Deck 5: The Service Delivery Process

Question 1

All of the following are examples of the technical core within an organization except the:

A)kitchen in restaurant.
B)surgical room in a hospital.
C)service bay at an auto repair facility.
D)waiting area at a dentist's office.
E)projection booth in a movie theater.​

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT one of the broad categories of strategies used to overcome the problems of service operations?

A)isolating the technical core
B)production-lining the whole system
C)creating flexible capacity
D)increasing customer participation
E)maximizing the servuction system

Answer 2

E

Question 3

The objective of decoupling is:

A)separating consumption in time and space.
B)unbundling services so that they may be purchased separately.
C)separating the technical core of the operation from the high customer contact areas of the firm so that efficiencies may be achieved.
D)managing consumers so that they do not negatively influence one another's service experience.
E)separating co-workers who,due to their differences,decrease the operational efficiency of the system.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The manner in which "operational competitiveness" is embraced by various service firms can be described by all the following stages except:

A)available for service.
B)marketing and operations.
C)journeyman.
D)distinctive competencies achieved.
E)world-class service delivery.

Question 5

According to Thompson's perfect-world model,perfect efficiency occurs when:

A)​employees understand their jobs.
B)​role congruence occurs between customers and employees.
C)​inputs,outputs,and quality happen at a constant rate and remain known and certain.
D)​customer needs are being met.
E)​when the operation concentrates on performing one particular task in one particular part of the plant.

Question 6

Production-lining a service operation can be achieved through:

A)​utilizing hard technologies.
B)​customizing services.
C)​utilizing soft technologies.
D)​meeting individual customer needs.
E)​utilizing hard and soft technologies.

Question 7

Blueprints identify all of the following process steps except:

A)the direction in which processes flow.
B)the time it takes to move from one process to the next.
C)the costs involved with each process step.
D)the amount of inventory build-up at each step.
E)none of these are exceptions.

Question 8

Soft technologies refer to the:

A)personal touches that ultimately lead to customer satisfaction.
B)flexible rules that can be bent to meet customer needs.
C)guidelines that permit employee empowerment.
D)hardware that facilitates the production of a standardized product.
E)rules,regulations,and procedures that facilitate the production of a standardized product.

Question 9

All of the following are examples of creating flexible capacity except:

A)using part-time employees.
B)sharing capacity with another firm.
C)handling routine transactions by mail or email.
D)cross-training employees.
E)none of these are exceptions.

Question 10

With regards to constructing a service blueprint,the time required to perform one activity at one station is called:

A)​process time.
B)​activity time.
C)​maximum output per hour.
D)​operation time.
E)​bottleneck time.

Question 11

Strategies to increase the efficiency of service operations include all of the following except:

A)buffering.
B)smoothing.
C)anticipating.
D)rationing.
E)allocating.

Question 12

The strategy of breaking up large,unfocused plants into smaller units buffered from one another so that each can be focused separately is referred to as:

A)the perfect-world model.
B)operations segmentation.
C)the plant-within-a-plant concept.
D)operations segregation.
E)management by focus.

Question 13

Customers ultimately determine:

A)the type of demand.
B)the levels of marketing effectiveness and operational efficiency.
C)the cycle of demand.
D)the length of the service experience.
E)all of the these.

Question 14

Exhibit 5-1
The following questions are based on the below cafeteria flowchart and the information provided in the table. Customers start at counter A and move to Counter B. Customers then choose one of two counter Cs and then move on toward Counter D. Customers then choose one of two counter Es and then move on toward Counter E.

$$\begin{array}{c}\begin{array} { c c c } &\text { INFORMATION TABLE }\\\text { Counter(s) } & \text { Activity Time } & \text { Wage per Person per Hour } \\\text { A } & 10 \text { secs. } & \$ 6 \\\text { B } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { C } & 60 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { D } & 40 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { E } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { F } & 20 \text { secs. } & 8\end{array}\end{array}$$

-Refer to Exhibit 5-1.What is the process time for Counter E?

A)10 seconds
B)15 seconds
C)20 seconds
D)30 seconds
E)60 seconds

Question 15

​The strategy that resorts to triage when the demands placed on the system by the environment exceed its ability to handle them is referred to as:

A)​buffering.
B)​smoothing.
C)​anticipating.
D)​rationing.
E)​allocating.

Question 16

The strategy that surrounds the technical core of the operation with input and output components is called:

A)buffering.
B)smoothing.
C)anticipating.
D)rationing.
E)allocating.

Question 17

The place within an organization where its primary operations are conducted is called the:

A)the technical core.
B)the organizational point.
C)the factory.
D)the main system.
E)main terminal.

