Exam 4: Building Competitive Advantage Through Functional-Level Strategies

Poor positioning strategy arises when a company introduces a potentially attractive new product but sales fail to materialize in the marketplace.

Which of the following is the final result of the five-step chain reaction on which the philosophy of the TQM is based?

A vital source of information about the causes of poor quality is the firm's own employees.

Unlike traditional manufacturing, flexible manufacturing:

Identify the two dimensions of quality and describe how companies can achieve them.

Learning effects tend to be more significant when a technologically complex task is performed only occasionally.

Just-in-time inventory systems:

The Mountain Ski Lodge spent $100,000 marketing and advertising its new ski trails and on-site spa. The money used for marketing and advertising can be referred to as:

A company's hiring strategy:

Which of the following statements about customer focus is false?

Which of the following is not a product attribute?

Although important, unfortunately, innovation plays a minor role in achieving competitive advantage.

You are a consultant offering advice to a large manufacturing firm about ways to increase its distinctive competency in innovation. What suggestions would you offer? Be specific and detailed in your answer.

One of the primary roles of research and development in achieving superior efficiency is:

Poor commercialization occurs when there is definite customer demand for a new product, but the product is not well adapted to customer needs because of factors such as poor design and poor quality.

Employee productivity is:

Diseconomies of scale are the unit cost increases associated with a large scale of output.

Which of the following is the first step in the five-step chain reaction, as articulated by Deming, with regard to the philosophy underlying TQM ?

A benefit of long-time customer loyalty is the free advertising that customers provide for a company through referrals.

One of the primary roles of human resources in achieving superior efficiency is: