Forecasting and New Car Registrations

1. There are 3 primary ways to achieve competitive advantage. Provide an example, not included in the text of each. Support your choices. 2. Why should one study operations management? 3. Explain how higher quality can lead to lower cost. 4. What happens to our ability to forecast as we forecast for periods farther into the future? 5. What are the differences between goods and services? 6. Explain the 3 basic functions of a firm. 7. How must an operation strategy interact with marketing and accounting? 8.Kleen carpet cleaned 65 rags in October, consuming the following resources: Labor Solvent Machine rental520 hours at $13 per hour 100 gallons at $5 per gallon 20 days at $50 per day a)What is the labor productivity? b)What is the multifactor productivity? c)What is the percentage change if Kleen Carpet can reduce the solvent used by 20 gallons? 9. Data collected on the yearly registration for a seminar at GIPS are shown in the following table: Year 1234567891011 Registrations (000)46 4510879121415 a)Develop a 3-year moving average to forecast registration from year 4 to year 12. )Estimate demands again for years 4 to 12 with a weighted moving average in which registration in the most recent year are given a weight of 2 and registration in the other 2 years are given a weight of 1. c)Graph the original data and the two forecasts. Which of the two forecasting methods seems better? 10. City Government has collected the following data on annual sales tax collections and new car registrations. Annual sales tax collections (in millions)1. 01. 41. 92. 01. 82. 12. 3 New car registrations ( in thousands)10121516141720 Determine the following )The least square regression equation. b)Use the results of part a, find the estimated sales tax collections if new car registrations total 22,000. 11. How does the operation management strategy change during a product's lifecycle? 12. How does fear in the work place or class room inhibit learning? 13. What is the difference between production and productivity? 14. Pepsi is a global product; does it mean Pepsi is formulated the same way throughout the world? 15. Identify how changes in the internal environment affect the OM strategy for a company.For instance discuss what impact the following internal factors might have on OM strategy: a)Maturing of a product. b)Technology innovation in the manufacturing process. c)Changes in product design that move disk drives from 3 1/2-inch floppy disks to CD-ROM drives. 16. Identify how changes in the external environment affect the OM strategy for a company. For instance discuss what impact the following internal factors might have on OM strategy: a)Major increase in oil prices. b)Fewer young prospective employees entering the market. c)Inflation versus stable prices. d)Legislation moving health insurance from a benefit to a