Deck 9: Balancing Demand and Productive Capacity

Question 1

Which of the following may result in allocation to separate queuing areas?

A)Time already spent waiting
B)Excess capacity
C)Urgency of the job
D)Excess demand
E)Multiple locations

Answer 1

C

Question 2

For the monetary price of a service to be effective as a demand management tool, managers must have some sense of the shape and slope of a product's demand curve.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

What are the four supply and demand conditions that a fixed-capacity service may face?

Answer 3

Excess demand, demand exceeds optimum capacity, demand and supply are well balanced, and excess capacity.

Question 4

The term "productive capacity" refers to the resources or assets that a firm can employ to create goods and services.

Question 5

Processing times for people are typically less variable than objects or things.

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT one of the alternative queuing configurations discussed?

A)Single line/single servers at sequential stages
B)Multiple line to single servers "snake")
C)Parallel lines to multiple servers
D)Designated lines to designated servers
E)"Take a Number" single or multiple servers)

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT a way of understanding the nature of demand curves?

A)Research.
B)Analyzing parallel situations in other locations.
C)Trial and error.
D)Analyzing parallel situations in comparable services.
E)Analyzing competing demand positions.

Question 8

The problem of capacity constrained organizations that cannot stockpile services is most commonly found among services that process ____________ and ____________.

A)non-labor intensive information; time
B)physical possessions; time
C)people; non-labor intensive information
D)people; physical possessions
E)non-labor intensive information; physical possessions

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT one of the productive capacity forms in a service context?

A)Physical facilities designed to contain customers
B)Physical equipment used to process people, possessions, or information
C)Customers
D)Labor
E)Infrastructure

Question 10

Queues represent a symptom of unresolved capacity management problems.

Question 11

Parallel lines to multiple servers is commonly known as a "Snake"

Question 12

A service organization's capacity to satisfy demand is constrained by all of the following EXCEPT ____________.

A)physical facilities
B)equipment
C)personnel
D)sequence of services provided
E)number of competitors

Question 13

Measures of capacity utilization include: the number of hours that facilities, labor and equipment are productively employed in revenue operations and the size of the physical facility.

Question 14

When a firm wants to inventory demand via a reservation system and has insufficient capacity it should lower prices selectively.

Question 15

Possible strategic applications of excess capacity include all of the following EXCEPT ____________.

A)reducing variation in current capacity
B)free trials for prospective customers
C)free trials for intermediaries who sell to end customers
D)employee rewards
E)bartering with the firm's own suppliers

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT one of the five basic approaches to managing demand?

A)Taking no action and leaving demand to find its own levels.
B)Reduce demand in peak periods.
C)Increase demand when there is excess capacity.
D)Inventory capacity until demand increases.
E)Inventory demand by creating a formalized queuing system.

Question 17

Yield analysis forces managers to recognize the opportunity cost of selling capacity for a given date to a customer from one market segment when another might subsequently yield a higher rate.

Question 18

Which of the following is the correct action for a firm to take that wants to reduce demand and has insufficient capacity?

A)Take no action.
B)Consider override for most desirable segments.
C)Consider priority systems for most desirable segments.
D)Increase prices or encourage use in other time slots.
E)Lower prices selectively.

Question 19

What are the two basic approaches to fluctuating demand?

Question 20

Random fluctuations in business are usually caused by factors well within management's control.

Question 21

According to a national survey of 1000 adults in the United States, which of the following is the most dreaded waiting queue?

A)Restaurant
B)Department of Motor Vehicles
C)Doctor's office
D)Grocery store
E)Airport

Question 22

Theme parks cleverly design their waiting areas to do which of the following?

A)Make the wait look as long as it is so they aren't disappointed
B)Find ways to give the customers the impression of constant progress
C)Keep the waiting area distraction free so people keep moving in line
D)Post clocks everywhere so people know how long they have been in line
E)Offer customers additional services while they wait

Question 23

One way to stretch capacity is to utilize the facility for longer periods.

Question 24

A cleaning and repair firm that wants to generate business during low demand periods would do best to offer which of the following?

A)Offer free pickup and delivery of portable items that need servicing.
B)Vary the time when service is available.
C)Add more service options.
D)Increase prices to get the most out of current customers.
E)Educate customers on when they should have things cleaned or repaired.

Question 25

Efforts directed at changing demand patterns on a city bus should be aimed at cross-training individual employees.

Question 26

The goal of a restaurant in varying its service level and menus is only to appeal to different needs within the same group of customers.

Question 27

Give a situation where optimal and maximum capacities are the same.

Question 28

Give an example of how ski resorts increase demand during the summer months.

Question 29

The demand for a city bus is most likely to vary by all EXCEPT which of the following?

A)Time of day.
B)Day of the week.
C)Season of the year.
D)Population in the city.
E)All of the above will likely cause demand to vary on a city bus.

Question 30

Describe how ski resorts manage traditionally seasonal supply and demand fluctuations.

Question 31

Describe four of the ten propositions on the psychology of waiting lines.

Question 32

One of the most direct ways for a hotel to reduce excess demand at peak periods is to charge customers more money to use the service during those periods.

Question 33

What are thee strategies that can be employed when considering a modification to the place and time of service delivery?

Question 34

List the four key marketing strategies that can be employed to reshape demand.

Question 35

Describe how optimum and maximum capacities may differ in the restaurant industry.

Question 36

Describe what the term "yield" means in the context of a reservation strategy.

Question 37

Which of the following hotel customers has the most inelastic demand slope?

A)Business travelers in high season.
B)Business travelers in low season.
C)Tourists in high season.
D)Tourists in low season.
E)All groups have equivalent demand curves.

Question 38

Discuss why a subway car has elastic capacity.

Question 39

List the seven actions managers can take to adjust capacity as needed.

Question 40

A good example of inventorying demand is a haircut that can be set up and prepared for one day and executed the next.

Question 41

Discuss the multi-pronged strategy a large Chicago bank used to reduce customer waiting times.

Question 42

Describe how Disney decided to deal with long lines.