Question: Explain the trade-off between responsiveness and

> A producer of felt-tip pens has received a forecast of demand of 30,000 pens for the coming month from its marketing department. Fixed costs of $25,000 per month are allocated to the felt-tip operation, and variable costs are 37 cents per pen. a. Find th

> In some instances the outsourced service occurs in a different location, while in others it takes place inside the organization doing the outsourcing, as the food service did in this case. What advantages were there in having the outsourced work performe

> Why is it important for the various functional areas of a business organization to collaborate?

> Do you consider restaurant outsourcing to be dishonest? Unethical? Explain.

> Explain the meaning of the phrase “Hours versus ours.”

> A computer repair service has a design capacity of 80 repairs per day. Its effective capacity, however, is 64 repairs per day, and its actual output is 62 repairs per day. The manager would like to increase the number of repairs per day. Which of the fol

> Identify four potential unethical actions or inactions related to capacity planning, and the ethical principle each violates.

> Why is it important to adopt a big-picture approach to capacity planning?

> Give an example of a good and a service that exhibit these seasonal demand patterns: a. Annual b. Monthly c. Weekly d. Daily

> What are some capacity measures for each of the following? a. University b. Hospital c. Computer repair shop d. Farm

> Why is capacity planning one of the most critical decisions a manager has to make?

> Discuss the importance of capacity planning in deciding on the number of police officers or fire trucks to have on duty at a given time.

> Why is it important to match process capabilities with product requirements?

> Indicate how and why each of these factors is important to the successful operation of a supermarket: a. Customer satisfaction b. Forecasting c. Capacity planning d. Location e. Inventory management f. Layout of the store g. Scheduling

> What kinds of capacity problems do many elementary and secondary schools periodically experience? What are some alternatives to deal with those problems?

> What is meant by “capacity in chunks,” and why is that a factor in capacity planning?

> Describe some of the trade-offs that are encountered in product and service design.

> How has technology had an impact on product and service design?

> Who needs to be involved in the design of products and services?

> Prepare a service blueprint for each of these banking transactions: a. Make a savings deposit using a teller b. Apply for a home equity loan

> Use the Internet to obtain recent crash-safety ratings for passenger vehicles. Then answer these questions: a. How important are crash-safety ratings to new car buyers? Does the degree of importance depend on the circumstances of the buyer? b. Which type

> Examine and compare one of the following product sets. Base your comparison on such factors as features, costs, convenience, ease of use, and value. a. GPS versus maps b. Cell phones versus landlines c. Online shopping versus “bricks and mortar” shopping

> Prepare a table similar to that shown in Problem 7b for cookies sold in a bakery. List what you believe are the three most important customer requirements (not including cost) and the three most relevant technical requirements (not including sanitary con

> a. Refer to Figure 4.4. What two technical requirements have the highest impact on the customerrequirement that the paper not tear? b. The following table presents technical requirements and customer requirements for the outputof a laser printer. First,

> Briefly discuss each of these terms related to the historical evolution of operations management: a. Industrial Revolution b. Scientific management c. Interchangeable parts d. Division of labor

> Construct a list of steps for making a cash withdrawal from an automated teller machine (ATM). Assume that the process begins at the ATM with your bank card in hand. Then identify the potential failure points (i.e., where problems might arise in the proc

> List the steps involved in getting gasoline into your car for full service and for self-service. Assume that paying cash is the only means of payment. For each list, identify the potential trouble points and indicate a likely problem.

> Prepare a service blueprint for each of these post office transactions: a. Buy stamps from a machine b. Buy stamps from a postal clerk

> What is modular design? What are its main advantages and disadvantages?

> Name some of the main advantages and disadvantages of standardization.

> What is CAD? Describe some of the ways a product designer can use it.

> a. Select an electronic device you are familiar with. What standard feature does it have that wasonce a “wow” feature? What “wow” feature does it have that you think will soon be a standardfeature on new versions? b. Answer part a for a service you are f

> What is life cycle assessment, and what is its overall goal?

