Questions and Answers of Supply Chain Management A Logistics

Have your goals changed? Have you met them?
What do you consider your most valuable asset—the thing that enabled you to make it?
If you had it to do over again would you do it again in the same way?
Looking back, what do you feel are the most critical concepts, skills, attitudes, and know-how you needed to get your company started and grown to where it is today?What will be needed for the next
Some people say there is a lot of stress being an entrepreneur.What have you experienced? How would you say it compares with other hot-seat jobs, such as the head of a big company or a partner in a
What are the things that you find personally rewarding and satisfying as an entrepreneur? What have been the rewards, risks, and trade-offs?
Who should try to be an entrepreneur? Can you give me any ideas there?
What advice would you give an aspiring entrepreneur?Could you suggest the three most important lessons you have learned? How can I learn them while minimizing the tuition?
Your instructor will divide the class into teams and assign each team the task of investigating the start-up of one of the following businesses:a. Submarine sandwich shopb. Day care servicec.
Each team should research the information necessary to complete the New Business Start-Up Worksheet.The following agencies or organizations might be of assistance:a. Small Business Administrationb.
Each team presents its findings to the class.
What actions could Acme Electronics take to foster intrapreneurship? What consequences does it suffer from failing to foster it?
What information should Mandy include in her business plan?
Describe three nonfinancial resources likely to be important for the future of ScrollCo. How can Mandy ensure that her business has those resources?
What threats, opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses can you identify at Foxconn? How is it addressing these with its strategy?
If Foxconn’s management hired you to offer advice on improving its ethical decision making and corporate social responsibility, what measures would you suggest?Why?
Why do you think Tim Cook, after years of using Foxconn for most of Apple’s production needs, shifted some production to Pegatron?
Explain how differentiation and integration influence an organization’s structure.
Summarize how authority operates.
Define the roles of the board of directors and the chief executive officer.
Discuss how span of control affects structure and managerial effectiveness.
Explain how to delegate effectively.
Distinguish between centralized and decentralized organizations.
Summarize ways organizations can be structured.
Identify the unique challenges of the matrix organization.
Describe important integrative mechanisms.
Why do you think Kiva is using a functional approach to structuring its organization?
Referring to the eight areas illustrated, which are considered line activities? Staff activities?
Review the advantages and drawbacks of functional organizations and geographic divisions. Which ones may have contributed to the decisions to ignore and later to finally address the faulty ignition
What do you think will be the impact of GM’s effort to create a more centralized structure based on functional groups?
How might Barra’s efforts at changing the culture at GM increase the chances that the structural changes will be effective in the long term?
What personal, human factors are likely to affect GM’s success in achieving greater organizational integration?
Interview a member of a board of directors, and discuss that member’s perspectives on his or her role.
Brainstorm a list of specific ways to integrate interdependent work units. Discuss the activities required and the pros and cons of each approach.
Draw an organization chart for your business school.Be sure to identify all the staff and line positions in the school. Specify the chain of command and the levels of administration. Note the
Review the chapter material on organization structure to help identify both strong and weak points in your school’s organization. Now draw another organization chart for the school, incorporating
Is your business school well organized? Why or why not?
In what ways is the school’s structure designed to suit the needs of students, faculty, staff, the administration, and the business community?
Company X produces one specialized product line for heart surgeons in the United States.• Maintain current centralized organizational structure or• Move to a more decentralized organizational
Company Y makes over 100 electronic products and has to respond rapidly to the moves of its competitors.• Maintain current centralized organizational structure or• Move to a more decentralized
Company Z’s managers are becoming increasingly comfortable with delegating tasks and responsibilities to subordinates in order to develop their decision-making skills.• Maintain current
What role did authority play in the adoption of the wiki by the IT division at Stanley Lynch?
Describe how the IT division used coordination to achieve greater integration.
Discuss why it is critical for organizations to be responsive.
Describe the qualities of an organic organization structure.
Identify strategies and dynamic organizational concepts that can improve an organization’s responsiveness.
Explain how a firm can be both big and small.
Summarize how firms organize to meet customer requirements.
Identify ways that firms organize around different types of technology.
As social enterprises try to get larger, what unique challenges do they face?
What are some of the drawbacks associated with partnering with governments or big businesses? If you ran an SE, which of these options would you pursue?
How does GE benefit from being large?
