What should an organization do in order to obtain a competitive advantage through superior efficiency?

An organization gains competitive advantage when it:

A.
lowers costs and decreases differentiation.

B.
increases costs and decreases differentiation.

C.
increases costs and increases differentiation.

D.
lowers costs and increases differentiation.

E.
increases costs and lowers prices.

D.
lowers costs and increases differentiation.

Which of the following should an organization do in order to obtain a competitive advantage through superior efficiency?

A.
Make products that are much more reliable than the products available in the market

B.
Reduce the number of inputs it requires to produce a given amount of outputs

C.
Use technology to make its product unique and different when compared to its rivals'

D.
Conduct surveys to determine whether a product will be successful in the market

E.
Create products that will attract customers and charge a premium price for those products

B.
Reduce the number of inputs it requires to produce a given amount of outputs

A tire company's products are more expensive than those offered by its competitors, but are still sought after by customers since they are more durable and perform better under harsh conditions. The tire company, in this case, has achieved competitive advantage through _____.

A.
marketing strategies

B.
superior quality

C.
quantum product innovation

D.
pricing strategies

E.
promotional strategies

B.
superior quality

Which of the following should an organization do in order to obtain a competitive advantage through superior innovation?

A.
Reduce the number of components that go into its products

B.
Decrease the number of product attributes and lower the price of its products

C.
Setup a strong team to handle after-purchase support

D.
Produce products with technologies that have not been used previously

E.
Provide high quality products to create a brand-name reputation for its products

D.
Produce products with technologies that have not been used previously

Users of Adobe Reader, created by Adobe Systems Incorporated, are prompted to provide feedback on their experiences with the software in a bid to improve the product. Adobe Systems Incorporated, in this case, is trying to gain a competitive advantage through:

A.
superior efficiency.

B.
superior infrastructure.

C.
superior innovation.

D.
superior speed and flexibility.

E.
superior responsiveness to customers.

E.
superior responsiveness to customers.

A _____ is a plan of action to improve the ability of each of an organization's departments to perform its task-specific activities in ways that add value to an organization's goods and services.

A.
corporate-level strategy

B.
divisional-level strategy

C.
functional-level strategy

D.
business-level strategy

E.
branch-level strategy

C.
functional-level strategy

The development of a set of functional-level strategies that support a company's business-level strategy and strengthen its competitive advantage is known as:

A.
total quality management.

B.
human resource management.

C.
value chain management.

D.
materials management.

E.
marketing management.

C.
value chain management.

A(n) _____ is a coordinated series or sequence of functional activities needed to transform inputs into finished goods or services.

A.
operating system

B.
marketing function

C.
organizational hierarchy

D.
value chain

E.
customer relationship management system

D.
value chain

Which of the following functions can help increase customer perceptions of the utility of a company's product through brand positioning and advertising?

A.
Design

B.
Materials management

C.
Production

D.
Marketing

E.
Customer service

D.
Marketing

Which of the following functions is responsible for transforming creating, assembling, or providing a good or service?

A.
Materials management

B.
Production

C.
Customer service

D.
Marketing

E.
Sales

B.
Production

The _____ function plays a crucial role in an organization's value chain by locating customers and then informing and persuading them to buy the company's products.

A.
production

B.
materials management

C.
customer service

D.
marketing

E.
sales

E.
sales

A company with a strong _____ can create a perception of superior value in the minds of its clients by solving client problems and supporting clients after they have purchased its product.

A.
production function

B.
sales function

C.
customer service function

D.
marketing function

E.
materials management function

C.
customer service function

Attaining _____ includes all the other methods of achieving competitive advantage.

A.
superior efficiency

B.
superior quality

C.
superior innovation

D.
superior responsiveness to customers

E.
superior speed and flexibility

D.
superior responsiveness to customers

Managers try to develop functional strategies that allow the organization's value chain to deliver to customers:

A.
fewer product attributes at a lower price.

B.
smaller products at a higher price.

C.
more product attributes at a higher price.

D.
same products at the same price.

E.
same product attributes at a lower price.

E.
same product attributes at a lower price.

Which of the following is not a product attribute or quality that most customers prefer?

