Operations Management

Tutorial 2:Competitiveness, Strategy and Productivity

Section A: True/False

  • 1. An example of a strategic operations management decision is the choice of where to locate.
  • 2. An example of an operational operations management decision is inventory level management.

  • 3. An example of a tactical operations management decision is whether to build a new facility or to expand an existing one.
  • 4. An example of a tactical operations management decision is determining employment levels.
  • 5. Productivity is defined as the ratio of output to input.

  • 6. Productivity is defined as the ratio of input to output.
  • 7. Competitiveness relates to the profitability of an organization in the marketplace.

  • 8. If people would only work harder, productivity would increase.
  • 9. Tracking productivity measures over time enables managers to judge organizational performance and decide where improvements are needed.
  • 10.

    Productivity is directly related to the ability of an organization to compete.

  • 11. A characteristic that was once an order winner may become an order qualifier, and vice versa.
  • 12. Outsourcing tends to improve quality but at the cost of lowered productivity.

  • 13. Productivity tends to be only a very minor factor in an organizations ability to compete.
  • 14. An organization that is twice as productive as its competitor will be twice as profitable.

  • 15. National productivity is determined by averaging the productivity measures of various companies or industries.
  • 16. Wage and salary increases that are not accompanied by productivity increases tend to exert inflationary pressures on a nation's economy.
  • 17.

    Global competition really only applies to multi-national organizations.

  • 18. A business that is rated highly by their customers for service quality will tend to be more profitable than a business that is rated poorly.
  • 19.

    Services often don’t fit simple yield measurements.

  • 20. A mission statement should provide a guide for the formulation of strategies for the organization.
  • 21. The hierarchy and sequence of planning and decision-making is: mission, organizational strategy, tactics, and operational decisions.

  • 22. Strategy includes both organizational and functional strategies.
  • 23. Organizational strategy should be determined without considering the realities of functional area strengths and weaknesses since they can be changed to meet our strategy.