MGT 2070 Assignment #1 Solutions

Note: I messed up the weights in the original assignment. All questions are equally weighted for
your mark (ie each question is worth 33 1/3!.
1.3 Carl Sawyer makes billiard balls in his Dallas plant. With a recent increase in taxes, his
costs have gone up and he has a newfound interest in efficiency. Carl is interested in determining
the productivity of his organization. e would like to know if his organization is maintaining the
manufacturing average of !" increase in productivity. e has the following data representing a
month from last year and an e#uivalent month this year$
Last Year Now
"nits #roduced 1$$$ 1$$$
%a&our (hours! 3$$ '()
*esin (pounds! )$ +)
,apital In-ested (.! 1$/$$$ 11/$$$
0nergy (12"! 3/$$$ '/3)$

Show the productivity change for each category and then determine the improvement for labour%
hours, the typical standard for comparison.
4olution:
5ou should ha-e some form of:
#roducti-ity 6 7utputs
Inputs
&one mark'
2hen for each category/ you must calculate the change in producti-ity. 5ou cannot add the
categories together &ecause they do not share the same units. It was only necessary to calculate
the impro-ement in producti-ity for the la&our category:
Last Year Now Change
%a&our (hours! 1$$$ 3$$ 6 3.33 1$$$ '() 6 3.8+ 3.8+ 9 3.33 6 $.31
*esin (pounds! 1$$$ )$ 6 '$ 1$$$ +) 6 ''.'' ''.'' 9 '$ 6 '.''
,apital In-ested (.! 1$$$ 1$$$$ 6 $.1 1$$$ 11$$$ 6 $.$: $.$: 9 $.1 6 ;$.$1
0nergy (12"! 1$$$ 3$$$ 6 $.33 1$$$ '3)$ 6 $.3) $.3) 9 $.33 6 $.$'

&two marks per row'
2hen for the impro-ement in the la&our category:
$.3$ 3.33 6 $.$:1 or :.1 impro-ement o-er last year. &one mark'
(otal )arks$ *+
'.' ,dentify how changes in the external environment affect the -) strategy for a company. .or
instance, discuss what impact the following external factors might have on -) strategy$
b' Water% and air%#uality legislation.
<ore restricti-e legislation will tend to increase the costs of production and may prohi&it the use
of some technologies. =igh costs of process modification in order to meet the new restrictions
may &e less economic than simply closing a plant down. 2hese are some possi&le answers 9
others will &e >udged on their own merits.
(otal )arks$ *+
3.3 /n international legal firm is planning to expand globally by opening a law office in one of
four countries$ ,taly, 0ortugal, (urkey or .rance. (he chief partner entrusted with the decision,
1orean Sharpe, has identified eight critical success factors &CS.s' that she views as essential for
the success of any law office. She used a rating system of * &least desirable country' to 2 &most
desirable' to evaluate each CS.. Which country should be selected for the new law office3
Candidate Countr !atings
Criti"al Su""ess #a"tors $tal %ortugal Tur&e #ran"e
Le'el o( )du"ation
1. num&er of lawyers ) ) ' +
'. national literacy rate ' 1 1 +
%oliti"al and legal as*e"ts
3. sta&ility of go-ernment ) ) ' )
+. product lia&ility laws ' 3 ) )
). num&er of suits per year + 1 3 1
So"ial and "ultural as*e"ts
8. similarity in language ' 1 1 +
(. accepta&ility of lawyers + + 3 1
)"onomi" (a"tors
3. num&er of courts 3 1 ) '

All eight factors are weighted equally. 2he weights can &e added or a-eraged/ to yield the
following sums:
$tal %ortugal Tur&e #ran"e
4um '( '1 '' '8
A-erage 3.3() '.8') '.() 3.')
Italy rates the highest in this case.