A.
High-quality products

B.
Products with valuable features

C.
Customized products

D.
Quick after-sales service

E.
High prices

E.
High prices

Which of the following is a potential outcome when organizations offer a very high level of responsiveness to customers?

A.
Quality of products will become low.

B.
Customer satisfaction will decrease.

C.
Company costs will become too high.

D.
Customer relationship will not improve.

E.
Production costs will decrease.

C.
Company costs will become too high.

Which of the following is essential for a good value chain management?

A.
The materials management function should hold greater inventories in order to increase costs.

B.
The marketing function should define business in terms of customer needs rather than the type of products.

C.
The production function should locate customers and persuade them to buy the company's products.

D.
The sales function should control the movement of physical materials from the procurement of inputs to delivery to the customer.

E.
The customer service function should focus on offering high-quality products at higher prices.

B.
The marketing function should define business in terms of customer needs rather than the type of products.

_____ is a technique that uses IT to develop an ongoing relationship with the purchasers or buyers of an organization's product to maximize the value an organization can deliver to them over time.

A.
Effective reliability management (ERM)

B.
Organizational efficiency management (OEM)

C.
Total quality management (TQM)

D.
Continuous innovation management (CIM)

E.
Customer relationship management (CRM)

E.
Customer relationship management (CRM)

The implementation of the customer relationship management (CRM) is a method of improving an organization's _____.

A.
inventory

B.
organizational structure

C.
responsiveness to customers

D.
product development plan

E.
facility layout

C.
responsiveness to customers

An organization which increases its quality can improve its profits by _____ the prices of its products due to increased reliability and _____ its operating costs due to increased productivity.

A.
decreasing; reducing

B.
reducing; increasing

C.
increasing; increasing

D.
increasing; reducing

E.
discounting; increasing

D.
increasing; reducing

Which of the following is true of the impact of high-quality products?

A.
High product quality results in high operating costs.

B.
High product quality results in high employee productivity.

C.
High product quality lowers efficiency.

D.
High product quality reduces profits.

E.
High product quality lowers customer retention.

B.
High product quality results in high employee productivity.

_____ is a management technique that focuses on improving attributes of an organization's products such as superior design, features, reliability, and after-sales support.

A.
Effective client management (ECM)

B.
Organizational efficiency management (OEM)

C.
Total quality management (TQM)

D.
Product manufacture management (PMM)

E.
Customer relationship management (CRM)

C.
Total quality management (TQM)

According to TQM philosophy, the _____, not the _____ in quality control or engineering, define what quality is.

A.
managers; customers

B.
customers; managers

C.
employees; managers

D.
managers; employees

E.
employees; customers

B.
customers; managers

Which of the following is true about total quality management?

A.
Output goals and targets should include only numbers.

B.
The number of steps to assemble a product should be increased.

C.
Employees should be asked for suggestions about improvements.

D.
Incentives such as bonus pay and promotional opportunities should be eliminated.

E.
A just-in-case inventory system should be introduced.

C.
Employees should be asked for suggestions about improvements.

An organization's audit revealed that its customer support system is the least effective department. The customer support system is a major source of the organization's _____ defects.

A.
product

B.
manufacturing

C.
service

D.
distribution

E.
supply

C.
service

The stock of raw materials, inputs, and component parts that an organization has on hand at a particular time is called _____.

A.
storage

B.
inventory

C.
products

D.
stored components

E.
holdings

B.
inventory

o decrease product defects, materials managers must work closely with _____ to improve the quality of the raw materials and obtained parts.

A.
suppliers

B.
customers

C.
employees

D.
stockholders

E.
distributors

A.
suppliers

Which of the following is essential for implementing a successful total quality management program?