> Explain what quality function deployment is and how it can be useful.

> Explain the term robust design.

> List five important differences between goods production and service operations; then list five important similarities.

> Name two factors that could make service design much different than product design.

> What is mass customization?

> Why is R&D a key factor in productivity improvement? Name some ways R&D contributes to productivity improvements.

> a. What is meant by the term life cycle? b. Why would this be a consideration in product or service design? c. Name three ways that each of these products has found new uses: baking soda, duct tape, and vinegar.

> Explain the term remanufacturing.

> What are some of the competitive advantages of concurrent engineering?

> Explain the term design for manufacturing and briefly explain why it is important.

> A number of fast-food chains, after their success with offering their customers fresh salads, and in an effort to downplay the image of selling unhealthy food, began adding fresh fruit plates to their menus. At about the same time, and seemingly in direc

> Give two examples of unethical conduct involving product or service design and the ethical principles (see Chapter 1) that are violated.

> Suppose a company intends to offer a new service to some of its internal customers. Briefly discuss how the fact that the customers are internal would change the process of managing the four phases of the service life cycle.

> Describe the operations function and the nature of the operations manager’s job.

> How were food producers impacted by the U.S. government’s requirement to identify the trans fat content on product labels?

> How has technology had an impact on forecasting?

> New car sales for a dealer in Cook County, Illinois, for the past year are shown in the following table, along with monthly indexes (seasonal relatives), which are supplied to the dealer by the regional distributor. a. Plot the data. Does there seem to

> A pharmacist has been monitoring sales of a certain over-the-counter pain reliever. Daily sales during the last 15 days were as follows: a. Which method would you suggest using to predict future sales—a linear trend equation or trend-

> Obtain estimates of daily relatives for the number of customers at a restaurant for the evening meal, given the following data. a. Use the centered moving average method. (Hint: Use a seven-day moving average.) b. Use the SA method. Day Number

> The manager of a fashionable restaurant open Wednesday through Saturday says that the restaurant does about 35 percent of its business on Friday night, 30 percent on Saturday night, and 20 percent on Thursday night. What seasonal relatives would describe

> A tourist center is open on weekends (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). The owner-manager hopes to improve scheduling of part-time employees by determining seasonal relatives for each of these days. Data on recent traffic at the center have been tabulated a

> Compute seasonal relatives for this data using the SA method: Quarter Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 1 2 3 7 4 6. 10 18 14 3 2 6 8. 5 9 15 11 4,

> The following equation summarizes the trend portion of quarterly sales of condominiums over a long cycle. Sales also exhibit seasonal variations. Using the information given, prepare a forecast of sales for each quarter of next year (not this year), and

> Briefly describe the terms operations management and supply chain.

> Discuss the importance of each of the following: a. Matching supply and demand b. Managing a supply chain

> Why did Novo believe that its cost of capital was too high compared to its competitors? Why did Novo’s relatively high cost of capital create a competitive disadvantage?

> a. Define market segmentation. b. What are the six main causes of market segmentation? c. What are the main disadvantages for a firm to be located in a segmented market?

> In the context of preparing consolidated financial statements, are the words translate and convert synonyms?

> Answer the following questions: a. Define what is meant by the term market liquidity. b. What are the main disadvantages for a firm to be located in an illiquid market? c. If a firm is limited to raising funds in its domestic capital market, what happe

> A foreign subsidiary does not have an independent cost of capital. However, in order to estimate the discount rate for a comparable host country firm, the analyst should try to calculate a hypothetical cost of capital. As part of this process, the analys

> Taxes are classified on the basis of whether they are applied directly to income, called direct taxes, or to some other measurable performance characteristic of the firm, called indirect taxes. Identify each of the following as a “direct tax,” an “indire

> a. What is a bilateral tax treaty? b. What is the purpose of a bilateral tax treaty? c. What policies do most tax treaties cover?

> a. What is meant by the term “tax deferral”? b. Why do countries allow tax deferral on foreign-source income?

> Answer the following questions: a. Define what is meant by a “directed public share issue”. b. Why did Novo choose to make a $61 million directed public share issue in the United States in 1981?

