Question 1

Responsiveness can be defined as the ability to react purposefully and within a(n) _________or changes in the marketplace.&#10;A)Appropriate time scale to customer demand&#10;B)Appropriate value scale to customer demand&#10;C)Flexibility of aggressive supply&#10;D)All of the above.&#10;

Accepted Answer

The responsiveness of supply chains to changing customer requirements and their overall efficiency are important issues in supply chain design and management. Responsiveness can be defined as the ability to react purposefully and within an appropriate time scale to customer demand or changes in the marketplace in order to bring about or uphold competitive advantage.

Question 2

There are several players in the supply chain, and each of them addresses aspects of ___________________.&#10;A)Demand&#10;B)Production&#10;C)Supply management&#10;D)All of the above.&#10;

Accepted Answer

Responsiveness and efficiency are directly and indirectly linked and even include feedback. In supply chains, the relationship between key parts of the system is composite. There are several players in the supply chain, and each addresses aspects of production, demand, supply management, distribution, and planning.

Question 3

In interrelationships forms, it is obvious which combination of ______________ will have the desired effect in the short or long term.&#10;A)Strategic levers&#10;B)Operational levers&#10;C)Both.&#10;D)None of the above.&#10;

Accepted Answer

The interrelationships between strategic and operational levers form feedback loops that either amplify or cancel out management initiatives in unintuitive ways. This makes problem solving and decision making difficult because it is not at all obvious which combination of strategic or operational levers will have the desired effect in the short or long term.

Question 4

One practical approach to increase responsiveness could be to raise the _____________ of finished goods or components.&#10;A)Inventory levels&#10;B)Supply levels&#10;C)Demand levels&#10;D)Advertising levels&#10;

Accepted Answer

One practical approach to increase responsiveness could be to raise the inventory levels of finished goods or components, which would allow for more elasticity in reactions to changes in customer demand. However, increased inventory levels reduce the efficiency of the supply chain since they are very costly, both in storage cost and cost of capital.

Question 5

Increasing the degree of responsiveness is hard to achieve and typically involves __________________.&#10;A)Trade-off decisions by management.&#10;B)Trade-off decisions by suppliers.&#10;C)Trade-off decisions by consumers.&#10;D)All of the above.&#10;

Accepted Answer

Providing the right degree of responsiveness and having an efficient supply chain at the same time is a goal that is hard to achieve and that typically involves trade-off decisions by management, since increased responsiveness can be perceived to come at the expense of reduced efficiency, and vice versa.

Question 6

The management of supply chain responsiveness is especially important when operating in a competitive market where short customer ___________ are required&#10;A)Lead Times&#10;B)Demand&#10;C)Satisfaction&#10;D)All of the above&#10;

Accepted Answer

The management of supply chain responsiveness is especially important when operating in competitive market where short customer lead times are required and not maintaining inventory - which can allow for a fast response - is risky and costly and therefore reduces efficiency.

Question 7

Commodity-like functional products usually require more efficient supply chains, combined with minimization of the ______________.&#10;A)Bullwhip effect&#10;B)Decreased supply effect&#10;C)CRM diminishing&#10;D)All of the above&#10;

Accepted Answer

Commodity-like, functional products usually require more efficient supply chains, combined with the minimization of the bullwhip effect. In the high-tech industry, this is complicated by long factor lead times, leading to capacity limitations upstream in the supply chain.

Question 8

Controlling material flow requires what primary method?&#10;A)Manual pull.&#10;B)Automatic pull.&#10;C)Automatic push.&#10;D)All of the above.&#10;

Accepted Answer

Supply chains can react to changes in a product's demand volatility in various ways. For example, in the retail industry, there are three primary methods to control material flow: manual pull, automatic pull, and automatic push.

Question 9

_____________ is where the product is rolled out to the stores based on a central plan that considers experience from the past, information on demography, buyer behavior, product and salvage value, etc..

A)Automatic pull
B)Manual pull
C)Manual push
D)Automatic push

Accepted Answer

Automatic push, where the product is rolled out to the stores based on a central plan that considers experience from the past, information on demography, buyer behavior, product and salvage value, etc.is best suited for the initial ramp-up period. Once demand is more predictable, automatic pull can be used, in which the IT system considers historical demand in the stores to reorder the product.

Question 10

__________ is where individual stores reorder based on the subjective judgments of store management, which can be useful when special influences such as promotions need to be considered.&#10;A)Automatic pull&#10;B)Manual pull&#10;C)Manual push&#10;D)Automatic push&#10;

Accepted Answer

Manual pull, where individual stores reorder based on the subjective judgments of store management, can be useful when special influences such as promotions need to be considered. Clearly, there is no "one fits all" approach for successful management of the supply chain, but different strategies are appropriate for different products at different stages of their product life cycles.

Question 11

___________provides a systematic approach to linking cause and effect in complex, dynamic situations.&#10;A)Organizational dynamics&#10;B)System dynamics&#10;C)Consumer dynamics&#10;D)All of the above.&#10;

Accepted Answer

The answer of ___________provides a systematic approach to linking cause...

Question 12

With additional functional products, the policies in the supply chain should be designed primarily to supply at the _________.&#10;A)Lowest possible cost&#10;B)Highest possible cost&#10;C)Average cost&#10;D)None of the above.&#10;

Accepted Answer

The answer of With additional functional products, the policies in...

Question 13

In___________, the impact of external effects (for example a strike at a supplier causing a component shortage), is analyzed.&#10;A)Strategic analysis&#10;B)Fundamental analysis&#10;C)Simulation&#10;D)All of the above.&#10;

Accepted Answer

The answer of In___________, the impact of external effects (for...

Question 14

__________ is most predictable during the maturity stage of the product life cycle.&#10;A)Supply&#10;B)Risk&#10;C)Demand&#10;D)All of the above.&#10;

Accepted Answer

The answer of __________ is most predictable during the maturity...

Question 15

___________ are used to track the efficiency and responsiveness of the modeled supply chain, and include the total inventory cost incurred in the system.&#10;A)Production measures&#10;B)Performance measures&#10;C)Predictability measures&#10;D)Variance measures&#10;

Accepted Answer

The answer of ___________ are used to track the efficiency...

Question 16

The key difference between different planning set-ups in this supply chain model is due to _____________ by the supply chain members.&#10;A)Differences in the decision-making policies&#10;B)Differences in the Customer Relationship Management&#10;C)Difference in SRM&#10;D)None of the above.&#10;

Accepted Answer

The answer of The key difference between different planning set-ups...

Question 17

The supply chain often has delays in ___________ due to various conditions.&#10;A)Information processing&#10;B)Production&#10;C)Shipment delays&#10;D)All of the above.&#10;

Accepted Answer

The answer of The supply chain often has delays in...

Deck 5: Dynamics