14. The procedure to improve flow distance in a process layout by arranging the relative location of departments is known as operations sequence analysis. 15. A product layout affords some degree of customization. 16. Mid-Columbia Medical Center has a special employee-only entrance to enhance security. 17. The automobile driver’s license office is an example of a product layout. 18. At a roadside snake farm, both customer and employee perform within the servicescape. 19. Signage is not an environmental dimension of the servicescape. 20. Bottlenecks usually are associated with process layouts. 21. Rush order flow time and throughput time are identical when the system is empty. 22. Capacity utilization of individual operations is a dangerous performance metric. 23. The entire system capacity is measured by the inverse of the bottleneck CT. 24. Cycle time is the average time to complete a service operation. 25. The swim lane flowchart highlights the handoffs between functional activities. 26. The bottleneck activity of a process is shown as an unbroken bar in a Gantt chart.
> 11. All of the following are forecasting models, except: a. Subjective. b. Objective. c. Causal. d. Time series. 12. Demand for hotel services will require the use of which one of the following forecasting models: a. Subjective and causal. b. Subjective
> 1. Long-term forecasts do not deal with predictions for: a. New services. b. Changes in mix of services. c. Overtime or temporary labor requirements. d. Process technology. 2. Subjective forecasting models are best characterized by: a. The use of experts
> 11. The cost of service capacity is determined by a. The number of customers waiting. b. The total number of customers. c. Waiting time. d. The number of servers on duty.* 12. Queuing models can help explain all but one of the following: a. Predicting re
> 1. A queuing system is said to be in a transient condition when: a. Its parameters change with time. b. Its parameters remain constant. c. It is still under the influence of the initial state.* d. It grows beyond bound. 2. The A/B/C notation classifies q
> 11. Which queue configuration permits opportunities for division of labor and service differentiation? a. Multiple queue b. Single queue c. Take a number d. Self-serve 12. One advantage of the multiple queue compared to a single queue is that multiple qu
> 1. The calling population is termed finite when: a. There is restriction on the maximum number in the queue. b. Only a limited number of people may use the facility in any given period. c. The interarrival time is not very large. d. There is no queue di
> 14. Which one of the following is not a characteristic of firms using yield management? a. Ability to segment their market b. Perishable inventory c. Variable capacity d. Product sold in advance 15. Which one of the following is not an example of the dif
> 1. The strategy of segmenting demand is feasible only when: a. Demand is not from a homogeneous source. b. Demand is cyclic and predictable. c. Arrivals for service are random. d. Making appointments is impossible. 2. The purpose of differential pricing
> 11. Global service strategies include all but one of the following: a. Exporting services b. Following your customers c. Beating-the-clock d. Service offshoring 12. Mayo Clinic is a service firm that would fall under which of the following categories: a.
> 14. Which among the following strategies is used by fast-food restaurants to reduce costs? a. Increase advertising via the Internet. b. Allowing the customer to play an active part in the service process. c. Increase prices. d. Increasing menu items to
> 1. Which of the following is not one of the major considerations in planning multinational operations? a. Cultural transferability b. Technological compatibility c. Network development d. Host government policy 2. Multinational expansion by a service fir
> 14. Which of the following service providers likely would be involved in a single-level bi-directional service supply relationship? a. Pharmacy b. Professor c. Garage d. Mortgage company 15. All but one of the following is a managerial implication of bi-
> 1. The physical goods supply chain contains all but one of the following elements: a. Competitor. b. Distributor. c. Retailer. d. Customer. 2. The impact of the production element on physical goods supply chain management was _____ before and _____ after
> 11. In the Huff retail location model, the value of ( estimates ______________ a. Amount of travel time to reach a service facility. b. The importance of convenience in attracting customers. c. The importance of travel time in attracting customers. d. Th
> 1. A strategy that can be used by urban retailers to locate multiple sites close to each other in high-density areas despite the potential for cannibalization is called a. Competitive clustering. b. Marketing intermediaries. c. Saturation marketing. d. S
> 1. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a method for: a. Measuring a firm's quality performance by comparing it with other companies that are recognized as "best in class." b. Determining the feasibility of technological innovations in service operations.
