Deck 4: Supply Management Integration for Competitive Advantage

Question 1

Integration does not require that people create a common understanding of the end goal or purpose.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

In forward-thinking enterprises, supply management seldom plays a key role in the development of new products and services.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Suppliers of critical nonstandard commodities are involved much later in the product development initiative.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The effectiveness of the sourcing team leader is one of the weakest predictors of team success.

Question 5

A shift to a more trusting buyer-supplier relationship is easy.

Question 6

A long-term contract does not provide an incentive for a supplier to invest in new plants and equipment.

Question 7

Supply management usually maintains significant data about individual activity costs that can increase total cost.

Question 8

Perhaps the most important and challenging linkages exist between supply management and marketing/sales.

Question 9

Many firms are now colocating supply management personnel directly at operating locations so supply management can respond quickly to operation's needs.

Question 10

Membership on a team can have negative effects on individuals.

Question 11

Cross-functional sourcing teams are a less-than-ideal way to promote cross-organizational cooperation.

Question 12

Experience reveals that cross-functional sourcing teams are usually part-time/continuous assignments, making the use of sourcing teams a challenging way to work.

Question 13

Early visibility to product requirements allows supply management to share critical information with suppliers that can help avoid delays.

Question 14

The need for confidentiality regarding financial, product, and process information is the most frequently cited reason for not developing closer supplier relationships.

Question 15

The physical co-location of a supplier engineer at a buying company is increasingly becoming a part of the normal product development process structure.

Question 16

Goal setting is not a critical cross-functional team requirement.

Question 17

Closer buyer-supplier relationships will always interest all suppliers.

Question 18

Many supply management groups are recruiting category managers with very strong technical backgrounds, who are able to talk the talk and walk the walk alongside their engineering counterparts.

Question 19

Successfully using teams does not require extensive planning, resource commitment and top management support before a team should be established.

Question 20

Being an effective team leader means satisfying a demand set of essential operating responsibilities and requirements while still promoting the creativity, leadership ability, and cohesiveness of team members.

Question 21

Purchasing offices were once corporate backwaters, filled with people who didn't dream of advancing to the top rungs of their organization.

Question 22

Interacting as a team requires the same set of skills as the skills required for traditional work.

Question 23

Many companies are encouraging suppliers to provide a permanent on-site representative who can aid the company in improving customer order fulfillment processes.

Question 24

A primary objective of using teams is to bring together individuals with common perspectives and expertise to perform better on a task compared to individuals or departments acting alone.

Question 25

If given the opportunity, suppliers seldom have a major impact on the overall timing and success of a new product.

Question 26

Suppliers are seldom an invaluable source of ideas for product and process improvement.

Question 27

In collaboration, the relationship is bilateral; both parties have the power to shape its nature and future direction over time.

Question 28

Outsourcing products through low cost country sourcing environments or contract manufacturers is very much the same as sourcing in North American buyer-seller situations.

Question 29

Organizations should use teams selectively because of limited resource availability.

Question 30

Supplier selection should never occur before a new part is actually designed or reaches production.

Question 31

Teams can exert pressure to conform to a decision or a position that the team member does not support.

Question 32

If positive work is never recognized or reinforced through rewards, the positive effort will likely be extinguished.

Question 33

According to research, the sharing of technology roadmaps often strongly influences the type of buyer-supplier relationship that resulted in the integration process.

Question 34

If team members receive delayed reinforcement, they will exert greater effort than if the reinforcement is immediate.

Question 35

The use of cross-functional sourcing teams guarantees a successful outcome to a project or assignment.

Question 36

Because the links between operations and supply management have been so close, it is not unusual for supply management to report directly to operations.

Question 37

External relationship management begins with internal relationship management: internal alignment is key.

Question 38

Cross-functional sourcing teams that incorporate supplier participation report fewer problems coordinating work activity between the team and key suppliers.

Question 39

On cross-functional supplier assessments, performance data should be weighted in such a manner that they are aligned with customer performance requirements.

Question 40

Perhaps the greatest benefit of team interaction is that once a team makes a decision, implementing the decision often becomes easier due to group buy-in.

Question 41

All of the following questions are important in considering new or existing suppliers for integration except _____.

A)Is the supplier capable of hitting affordable targets regarding cost, quality, conductivity, weight, and other performance criteria?
B)Does the supplier have sufficient marketing funds for promoting its new products?
C)Will the supplier be able to meet product introduction deadlines?
D)Will the supplier be able to increase capacity and production fast enough to meet our market share requirements?
E)Do the supplier's personnel have the required training to start up required processes and debug them?

Question 42

_____ occurs when a team does not complete its task in the best or most efficient manner or members are not motivated to employ their resources to create a successful outcome.

A)Groupthink
B)KPI
C)Collaboration
D)Process loss
E)Synergy

Question 43

Which of the following is not a common obstacle to closer buyer-seller relationships?

A)Long-term contracts.
B)Confidentiality.
C)Limited interest by suppliers.
D)Legal barriers.
E)Resistance to change.

Question 44

Which of the following is not an example of an appropriate use of a cross-functional team?

A)New product development.
B)Preparing a RFQ for a routine commodity product.
C)Locating a new production facility.
D)Developing a commodity or purchase family strategy.
E)Establishing a new business unit.

Question 45

_____ is the process of incorporating or bringing together different groups, functions, or organizations, either formally or informally, physically or by information technology, to work jointly and often concurrently on a common business-related assignment or purpose.

A)Cooptation
B)Program management
C)Collaboration
D)Collusion
E)Integration

Question 46

Using _____, suppliers are provided with functional specifications and are asked to complete all technical specifications, including materials to be used, blueprints, and so on.

A)shadow box design
B)white box design
C)gray box design
D)red box design
E)black box design

Question 47

Which of the following is not a potential drawback of using a cross-functional sourcing team?