Question 18

Exhibit 5-1
The following questions are based on the below cafeteria flowchart and the information provided in the table. Customers start at counter A and move to Counter B. Customers then choose one of two counter Cs and then move on toward Counter D. Customers then choose one of two counter Es and then move on toward Counter E.

$$\begin{array}{c}\begin{array} { c c c } &\text { INFORMATION TABLE }\\\text { Counter(s) } & \text { Activity Time } & \text { Wage per Person per Hour } \\\text { A } & 10 \text { secs. } & \$ 6 \\\text { B } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { C } & 60 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { D } & 40 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { E } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { F } & 20 \text { secs. } & 8\end{array}\end{array}$$

-Refer to Exhibit 5-1. What is the activity time for Counter C?

A)10 seconds
B)20 seconds
C)30 seconds
D)45 seconds
E)60 seconds

Question 19

Which of the following is an example of decoupling?

A)using part-time employees
B)sharing capacity with another firm
C)handling routine transactions by mail or email
D)cross-training employees
E)offering discounts during non-peak times

Question 20

An automatic teller machine (ATM) is an example of:

A)production-lining.
B)isolating the technical core.
C)decoupling.
D)creating flexible capacity.
E)moving the time of demand.

Question 21

Discuss the relationship between operations and marketing as it pertains to developing service delivery systems.

Question 22

Exhibit 5-1
The following questions are based on the below cafeteria flowchart and the information provided in the table. Customers start at counter A and move to Counter B. Customers then choose one of two counter Cs and then move on toward Counter D. Customers then choose one of two counter Es and then move on toward Counter E.

$$\begin{array}{c}\begin{array} { c c c } &\text { INFORMATION TABLE }\\\text { Counter(s) } & \text { Activity Time } & \text { Wage per Person per Hour } \\\text { A } & 10 \text { secs. } & \$ 6 \\\text { B } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { C } & 60 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { D } & 40 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { E } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { F } & 20 \text { secs. } & 8\end{array}\end{array}$$

-Refer to Exhibit 5-1.How many customers can this cafeteria process in an hour?

A)360
B)120
C)90
D)240
E)180

Question 23

Define the fundamental components of a service blueprint.

Question 24

Describe the difficulties associated with applying efficiency models to service organizations.

Question 25

Based on the following cafeteria flowchart and the information provided in the table: a.What is the service cost per meal? b.If you were to add another station to fix the current bottleneck,where would you add it?c.How does this affect the service cost per meal?

Question 26

A service operation consists of four stations.Station 1 can process 150 customers per hour.Station 2 can process 300 customers per hour.Stations 3 can process 100 customers per hour,and Station 4 can process 150 customers per hour.What is the maximum number of customers the entire operation can process in an hour?

A)700
B)300
C)175
D)150
E)​100

Question 27

Divesting an operation of different services and concentrating on providing only one or a few services in order to pursue a specialization position strategy is called:

A)increasing divergence.
B)reducing divergence.
C)increasing complexity.
D)unbundling the service.
E)divesting concentration.

Question 28

The positioning strategy that increases divergence so that the operation can tailor the service experience to each customer is referred to as a:

A)niche positioning strategy.
B)volume-oriented positioning strategy.
C)specialization positioning strategy.
D)penetration strategy.
E)market diversification strategy.

Question 29

Exhibit 5-1
The following questions are based on the below cafeteria flowchart and the information provided in the table. Customers start at counter A and move to Counter B. Customers then choose one of two counter Cs and then move on toward Counter D. Customers then choose one of two counter Es and then move on toward Counter E.

$$\begin{array}{c}\begin{array} { c c c } &\text { INFORMATION TABLE }\\\text { Counter(s) } & \text { Activity Time } & \text { Wage per Person per Hour } \\\text { A } & 10 \text { secs. } & \$ 6 \\\text { B } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { C } & 60 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { D } & 40 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { E } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { F } & 20 \text { secs. } & 8\end{array}\end{array}$$

-Refer to Exhibit 5-1.Assuming one service provider per counter and based on its current configuration,the cafeteria's service cost per meal is:

A)$42.00
B)$0.11
C)$0.46
D)$2.14
E)$0.62

Question 30

Discuss the type of operation that would typify peak efficiency.