> 11. Which quadrant in the matrix below represents attributes of a good service guarantee? No Conditions Many Conditions No Conditions Many Conditions Complex Detailed (a) (b) Clear Precise (c) (d) 12. Which of the following is a strat
> 1. Which of the following dimensions of service quality is most important to customers? a. Empathy b. Assurance c. Reliability d. Tangibles 2. Which of the following is not an advantage of offering a service guarantee? a. It acts as a mechanism to differ
> 11. What defines the capacity of a service product layout? a. The activity requiring the most time per customer. b. The size of the queue. c. How tasks are allocated among servers. d. Ability of workers to change the process speed. 12. In the design of a
> 1. Which one of the following is not a major factor that could influence facility design? a. Objectives and nature of the service b. Flexibility in operations c. Availability of land d. Site location 2. A product layout would facilitate the concept of: a
> 1. The service package consists of five features. Which one of the features listed below is not included in the package? a. Explicit services b. Supporting facility c. Information d. Cost of service 2. The major input into a large public hospital from a
> 1. The corporate culture of a firm does not significantly influence the quality of the service it provides because the culture is internal and, therefore, not perceived by the customer. 2. Flexibility in meeting customer needs is the main reason that som
> 14. A service blueprint will not facilitate creative problem solving because it will be too rigid a definition of the service delivery system. 15. Investment banking is a financial service that has high complexity and high divergence. 16. Limited discret
> 1. The "line of visibility" found in a service blueprint separates the front office operations from the back office operations. 2. A factor that simplifies the design of service systems is the presence of the customer in the process. 3. A “line of intera
> 11. Selling information and developing new services are examples of the role that information technology plays in generating revenue. 12. Information technology can be used to promote customer loyalty. 13. The IRS has identified frequent-user programs
> 1. A characteristic of the overall cost leadership strategy is the incurring of start-up losses to build market share. 2. On-line networks between suppliers and their customers create a barrier to entry. 3. When pursuing a differentiation strategy, a ser
> 31. A highly scalable firm such as Kelly Blue Book (kkb.com) requires a call center. 32. Scalability is enhanced with self-service. 33. Customers seldom take note of firms that are leaders in the sustainability movement. 34. Recycling paper and reducing
> 11. The single important attribute of a project manager is leadership ability. 12. Schedule variance is the difference between budgeted cost for work performed and actual cost of work performed. 13. The term calendar is used in project management to ke
> 1. The critical path for a project with uncertain activity times is not known for certain until after the project is completed. 2. A project can be defined as a set of complex interrelated tasks with different requirements regarding activity time and re
> 11. POS scanning is used to initiate a purchase order to a pre-approved vendor automatically when the stock levels are depleted (or reach a reorder point). 12. Information management has been the key in allowing services to meet customer demands without
> 21. World-class service operations strive to replace workers with enhanced automation. 22. Firms classified as "available for service" view quality improvement efforts with disdain. 23. For a firm achieving "journeyman" competitive status, the back-offic
> 1. Point-of-sale scanning became feasible only when industry agreed upon a universal system of bar coding. 2. One role of holding inventory is to hedge against anticipated increases in the cost of the inventoried items. 3. Inventory management is concern
> 11. Fast-food restaurants use a causal model to forecast daily demand for menu items. 12. Subjective models are used to assess the future impact of changing demographics. 13. Costs for preparing time-series forecasts generally are lower than for other mo
> 1. Because of the nontangible nature of a service, forecasting does not play as important a role in service operations as in manufacturing operations. 2. The trade-off to be made with respect to accuracy is between the costs of inaccurate forecasts and t
> 14. When Xerox Corporation introduced the Model 9200 Duplicating System, the level of service dipped because technical representatives were assigned to territories. 15. The average time a customer should expect to wait can be calculated using just the me
> 1. Capacity planning decisions deal implicitly with decisions on the cost of making consumers wait and the extent to which these costs can be borne. 2. A system is said to be in a transient state when the values of its governing parameters in this state
> 1. Waiting is often seen as psychological punishment because the consumer is aware of the opportunity cost of waiting time and the resulting loss of earnings. 2. The net result of waiting, apart from the boredom and frustration experienced by the consume
