SOLUTION MANUAL FOR
OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, 11TH EDITION
ROBERTA S. RUSSELL, BERNARD W. TAYLOR
CHAPTER 1-17
1 Introduction to Operations and Supply Chain Management
Answers to Questions
1.1. The operations function involves organizing work, selecting processes, arranging layouts, locating
facilities, designing jobs, measuring performance, controlling quality, scheduling work, managing
inventory, and planning production. Operations interacts with marketing in product development,
forecasting, production planning, and customer service. Operations and finance interact in capital
budgeting, cost analysis, production and inventory planning, and expansion and technology plans.
Operations and human resources work together recruiting, training and evaluating workers, designing
jobs and working with unions. IT and operations work together daily on e-commerce, enterprise resource
planning and supply chain management systems.
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 1: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other business
functions.
Section Reference 1: The Operations Function
Bloomcode: Knowledge
1.2. a. Operations at a bank involves transferring funds, processing funds, providing checks, cashing
checks, preparing monthly statements, reconciling statements, approving loans, loaning money, keeping
track of loan payments, approving credit cards, and more.
b. Operations at a retail store involves purchasing goods, stocking goods, selling goods, keeping track of
inventory, scheduling workers, laying out the store, locating the store, forecasting demand, and more.
c. Operations at a hospital involves preparing the rooms, scheduling doctors, nurses and other workers,
processing paperwork, ordering supplies, caring for patients, maintaining the facility, laying out the
facility, ensuring quality and more.
d. Operations at a cable TV company involves taking orders, installing equipment, maintaining
equipment, keeping the shows on the air, scheduling work, processing statements and payments, and
more.
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 1: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other business
functions.
Section Reference 1: The Operations Function
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.3. Inventions during the industrial revolution brought workers together under one roof in a factory
setting where division of labor and interchangeable parts encouraged the formation of separate worker
and management jobs. Ideas from the scientific management era made work more efficient. Human
,relations theorists emphasized the importance of the human element in operations management. The
management science era saw many advances in quantitative techniques and their application. The quality
revolution focused management on meeting customer expectations and emphasized quality over quantity.
The Internet brought numerous opportunities to do work faster and better. It also opened doors to new
markets worldwide. The era of globalization gave birth to successful global companies that competed
worldwide for both market access and production resources. As trade and globalization sped up, rapid
growth was tempered by environmental constraints and sustainability and resilience became a major
issue of global concern. Technology once again broke the impasse with the digitization of businesses,
social networks and the Internet of Things. The global pandemic slowed both the connectivity of global
markets, production and supply chains and the need for localization of markets, resources and supply
chains.
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 2: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations and
supply chain management.
Section Reference 2: The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.4. Productivity is the efficiency with which inputs are transformed into outputs. It is calculated by
dividing units of output by units of input. Output can be represented by units or dollars of sales made,
products produced, customers served, or calls answered. The most common input is labor hours, although
a variety of inputs can be used, such as labor cost, labor cost + machine cost + energy cost, and so forth.
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 4: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring competitiveness.
Section Reference 4: Productivity and Competitiveness
Bloomcode: Knowledge
1.5. Student answers will vary.
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 4: Calculate and interpret productivity measures used for measuring competitiveness.
Section Reference 4: Productivity and Competitiveness
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.6. Student answers will vary.
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 3: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally, and the importance of
globalization in supply chain management.
Section Reference 3: Globalization
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.7. Students can begin this assignment by accessing Fortune‘s homepage and referring to the Fortune
500 or Global 500 by industry. The leaders in each industry are listed and there is usually some
,discussion of industry concerns. Individual data on companies can be found at Hoover‘s website
(www.hoovers.com).
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 5: Discuss the importance of operations and supply chain management to a firm's
strategy, and the process of developing, aligning, and deploying strategy.
Section Reference 5: Strategy and Operations
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.8. Student answers will vary.
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 1: Describe what the operations function is and how it relates to other business
functions.
Section Reference 1: The Operations Function
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.9. Student answers will vary.
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 2: Discuss the key factors that have contributed to the evolution of operations and
supply chain management.
Section Reference 2: The Evolution of Operations and Supply Chain Management
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.10. Student answers will vary. Accessworldbank.org.
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 3: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally, and the importance of
globalization in supply chain management.
Section Reference 3: Globalization
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.11. The WTO is an international organization that works to establish and enforce rules of trade
between nations. WTO agreements are ratified by the governing bodies of the nations involved. WTO‘s
dispute settlement process interprets agreements and rules on violations, thereby avoiding political or
military conflict. The group promotes free trade and more recently, has helped developing nations enter
the trade arena on more equitable grounds. Currently, there are 147 member nations. Membership is
achieved by meeting certain environmental, human rights, and trade criteria, agreeing to abide by the
rules of the organization, and being approved by two-thirds of the existing membership. See
www.wto.org
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 3: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally, and the importance of
globalization in supply chain management.
Section Reference 3: Globalization
, Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.12. Student answers will vary. Access www.executiveplanet.com
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 3: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally, and the importance of
globalization in supply chain management.
Section Reference 3: Globalization
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.13. Student answers will vary. Access www.transparency.org
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 3: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally, and the importance of
globalization in supply chain management.
Section Reference 3: Globalization
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.14. Student answers will vary. Access https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/foreign-corrupt-
practices-act for basic information.
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 3: Discuss how and why businesses operate globally, and the importance of
globalization in supply chain management.
Section Reference 3: Globalization
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.15. Students will find a variety of answers for this question. In general, it is easy to find mission or
vision statements, but more difficult to find evidence of the mission or vision being applied.
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective 5: Discuss the importance of operations and supply chain management to a firm's
strategy and the process of developing, aligning, and deploying strategy.
Section Reference 5: Strategy and Operations
Bloomcode: Comprehension
1.16. Strategy formulation consists of four basic steps: (1) Defining a primary task—what is the purpose
of the firm? What is the firm in the business of doing? (2) Assessing core competencies—what does a
firm do better than anyone else? (3) Determining order winners and order qualifiers—what wins orders
in the marketplace? What qualifies a product or service to be considered for purchase? (4) Positioning
the firm—what one or two important things should the firm choose to concentrate on? How should the
firm compete in the marketplace?
Student answers will vary. Most start-ups try too much too soon. It‘s often difficult to stick with what
you do best.
