Hana Demi Dee

Technology, Production, & Operations Management Quiz no. 2 Answers

1. From time to time, various groups clamor for import restrictions or tariffs on foreign-
produced good, particularly automobiles. How might it be helpful? Harmful?

Tariff is basically tax imposed on imported goods and services. Tariffs increase the price
of imported goods and services and make the goods expensive for domestic consumers,
thus the government of a nation imposes tariffs to protect domestic industries from foreign
competition and thus raise revenue. Higher productivity relative to competitors is very
important for a nation because it provides the nation with a competitive advantage in the
marketplace. Productivity increases add value to the economy while controlling inflation.
In addition, higher productivity provides the basis for sustainable long-term growth in the
economy. It allows companies to undercut competitors' prices to improve their market
share or to realize a higher profit margin at the same price level. Relative higher
productivity also makes it more difficult for foreign companies to compete.

2. List the key ways the organizations compete.

Business organizations compete through some combination of their marketing and

operations functions. Marketing influences competitiveness in several ways, including
identifying consumer wants and needs, pricing, and advertising and promotion.

a) Identifying consumer wants and/or needs is a basic input in an organization’s

decision-making process, and central to competitiveness. The ideal is to achieve a
perfect match between those wants and needs and the organization’s goods and/or
services.
b) Price and quality are key factors in consumer buying decisions. It is important to
understand the trade-off decision consumers make between price and quality.
c) Advertising and promotion are ways organizations can inform potential customers
about the features of their products or services, and attract buyers.

3. Explain the importance of identifying and differentiating order qualifiers and order
winners.

An order qualifier is the characteristic of the particular product or service that is required
for the product or service to be considered by the customer. An order winner is a unique
attribute that will be the deciding factor for the customer before making the purchase.
Customers often make their purchasing decisions based on customer value for money, so
they’ll consider things such as performance, availability, price, and attractiveness of
design, before evaluating the product value. In classifying order winners and order
 qualifiers, marketing and operations must work together to match the market needs with
the operational capability of the firm.

4. What is the Balanced Scorecard and how is it useful?

Balanced Scorecard is a performance metric used to identify, improve, and control a

business's various functions and resulting outcomes. The balanced scorecard involves
measuring four main aspects of a business: learning and growth, business processes,
customers, and finance. It allows companies to pool information in a single report, to
provide information into service and quality in addition to financial performance, and to
help improve efficiencies. Balanced scorecards are often used during strategic planning to
make sure the company's efforts are aligned with the overall strategy and vision.

5. Contrast the terms strategies and tactics.

Strategy is the basic approach used by an organization to achieve its goal. Strategies have
a major impact on what the organization does and how it does it. Strategies can be long-
term, intermediate-term, or short-term. To be effective, strategies must be designed to
support the organization’s mission and its organizational goals. Tactics are the methods
and actions that are taken to accomplish strategies and carry out operations. They are more
specific in nature than strategies and they provide guidance and direction for carrying out
actual operations.

6. Contrast organization strategies and operations strategies.

Organization strategy provides the overall direction for the organization and is broad in
scope, e.g., low cost, scale-based strategies, specialization, newness, flexible operations,
high quality, service, or sustainability. Operations strategy is narrower in scope, dealing
primarily with the operations aspect of the organization. Operations strategy must be
consistent with organization strategy and deals with products, processes, methods,
operating resources, quality, costs, lead times, and scheduling.

7. Productivity should be a concern of every business organization.

a) How is productivity defined?

Productivity is a measure of the effective use of resources, usually expressed as the ratio
of output to input.

b) How are productivity measures used?

Productivity measures are used to judge the effective use of resources by countries,
companies, and units within companies.
 c) Why is productivity important?

High productivity rates relative to competitors can mean competitive advantages for
companies. For countries, high productivity rates can reduce the risk of inflation and
generate high standards of living for the country as a whole.

d) What part of the organization has primary responsibility for productivity?

Operations has the primary responsibility for productivity.

e) How is efficiency different from productivity?

Efficiency is a narrower concept that pertains to getting the most out of a fixed set of
resources. Productivity is wider in scope. Efficiency can be improved by better use of
existing labor and equipment. Productivity can be improved by changing work methods,
but also by changing equipment or conditions.

8. Factors that can affect productivity and some ways that productivity can be improved.

Factors affecting productivity include the following: methods, capital, quality,

technology, and management.

Factors affecting productivity include the following: Methods, capital, quality, technology,
and management.

Ways productivity can be improved include the following: Using productivity measures
for all operations; eliminating bottlenecks; soliciting ideas from workers; forming work
teams; studying other firms; reexamining work methods; establishing reasonable goals for
improvement; obtaining support from management; measuring, rewarding, and publicizing
improvements; and finally, not confusing productivity with efficiency.

9. It has been said that a typical Japanese automobile manufacturer produces more cars with
fewer workers than its US counterpart. What are some possible explanations for this,
assuming that US workers are as hardworking as Japanese workers?

The Japanese are likely using more productive techniques. When the productivity is higher,
the time taken for production comes down. Japanese workers are probably working
smarter, if not harder than U.S. workers are. By working smarter, we mean the Japanese
are using more productive work methods than American workers are. One way that the
Japanese accomplish this is by using time-based strategies that focus on reducing the time
needed to accomplish various tasks. Some of the areas in which their organizations benefit
from time reduction are planning time, design time, processing time, changeover time,
delivery time, and response time for complaints.
10. Who need to be involved in formulating organizational strategy?

Those who will implement the plan, who will be affected, and who will monitor its
implementation. Involving people from all levels of the organization can be a very
powerful way to build commitment to the attainment of strategic goals. In addition, it also
creates a sense of accountability that can improve motivation and productivity which will
help the strategy to succeed. It is, however, important to involve them at the correct phase
of the strategy creation process to ensure that they can contribute most effectively.