CSS Business Administration Operations and Supply Chain Management Syllabus

Operations and Supply Chain Management syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Operations and Supply Chain Management in CSS Business Administration, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Introduction to Operations Management

   3 topics

   • Role of Operations in Organizations
   • Operations Strategy and Competitiveness
   • Productivity and Performance Measures
2. 2

   Process and Capacity Design

   4 topics

   • Process Design
   • Capacity Planning
   • Facility Location Decisions
   • Facility Layout Planning
3. 3

   Inventory Management

   3 topics

   • Inventory Models
   • Safety Stock and Reorder Point
   • ABC Analysis
4. 4

   Quality Management

   3 topics

   • Total Quality Management
   • Statistical Process Control
   • Lean and Six Sigma
5. 5

   Supply Chain Fundamentals

   3 topics

   • Supply Chain and Logistics Concepts
   • Supply Chain Drivers
   • Supply Chain Performance and Strategic Fit
6. 6

   Managing the Supply Chain

   4 topics

   • Demand Management and Forecasting
   • Supplier-Buyer Coordination
   • IT in Supply Chains
   • Supply Chain Risk and Disruption Management

Operations and Supply Chain Management flashcards for CSS Business Administration

19 of 63 cards from the Operations and Supply Chain Management deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the three primary functions present in nearly every organization, of which operations is one?

   Operations (production), Marketing, and Finance. Operations creates the goods/services, marketing generates demand, and finance secures capital and tracks resources.

2. Define 'operations management'.

   The management of the transformation process that converts inputs (materials, labor, capital, information) into outputs (goods and services) that add value for customers.

3. In the input-transformation-output model, give examples of the three element categories.

   Inputs: materials, labor, capital, energy, information. Transformation: physical, locational, exchange, storage, physiological, or informational change. Outputs: goods and services.

4. What is the difference between goods-producing and service operations in terms of output and customer contact?

   Goods are tangible, storable, and produced with low customer contact; services are intangible, perishable (cannot be inventoried), and involve high customer contact and simultaneous production-consumption.

5. What does 'value addition' mean in an operations context?

   The difference between the cost of inputs and the value or price of outputs; operations adds value by transforming inputs into more useful goods or services that customers will pay for.

6. Define 'operations strategy'.

   The set of decisions that shape the long-term capabilities of the operations function and align them with the firm's overall business strategy to gain competitive advantage.

7. What are the typical competitive priorities (order winners/qualifiers) in operations strategy?

   Cost, Quality, Delivery (speed and reliability), and Flexibility. Some frameworks add Service/Innovation.

8. Distinguish 'order qualifiers' from 'order winners'.

   Order qualifiers are the minimum criteria a product must meet to be considered by a customer; order winners are the criteria that actually cause the customer to choose that product over competitors.

9. What is the 'sand cone model' of operations capabilities?

   Capabilities are built in a cumulative sequence: first Quality, then Dependability (delivery), then Speed, and finally Cost efficiency — each built on the foundation of the previous one.

10. State the basic definition of 'productivity'.

    Productivity = Outputs / Inputs. It measures how efficiently inputs (resources) are converted into outputs (goods/services).

11. Differentiate single-factor (partial) productivity from total-factor (multifactor) productivity.

    Partial productivity uses one input (e.g., output per labor hour); multifactor productivity uses output divided by the sum of several inputs (e.g., labor + capital + materials + energy), usually in common monetary units.

12. Write the formula for the productivity growth rate between two periods.

    Productivity Growth (%) = [(Current period productivity − Prior period productivity) / Prior period productivity] × 100.

13. What is the difference between 'efficiency' and 'effectiveness'?

    Efficiency means doing things right (minimizing resource use/waste); effectiveness means doing the right things (achieving the intended goals/customer needs).

14. What is 'utilization' as a performance measure, and its formula?

    Utilization = (Actual output or time used / Design capacity or available time) × 100. It shows how much of available capacity is actually being used.

15. Define 'process design'.

    The activity of determining the workflow, equipment, and procedures needed to transform inputs into outputs — specifying how a product or service will be produced.

16. Name the main process types along the product-process spectrum.

    Project, Job shop (jobbing), Batch, Line/Assembly (repetitive/mass), and Continuous flow. Volume increases and variety decreases moving from project to continuous.

17. In a job shop versus a continuous process, how do volume, variety, and flexibility compare?

    Job shop: low volume, high variety, high flexibility, general-purpose equipment. Continuous: very high volume, very low variety, low flexibility, specialized/dedicated equipment.

18. What is the product-process matrix used for?

    It maps product volume/standardization (columns) against process structure (rows) to show the natural diagonal alignment; deviating far from the diagonal usually signals cost or flexibility problems.

19. Distinguish make-to-stock, make-to-order, and assemble-to-order strategies.

    Make-to-stock: produced from forecasts and held as finished inventory. Make-to-order: produced only after a customer order. Assemble-to-order: components made in advance, final assembly only after order (mass customization).

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