Thinking about PEST, etc: under which heading would exchange rates and inflation fit?
Economic.
Although there may be some political input which may have an effect on exchange rates and infla-tion, the primary heading is obviously 'economic'.
'A person may exert power on the basis of their formal authority or status'
Which of the French and Raven sources of power is being described here?
The Chief Executive has power because they are in the post of the Chief Executive.
The Head of Procurement has power because they carry that job title.
They may also have other sources of power such as expert power, or charisma, but the correct re-sponse to the QUESTION NO : is 'legitimate'.
'Coercive' and 'informational' can also be sources of power not shown in the question.
A publication which sets out how the buying organisation wishes to trade with suppliers, including, for example, standard terms and conditions of business, packaging and transportation requirements, as well as, for example, delivery requirements. This is called a:
The supplier manual will advise suppliers how they should interact with the buying organisation.
A procurement manual will tell people inside the organisation what they need to do to be buying effectively - a buyer's rulebook, effectively. Similarly for a purchasing manual, and fairly obviously, a warehouse manual will provide guidance on how things should be done inside a warehouse.
Thinking about PEST, or PESTEL, or STEEPLE; under which two headings would taxation most comfortably sit?
The answer is political and economic.
The words used in the possible answers spell out STEEPLED which a later version of PEST, etc
CIPS believes that it is good practice for different staff members to be responsible for three key ac-tivities in procurement (specifying / requisitioning; sourcing / contracting; authorising payment), in order to reduce the likelihood of malpractice, and to do what is in the best interests of the organisa-tion. Select two of the following terms which this principle is known by.
Segregation or separation of duties - making different people / line managers responsible for differ-ent stages of the process, making it less likely that fraud can occur.
Within the overall philosophy of just-in-time production, a signalling system to indicate when the next stage of the production process needs output from the previous stage, is called:
A kanban system pulls product through the production process from the previous stage.
Kaizen means continuous improvement; heijunka is related to production scheduling and levelling; Lankan is a place in Sri Lanka, and elsewhere - it is unrelated to this course.
Kaizen, kanban and heijunka can be related to the notion of the implementation of change and im-provement.
Taiichi Ohno came up with the notion of the 'wastes'. How many wastes?
Seven.
Overproduction, inventory, excessive processing, waiting, transportation, motion, defects.
'Processes can be improved simply by organising the work in a way that means people have to move around less'. Which 'waste' is being described here?
Motion.
The science of ergonomics can help with this.
'A person who cares for individuals and the team, a good listener, finds it hard to take difficult deci-sions'. From the 'concern for people and feelings' section of Belbin's roles:
Teamworker.
Which two of the following could not be classified as internal triggers for change? A change of:
Both a major customer changes and legislation changes cannot be seen as being internal - they are clearly external. Leadership is obviously internal, and profitability is in theory at least, largely de-termined by management.