> What are five alternative instruments that can be used to source equity in global markets?

> What is a functional currency? What is a non-functional currency?

> What are the main barriers to cross-listing abroad?

> What are the main reasons causing U.S. firms to cross-list abroad?

> Give five reasons why a firm might cross-list and sell its shares on a very liquid stock exchange.

> Portfolio asset allocation can be accomplished along many dimensions, depending on the investment objective of the portfolio manager. Identify the various dimensions.

> Distinguish between the three levels of commitment for ADRs traded in the United States.

> How is expropriation risk factored into the capital budgeting analysis of a foreign project?

> Define the following terms: a. ADRs. b. GRSs. c. Sponsored depositary receipts. d. Unsponsored depositary receipts.

> Exhibit 14.1 illustrates alternative paths to globalizing the cost and availability of capital. Identify the specific steps in Exhibit 14.1 that were taken by Novo Industry (Chapter 13) in chronological order to gain an international cost and availabilit

> What is the difference between a eurobond and a foreign bond, and why do two types of international bonds exist?

> Bank borrowing has long been the manner by which corporations and governments borrowed funds for short periods. What then, is the advantage over bank borrowing for each of the following? a. Syndicated loans. b. Euronotes. c. Euro-Commercial Paper. d.

> What is the difference between “internal” financing and “external” financing for a subsidiary? List three types of internal financing and three types of external financing available to a foreign subsidiary.

> Should foreign subsidiaries of multinational firms conform to the capital structure norms of the host country, or to the norms of their parent’s country? Discuss.

> What is the difference between a self-sustaining foreign subsidiary and an integrated foreign subsidiary?

> Many firms in many countries every year borrow at nominal costs which prove to be very different after the fact. For example, not too long ago Deutsche Bank borrowed funds at a nominal cost of 9.59% per annum, but at a later date that debt was selling to

> Both domestic and international portfolio managers are asset allocators. a. What is their portfolio management objective? b. What is the main advantage that international portfolio managers have compared to portfolio managers limited to domestic-only as

> If a multinational firm is able to diversify its sources of cash inflow so as to receive those flows from several countries and in several currencies, do you think that tends to increase or decrease its weighted average cost of capital?

> Define “marginal weighted average cost of capital”.

> How is foreign exchange risk sensitivity factored into the capital budgeting analysis of a foreign project?

> How does the availability of capital influence the theory of optimal capital structure for a multinational enterprise?

> As debt in a firm’s capital structure is increased from no debt to a significant proportion of debt (say, 60%), what tends to happen to the cost of debt, to the cost of equity, and to the overall weighted average cost of capital?

> Answer the following questions: a. What is the “cost of debt” and how is it determined? b. What is the “cost of equity” and how is it determined?

> What, in simple wording, is the objective sought by finding an optimal capital structure?

> a. What is a private equity fund? b. How do they differ from traditional venture capital firms? c. How do private equity funds raise their own capital, and how does this action give them a competitive advantage over local banks and investment funds?

> Answer the following questions: a. What is SEC Rule 144A? b. Why might a foreign firm choose to sell its equity in the United States under SEC Rule 144A?

> Define what is meant by a “Euroequity public share issue.”

> Apart from improving liquidity and escaping from a segmented home market, why might emerging market MNEs further lower their cost of capital by listing and selling equity abroad?

> What is the central problem involved in consolidating the financial statements of a foreign subsidiary?

> Answer the following; a. What is an equity risk premium? b. What is the difference between calculating an equity risk premium using arithmetic returns compared to using geometric returns? c. In Exhibit 13.3, why are arithmetic mean risk premiums always

> Define the following terms: a. Systematic risk. b. Beta (in the Capital Asset Pricing Model).

> What are the differences in the cash flows used in a project point of view analysis and a parent point of view analysis?

> Global integration has given many firms access to new and cheaper sources of funds beyond those available in their home markets. What are the dimensions of a strategy to capture this lower cost and greater availability of capital?