Provided by James R. Martin, Ph.D., CMA
Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida
Japanese Main Page | Japanese Discussion Questions
| Graduate MA Course
1. Which of the concepts below is (are) associated more with Japanese management than with American management?
a. the concept
of value added as opposed to the value chain.
b. standard cost control as opposed to target costs.
c. price determines costs, as opposed to costs determines
price.
d. constrained optimization as opposed to continuous improvement.
e. none of these.
2. Which of the following management practices is (are) associated more with American managers than with Japanese managers?
a. Emphasize
long range planning.
b. Invest in human resources as a competitive strategy.
c. Base decisions on constrained optimization
techniques.
d. Emphasize quality at the source.
e. None of these.
3. Which of the following characteristics is (are) associated more with Japanese workers than with American workers?
a. team oriented.
b. self sacrifice.
c. highly specialized.
d. a and b.
e. all of these.
4. Which type of manager, Japanese or American is associated with the practice of "inspecting quality in"?
a. Japanese.
b. American.
c. Both Japanese and American.
d. Neither Japanese nor American.
5. Human resource leverage and technological leverage refer to the practices of
a. hiring trained workers and purchasing the available
technology from other companies.
b. cross training workers and emphasizing preventive
maintenance.
c. life time employment and automation.
d. kaizen and autonomation.
6. Which of the following are market driven as opposed to engineer driven?
a. Budgeted costs.
b. Standard costs.
c. Target costs.
d. a and b.
e. None of these.
7. Which of the following is or are associated more with Japanese management practices than with American management practices?
a. Promotion from within the
company.
b. Long term orientation.
c. Consensus decisions.
d. b and c.
e. all of the above.
8. Which practice, or practices below is or are associated more with American managers than with Japanese managers?
a. Autocratic decisions.
b. Orientation towards quarterly profits.
c. Cross training employees.
d. a and b.
e. b and c.
9. Japanese managers tend to use which of the following?
a. Target costing.
b. Constrained optimization techniques.
c. Layoffs to reduce costs.
d. a and b.
e. all of the above.
10. Japanese, as opposed to American incentive systems tend to place more emphasis on
a. psychological rewards.
b. group bonuses.
c. threat of layoff.
d. a. and b.
e. all of the above.
11. Japanese unions, as opposed to American unions tend to
a. promote more specialization.
b. have fewer job classifications.
c. have more frequent strikes.
d. a and b.
e. a and c.
12. Which control technique, or techniques, is or are associated more with the Japanese than with American companies?
a. top down control.
b. bureaucratic control.
c. statistical process control.
d. a and b.
e. b and c.
13. Which of the following concepts is derived from the demand side rather than the supply side of the market?
a. standard costing.
b. target costing.
c. absorption costing.
d. direct costing.
e. process costing.
14. American managers, as opposed to Japanese managers, tend to place more emphasis on
a. individual performance.
b. cross training workers.
c. teamwork.
d. all of the above.
e. none of the above.
15. Japanese managers would tend to use which of the following as an investment strategy?
a. Quick payback.
b. Buy turn-key systems.
c. Portfolio.
d. a and b.
e. b and c.
16. Which of the concepts or practices below is, or are, associated more with the Japanese than with American companies?
a. life cycle costing.
b. quality at the source.
c. life time employment.
d. b and c.
e. all of the above.
17. Which of the combinations of practices below is consistent with Toyota’s costing concepts?
a. Cost standards set annually,
emphasis is on meeting standards, variance analysis is based on standard versus actual for cost control.
b. Cost targets set annually, emphasis
is on meeting targets, variance analysis is based on target versus actual for cost control.
c. Cost targets set monthly, emphasis is on meeting targets,
variance analysis is based on target versus for actual for targeted cost reductions.
d. Cost standards set monthly, emphasis is on meeting
standards, variance analysis is based on standard versus actual for cost reductions.
e. None of these.
18. Which of the combinations of practices below is consistent with traditional American costing concepts?
a. Cost standards set annually, emphasis is on meeting
standards, variance analysis is based on standard versus actual for cost control.
b. Cost targets set annually, emphasis is on meeting targets,
variance analysis is based on target versus actual for cost control.
c. Cost targets set monthly, emphasis
is on meeting targets, variance analysis is based on target versus for actual for targeted cost reductions.
d. Cost standards set monthly, emphasis
is on meeting standards, variance analysis is based on standard versus actual for cost reductions.
e. None of these.
19. Which of the following management practices is (are) associated more with Japanese managers than with American managers?
a. Place emphasis on cross training workers.
b. Place emphasis on non-financial measurements.
c. Place
emphasis on worker participation in decisions.
d. a and b.
e. All of the above.
20. Voting is used in organizations to arrive at a solution or course of action. This is consistent with which of the following perspectives or concepts?
a. The Japanese management concept of consensus decisions.
b. The Japanese management concept of autonomation.
c. The Japanese
management concept of kaizen.
d. All of the above.
e. None of the above.
Japanese Management MC Solution