Planning Tools and Techniques

According to the module, what is the primary purpose of environmental scanning?

Competitor intelligence experts suggest that what percentage of the information managers need about competitors can be sourced from their own employees, suppliers, and customers?

What is the term for predictions of outcomes that are used as an important part of the planning process?

Which forecasting technique is characterized by the application of a set of mathematical rules to a series of past data to predict outcomes?

Which of the following techniques is an example of qualitative forecasting?

What is the primary goal of the planning technique known as benchmarking?

According to studies cited in the module, organizations that use benchmarking have achieved up to what percentage of faster growth?

In the context of planning tools and techniques, what is a budget primarily defined as?

What type of budget is based on the assumption of a fixed level of sales or production?

Which scheduling tool is described as essentially a bar graph with time on the horizontal axis and activities to be scheduled on the vertical axis?

How does a load chart differ from a standard Gantt chart?

In PERT network analysis, what is the term for the end points that represent the completion of major activities?

In a PERT network, the longest or most time-consuming sequence of events and activities is known as the:

What is the correct formula for calculating the expected time (te) for an activity in a PERT network?

Based on the data in Exhibit PM-8, 'Events and Activities in Constructing an Office Building,' what is the expected time for Event C, 'Erect frame and siding'?

In the PERT network example for constructing an office building, what is the total completion time along the critical path A-B-C-D-G-H-J-K?

What does the resource allocation technique of breakeven analysis help a manager determine?

A photocopy service charges 10 cents per copy. Its annual fixed costs are 27,000 dollars, and its variable costs are 4 cents per copy. How many copies must the service sell to break even?

What is a primary requirement for a problem to be solvable using the linear programming technique?

In the linear programming example of Maria Sanchez's manufacturing plant, which of the following represents her objective function?

What key characteristic is emphasized by contemporary planning techniques like project management and scenario planning?

How is a 'project' defined within the context of project management?

According to Exhibit PM-13, 'Project Planning Process,' what is the first step in the process?

Scenario planning, a technique for dealing with dynamic environments, is also described as:

What is the primary intent of scenario planning, according to the module?

The process by which organizations gather information about their competitors to anticipate their actions is known as:

What is the term for the process where a company's engineers study a competitor's product to learn about new technical innovations?

Which quantitative forecasting technique involves fitting a trend line to a mathematical equation and projecting it into the future?

What does CPFR, a collaborative framework for retailers and manufacturers, stand for?

Which of the following is NOT one of the four steps of benchmarking illustrated in the module?

A budget that projects future sales is known as a:

What is the primary purpose of using a PERT network analysis?

In PERT analysis, the amount of time an individual activity can be delayed without delaying the whole project is called:

In the PERT network example from Exhibit PM-9, which of the following events lies on a path that is NOT the critical path?

In the graphical solution to a linear programming problem, what is the term for the shaded area that represents the options that don’t exceed the capacity of either department?

In the linear programming example for Maria's plant, at which corner of the feasibility region are profits maximized?

Which of the following best describes a 'project' as defined in the module?

A consistent view of what the future is likely to be, used to reduce uncertainty by playing out potential situations under different conditions, is known as a:

What is the primary objective of the benchmarking technique?

What is the term for the assets of an organization, such as financial, physical, human, and intangible assets?

In the formula for breakeven analysis, BE = TFC / (P - VC), what does 'TFC' represent?

In the linear programming example, Maria's plant has a monthly manufacturing capacity of 1,200 hours. A scented candle takes 4 hours of manufacturing time. If she only manufactures candles, what is the maximum number she can produce?

A survey of financial managers in the U.S., UK, France, and Germany found that what percentage of respondents said their financial forecasts were inaccurate by 5 percent or more?

What is the primary role of a manager in project management?

In the PERT network example, the critical path is 50 weeks and the expected time for Event I is 4 weeks. If Event I actually takes 6 weeks to complete, what is the impact on the total project completion time?

What type of budget is created by combining the revenue and expense budgets of various units to determine each unit's profit contribution?

Which of the following is NOT listed as a suggestion for making forecasting more effective in the module?

According to Exhibit PM-7, what is the first step in developing a PERT network?

In the context of contemporary planning for random, unexpected events, what does the text suggest is a particularly important planning tool?

Which company does the text cite as having used internal benchmarking in its power plants to identify performance gaps and opportunities?