> 12. Yield management is a pricing and capacity allocation system that was developed by American Airlines. 13. Yield management is a strategy that manages both demand and capacity. 14. An example of segmenting demand is seen when movie theaters offer mati
> 1. The use of a ski-resort hotel for business conventions during the summer is an example of using the complementary service strategy. 2. Overbooking is a strategy that can be used to smooth demand. 3. The strategy of segmenting demand to reduce variatio
> 11. A diversified network is a situation where many services are offered at a single location. 12. Franchising usually is used when developing a focused network. 13. A family restaurant is an example of a focused service. 14. Communication is included in
> 1. Network development is a consideration in the decision to plan a multinational service. 2. When a firm offers multiple services at a single location, it is using a clustered service strategy. 3. A franchise is a low risk investment, because the franch
> 14. Retail and wholesale trade had the greatest percentage of U.S. employment by industry in 2014. 15. From a marketing perspective, services, unlike goods, involve transfer of ownership. 16. It is convenient and often necessary to combine the operations
> 14. Customer-supplier duality acknowledges the customer inputs in a service relationship. 15. A bank is an example of a service provider with a single-level bi-directional service supply relationship. 16. Transfer enhances productive capacity by enabling
> 1. In the physical goods supply chain, information moves to the left and material to the right. 2. Customer demand variability is the most difficult factor to determine in a goods supply chain. 3. In the past, the flow of goods in a physical supply chain
> 11. Geographic information systems are a visual method of displaying data. 12. Cross-median is an approach to the location of a single facility using the metropolitan metric to maximize the total distance traveled. 13. Marketing intermediaries are busin
> 1. Finding a unique set of sites in a multi-location problem is a simple extension of the methods used for single facility location. 2. When a customer travels to the service facility, the direct cost that is incurred is the decrease in potential custome
> 1. DEA circumvents the need to develop standard costs for each service when comparing the efficiency of multiple service units that provide similar services. 2. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is best used in an environment of low divergence and high com
> 11. Serving complimentary drinks on a delayed flight is an example of empathy being shown by the service personnel to the irate customer. 12. In the service quality gap model, GAP1 arises because of the management’s lack of understanding about how custom
> 1. The concept of quality service deployment is based on the belief that services should be designed to reflect customer requirements. 2. Being meaningful and easy to invoke are important elements of a good unconditional service guarantee. 3. A process i
> 1. The servicescape can influence perceived quality. 2. The design of facilities is dependent entirely on the construction and operating costs of the facilities. 3. A well-conceived servicescape can communicate desired customer behavior. 4. Heuristic alg
> 14. Internet banking is a service that would appeal to the economizing customer, the personalizing customer, and the convenience customer. 15. Efficiency- versus-satisfaction is the possible source of conflict in the relationship between the customer and
> 1. Services are deeds, processes, and performances. 2. The Clark-Fisher hypothesis notes the shift of employment from one sector of the economy to another. 3. The fall in employment in the agricultural sector is the primary reason for the increase in se
> 1. Who are Goodwill’s customers and how have their demo-graphics changed over time? 2. How should the introduction of for-profit thrifts affect Goodwill’s decisions about the role of customer service? 3. How can Goodwi
> 1. Marketing analysts use market position maps to display visually the customers’ perceptions of a firm in relation to its competitors regarding two attributes. Prepare a market position map for Alamo Draft house using “food quality” and “movie selection
> 1. For the Burger Palace example, perform a complete analysis of efficiency improvement alternatives for unit S2, including determination of a composite reference unit. 2. For the Burger Palace example, perform a complete analysis of efficiency improveme
> 1. Compare and contrast the strategic service vision of El Banco and United Commercial Bank. 2. Identify the service winners, qualifiers, and service losers for El Banco and United Commercial Bank. 3. What are the differentiating features of banks tha
> 1. Use DEA to identify efficient and inefficient terminal operations. Formulate the problem as a linear programming model, and solve using computer software such as Excel Solver that permits input file editing between runs. 2. Using the appropriate refer
