Putting forecast errors into perspective is best done using

Group of answer choices

hindsight.
● MAPE.
MAD.
linear decision rules.
exponential smoothing

Accuracy in forecasting can be measured by:

Group of answer choices

MPS.
MRP.
MTM.
MTE.
● MSE.

Which of the following is true?

Group of answer choices

Corporate mission is shaped by functional strategies.

Corporate strategy is shaped by functional strategies.
Corporate mission is shaped by corporate strategy.
Functional strategies are shaped by corporate strategy.
External conditions are shaped by corporate mission.
Detecting nonrandomness in errors can be done using:
Group of answer choices

MAPs.

● control charts.

MSEs.

correlation coefficients.

strategies.

Which of the following is least likely to affect the cost an organization incurs in producing its
products or services?
Group of answer choices

productivity

location

quality

● price

inventory management

Which of the following would be an advantage of using a sales force composite to develop a
demand forecast?
Group of answer choices

Salespeople are least likely to be influenced by recent events.

Salespeople are least likely to be biased by sales quotas.

● The sales staff is often aware of customers' future plans.

The sales staff is least affected by changing customer needs.

The sales force can easily distinguish between customer desires and probable actions.

Product design and process selection are examples of _______ decisions.

Group of answer choices

financial
tactical
forecasting
● system operation
system design

One reason for using the Delphi method in forecasting is to:

Group of answer choices

● reduce the risk that one individual’s opinion will prevail.

achieve a high degree of accuracy.
maintain accountability and responsibility.
be able to replicate results.
prevent hurt feelings.

Averaging techniques are useful for:

Group of answer choices

providing accuracy in forecasts.

distinguishing between random and nonrandom variations.
average people.
eliminating historical data.
smoothing out fluctuations in time series.
A forecast based on the previous forecast plus a percentage of the forecast error is:

Group of answer choices

an associative forecast.
an exponentially smoothed forecast.
a centered moving average forecast.
a simple moving average forecast.
● a naive forecast.

The weekly output of a fabrication process is shown below, together with data for labor
and material inputs. Standard selling price is $125 per unit. Overhead is charged weekly
at the rate of $1,500 plus .5 times direct labor cost. Assume a 40-hour week and an
hourly wage of $16. Material cost is $10 per foot. What is the average multifactor
productivity?

Wee Outpu #Worker Material

k t s (ft)
1 392 5 2,720
2 408 6 2,790
Group of answer choices

1.463
1.431
● 1.457

Gourmet Pretzels bakes soft pretzels on an assembly line. It currently bakes 800
pretzels each eight-hour shift. If the production is increased to 1,200 pretzels each shift,
then productivity will have increased by:

Group of answer choices

 ● 50 percent.
33 percent.
67 percent.
25 percent.

Product design and choice of location are examples of _______ decisions.

Group of answer choices

● strategic

tactical

customer-focused

operational

design

In order to increase the responsiveness of a forecast made using the moving average
technique, the number of data points in the average should be:

Group of answer choices

increased.
multiplied by a larger alpha.
eliminated if the MAD is greater than the MSE.
multiplied by a smaller alpha.
● decreased.

Which of the following is not an ongoing trend in manufacturing?

Group of answer choices

globalization
flexibility and agility
 ● mass production for greater economies of scale
technological advances
quality improvement

For an organization to grow its market share, it must:

Group of answer choices

establish an Internet Web site.

● exceed minimum standards of acceptability for its products or services.
broaden its mission statement.
reduce prices.
advertise using multimedia.

The president of State University wants to forecast student enrollments for this
academic year based on the following historical data:

Year Enrollment
s
5 Years 15,000
ago
4 Years 16,000
ago
3 Years 18,000
ago
2 Years 20,000
ago
Last Year 21,000
What is the forecast for this year using exponential smoothing with alpha = 0.5, if the
forecast for two years ago was 16,000?

Group of answer choices

22,650
22,800
● 19,500
18,750
21,000

Which of the following is not an element of supply chain management?

Group of answer choices

operations
logistics
● customers
location
processing

A concert promoter is forecasting this year's attendance for one of his concerts based
on the following historical data:

Year Attendanc
e
Four Years ago 10,000
Three Years 12,000
ago
Two Years ago 18,000
Last Year 20,000

What is this year's forecast using the least squares trend line for these data?

Group of answer choices

20,000
23,000
● 24,000
22,000
21,000

Which of the following is not a key step toward improving productivity?

Group of answer choices

establishing reasonable goals for improvement

● converting bond debt to stock ownership
improving the bottleneck operations
considering incentives to reward workers
developing productivity measures for all operations

Forecasts based on judgment and opinion do not include:

Group of answer choices

salesperson opinion.
Delphi methods.
● second opinions.
customer surveys.
executive opinion.