How can GE also reap some of the benefits of smallness?
Based on the information in the three parts of this“Management in Action” case, how would you rate GE’s organizational agility? Summarize your reasons for this rating.
How is GE doing now, and what is it doing in terms of the management ideas you have learned here?
Describe large, bureaucratic organizations with which you have had contact that have not responded flexibly to customer demands. Also describe examples of satisfactory responsiveness. What do you
What is a core capability? What would you say are the core capabilities of Toyota, Walmart, and Apple?Brainstorm some creative new products and markets to which these capabilities could be applied.
If you were going into business for yourself, what would be your personal core capabilities? What capabilities do you have now, and what capabilities will you develop? Describe what your role would
Using an Internet search engine, search for “strategic alliance” and identify three recently formed alliances.For each alliance, identify whether the companies’other products are generally
What skills will you need to work effectively in (a) a learning organization, and (b) a high-involvement organization?Be specific, generating long lists. Would you enjoy working in these
Indicate your general preference for working in one of these two organizational structures by circling the appropriate response:Mechanistic 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Organic
Indicate your perception of the form of organization that is used in this class by circling the appropriate response for each item: A. Task role definition B. Communication C. Decision making Rigid 1
As DIY Stores built its online presence, how well did it organize around its core capabilities?
DIY Stores is a large national chain. What impact did its size have on its agility?
How could DIY increase its agility in responding to the importance of the Internet?
What is the functional aggregation paradigm and why is it important?
Compare and contrast the three stages of functional aggregation.
What is meant by the term "structural compression"? How does this term affect logistics?
What is a horizontal company and how would this type of company be organized?What are the strengths of this type of organization structure?
Describe a situation where empowerment has been used. What are the benefits and drawbacks to empowerment in the situation?
Describe why teams are being formed more frequently in business today. What are some of the special considerations required for a team to be successful?
Defend a position on the following question: Does radical organization change require disintegration of existing structures?
Describe four reasons why collaborative relationships fail. How can these failures be avoided?
Compare and contrast the various metrics for product availability. Why is the order fill rate considered the most stringent metric?
Why is it important that a firm measure customer perception as a regular part of performance measurement?
Why is flexible budgeting a more valuable tool for logistics managers than fixed dollar budgeting?
Do you believe that activity-based costing represents an equitable basis for allocating indirect expenses?
Suppose you have been asked by a firm to assess the impact on return on assets of outsourcing transportation. Currently the firm uses a private truck fleet and is considering a switch to a
Tom Lippet, sales representative for DuPont Engineering Polymers (DEP), felt uneasy as he drove to his appointment at Gard Automotive Manufacturing (GARD). In the past, sales deals with CARD had
In your words, what is the locational impact of inventory? How does it differ for transit inventories and safety stocks?
In Table 15-5, why does customer service speed of performance increase faster for customers located greater distances from a warehouse facility? What is the implication of this relationship for
What is the difference between minimum total cost and short-range profit maximization policies in system design?
In what ways can customer service performance be improved by incorporating flexible distribution operations into a logistical system design'?
What is sensitivity analysis, and what is its role in systems design and analysis?
Both internal and external review assessments must consider a number of measures. What are they and why are they important?
What is the key objective in freight lane analysis?
What is the main advantage of the typical optimization technique in comparison to simulation?
At what point in the typical analysis does the technique give way to the managerial review and evaluation process?
How does the cost of canying inventory impact the traditional earnings statement of the enterprise?
What advantage does DRP have over a fair share method of inventory deployment?
Describe the five modes of transportation, identifying the most significant characteristic of each.
Why is motor carrier freight transportation the most preferred method of product shipment?
Why is it important for a logistics manager to have a degree of understanding of transportation regulatory history?
Why have railroad miles declined during a period of national growth?
Discuss the fundamental difference between TOFC and COFC. Why was double stacking considered a major innovation in multimodal transportation?
Explain the value proposition offered by freight forwarding. Provide an example that illustrates why shippers would be attracted to using the services of a freight forwarder as contrasted to
Compare and contrast variable, fixed, and joint costs.
Compare and contrast cost-of-service with value-of-service as alternative ratemaking strategies.
Discuss the concept of net pricing. What advantage does net pricing provide to carriers and shippers?
Describe the difference between a rate and a rating. How do they relate to classification?

Showing 900 - 1000 of 1172