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CSCP (ASCM) practice questions

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Question 1Supply Chain Strategy and Design

The SCOR model organizes supply chain management around a set of core management processes. Which list represents those core processes?

  1. Forecast, procure, produce, store, and sell
  2. Plan, procure, convert, distribute, and repair
  3. Design, buy, build, ship, and recycle
  4. Plan, source, make, deliver, and return Correct answer.

Explanation

SCOR describes supply chain activity through the processes of Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, and Return, with Enable acting as a supporting process across them. The alternatives use invented or functional labels that do not match the SCOR taxonomy.

Question 2Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A firm sells fashion apparel with short life cycles, high variety, and demand that is very hard to forecast. Following Fisher's framework, its supply chain should be designed to be:

  1. Efficient, with high utilization and low inventory
  2. Lean, with long production runs and minimal changeover
  3. Push-based, with long forecast horizons and full trucks
  4. Responsive, with flexible capacity and buffer inventory Correct answer.

Explanation

Fisher links innovative products, which have unpredictable demand and short lives, to responsive supply chains built for flexibility and buffer capacity. Efficient or lean designs that maximize utilization suit functional products with stable, predictable demand.

Question 3Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Which statement best defines the bullwhip effect?

  1. Inventory levels are identical at every echelon
  2. Demand variability decreases as orders move upstream
  3. Lead times shorten as information moves further upstream
  4. Order variability grows moving upstream from customers Correct answer.

Explanation

The bullwhip effect is the amplification of demand variability as orders pass from customers up through distributors, manufacturers, and suppliers. It arises from factors such as forecast updating, order batching, and price promotions.

Question 4Supply Chain Strategy and Design

In a pull-based supply chain, which condition governs execution?

  1. Production runs are scheduled to maximize machine utilization
  2. Inventory is built ahead of the selling season by plan
  3. Orders are released against a forecast at fixed intervals
  4. Replenishment is triggered by actual customer consumption Correct answer.

Explanation

Pull systems initiate replenishment and production in response to real customer demand signals rather than forecasts. Push systems, by contrast, execute against anticipated demand set in advance.

Question 5Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Which description best captures vertical integration?

  1. Combining several customer orders into one shipment
  2. Contracting third-party providers to perform non-core activities
  3. Owning additional upstream or downstream stages of the chain Correct answer.
  4. Selling the same product through several different channels

Explanation

Vertical integration means a firm extends its ownership into adjacent stages of the supply chain, such as a manufacturer acquiring a parts supplier or a distributor. Buying such activities externally is outsourcing, not integration.

Question 6Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A core competency is best described as:

  1. Any activity the firm currently performs in-house
  2. A product line with the highest sales volume
  3. A hard-to-imitate capability that customers value Correct answer.
  4. The largest cost element in the firm's cost structure

Explanation

A core competency is a distinctive capability that is difficult for competitors to imitate and that contributes directly to perceived customer value. It is the usual basis for deciding which activities to keep in-house.

Question 7Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Which practice best describes postponement?

  1. Delaying final configuration until demand is known Correct answer.
  2. Scheduling long production runs to reduce changeover cost
  3. Holding inventory at several echelons to improve service
  4. Placing supplier orders well before the season begins

Explanation

Postponement holds product in a generic state and completes differentiation, assembly, or positioning only after demand is revealed. This reduces the risk of building the wrong mix of finished variants.

Question 8Supply Chain Strategy and Design

An order qualifier is best described as:

  1. The lowest price a customer can obtain in the market
  2. A feature that differentiates the firm from all competitors
  3. A minimum standard a supplier must meet to be considered Correct answer.
  4. The attribute that wins the most orders in the market

Explanation

Order qualifiers are the threshold criteria a supplier must satisfy for its offering even to be considered by a customer. Order winners are the criteria that actually cause the customer to choose one supplier over another.

Question 9Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A manufacturer decides to compete primarily on cost leadership for a mature, standardized product. Which supply chain change best supports that strategy?

  1. Adding flexible, underutilized capacity to absorb spikes
  2. Shortening replenishment cycles to cut order lead time
  3. Consolidating distribution centers to raise throughput Correct answer.
  4. Broadening product variety to serve more customer segments

Explanation

A cost leadership strategy requires the supply chain to be efficient, so consolidating facilities to increase volume per site lowers unit cost. Variety, buffer capacity, and speed investments raise cost and fit differentiation or responsiveness strategies instead.

Question 10Supply Chain Strategy and Design

In the Kraljic portfolio matrix, purchased items that have high profit impact but low supply risk are classified as:

  1. Leverage items Correct answer.
  2. Non-critical items
  3. Bottleneck items
  4. Strategic items

Explanation

Kraljic classifies items by profit impact and supply risk: high impact with low risk gives leverage items, which are suited to competitive bidding and volume exploitation. Strategic items are high on both dimensions, bottleneck items are low impact with high risk, and non-critical items are low on both.

Question 11Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A buyer compares two suppliers quoting different unit prices, freight terms, payment terms, and defect rates, and selects the one with the best overall economics. This analysis is best described as:

  1. Unit purchase price variance
  2. Standard cost absorption
  3. Total cost of ownership Correct answer.
  4. Contribution margin per unit

Explanation

Total cost of ownership aggregates all costs of acquiring and using a purchase, including price, freight, quality, inventory, and administrative costs. Selecting on unit price alone ignores these additional cost drivers.

Question 12Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Under vendor-managed inventory, the supplier typically:

  1. monitors the buyer's stock and decides replenishment Correct answer.
  2. sets the retail price of the item for the buyer's customers
  3. takes ownership of goods only after they are sold to end users
  4. waits for the buyer to submit purchase orders before shipping

Explanation

In VMI the supplier has visibility of the buyer's inventory position and takes responsibility for replenishment decisions within agreed service levels. The buyer's ordering activity is replaced by shared demand and stock data.

Question 13Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A supply chain produces standard modules on a level, forecast-driven schedule and then performs final assembly only when a customer order arrives. This approach is known as:

  1. A pure agile strategy
  2. A continuous replenishment strategy
  3. A leagile (hybrid) strategy Correct answer.
  4. A pure lean strategy

Explanation

A leagile strategy combines lean, level scheduling for the predictable upstream portion with agile, order-driven response downstream. This captures efficiency where demand is stable and flexibility where it is uncertain.

Question 14Supply Chain Strategy and Design

The primary purpose of collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) is to:

  1. set selling prices jointly with competing retailers
  2. outsource demand forecasting to a third-party provider
  3. transfer ownership of buyer inventory to the supplier
  4. align partners on a single shared forecast and plan Correct answer.

Explanation

CPFR is a joint process in which trading partners share information, reconcile forecasts, and agree on replenishment plans. Shared visibility reduces forecast error and dampens variability across the chain.

Question 15Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A firm adds a regional warehouse between its plant and its customers. Which tradeoff most accurately describes the effect?

  1. Lower total distribution cost with no change in service level or inventory
  2. Lower inventory investment offset by slower delivery
  3. Higher lead time offset by reduced warehousing expense
  4. Faster delivery and lower outbound freight, offset by more inventory Correct answer.

Explanation

An intermediate echelon shortens the distance to customers, improving delivery speed and reducing outbound freight per unit, but it adds inventory and handling costs. Network design is the practice of balancing these service gains against the added cost.

Question 16Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A company finds that an offshore supplier's unit price is 20 percent lower than its domestic source, yet its total landed cost is higher. Which factor best explains this outcome?

  1. Shorter transit times to the customer
  2. Freight, duties, and pipeline inventory costs Correct answer.
  3. Lower direct labor rates available at the offshore site
  4. Reduced safety stock requirements

Explanation

Landed cost includes freight, duties, brokerage, pipeline inventory, and coordination overhead in addition to the unit price. These factors are often underestimated when a sourcing decision is based on quoted piece price alone.

Question 17Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A distributor finds that 20 percent of its SKUs generate about 80 percent of sales value. Under ABC classification, these SKUs should be:

  1. Items excluded from forecasting and replenishment
  2. C items, managed with loose control and infrequent review
  3. B items, reviewed only at annual inventory counts
  4. A items, managed with tight control and frequent review Correct answer.

Explanation

ABC classification applies Pareto logic, so the small share of items with the largest value contribution are A items. These receive the tightest control, most frequent review, and most accurate forecasting effort.

Question 18Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Cash-to-cash cycle time is calculated as:

  1. Days of inventory plus days of receivables plus days of payables
  2. Days of inventory plus days of receivables minus days of payables Correct answer.
  3. Days of inventory plus days of payables minus days of receivables
  4. Days of receivables plus days of payables minus days of inventory

Explanation

Cash-to-cash cycle measures how long cash is tied up: inventory days plus receivables days, less the payables days the firm is funded by suppliers. A shorter cycle frees working capital.

Question 19Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Which activity is the strongest candidate for outsourcing?