The business analyst for Video Sales, Inc. wants to forecast this year's demand for DVD
decoders based on the following historical data:

Year Enrollment
s
5 Years 900
ago
4 Years 700
ago
3 Years 600
ago
2 Years 500
ago
Last Year 300

What is the forecast for this year using a three-year weighted moving average with
weights of 0.5, 0.3, and 0.2

300
● 420
510
163
180
Which of the following features would not generally be considered common to all
forecasts?

Group of answer choices

● Historical data is available on which to base the forecast.

Accuracy decreases as the time horizon increases.
Actual results will differ somewhat from predicted values.
Forecasts for groups of items tend to be more accurate than forecasts for individual
items.
Assumption of a stable underlying causal system.

Where a firm locates would typically not affect that firm's

Group of answer choices

convenience for customers.

costs.
delivery times.
● strategy.
transportation costs.

Which is not an area of significant difference between manufacturing and service

operations?

Group of answer choices

uniformity of input
measurement of productivity
labor content of jobs
customer contact
● forecasting demand
Which of the following is not a benefit of using models in decision making?

Group of answer choices

They are easy to use and less expensive than dealing with the actual situation.
● They force the decision maker to take into account qualitative issues such as
personalities and emotions.
They provide a standardized format for analyzing a problem.
They serve as a consistent tool for evaluation.
They offer insights into fundamental issues at play in a decision-making setting.

Moving average forecasting techniques do the following:

Group of answer choices

Assist when organizations are relocating.

Immediately reflect changing patterns in the data.
Lead changes in the data.
● Smooth variations in the data.
Operate independently of recent data.

Which is not a characteristic of simple moving averages applied to time series data?

Group of answer choices

smoothes real variations in the data

smoothes random variations in the data
lags changes in the data
 ● requires only last period's forecast and actual data
weights each historical value equally

Which of the following would not generally be classified under the heading of
transformation?

Group of answer choices

teaching
farming
consulting
● staffing
assembling

Suppose a country’s productivity was 77 in one period and 82 in the next period. What
would the growth rate be? (rounded to one decimal place.)

Group of answer choices

4.2.
8.7.
6.1.
● 6.5.
5.3.

Which of these factors would be least likely to affect productivity?

Group of answer choices

 ● advertising
product mix
methods and technology
management
workers

Which of these factors would be least likely to affect productivity?

Group of answer choices

● advertising
product mix
methods and technology
management
workers

Given the following historical data and weights of 0.5, 0.3, and 0.2, what is the
three-period moving average forecast for period 5?

Perio Valu Perio Valu

d e d e

1 138 3 148

2 142 4 144
Group of answer choices

144.67
 ● 144.80
144.00
143.00
144.20

The responsibilities of the operations manager include

Group of answer choices

analyzing investment proposals.

allocating financial resources throughout the organization.
assessing consumer wants and needs.
promoting the organization’s goods or services.
● the creation of goods or provision of services.

Which of the following does not relate to system design?

Group of answer choices

selection and acquisition of equipment

location of facilities
● inventory management
altering the system capacity
physical arrangement of departments

An organization's mission statement serves as the basis for:

Group of answer choices

● organizational goals.
distinctiveness.
operating procedures.
environmental scanning.
core competencies.

Buying goods or services instead of producing or providing them in-house is called

Group of answer choices

● outsourcing.
entrepreneurship.
internationalization.
vertical integration.
downsizing.

Core competencies in organizations generally do not relate to:

Group of answer choices

● sales price.
time.
cost.
flexibility.
Quality.

Business organizations consist of three major functional areas which, ideally

Group of answer choices

function independently of each other.

do not interface with each other.
are mutually exclusive.
● support one another.
exist independently of each other.

Which of the following is not a key factor of competitiveness?

Group of answer choices

product differentiation
flexibility
after-sale service
● size of organization
price

Which of the following is not a factor that affects productivity?

Group of answer choices

computer viruses
design of the workspace
● product price
use of the Internet
standardizing processes

Which of the following most involves coordinating the activities among all the elements
of the business including its suppliers and distributors?

Group of answer choices

quality management
pollution control
 ● supply chain management
technological change
competition from foreign manufacturers

Years ago in the overnight delivery business, providing package tracking capability gave
some firms a competitive advantage. Now, all firms must offer this capability simply to
be in this line of business. This is an example of ______________ becoming
____________ over time.

Group of answer choices

tactical implications; strategic

order qualifiers; order winners
strategic implications; tactical
profitability factors; productivity factors
● order winners; order qualifiers