International Business Final Exam Prep Iii

Front 1

How is the supply chain effected by the environments?

Back 1

 Political – tariffs, import restrictions
 Geographic – topographical barriers, waterways, air travel
 Economic – currency exchange rate considerations
 Technological – shipping technology, packaging, document processing
 Competitive
 Social

Front 2

How do the 4 ps effect the supply chain?

Back 2

 Product – features, colours, shape, texture depends on source of supply
 Price – cost of materials
 Promotion – based on product and price (eg. quality leather from Italy)
 Place – distance from source of supply

Front 3

What is the definition of supply chain?

Back 3

Supply Chain – encompasses every effort involved in producing and delivering a final product or service

Front 4

What is supply chain management?

Back 4

 Coordination of materials
o Time of arrival, location, packaging
 Information
o Materials quality, price fluctuations, currency exchange rate considerations
 Funds
o Borrowing money to pay for materials and labour

Front 5

Name the three categories of suppliers.

Back 5

 Third tier supplier – raw materials
 Second tier supplier – subcomponents
 First tier supplier – complete components

Front 6

What are subcomponents of the supply chain?

Back 6

 Purchasing activities – evaluating potential suppliers
 Logistics activities- managing movement of parts and materials – plans, implements and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption in order to meet customer’s requirements
 Support activities – HR, finance, technology

Front 7

What are elements of the supply chain?

Back 7

1. Customer service requirements
2. Plant & distribution network
3. Inventory management
4. Outsourcing and 3rd party logistics relationships
5. Key customer and supplier relationships
6. Business processes
7. IT systems
8. Organization design and training requirements
9. Performance metrics
10. Performance goals

Front 8

What are the elements of supply chain management?

Back 8

 Planning systems – POS data, demand forecasting
 Execution systems – facilitate physical movement of G&S, operational efficiency, cross functional integration
 Performance measurement systems
 Integrating functions in a supply chain

Front 9

What are the applications of intranet?

Back 9

 Corporate/departmental/individual webpages
 Database access (customers, inventory, assets, resources)
 Search engines and directories
 Interactive communication
 Document distribution and workflow
 Groupware
 Telephony
 Integration with e-commerce
 Extranet (geographically dispersed)

Front 10

Name somethings common in intranets.

Back 10

 Corporate Policies
 Corporate procedures for carrying out complex actions
 Timetables
 Scheduling Information
 Directories
 Departments
 Human Resources
 Product Catalogs
 Purchase Orders
 Manuals
 To enhance capability of service technicians
 To empower wholesalers and retailers
 Services
 Archives

Front 11

What is Kaizen?

Back 11

Japanese word meaning gradual, orderly, continuous improvement; business strategy that involves everyone in an organization working together to make improvements without large capital investments; a culture of sustained continuous improvement focusing on eliminating waste in all systems and processes of an organizations

Front 12

What are the principles of Kaizen?

Back 12

Principles:
1. Human resources are the most important company asset
2. Processes must evolve by gradual improvement rather than radical changes
3. Improvement must be based on statistical/quantitative evaluation of process performance
 Embrace belief in multi-skilled, committed employees who respond flexibly

Front 13

What is Just in time supply management?

Back 13

 Industry activities to deal with enhancing effectiveness of Supply Chain Management: JIT, quick response, vendor managed inventory, continuous replenishment
 Trend from Push based models to Pull based models (need a lot of info about customers)

Front 14

What are some problems associated with Just in time (JIT)?

Back 14

 Weather problems
 Labour/union problems
 Regulatory changes
 Local government problems – road repair, municipal services, electricity, garbage removal, recycling

Front 15

What is total Quality Management (TQM)?

Back 15

 Striving for maximum internal and external customer satisfaction
 Calls for continuous improvement (Kaizen) – constantly improving so customers are better satisfied
 In manufacturing, means checking quality at each stage of production
 Method to help Japan with its postwar economic recovery
 Not about product of quality but rather the process
 Effective for homogenous culture such as Japan

Front 16

What is Demming's 14 point plan fot TQM?

Back 16

1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement
2. Adopt the new philosophy
3. Cease dependence on mass inspection
4. Improve the quality of incoming materials
5. Find the problems (reduction in waste and costs)
6. Institute modern methods of training and education for all
7. Institute modern methods of supervision
8. Fear is a barrier to improvement; drive out fear by encouraging effective two-way communication
9. Break down barriers between departments and staff areas
10. Eliminate the use of slogans, posters and exhortations for the workplace
11. Eliminate work standards that prescribe numerical quotas
12. Remove barriers that rob hourly workers, people in mgmt, of right to pride of workmanship
13. Institute a vigorous programme of education; encourage self-improvement
14. Top management’s permanent commitment to ever-improving quality and productivity

Front 17

Why is HR management important?

Back 17

 Technological – technology supremacy is short-lived, cannot be considered as strong advantage
 Economic – unstable and uncontrollable factors
 Political – responds to socio-cultural, stresses of large immigration movements and cultural/religious frictions
 Geographic – pollution, deforestation, greenhouse gases, acid rain, declining water reserves, etc…
 Thus, companies can be more competitive by serving customers in the best way

Front 18

What are challenges to HR in a global context?

Back 18

 Compensation varies – amount of money labourer gets paid varies across countries
 Labour laws – minimum wage varies across countries; political response to activists are different also
 Socioal-cultural environment – language, religion, gender, vacations and holidays