Explain tailored and loosely coupled structures.
What will be an ideal response?
Tailored structure: A low-cost, customer-focused business strategy is supported by a closely tailored structure. Jobs are well defined with detailed tasks or steps to follow. All the jobs are very well defined in order to eliminate variance in how they are performed. It seems hard to make a mistake in these jobs. Differences in pay among jobs are very small.
Loosely coupled structure: This business strategy requires constant product innovation and short product-design-to-market cycle times. This structure is suitable for companies that are in turbulent and unpredictable competitive environments. No steps at all are laid out. Employees work on several teams developing several products at the same time. The pay structures are more loosely linked to the organization in order to provide flexibility.
You might also like to view...
Review of résumés is most valid when the content of the résumés is evaluated in
A. comparison with other employees in an organization. B. terms of the industrial benchmarks. C. terms of the elements of a job description. D. terms of the incumbent's competencies. E. comparison with other applicants' qualifications.
Cake Lady Bakery is famous for its pound cakes. The main ingredient of the cakes is flour, which Cake Lady purchases by the pound. In addition, the production requires a certain amount of direct labor. Cake Lady uses a standard cost system, and at the end of the first quarter, there was an unfavorable direct labor cost variance. Which of the following is a logical explanation for that variance?
A) The cost of workers' medical insurance plans jumped up dramatically during the quarter. B) The factory lost two experienced workers at the beginning of the quarter, and their replacements wasted a large amount of direct materials during their training period. C) The purchasing manager was able to secure a volume discount on flour, purchasing the flour for less than the amount set by standard. D) The production staff changed the work flow process so that production required fewer direct labor hours.
The lower-of-cost-or-market rule implies that it is a violation of the conservatism concept to carry inventory at a cost that is in excess of its market value
Indicate whether the statement is true or false
Which type of risk arises from suppliers’ inability to meet delivery lead times or increase production because of capacity problems?
A. demand risk B. market risk C. implementation risk D. strategy risk