Chapter 8 Quiz

Many business leaders and elected government officials have recently emphasized the importance of United States manufacturers bringing jobs back from other countries to the U.S. This relates to which of the following concepts?

• Form utility

• Reshoring

• Product line

• Mass producing

Which of the following is a correct statement regarding the American economy?

• In 1950, 53 percent of American workers were employed in service firms.

• The American economy is now characterized as a service economy.

• In 1900, 38 percent of American workers were employed in service firms.

• A service economy is one in which more effort is devoted to wholesaling than to retailing.

Margarida is an economics professor at a local community college. Although Margarida takes great pride in her work, particularly her lectures, she often wonders whether students are pleased with the quality of her instruction. Aside from brief student surveys completed at the end of each semester, Margarida receives very little feedback from students. This scenario best illustrates that services are different from manufactured goods in which of the following ways?

• .Services are intangible, and it is therefore more difficult to evaluate customer satisfaction.

• Service providers do not produce a product unless the customer wants or needs it.

• Services are consumed immediately and, unlike manufactured goods, cannot be stored.

• Services can be provided any place and are often provided when and where the customer desires the service.

Pfizer Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered in New York City. Pfizer Inc. creates and produces medicines and vaccines for immunology, oncology, cardiology, endocrinology, and neurology. The company has several “blockbuster” drugs that generate billions of dollars in annual revenues. Pfizer Inc.’s efforts to identify new ideas that have the potential to result in new goods and services are collectively known as which of the following?

• Total quality management (TQM)

• Lean manufacturing

• Research and development (R&D)

• Inventory control

Which of the following is correct regarding research and development?

• Applied research involves research activities undertaken specifically to put new or existing knowledge to use in producing goods and services.

• The goal of basic research is scientific advancement.

• Applied research consists of activities aimed at uncovering new knowledge.

• Development and implementation consists of activities geared toward discovering new knowledge with some potential use.

Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958. Popular items on the Pizza Hut menu in the United States include the cheese pizza, the pepperoni pizza, the supreme pizza, the Veggie Lover’s pizza, and the Meat Lover’s pizza. Which of the following refers to a group of similar products, such as the various types of pizza offered by Pizza Hut, that differ only in relatively minor characteristics?

• Product design

• Production capacity

• Product line

• Process layout

Tobias owns and operates a bakery. Tobias has noticed that due to the perishable nature of the ingredients that are used to produce his baked goods (flour, butter, eggs, milk, etc.), he loses thousands of dollars in inventory each year. Tobias would like to implement a system that will result in less waste of ingredients. Which of the following should he seriously consider implementing?

• Quality control

• Capital-intensive technology

• Just-in-time inventory (JIT) system

• Labor-intensive technology

Catarina works for an automobile transmission production company that relies on statistical data and improved methods to eliminate defects in its transmissions. Which of the following quality-control processes has Catarina’s employer adopted?

• Quality control

• Total quality management (TQM)

• Quality circle

• Six Sigma

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, commonly referred to as BMW, is a German multinational corporation which produces automobiles. The company has a production facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina. In its facility, BMW relies heavily on robotics to manufacture its automobiles. Based on this information, which process has BMW adopted?

• Automation

• Just-in-time inventory (JIT) system

• Total quality management (TQM)

• Intermittent process

The production of services is very different from the production of manufactured goods in all but which of the following ways?

• Manufactured goods are subject to government taxation, but services are not.

• Services are intangible, while manufactured goods are not.

• Services are consumed immediately and, unlike manufactured goods, cannot be stored.

• Service firms do not produce a product unless the customer wants or needs it.