Exam 17: Global Production and Supply Chain Management

Describe the concept of minimum efficient scale.Discuss the implications of minimum efficient scale.

Strategic alliances build trust between the firm and its suppliers.

How do product factors affect the decision of where to locate production? Where will you locate your firm's production plant if your firm produces refined sugar?

Lean production covers a range of manufacturing technologies designed to reduce setup times for complex equipment.

The benefits of making all or part of a product in-house seem to be greatest when the firm _____.

Organizations are under pressure to produce products in the optimal location and to serve the world market from there if their products have low value-to-weight ratios.

Explain why a firm might adopt the just-in-time system.Why might a firm choose a different inventory system?

The major cost saving associated with JIT systems comes from _____.

Briefly describe the Six Sigma methodology.

Modern consumer products such as personal computers serve universal needs.

An advantage of buying component parts,or even an entire product,from independent suppliers is that _____.

Deming,the proponent of total quality management,argued that _____.

Dynamic capabilities describe skills that become more valuable over time through learning.

Describe global learning with reference to foreign subsidiaries of a firm.

Make-or-buy decisions are decisions about _____.

Central to the concept of economies of scale is the idea that the best way to achieve high efficiency,and hence low unit costs,is through the _____.

Which of the following is a major source of the improvement in the capabilities of a foreign site?

Make-or-buy decisions are decisions that concern the components to be used in a production process.

Which of the following statements is true of Six Sigma?

Firms can increase flexibility by producing all parts of a product in-house.