WGU C720 Unit 2 Management and Planning exam| 33 questions and answers

Operations Management The _______________ is the multidisciplinary science that organizations use to acquire inputs (such as people, capital, material, or energy) and transform them into outputs (products and/or services) that ultimately provide value to the end customer. Operations ____________ refers to the processes within organizations that acquire inputs and transform them into outputs that the public can consume. It is the processes through which people, capital, and material are combined to produce the services and goods consumed by the public. Ethics ____________ are a sense of what is right and wrong that guide behavior. operations managers _______________ apply ideas and knowledge to: - Decrease production time. - Increase the speed of bringing new services and goods to market. - Improve flexibility to meet rapidly changing customer needs. - Enhance product quality. - Improve customer service. - Increase productivity. Reduce costs. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) The ___________ is a set of multilateral trade agreements aimed at the abolition of quotas and the reduction of tariff duties among the contracting nations. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) The __________ signed by the United States, Canada, and Mexico in 1992 to form the largest free trade zone in the world. Sustainability ___________ reflects the efforts organizations are expected to make to balance their interconnected obligations to economic viability, the societies in which they operate, and the natural environment. triple bottom line The __________ is an accounting framework including three parts: 1. profitability 2. Employee wellness 3. Environmental viability. Relative advantage _____________ is the degree to which a consumer perceives that a new product provides superior benefits over existing products. It is the difference between the lowest cost producer of a good and the next-lowest cost producer of the same good. competitive advantage A _____________ is a capability that customers value, such as short delivery lead-time or high product quality that gives an organization an edge against its competition. An organization creates a competitive advantage by giving customers what they want in a better way than other companies. Market share _________ is a company's sales divided by the sales of all companies in its industry. It refers to the sales a company has versus the entire industry sales volume. VIRAL _________ is a framework for competitive advantage. The advantage must: 1. provide Value to consumers 2. be Inimitable (not easily imitated) 3. be Rare 4. have Aptitude (capability) 5. have Lifespan (sustainability) External Environment ___________ (threats and opportunities) is the uncontrollable elements outside an organization that may affect its performance either positively or negatively internal environment _____________ (strengths and weaknesses) is the events and trends inside an organization that affect management, employees, and organizational culture SWOT analysis ___________ is an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Business Process ___________ is a standardized set of activities that accomplish a specific task. Most organizations have the following four key processes: 1. Strategy development 2. Product development 3. Development of systems to produce goods and services 4. Order fulfillment Strategy Development process _______________ considers the threats and opportunities in the environment, and it measures the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This includes setting goals, developing action plans for achieving the goals, and determining resource requirements. Product Development process ____________ is a teamwork-oriented process that begins with the organization's strategy and analysis of the markets as inputs. Market research plays a key role in assessing market characteristics, which in turn drive product development strategy. Systems Creation process _____________ develops systems to produce the services and goods designed in the product development process requires firms to assemble resources—people, facilities and equipment, and material and energy. Order Fulfillment process _________ involves all the steps required to satisfy a customer's order, from obtaining an order and entering it into the organization's information system, to delivering the order. Strengths ____________ are the characteristics of a business or project that lend an advantage within the scope of the study and ask the following questions: - What advantages does the organization have? - What are the core competencies of the business? - What unique or lowest-cost resources are controlled? - What do people in the marketplace perceive as the organization's strengths or reputation? - What factors make the organization unique? Weaknesses ___________ are the characteristics of a business or project result in a disadvantage, relative to others and ask the following questions: - What could be improved? - What should be avoided? - What are people in the market likely to perceive as weaknesses? - What factors result in lost sales? Opportunities ____________ are elements that the project could exploit to its advantage and ask the following questions: - What do good opportunities look like? - Which demographics are under-served in the competitive landscape? - What interesting trends might influence an organization's products or services? Threats ___________ are elements in the competitive environment could create trouble for the business or project and ask the following questions: - What are the obstacles to fair competition? - What are other competitors doing? - Are quality standards or specifications for products or services changing? - Is technology changing the way customers consume products or services? - Does the organization have bad debts or other adverse financial dead weight? - Does the industry experience seasonal cash-flow problems? - Could any of the weaknesses seriously threaten an organization's longevity? Productivity _____________ is the ratio of the outputs achieved divided by the inputs consumed to achieve those outputs. _________ = Output/Input Inputs are labor by managers and workers (either internally or externally) Capital for land, facilities, and equipment Materials, including energy requirements Percent Change in Productivity __________ = (New Productivity - Old Productivity) / Old Productivity (100)