Question 31

Exhibit 5-1
The following questions are based on the below cafeteria flowchart and the information provided in the table. Customers start at counter A and move to Counter B. Customers then choose one of two counter Cs and then move on toward Counter D. Customers then choose one of two counter Es and then move on toward Counter E.

$$\begin{array}{c}\begin{array} { c c c } &\text { INFORMATION TABLE }\\\text { Counter(s) } & \text { Activity Time } & \text { Wage per Person per Hour } \\\text { A } & 10 \text { secs. } & \$ 6 \\\text { B } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { C } & 60 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { D } & 40 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { E } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { F } & 20 \text { secs. } & 8\end{array}\end{array}$$

-?Refer to Exhibit 5-1.If an extra counter is added at the bottleneck location,how many customers can the cafeteria process in an hour?

A)?360
B)?120
C)?90
D)?240
E)?180

Question 32

The ____ is calculated by dividing the activity time by the number of locations at which the activity is performed.

A)service cost per meal
B)maximum output per hour
C)process time
D)activity time
E)bottleneck time

Question 33

Exhibit 5-1
The following questions are based on the below cafeteria flowchart and the information provided in the table. Customers start at counter A and move to Counter B. Customers then choose one of two counter Cs and then move on toward Counter D. Customers then choose one of two counter Es and then move on toward Counter E.

$$\begin{array}{c}\begin{array} { c c c } &\text { INFORMATION TABLE }\\\text { Counter(s) } & \text { Activity Time } & \text { Wage per Person per Hour } \\\text { A } & 10 \text { secs. } & \$ 6 \\\text { B } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { C } & 60 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { D } & 40 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { E } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { F } & 20 \text { secs. } & 8\end{array}\end{array}$$

-Refer to Exhibit 5-1.If an extra counter is located at the bottleneck location,what is the new service cost per meal?

A)$49.00
B)$0.53
C)$0.46
D)$2.14
E)$1.90

Question 34

Exhibit 5-1
The following questions are based on the below cafeteria flowchart and the information provided in the table. Customers start at counter A and move to Counter B. Customers then choose one of two counter Cs and then move on toward Counter D. Customers then choose one of two counter Es and then move on toward Counter E.

$$\begin{array}{c}\begin{array} { c c c } &\text { INFORMATION TABLE }\\\text { Counter(s) } & \text { Activity Time } & \text { Wage per Person per Hour } \\\text { A } & 10 \text { secs. } & \$ 6 \\\text { B } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { C } & 60 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { D } & 40 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { E } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { F } & 20 \text { secs. } & 8\end{array}\end{array}$$

-Refer to Exhibit 5-1.Where is the bottleneck located in this example?

A)Counter A
B)Counter B
C)Counter C
D)Counter D
E)Counter E

Question 35

Exhibit 5-1
The following questions are based on the below cafeteria flowchart and the information provided in the table. Customers start at counter A and move to Counter B. Customers then choose one of two counter Cs and then move on toward Counter D. Customers then choose one of two counter Es and then move on toward Counter E.

$$\begin{array}{c}\begin{array} { c c c } &\text { INFORMATION TABLE }\\\text { Counter(s) } & \text { Activity Time } & \text { Wage per Person per Hour } \\\text { A } & 10 \text { secs. } & \$ 6 \\\text { B } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { C } & 60 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { D } & 40 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { E } & 30 \text { secs. } & 7 \\\text { F } & 20 \text { secs. } & 8\end{array}\end{array}$$

-Refer to Exhibit 5-1.Which of the following counters produces a maximum output per hour of 240 customers?

A)Counter A
B)Counter B
C)Counter C
D)Counter D
E)Counter E

Question 36

The most common mistake made when constructing a service blueprint is:

A)bottlenecks are not identified correctly.
B)failure points are not identified correctly.
C)the blueprint is one-sided − representing only the firm's perception of the process.
D)script norms are misunderstood.
E)the time frame for service execution is miscalculated.

Question 37

A specialization positioning strategy is accomplished by:

A)increasing divergence.
B)reducing divergence.
C)increasing complexity.
D)reducing complexity.
E)bundling the service.

Question 38

A volume-oriented positioning strategy is achieved by:

A)increasing divergence.
B)reducing divergence.
C)increasing complexity.
D)reducing complexity.
E)unbundling the service.

Question 39

The positioning strategy that increases complexity by adding more services and/or enhancing current services to capture more of the market is referred to as:

A)niche positioning strategy.
B)volume-oriented positioning strategy.
C)specialization positioning strategy.
D)penetration strategy.
E)market diversification strategy.

Question 40

Which of the following is NOT a step in the construction process of a service blueprint?

A)obtaining scripts from both customers and employees
B)segmenting customers based on the content of the script
C)identify steps in the process where the system can go awry
D)calculating the time frame for service execution
E)analyzing the profitability of the system

Question 41

Discuss the strategies available for new service development.