> 1. Assume that you are part of the management staff whose task is to develop this sketch plan. Using Microsoft Project, develop the PERT network as outlined above, identify the critical path, and determine the expected time to reach basic operational sta
> 1. Using Microsoft Project, prepare a network and identify the critical path activities, the expected project duration, and scheduling times for all activities. 2. The elapsed time for delivery of the hardware is estimated at 90 days. Would the project c
> Located in a major southwestern U.S. city, Elysian Cycles (EC) is a wholesale distributor of bicycles and bicycle parts. Its primary retail outlets are located in eight cities within a 400-mile radius of the distribution center. These retail outlets gene
> 1. Assuming that the cost of stock out is the lost contribution of one dessert, how many portions of Sweet Revenge should the chef prepare each weekday? 2. Based on Martin Quinn’s estimate of other stock out costs, how many servings sho
> A.D. Small, Inc., provides management consulting services from its offices located in more than 300 cities in the United States and abroad. The company recruits its staff from top graduates of recognized MBA programs. Upon joining A.D. Small, a recruit a
> Gnomial Functions, Inc. (GFI), is a medium-sized consulting firm in San Francisco that specializes in developing various forecasts of product demand, sales, consumption, or other information for its clients. To a lesser degree, it also has developed ongo
> Oak Hollow Medical Evaluation Center is a nonprofit agency offering multidisciplinary diagnostic services to study children with disabilities or developmental delays. The center can test each patient for physical, psychological, or social problems. Fees
> Computer simulation provides management an experimental laboratory in which to study a model of a real system and to determine how the system might respond to changes in policies, resource levels, or customer demand. A system, for our purposes, is define
> 1. Describe Xpresso Lube’s service package. 2. How are the distinctive characteristics of a service operation illustrated by Xpresso Lube? 3. What elements of Xpresso Lube’s location contribute to its success? 4. Given the example of Xpresso Lube, what o
> On a hillside in Rolling wood, a community just southwest of Austin, Texas, the Renaissance Clinic provides dedicated obstetric and gynecological services. The medical treatment at this facility is wrapped in an exclusive-feeling physical environment tha
> Let us revisit the Automobile Driver’s License Office Example 5.2 and model the proposed process improvement shown as Figure 5.6 (b). Recall that the improvement consisted of combining activities 1 and 4 (Review Application and Eye Test
> Renaissance Clinic is a hospital dedicated to the health care of women. It is located in the hill country surrounding Austin, Texas, and offers an environment that is unique in the city. At the time of a visit, a patient of Dr. Margaret Thompsonâ&#
> 1. During periods of bad weather, as compared with periods of clear weather, how many additional gallons of fuel on aver-age should FreeEx expect its planes to consume because of airport congestion? 2. Given FreeEx’s policy of ensuring that its planes do
> The Houston Port Authority has engaged you as a consultant to advise it on possible changes in the handling of wheat exports. At present, a crew of dockworkers using conventional belt conveyors unloads hopper cars containing wheat into cargo ships bound
> Go forth armed with clipboard and stopwatch and study an actual waiting experience (e.g., post office, fast-food restaurant, retail bank). Begin with a sketch of the layout noting the queue configuration. Describe the characteristics of the calling popul
> 1. In this chapter, we referred to Maister’s First and Second Laws of Service. How do they relate to this case? 2. What features of a good waiting process are evident in Dr. X’s practice? List the shortcomings that you see. 3. Do you think that Mrs. F is
> Thrifty Car Rental (now part of Hertz) began as a regional business in the southwest, but it now has more than 470 locations across the country and almost 600 international locations. About 80 percent of its U.S. locations are at airports, and the rest a
> 1. For the forecast period (i.e., July–December), determine the number of new trainees who must be hired at the beginning of each month so that total personnel costs for the flight-attendant staff and training program are minimized. For
> On the morning of November 10, 2002, Jon Thomas, market analyst for the Mexico leisure markets, canceled more than 300 seats “illegally” reserved on two flights to Acapulco. All of the seats on Jon’s Acapulco flights were booked by the same sales represe
> 1. How is SSM different from Deming’s PDCA cycle? 2. Prepare a cause-and-effect or fishbone diagram for a problem such as “Why customers have long waits for coffee.” Your fishbone diagram should be s
> 1. Assume that you are the assistant to the manager for operations at the FAA. Use the techniques of work shift scheduling to analyze the total workforce requirements and days-off schedule. For the primary analysis, assume that a. Operator requirements w
