
c) more customized products.
d) product proliferation.
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
58. A firm who is adept at recognizing global windows of opportunity, acting on those very
quickly, with tight linkages can be said to be competing on
a) flexibility.
b) speed.
c) quality.
d) cost.
Answer: b
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: Discuss the process of developing, deploying, and monitoring the success
of an operations strategy.
Section Reference: 1.5 Strategy and Operations
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1 - 17 Test Bank for Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chain, Canadian Edition
Answer:
Difficulty: Easy
Section Reference 1: 1.0 Introduction
Solution: Operations is often defined as a transformation process. Inputs such as raw materials,
labour, equipment, and capital are transformed into outputs (goods and services). Customer
feedback is used to adjust the transformation process. An objective of the operations manager
is to ensure that the transformation process operates efficiently and the outputs of the process
have greater value than the sum of the inputs. In this way the transformation process creates
value, making it possible to view the transformation process as a value chain extending from
supplier to customer.
60. Briefly describe the four primary functional areas of a firm. How is operations related to
them?
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other
business functions.
Section Reference: 1.1 The Operations Function
Solution: The four primary functional areas of a firm are marketing, finance, operations, and
human resources. For most firms, operations is the technical core or “hub” of the organization,
interacting with the other functional areas and suppliers to produce goods and services for
customers. For example, marketing provides sales forecasts to operations and operations
provides marketing with product availability information, lead time estimates, and delivery
schedules. Operations provides finance with inventory and production data, capital budgeting
and equipment requests, and technology plans. Finance provides the capital resources for
financing inventory and securing more capital equipment. Operations relies on human resources
to meet its personnel needs—hiring, training, and evaluating workers.
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations
and the initiation of supply chain management.
Section Reference: 1.2 The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
Solution: Trade that occurs over the Internet (or any other computer network) is called electronic
commerce, e-commerce, or e-business. Electronic commerce can take the form of trade
between businesses (B2B), between consumers, or between business and consumers (B2C).
B2B trade typically involves companies and their suppliers while B2C trade can take the form of
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Operations Management 1 - 18
online retailing. Companies that integrate both B2B and B2C are said to have a fully integrated
value chain.
Answer:
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
Solution: Productivity is the ratio of output to input. Output can be expressed in units or dollars.
Single factor productivity compares output to individual inputs, such as labour hours, investment
in equipment, or material usage. Multifactor productivity relates output to a combination of
inputs, such as labour + capital. Total factor productivity compares the quantity of goods and
services produced with all the inputs used to produce them.
Answer:
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring
competitiveness.
Section Reference: 1.4 Productivity and Competitiveness
Solution: Productivity increases when firms become more efficient, expand, achieve
breakthroughs that enable output increases to occur with reduced inputs, downsize while
maintaining output with fewer inputs, and retrench with output and inputs decreasing but inputs
decreasing at a faster rate than output.
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1 - 19 Test Bank for Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chain, Canadian Edition
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