A.
Resisting change in the organization's culture

B.
Attributing product defects to poor customer service

C.
Associating service defects to the production system

D.
Introducing a just-in-case inventory system

E.
Breaking down barriers between functions

E.
Breaking down barriers between functions

Successful implementation of TQM requires substantial cooperation between:

A.
regulators and the organization.

B.
customers and suppliers.

C.
different value chain functions.

D.
accounting and distribution functions.

E.
managers and stockholders.

C.
different value chain functions.

The goal of Six Sigma is to improve a company's quality to only _____ defects per million by systematically altering the way all the processes involved in value chain activities are performed.

A.
three

B.
ten

C.
thirty

D.
five

E.
three hundred

A.
three

An approach that creates teams of expert change agents known as "green belts and black belts," to take control of problem finding, problem-solving, and train other employees in implementing solutions is called _____.

A.
total quality management

B.
continuous improvement

C.
Six Sigma

D.
lean manufacturing

E.
return on quality (ROQ)

C.
Six Sigma

Six Sigma shares with TQM its focus on improving value chain processes to increase _____.

A.
productivity

B.
quality

C.
innovation

D.
flexibility

E.
employee involvement

B.
quality

The _____ the input resources required to produce a given volume of output, the _____ will be the efficiency of the operating system.

A.
more; higher

B.
fewer; higher

C.
smaller; lower

D.
fewer; lower

E.
larger; greater

B.
fewer; higher

_____ is a measure of how well an organization's input resources are used to produce its outputs.

A.
Efficiency

B.
Quality

C.
Reliability

D.
Flexibility

E.
Responsiveness

A.
Efficiency

_____ is a strategy based on the use of IT to reduce the costs associated with the product assembly process or the way services are delivered to customers.

A.
Six Sigma

B.
Flexible manufacturing

C.
Process reengineering

D.
Niche marketing

E.
Customer relationship management

B.
Flexible manufacturing

The strategy of designing the machine-worker interface to increase operating system efficiency is called _____.

A.
facilities layout

B.
flexible manufacturing

C.
process reengineering

D.
customer relationship management

E.
materials management

A.
facilities layout

Which of the following is the rationale behind the development of flexible manufacturing techniques?

A.
Efficiency will increase with increase in the setup time for complex production.

B.
Efficiency will improve with increase in setup costs.

C.
Actual production time will reduce with decrease in setup time.

D.
Increase in setup time will increase the actual production time.

E.
Efficiency will increase with increase in the actual production time.

E.
Efficiency will increase with increase in the actual production time.

Great cost savings can result from _____ inventory turnover and _____ inventory holding costs, such as warehousing and storage costs.

A.
increasing; reducing

B.
increasing; increasing

C.
decreasing; reducing

D.
decreasing; increasing

E.
varying; increasing

A.
increasing; reducing

Which of the following is true about the members of a self-managed team?

A.
They learn a single task and are posted at a single job.

B.
They require multiple supervisors to monitor them.

C.
They are responsible for escalating company's costs.

D.
They assume the responsibilities of first-line managers.

E.
They create a taller organizational hierarchy thereby increasing efficiency.

D.
They assume the responsibilities of first-line managers.

Which of the following must managers in product development avoid to promote innovation and speed up product development?

A.
Developing a structured process for evaluating ideas

B.
Funding too many project ideas at one time

C.
Providing incentives for employees to come up with ideas

D.
Allowing team members to brainstorm

E.
Establishing a stage-gate funnel

B.
Funding too many project ideas at one time

A technique that forces managers to choose among competing projects so functional resources are not spread thinly over too many projects is referred to as:

A.
brainstorming.

B.
a stage-gate development funnel.

C.
process reengineering.

D.
a product development plan.

E.
a project development plan.

B.
a stage-gate development funnel.

Why is obtaining a competitive advantage important to managers?

When an organization has a competitive advantage quizlet?

What can managers do to improve a company's cost competitiveness?

Which of the following is a potential outcome when organizations offer a very high level of responsiveness to customers quizlet?