Question 1

In many firms,collaboration with customers or suppliers has been found to be easier to accomplish than has collaboration within internal functions.

Accepted Answer

Collaborating with external parties such as customers or suppliers is often easier as there is a shared interest in the success of the project or partnership. Internal functions may have different priorities or goals, which can make collaboration more challenging.

Question 2

Decentralization of logistics organization is critical to achieving customer service,satisfaction,and success.

Accepted Answer

False

Question 3

Most supply chain relationships that are characterized as alliances have been initiated by the customer rather than the supplier.

Accepted Answer

According to research, the majority of supply chain alliances are initiated by customers seeking to improve their supply chain performance or reduce costs.

Question 4

Jones Company consistently delivers on-time as promised to customers.This type of performance is critical to:

Accepted Answer

Delivering on-time as promised to customers builds reliability based trust, which is essential for maintaining customer relationships and loyalty. Character based trust pertains to the ethical values and behavior of individuals, while power in a supply chain is based on factors such as bargaining power and market share.

Question 5

An organization structure in which all logistical functions and operations report to a single senior manager or executive is very common today.

Accepted Answer

This describes a centralized logistics structure, which is one approach among several. Organizations may also adopt decentralized or hybrid logistics structures depending on their size, strategy, and operational needs, making no single structure universally common.

Question 6

As a general rule powerful firms prefer to link with less powerful firms in supply chain collaboration so that it can use power to obtain advantage over those less powerful firms.

Accepted Answer

As a general rule, powerful firms prefer to collaborate with other powerful firms in supply chain collaboration to enhance their competitive advantage. Collaboration with less powerful firms may lead to increased dependence and vulnerability for the powerful firms.

Question 7

Over the last several decades,power in supply chains has increasingly been shifting to:

Accepted Answer

With the rise of e-commerce and the importance of customer demand, retailers have gained significant power in supply chains. They are now able to dictate terms to their suppliers, requiring timely delivery, competitive pricing, and high-quality products. This shift has led to a greater focus on supply chain agility and responsiveness in order to meet retailers' demands.

Question 8

The shift from functional to process integration decreases the pressure to aggregate functions into specific organizational units.

Accepted Answer

When processes are integrated across organizational boundaries, there is less need to group functions into specific units as the focus is on achieving the end goal of the process rather than the traditional functional silos.

Question 9

Most firms today have successfully overcome the situation that the text describes as "The Great Divide".

Accepted Answer

Many firms still struggle with "The Great Divide," which refers to the gap between strategy formulation and its execution, due to challenges in communication, alignment, and implementation across different levels of the organization.

Question 10

Initial implementation of successful supply chain collaborative relationships seems to require:

Accepted Answer

The answer of Initial implementation of successful supply chain collaborative...

Question 11

Which of the following is not considered a barrier to achieving process integration?

Accepted Answer

Financial resources may impact the level of process integration that a company can achieve, but it is not considered a barrier in itself. The other options (measurement and reward systems, organization structure, and knowledge hoarding) are all recognized as barriers to achieving process integration.

Question 12

Centralization of logistics organization is critical to achieving lowest total cost logistics performance.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Centralization of logistics organization is critical to...

Question 13

Grouping transportation,warehousing and other activities related to logistics into a single logistical function was motivated by the belief that this would help optimize the performance of each of these individual activities.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Grouping transportation,warehousing and other activities related to...

Question 14

The most elementary form of collaboration in supply chains is seen in the form of:

Accepted Answer

Contracting and outsourcing involve basic collaboration between multiple parties in a supply chain. It involves one party outsourcing a part of their production or supply to another party to increase efficiency and decrease costs.

Question 15

Until the 1950s,logistics functions were generally viewed in companies as facilitating or support work.

Accepted Answer

Before the 1950s, logistics functions were considered as secondary activities that supported the primary functions of a company, such as production and sales. It was only in the 1950s that logistics started to be recognized as a crucial activity for the success of a business.

Question 16

The text makes reference to a situation it calls "The Great Divide".While this divide has many different possible forms,it is most frequently observed in:

Accepted Answer

The term "The Great Divide" can refer to various types of divides or gaps in different contexts, but without specific information about the context in which it is used here, none of the provided options (A, B, C) can be definitively identified as the most frequently observed form of "The Great Divide."

Question 17

Contracting as a form of supply chain collaborative relationship generally involves greater information sharing and dependency than administered relationships.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Contracting as a form of supply chain...

Question 18

Most successful initiatives to improve supply chain competitiveness include third- party or integrated service providers in the collaboration.

Accepted Answer

Collaborating with third-party or integrated service providers can bring in expertise and resources that improve the overall efficiency and competitiveness of the supply chain.

Question 19

The idea of structuring logistics as an integrated organization:

Accepted Answer

The idea of structuring logistics as an integrated organization first appeared in the 1950s with the concept of Physical Distribution Management (PDM).

Question 20

The majority of information shared among supply chain members is operational vs.strategic.

Accepted Answer

Operational information such as purchase orders, shipment tracking, and inventory levels is more commonly shared among supply chain members compared to strategic information such as long-term planning and forecasting.

Quiz 12: Relationship Management