Question 1

A benefit of long-time customer loyalty is the free advertising that customers provide for a company through referrals.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 2

Which of the following statements about customer focus is false?

Accepted Answer

A)  It must start at the top of the organization.
B)  It is a central part of TQM.
C)  It can be facilitated by soliciting feedback from the customer.
D)  It requires that all employees see the customer as the focus of their activity.
E)  It can be achieved by mass customization.F) A) and E)
G) A) and D)

Question 3

Learning effects are a result of

Accepted Answer

A)  automation.
B)  learning by doing.
C)  sound product planning tactics.
D)  diseconomies of scale.
E)  product standardization.F) A) and B)
G) A) and C)

Question 4

Quality can best be thought of as

Accepted Answer

A)  product usefulness.
B)  quality as reliability and quality as excellence.
C)  product innovation.
D)  a matter for a company's managers to decide for themselves without external input.
E)  a matter for the marketing function of a company to decide.F) All of the above
G) A) and B)

Question 5

Identify the two dimensions of quality and describe how companies can achieve them.

Accepted Answer

Quality can be thought of in terms of re...

Question 6

Harvard Business School found no differences in learning effects among hospitals performing a new cardiac procedure.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 7

A vital source of information about the causes of poor quality are the firm's own employees.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

Managers should not become complacent about efficiency-based cost advantages because

Accepted Answer

A)  neither learning effects nor economics of scale go on forever.
B)  the experience curve is likely to bottom out at some point.
C)  cost advantages gained from experience effects can be made obsolete by the development of new technologies.
D)  all of these choices.
E)  none of these choicesF) B) and E)
G) All of the above

Question 9

The challenge for a company's human resource function is to find ways to lower wage and benefits costs.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 10

There is a negative relationship between the length of time that a customer stays with a company and profit per customer.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 11

A computer manufacturer allows scientists and engineers a certain amount of company time to work on independent research projects.This company is trying to

Accepted Answer

A)  achieve superior innovation.
B)  achieve superior quality.
C)  achieve superior efficiency.
D)  achieve superior customer responsiveness.
E)  minimize the time to market.F) B) and D)
G) B) and C)

Question 12

Which of the following is one of the important skills required for effective project management?

Accepted Answer

A)  Ability to generate as many good ideas as possible
B)  Ability to select among competing projects at an early stage of development so that the most promising receive funding and potential costly failures are killed off
C)  Ability to minimize time to market
D)  All of these choices
E)  None of these choicesF) A) and B)
G) C) and D)

Question 13

Which of the following statements concerning customer defection rates is incorrect?

Accepted Answer

A)  Defection rates are determined by customer loyalty.
B)  The longer a company holds on to a customer,the greater is the volume of customer-generated unit sales and the lower is the average cost of each sale.
C)  Lowering customer defection rates allows a company to achieve a lower cost structure.
D)  Research and development should address the issue of customer loyalty in product development.
E)  There is a positive relationship between the length of time that a customer stays with the company and profit per customer.F) A) and B)
G) D) and E)

Question 14

Functional strategies,because they occur at a low level in the firm,play only a small role in organizational success.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 15

Learning effects

Accepted Answer

A)  result in unit manufacturing costs declining by a certain amount each time output is doubled.
B)  result in unit manufacturing costs declining by a certain amount each time accumulated output is reduced.
C)  are more significant when simple steps in an assembly process are repeated.
D)  are more significant when a technologically complex task is repeated.
E)  lead to economies of scale.F) A) and C)
G) A) and B)

Question 16

The experience curve concept

Accepted Answer

A)  is a result of a combination of learning effects and economies of scale.
B)  is a result of a combination of learning effects and economies of scale and suggests that unit manufacturing costs decline by a certain amount each time output is doubled.
C)  suggests that achieving low costs allows a firm to charge a premium price.
D)  is most important for specialized or customized production.
E)  suggests that unit manufacturing costs decline by a certain amount each time output is doubled.F) A) and B)
G) A) and E)

Question 17

Instead of completing one task before starting another,Perry's team begins each task as soon as possible,allowing tasks to overlap where possible.Perry's team is using

Accepted Answer

A)  a self-managing team.
B)  a sequential process.
C)  TQM.
D)  customization.
E)  a partly parallel process.F) B) and C)
G) A) and E)

Question 18

Which of the following trends has led to the fragmentation of many consumer markets?

Accepted Answer

A)  Self-managing teams
B)  Project management
C)  TQM
D)  Customization
E)  Increased response timeF) B) and D)
G) C) and D)

Question 19

Traditional manufacturing

Accepted Answer

A)  is no longer used.
B)  requires a tradeoff between unit costs and product variety.
C)  has higher unit costs than does flexible manufacturing.
D)  produces a variety of products in high volume.
E)  has higher unit costs than does flexible manufacturing and requires a tradeoff between unit costs and product variety.F) A) and E)
G) B) and E)

Question 20

The experience curve refers to the

Accepted Answer

A)  learning by doing technique.
B)  company's overall experience in a particular industry.
C)  systematic lowering of the cost structure and unit cost reductions.
D)  diseconomies of scale caused by inexperienced workers.
E)  increases in unit costs experienced over time.F) A) and B)
G) C) and D)

Exam 4: Building Competitive Advantage Through Functional-Level Strategy

Harvard Business School found no differences in learning effects among hospitals performing a new cardiac procedure.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Managers should not become complacent about efficiency-based cost advantages because

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A computer manufacturer allows scientists and engineers a certain amount of company time to work on independent research projects.This company is trying to

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Traditional manufacturing

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Which of the following statements about customer focus is false?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Learning effects are a result of

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A benefit of long-time customer loyalty is the free advertising that customers provide for a company through referrals.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Learning effects

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Instead of completing one task before starting another,Perry's team begins each task as soon as possible,allowing tasks to overlap where possible.Perry's team is using

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

There is a negative relationship between the length of time that a customer stays with a company and profit per customer.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The experience curve concept

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Which of the following trends has led to the fragmentation of many consumer markets?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Functional strategies,because they occur at a low level in the firm,play only a small role in organizational success.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Which of the following statements concerning customer defection rates is incorrect?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

A vital source of information about the causes of poor quality are the firm's own employees.

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Which of the following is one of the important skills required for effective project management?

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Quality can best be thought of as

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

The experience curve refers to the

Correct AnswerverifiedShow Answer

Identify the two dimensions of quality and describe how companies can achieve them.

Correct AnswerverifiedQuality can be thought of in terms of re...View AnswerShow Answer

The challenge for a company's human resource function is to find ways to lower wage and benefits costs.

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Quality can be thought of in terms of re...
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