A procurement manager is requested to source a major component. She needs information on sup-pliers’ direct and indirect cost, fixed and variable costs to prepare for negotiations. Therefore, she collects 17 annual reports from potential suppliers who are competing in the same industry. In order to estimate an approximate value of fixed and variable costs in that industry, which of the following technique should be adopted by the procurement manager?
Which of the following problems may be identified as open-ended problems? Select TWO that apply:
Builder Inc is a rapidly expanding business in construction sector. Due to an increase in projects, it cannot manage the flow of materials by Excel spreadsheets but by more dedicated software. Who would be a key internal stakeholder in defining software compatibility with company's current system?
Facing fiercer competition at home and abroad, IKEA, the leading furniture retailer, needs to im-prove its competitiveness. In order to do this, IKEA must decrease operating costs and improve quality of current and new retail stores. The company establishes a project team. The job of the team is to collect data on performance from multiple stores in several countries, then select the best performing one. The team will work closely with best performing store and study its processes. After the research, the team will recommend best practices to other retail stores. IKEA management can also apply these practices to new stores in the future. Which of the following correctly describe the process undertaken by IKEA project team?
To strengthen its market presence, ABC Group decided to develop a new product. A cross-functional team was formed to discuss the scope and the functions of the product. They will also survey the potential customers to see what they like, what they love, and what they dislike. What is this process called?
GSC Ltd is a manufacturer of car parts. To accommodate growing demands of electric cars, the company is developing a new component which requires different type of steel. The project team estimates that the component will be ready for production in 1.5 years. Until then, they need to keep the production busy.
After checking the inventory records, the production team sees that the company has 3 months of stock. The lead time for each batch is two months. Which of the following should be a priority ac-tion of the company?
When devising a business case for purchasing a new copier, Maria analyses its whole-life costs as following:
Though cost generating activities are identified, she has not categorised the costs. What is the total value of copier's end of life costs?
A procurement manager includes provision on recovery from natural disaster into a through-life specification. Some suppliers suppose that provision is unnecessary. Is procurement manager’s action justified?
A buyer in Housing Authority is considering using performance specification in upcoming social housing project. What should buyer be aware when using this type of specification?
Dana is an automobile manufacturer. It has a new electrification strategy that aims at making eco-friendly electric pick-up trucks. To implement this strategy, the procurement department must source new categories of parts that make motors, sensors, solenoids and stators. He starts to analyse the market by identifying specific supply market segments for those parts and finding suppliers who have the best capabilities in those segment. He intends to segment the market based on specific features of the products. Which variable is used by Dana procurement manager to shape and manage supply market?
Despite of better improvement rates than other types of benchmarking, functional benchmarking still has downsides. Which of the following is most likely to be a disadvantage of functional benchmarking?
Which of the following factors are likely to be direct barriers to a new entrant in a supply market?
At which stage of product life cycle, price competition between sellers will be the most intense?
Company A sells a product for $100. The total unit variable costs are $60. Fixed costs as in its ac-count are $20,000. How many products does the company have to sell to achieve break-even point?
Robert is a senior buyer at MMC Construction Ltd. His company is doing multiple development projects in the country, which increases procurement workload significantly. Meanwhile, most of the tasks are handled manually, which causes bottlenecks in the workflows. The procurement team is overwhelmed by the workload and complains from other departments. From previous experience, Robert knows that electronic system may help his procurement team. He writes a business case to submit to the senior management, in which he insists on the possible productivity improvement by adopting e-system in procurement. Is Robert's action reasonable?
ABC Ltd has enormous investment in facilities and machinery. It also employs skilled workforce. To be profitable, the company has to produce at massive quantity. Which sector does ABC Ltd belong to?