CUSTOMER_CODE
SMUDE
DIVISION_CODE
SMUDE
EVENT_CODE
SMUJAN15
ASSESSMENT_CODE ML0010_SMUJAN15
QUESTION_TYPE
DESCRIPTIVE_QUESTION
QUESTION_ID
36305
QUESTION_TEXT
Explain the various means of transport carriers.
SCHEME OF EVALUATION
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
QUESTION_TYPE
DESCRIPTIVE_QUESTION
QUESTION_ID
36306
QUESTION_TEXT
Explain the various classifications of the Forecasting Methods.
SCHEME OF EVALUATION
1. Quantitative
2. Qualitative
3. Time series
4. Casual
5. Simulation
(2 × 5 = 10 marks)
Package carrier (1 mark)
Rail (1 mark)
Ship (1 mark)
Airplanes (1 mark)
Pipelines (3 marks)
Intermodal (3 marks)
QUESTION_TYPE
DESCRIPTIVE_QUESTION
QUESTION_ID
73953
QUESTION_TEXT
Explain major obstacles to ‘coordination in a supply chain’.
SCHEME OF
EVALUATION
Incentive obstacles: These kinds of obstacles occur in circumstances
wherein the incentives provided to various stages or participants in a
supply chain set off the actions which create variability and cut down
the overall supply chain benefits.
Information – processing obstacles: They are faced in circumstances
characterized by the deformation in demand information.
Operational obstacles: They come across in implementing the actions
in the course of placing and filling orders resulting in an increase in
variability.
Pricing obstacles: They are faced when the product pricing policies
result in an increase in the variability of orders placed. This may
happen in the form of lot-sized based quantity discounts and price
fluctuations.
Behavioral: They are encountered in learning within the firms that
contribute to information distortion and usually linked to the manner
in which the supply chain is structured and the process of
communication across different stages.
QUESTION_TYPE
DESCRIPTIVE_QUESTION
QUESTION_ID
73955
QUESTION_TEXT
What do you mean by strategic fit? Briefly explain the process of
achieving strategic fit.
SCHEME OF
EVALUATION
The success of an organisation is dependent on whether its supply
chain and competitive strategies complement each other. This is
termed as the organizational strategic fit, Strategic fit is an important
determinant of a supply chain strategy or design phase.
Process:
1. Recognizing the customer and supply chain uncertainty: Firstly,
the company must needs of the customers that it wishes to satisfy and
identify the Uncertainty that all supply chains are characterized by.
Customers demand is liable to change along with the following
parameters
i. Quantity of the goods to be purchased
ii. Varity of goods required
iii. Service level required
iv. Tolerable response time allowed by customers
v. Price of the product
vi. Desired rate of innovation in the product
vii. Implied demand uncertainty (4 marks)
2. Realizing the supply chain capacities: An organization must take
a note of the core strengths of its supply chain. For that reason all
supply chains are to be devised to execute important functional ratio of
the supply chain in an effective and co–ordinate manner. (2 marks)
3. Evolving to achieve strategic fit: With regard to achieving a
complete strategic fit, a firm should ensure that its functional strategy.
It is required that the functional strategies reinforce and warrant the
goals of the competitive strategy, and all–sub strategies within the
supply chain like manufacturing, inventory and purchasing are also
consistent with the supply chains level of responsiveness. (2 marks)
QUESTION_TYPE DESCRIPTIVE_QUESTION
QUESTION_ID
125354
QUESTION_TEXT Highlight the factors affecting strategic fit
SCHEME OF
EVALUATION
It is very easy to have an effective strategic fit in place when a firm
targets a single customer segment. However, the strategic fit of a
company is affected differently when it has multiple products to offer,
multiple customer segments to serve and when its products undergo
their life cycles. Factors that affect the strategic fit of a firm are:
–
Multiple products and customer
segments:
(2 Marks)
Most firms deal in multiple products to cater to different customer
segments each having different products to cater to different segments
each having different characteristics.
–
Product life cycle:
(2
Marks)
All products have a life cycle and as they go through this, there are
changes in the characteristics of demand, and the customer needs are
also evolving constantly. The supply characteristics also change as the
product and production technologies mature and evolve.
(2 Marks)
High technology products go through such life cycle swings quite often
over a very compressed span of time.
–
Competitive changes over time:
When watching supply chain and competitive strategies, its important
to consider changes in the competitor behaviour.
(2 Marks)
Going by their own product’s life cycle, the competitors can also
change the market landscape and this requires a change in the
company’s competitive strategy.
(2 Marks)
QUESTION_TYPE DESCRIPTIVE_QUESTION
QUESTION_ID
125355
QUESTION_TEXT
Explain the strategies for managing safety inventory in the retail
industry
–
Account for the fact that supply chain demand is lumpy:
In practice, instead of ordering one unit at a time, a manufacturer or
retailer orders in bulk. Hence, demand observed by different stages of
the supply chain tends to be uneven.
(2 Marks)
SCHEME OF
EVALUATION
–
Adjust inventory policies if demand is seasonal:
In practice, demand is often seasonal, featured by variation in the mean
and the standard deviation of demand by the time of
year.
(2 Marks)
–
Use simulation to test inventory policies:
Given that demand is mostly not normally distributed and seasonal, it
would be wise to analyze and adjust inventory policies using a
computer simulation prior to being implemented.
–
Start with a pilot:
Marks)
(2
Even a simulation is not effective enough in identifying all problems
that may arise when resorting to an inventory policy.
–
Monitor service levels:
Implementation of a policy is backed by the necessity of being tracked
and monitored in terms of performance. Monitoring is important as it
permits a supply chain to identify a policy’s efficiency and make
adjustments accordingly to prevent the supply chain performance from
being affected significantly.
(2 Marks)
–
Focus on reducing safety inventories:
Considering that safety inventory is often a large portion of the total
inventory in a supply chain, the ability to decrease safety inventory
without affecting product availability can considerably raise supply
chain profitability.
(2 Marks)