A)Team process loss.
B)Reduced innovation.
C)Negative effects on individual members.
D)Poor team decisions.
E)Groupthink.

Question 48

_____ involves professionally managing suppliers and developing close working relationships with different internal groups.

A)Purposeful cooperation
B)Program management
C)Credible commitment
D)Supply integration
E)Relationship management

Question 49

Which of the following is not a requirement of being an effective team member?

A)Understands the team's task - the member has task-relevant knowledge.
B)Has the time to commit to the team.
C)Has the right corporate political connections.
D)Has the ability to work with others in a group.
E)Can assume an organizational rather than strict functional perspective.

Question 50

_____ is defined as the process by which two or more parties adopt a high level of purposeful cooperation to maintain a trading relationship over time to achieve specified goals.

A)Supply base management
B)Collaboration
C)KPI
D)Supply integration
E)SRM

Question 51

Using _____, the supplier is given blueprints and told to make the product from them.

A)black box design
B)gray box design
C)red box design
D)white box design
E)shadow box design

Question 52

Which of the following are not considered relationship management skills?

A)Ability to conduct detailed price and cost analyses
B)Ability to act ethically.
C)Ability to listen effectively.
D)Ability to communicate.
E)Ability to use creative problem-solving.

Question 53

All of the following are examples of the different methods that supply management will apply to achieve integration except _____.

A)Cross-functional or cross-organizational committees and teams
B)Hiring English majors into supply management to correct document language
C)Information systems such as videoconferencing and webmail
D)Process-focused organizations that are dedicated to certain processes
E)Colocation of suppliers and customers

Question 54

_____ is the tendency of a rational group or team to arrive at a bad decision when other information is available.

A)Serendipity
B)Collusion
C)Process loss
D)Maverick spend
E)Groupthink

Question 55

[A/An] _____ consists of personnel from different functions and, increasingly, suppliers, who are brought together to achieve supply management or supply chain-related tasks.

A)Big R
B)External RM
C)cross-functional sourcing team
D)Little r
E)Internal RM

Question 56

A _____ is one that requires members to use a variety of higher-level skills, supports giving members regular feedback about performance, results in an outcome with a significant effect on the organization and others outside the team, and provides members autonomy for deciding how they will do the work.

A)gray box design
B)statement of work
C)technology roadmap
D)meaningful task
E)traditional buyer-supplier relationship

Question 57

Management can exert subtle control over a team's tasks through all of the following except _____.

A)authorizing the creation of the sourcing team
B)selecting the team's task
C)selecting the team leader and members
D)conducting performance reviews and holding teams accountable for performance outcomes
E)sitting in on all team meetings

Question 58

Which of the following is not true regarding the importance of establishing sourcing team goals?

A)Teams with established goals often use those goals as a basis for evaluating how well the team is performing.
B)Teams will establish, on average, challenging rather than easy goals.
C)External pressure on a team to set goals usually results in the setting of more challenging goals.
D)Teams establish goals only because they have to.
E)Teams with goals perform better, on average, than teams that are asked simply to perform their best without explicit end goals.

Question 59

When _____ is present, the total group effort is _____ the expected sum of the individual parts.

A)process loss….less than
B)groupthink….more than
C)process loss….more than
D)collaboration….less than
E)synergy….the same as

Question 60

The term _____ refers to the set of performance criteria and products and processes an organization intends to develop or manufacture.

A)concurrent engineering
B)early supplier involvement
C)process loss
D)technology roadmap
E)R&D plan

Question 61

_____ is a function of the professional's ability to translate supply market data into compelling insights that solve business problems and to enable organizational connections and networking that accelerate business success.

A)SRM
B)Groupthink
C)Reciprocity
D)Process gain
E)Relationship capital

Question 62

All of the following are characteristics that define a collaborative buyer-supplier relationship except _____.

A)one or a limited number of suppliers for each purchased item or family of items
B)a win-win approach to reward sharing
C)open exchange of information
D)a credible commitment to work together during difficult times
E)the buyer unilaterally resolving disputes

Question 63

All of the following are examples of how supply management should monitor and anticipate activity in its supply market except _____.

A)ensuring that cost accounting keeps track of historical prices paid
B)forecasting long-term supply and prices for its basic commodities
C)monitoring technological innovations that impact its primary materials or make substitute materials economically attractive
D)evaluating not only its existing suppliers but also other potential suppliers
E)providing timely visibility to new-product requirements

Question 64

Which of the following are not examples of technology roadmaps?

A)Incorporation of new AICPA accounting standards into existing accounting systems.
B)Projected performance specifications for a class of products or processes.
C)An intention to integrate a new material or component.
D)Development of a product to meet customer requirements that is currently unavailable in the market.
E)Integration of multiple complementary technologies that results in a radically new product.

Question 65

All of the following are elements of successful supplier suggestion programs except _____.

A)the savings from the suggestion are often shared 50/50, not kept solely by the buying company
B)the program focuses on total cost improvement, not simply cutting the supplier's margins
C)successful buying companies provide prompt feedback to the supplier on its ideas and also implement good suggestions promptly
D)it is critical to acknowledge the supplier's suggestions, through an awards program, newsletter, or announcement at a supplier conference
E)the supplier should be allowed to keep 100% of the savings since it came up with the idea

Question 66

Which of the following is not a benefit of using a cross-functional sourcing team?

A)Reduced time to complete a task.
B)Increased innovation.
C)Joint ownership of decisions.
D)Enhanced communication among functions or organizations.
E)Groupthink.

Question 67

Using _____, the supplier's engineers work cooperatively with the buying company's engineers to jointly design the product.

A)shadow box design
B)gray box design
C)red box design
D)white box design
E)black box design