> River City National Bank has been in business for 10 years and is a fast-growing community bank. Its president, Gary Miller, took over his position 5 years ago in an effort to get the bank on its feet. He is one of the youngest bank presidents in the sou
> Securing a mortgage often is a time-consuming and frustrating experience for a homebuyer. The process involves multi- ple stages with many handoffs to independent organizations providing specialized services (e.g., property survey and title search). The
> 1. What features of the 7-Eleven Japan distribution system illustrate the concept of the bidirectional service supply relationship? 2. Does the 7-Eleven Japan distribution system exhibit scalability economies? 3. How does the 7-Eleven example of B2C e-co
> 1. How does the Boomer Technology Circle illustrate the concept of the bidirectional service supply relationship? 2. How has Boomer Consulting, Inc., made the client a coproduce in the service delivery process? 3. How is the concept of “
> 1. Utilizing a spreadsheet version of the Huff location model (with λ = 1.0), recommend a store size and location for AFI. Assuming that AFI does not wish to consider a store that is smaller than 10,000 square feet, assess the store sizes (b
> Joan Taylor, the administrator of Life-Time Insurance Company, which is based in Buffalo, New York, was charged with establishing a health maintenance organization (HMO) satellite clinic in Austin, Texas. The HMO concept would offer Austin residents an a
> 1. Briefly summarize the complaints and compliments in Dr. Loflin’s letter. 2. Critique the letter of Gail Pearson in reply to Dr. Loflin. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the letter? 3. Prepare an “improved” response letter from Gail Pearson. 4.
> 1. Prepare an -chart and R-chart for complaints, and plot the average complaints for each crew during the nine-month period. Do the same for the performance ratings. What does this analysis reveal about the service quality of CSI’s
> 1. Describe Village Volvo’s service package. 2. How are the distinctive characteristics of a service firm illustrated by Village Volvo? 3. How could Village Volvo manage its back office (i.e., repair operations) like a factory? 4. How can Village Volvo d
> 1. How do the environmental dimensions of the services cape explain the success of Central Market? 2. Comment on how the services cape shapes the behaviors of both customers and employees. Central Market5 The original Central Market grocery store, locat
> 1. Use CRAFT logic to develop a layout that will maximize customer time in the store. 2. What percentage increase in customer time spent in the store is achieved by the proposed layout? 3. What other consumer behavior concepts should be considered in the
> 1. Identify the bottleneck activity, and show how capacity can be increased by using only two pharmacists and two technicians. 2. In addition to savings on personnel costs, what benefits does this arrangement have? Health Maintenance Organization (B) Th
> 1. Beginning with a good initial layout, use operations sequence analysis to determine a better layout that would minimize the walking distance between different areas in the clinic. 2. Defend your final layout based on features other than minimizing wal
> 1. How has Enterprise Rent-A-Car (ERAC) defined its service differently than that of the typical national car rental company? 2. What features of its business concept allow ERAC to compete effectively with the existing national rental car companies? 3. U
> 1. Describe the service organization culture at Amy’s Ice Cream. 2. What are the personality attributes of the employees who are sought by Amy’s Ice Cream? 3. Design a personnel selection procedure for Amy’s Ice Cream using abstract questioning, a situat
> 1.How does Amazon.com illustrate the sources of service sector growth? Comment on information technology, the Internet as an enabler, innovation, and changing demographics. 2.What generic approach(s) to service design does Amazon.com illustrate, and what
> 1. Prepare a service blueprint for Commuter Cleaning. 2. What generic approach to service system design is illustrated by Commuter Cleaning, and what competitive advantages does this design offer? 3. Using the data in Table 3.5, calculate a break-eve
> 1. Describe the growth strategy of Federal Express. How did this strategy differ from those of its competitors? 2. What risks were involved in the acquisition of Tiger International? 3. In addition to the question of merging FedEx and Flying Tigers pilot
> 1. Prepare a service blueprint for the 100 Yen Sushi House operation. 2. What features of the 100 Yen Sushi House service delivery system differentiate it from the competition, and what competitive advantages do they offer? 3. How has the 100 Yen Sushi
> 1. Prepare a run chart on each of the incident categories. Does she have reason to be concerned about burglaries? What variable might you plot against burglaries to create a scatter diagram to determine a possible explanation? 2. What is unusual about th
> Conduct a Google search on “project finance” and find employment opportunities in project finance. What is the role of finance in projects?
> Could firms in the “world-class service delivery” stage of competitiveness be described as “learning organizations’?
