COB 300 Operations Final Exam (2026 updated) Newest Actual
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Explain system design vs. system operations decisions - ANSWERS--
Design - require long term commitment, usually strategic decisions
Operations - tactical and operational decisions, spend more time on
it than any other decision area
Whats an environmental concern for business operations? -
ANSWERS--Sustainability - using resources in ways that do not harm
ecological systems
What comes first? Mass production or mass customization? -
ANSWERS--Mass production - early 1900s
Mass customization came later when Dell was founded
What do Operations Managers try to achieve? - ANSWERS--Manage
activities to generate value efficiently
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What are two attributes important to both consumers and
businesses? - ANSWERS--Cost and quality
Selecting and Communicating attributes is a... - ANSWERS--
Marketing issue
Delivering attributes is about... - ANSWERS--Operations
Organizational vs Functional strategies - ANSWERS--Org - Overall
strategies that relate to the entire organization
Functional - Strategies that relate to each of the functional areas and
support the organizational strategy
What is at the top of the strategic hierarchy? - ANSWERS--The
organizations Mission
Explain Core Competencies, give an example - ANSWERS--Special
attributes that give an organization a competitive edge (Hondas is
their engines and power trains)
Explain Order losers, qualifiers, and winners - ANSWERS--Loser-
repels customers
Qualifier- basic characteristics that makes products an option to
customers
Winner- characteristics that cause the product to be perceived as
better than competition
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What are Michael Porter's 3 business strategies? - ANSWERS--Cost
Leadership - price lower than competitors
Differentiation - distinguishing features that customers perceives as
value add
When the business strategy is to compete on response, what must
be the focus? - ANSWERS--Flexibility, reliability, and quickness
What are operational strategies based on? - ANSWERS--Competitive
priorities
Explain a balanced scorecard - ANSWERS--Clarifies vision and
strategy to put them into action by developing objectives
Explain productivity - ANSWERS--measure of how effectively you use
resources, ratio of output to input
What are the 6 phases of Product Development? - ANSWERS--1.
Planning
2. Concept Development
3. System level design
4. Design detail
5. Testing and refinement
6. Production ramp-up
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What phases of Product Development include manufacturing? -
ANSWERS--All phases
Explain Quality Function Deployment - ANSWERS--Translates
customer requirements into goals
Facilitates cooperation between departments
Begins with listening to the customer
Explain Value analysis vs. Value engineering - ANSWERS--VA- deals
with products already in production
VE- deals with products before the production phase
The purpose of VA/VE is to simplify products and processes
What is the least important performance dimension for product
development projects? - ANSWERS--Product flexibility
What is one of the main considerations in designing services? Why? -
ANSWERS--Variability due to higher customer contact
Explain buffering - ANSWERS--a storage area between stages
Explain blocking - ANSWERS--where activities in the stage must stop
because there is no place to deposit the item
Explain starving - ANSWERS--activities must stop because there is no
work