Contemporary issues Management Exam Prep

LAST 5-7 ARE PARAGRAPH QUESTIONS

  1. Operations management (CH 10 Week 7)

    1. Overseeing the production process (managing people and machinery)

      1. First: Inputs → Resources and Raw Materials

      2. Second: Conversion Process → Add Value

      3. Third: Outputs → Goods and Services

    • Production system: Every organization has its own inputs, transformation process, and outputs. The raw materials and assembly process differ greatly based on the output that the business produces.

  2. Inventory control (Ch 10 Week 7)

    • Define: making sure you have enough stock to sell to meet demand without having too much inventory sitting around and taking up space.

    1. Perpetual Inventory Systems: systems continuously monitor the amounts and locations of stocks.

    2. Vendor-managed Inventory: inventory control functions are handed over to suppliers.

    3. Just-In-Time (JIT) System: allows managers to reduce the amount of inventory on hand.

    4. Materials Requirement Planning: Aids in managing the purchase and planning of materials required for production.

  3. Information system purpose (CH 11 Week 8)

    • An organized method for collecting, storing, and communicating past, present, and projected information on internal operations and external intelligence.

    • Information systems can be tailored to assist many business functions and departments, from marketing and manufacturing to finance and accounting. They can manage the overwhelming information overload by organizing data in a logical and accessible manner. A company can use the system to monitor all areas of its operations and business strategy, identifying problems and opportunities.

    • Two types of Information systems:

  4. Operational support systems: Designed to produce information on how an organization/company is doing. (How are operations running)

    • Transaction process systems: Record and process business transaction data

    • Process control system: monitor and control physical processes.

  5. Managerial support systems: An aid in making effective decisions

    • Management information: Produces reports for managers

    • Decision Support systems: Gives support in the decision-making process

    • Executive support systems: Lets senior executives access the firm’s primary database and combines relevant data ad details to support decisions and operations

    • Expert systems: Program that imitates human thinking in a specific area to solve a problem

  6. Business Analytics

    1. Standard tools and procedure designed to search ans analyze the amount of complex data a business gathers:

  7. Different types of computers (CH 11 Week 8)?

    1. Mainframes: The largest type of system involves most expensive storage capacity and fastest processing speeds (heart of computer networks).

    2. Midrange systems: High end network that can handle large-scale processing needs.

    3. Personal computers: Desktops, laptops, etc

    4. Hand-held devices: Smartphone

  8. Good classification (CH 13)

    1. Business Products

      1. Capital items

      2. Expense items

    2. Installations

    3. Accessory Equipment: Includes less expensive and shorter-lived capital items

    4. Component parts and materials: Finished business goods that become part of a final product

    5. Raw Materials: Farms and natural products used in producing other products.

    6. Supplies

  9. Types of products

    • Products: Goods and Services designed to satisfy customer wants/needs.

    1. Convenience products: items that seek to purchase a lot, quickly and with little effort. ( Ex: Groceries)

    2. Shopping Products: Purchase only after the buyer compares competing products from competing retailers. (Ex: Skin care)

    3. Specialty Products: Items the buyer is willing to make special efforts to obtain. (Ex: Limited edition shoes, Headphones, etc)

  10. Brand Loyalty (CH: 13 Week 9)

    • Brand Recognition: Strong awareness of the brand but not top preference (Ex: Second cup)

      • Brand Preference: Consumer chooses one brand over another (Tims vs Second Cup)

      • Brand Insistence: Ultimate degree of brand loyalty (special order it, order by mail, or search the internet)

      • Brand Awareness: When the product is the first that comes to mind. (Coffee = Tims, Groceries + Freshco, Wood = Home Depot, etc.)

  11. Positioning (Might be CH 14)

    1. Markers try to establish their products in the minds of the customers. (trying to communicate to buyers some differences about the attributes, price, quality, or use of a good or service.

  12. Differentiation of a product

    1. communicate to buyers some differences about the attributes, price, quality, or use of a good or service.

  13. Examples of cybercrime (Ch 11)

    1. Phishing attacks: Fake website links through email or scam calls are sent to retrieve personal information.

    2. Cyberterrorism: Deliberate threats by a large-scale terrorist network to steal or alter your information

    3. Computer viruses: Malware (viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, and botnets) designed to infect computer systems.

  14. Stages of the Product Life Cycle (CH 13 Week 9)

    1. The Four Basic Stages: The product life cycle is a tool marketers use to help guide their strategies and anticipate developments. Sales and profits follow a predictable pattern.

      1. Introduction: A new product is introduced to the market. Sales are low, and companies are working to increase awareness.

        • Ex: Self-driving Cars

      2. Growth: The market is starting to accept products, sales increase, profit increase, and competition.

        • Ex: Electric vehicles

      3. Maturity: Sales peak during this stage. Competition is fierce, and companies focus on maintaining market share, differentiating their products, and reducing costs.

        • Ex: Smartphones, laptops, etc.

      4. Decline: Sales begin to decline, and companies may choose to discontinue the product.

        • Ex: Landline telephones

  15. Compare brand strategies ( Ch 13 Week 9)

    • Brand Catagory

      1. Manufacturer’s (or national) brand: A brand offered and promoted by a manufacturer.

        • Ex: Tide, Cheerios, Windex, Fossil, and Nike

      2. Private (or store) brand: A product not linked to a manufacturer; it carries a wholesaler’s or retailer’s label.

        • Ex: Canadian Tire’s master craft tools and Lablaw’s President’s Choice Foods.

      3. Family branding strategy: A single brand name used for several related products.

        • Ex: Lululemon, Kraft, KitchenAid, Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett-Packard, and Arm & Hammer

      4. Individual branding strategy: Giving a different brand name to each product within a product line

  16. Competition strategies

  17. Highlight Product value

  18. Differentiate Product

  19. Provide Information

  20. Stabilize Sales

  21. Increase Sales

  22. Pricing strategies (Ch 14 Week 10)

    • Based on the costs of purchasing products from other channel members and offering services to customers can play a major role in customer perception

    1. Skimming Pricing

    2. Penetration pricing

    3. Everyday low pricing: Maintaining continuous low prices (long-term)

      • Discount Pricing: Dropping prices for a set period (short-term)

    • Competitive pricing: Matching competitor's prices

  23. Sources of short-term funding:

  24. Trade credit: is extended by suppliers when a buyer agrees to pay for goods and services at a later date. Trade credit is relatively easy to obtain and costs nothing unless a cash discount is offered.

  25. Short-term Loan: Loans from commercial Banks. Business use these loans to finance inventory and accounts receivable.

Two types of short term bank loans:

  • Line of credit: Max amount the firm can borrow over a period of time (usually a year). Bank has no obligation to pay

    • Revolving credit: The bank guarantees that the funds will be available when needed. (usually is a fee on top of interest)

  1. Commercial Paper: Short term IOU (loan) sold by a company NOT banks . (usually sold in multiples if $100,000- $1 million). Life span of 1-270 days

  2. This is a good financing option because large amounts of money can be raised at interest rates that are usually lower than the interest rates charged by banks.

  3. Facility layout processes- Process Product position (CH 18)