1. Distinguish between a supply chain and a value chain. How do they relate to each other?
2. Last year, Amanda Jones opened an ice cream parlor in a busy shopping center. She spent a lot on advertising and attracted many customers into the store, but a few customers made turned up and sales were declining. Amanda paid attention to questions and requests made by customers and detennined that they often requested items that were within the scope of her business but that she did not carry. When she offered to order items for her customers, delivery was usually too late and, yet again, sales were lost. What measures should Amanda take to improve her business?
3. A goal of the process value analysis (PVA) is to reduce nonvalue-adding activities. Outline a procedure a company could use to accomplish this goal.
4. Why is process value analysis not part of the general ledger accounting system?
5. How can activity-based systems help managers in a global marketplace?
6. What would a company using an activity-based management approach attempt to do in regard to activities that add value to the product and those that do not?
7. Define activity-based costing. Explain why this approach to cost assignments is superior to the traditional method of using a plant wide overhead cost rate. Will activity-based costing always result in lower product costs? Justify your answer.
8. Distinguish between push-through and pull-through production methods. How does pull-through production meet the requirements of adjust-in-time operating environment?
9. When using adjust-in-time system, what qualities should be supplier posses?
10. Explain how adjust-in-time operating philosophy reduces the time it takes to complete the production of a product. Include in your answer the classifications of time that are affected. How does such a change help to reduce product costs?