  1. An activity that drives the firm's cost leadership
  2. An activity with no external supply market at all
  3. An activity that underpins a unique product feature
  4. A non-core activity with many capable suppliers Correct answer.

Explanation

Outsourcing works best for activities that are not sources of competitive advantage and that a competitive external market can supply. Core, differentiating, or uniquely held capabilities are typically retained.

Question 20Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A firm replaces four regional warehouses, each serving independent demand, with one central warehouse. What is the typical effect on total safety stock?

  1. Reduces total safety stock because variability is pooled Correct answer.
  2. Has no effect because total demand is unchanged
  3. Increases total safety stock because lead times lengthen
  4. Reduces safety stock only when demand is perfectly correlated

Explanation

Consolidating inventory pools independent demand streams, so the variability of combined demand is less than the sum of individual variabilities. This risk pooling lowers the total safety stock needed for a given service level.

Question 21Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A firm can stock finished goods in every variant or hold a generic unit and add the differentiating feature after an order arrives. Postponement is economically justified when:

  1. demand for each variant is stable and highly forecastable
  2. the differentiating step requires long setups and large batches
  3. the extra step costs less than the inventory savings Correct answer.
  4. the generic unit has a higher holding cost than each finished variant

Explanation

Postponement trades added processing cost at the decoupling point against reduced finished-goods inventory and obsolescence risk. It pays when that added cost is smaller than the savings from holding less variant-specific stock.

Question 22Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A firm holds 100 units of safety stock in each of four regional warehouses, each serving independent demand. Using the square-root law, safety stock after consolidation into a single central warehouse would be approximately:

  1. 200 units Correct answer.
  2. 100 units
  3. 400 units
  4. 800 units

Explanation

The square-root law states that required safety stock scales with the square root of the number of combined stocking points, so combining four independent locations of 100 units gives about 100 times the square root of four, or 200 units. The gain comes from pooling independent demand variability.

Question 23Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A manufacturer awards 70 percent of an item's volume to one supplier and 30 percent to a second qualified supplier. The main rationale for this arrangement is to:

  1. Avoid the need for incoming quality inspection
  2. balance price leverage against continuity risk Correct answer.
  3. Maximize volume discounts from a single partner
  4. Eliminate all supplier management effort

Explanation

A split award between two qualified sources preserves competitive tension on price while providing a fallback if one supplier fails. Single sourcing maximizes leverage and simplicity but concentrates supply risk.

Question 24Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Finished goods entering a country face a high tariff, while components enter duty-free. Which network change most directly reduces total landed cost?

  1. Switching to air freight for finished goods
  2. Shipping larger finished-goods batches less frequently
  3. Moving final assembly into the destination market Correct answer.
  4. Centralizing finished-goods inventory in a foreign hub

Explanation

Relocating final assembly into the destination market changes the tariff classification of what is imported, so components enter duty-free and the finished-good tariff is avoided. The other options change shipping or inventory practice without altering the duty exposure.

Question 25Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Which product design choice most directly supports a circular supply chain for durable equipment?

  1. Using adhesives instead of reversible fasteners
  2. Increasing packaging to reduce transit damage
  3. Designing for disassembly and remanufacture Correct answer.
  4. Sealing components so they cannot be serviced

Explanation

Circular supply chains depend on recovering value from products at end of life, which requires designs that allow components to be separated, repaired, and remanufactured. Design choices that seal or permanently bond parts foreclose those recovery paths.

Question 26Supply Chain Strategy and Design

The SCOR model organizes supply chain work into standard management processes. Which set lists only genuine SCOR processes?

  1. Forecast, Purchase, Produce, Store, Sell
  2. Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, Return Correct answer.
  3. Strategize, Procure, Manufacture, Distribute, Recycle
  4. Design, Buy, Build, Ship, Service

Explanation

SCOR defines six standard management processes: Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, Return, and Enable. Only the first option uses the actual process names from the framework.

Question 27Supply Chain Strategy and Design

The triple bottom line approach to supply chain sustainability evaluates performance across which three dimensions?

  1. Compliance, risk, and resilience
  2. Cost, quality, and speed
  3. Profit, people, and planet Correct answer.
  4. Sourcing, production, and delivery

Explanation

Triple bottom line reporting balances economic, social, and environmental outcomes, commonly summarized as profit, people, and planet. Sustainability programs are judged against all three simultaneously.

Question 28Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A criterion that directly causes a customer to select one supplier's offering over a competing one is called a(n):

  1. core competency
  2. order qualifier
  3. order winner Correct answer.
  4. value driver

Explanation

An order winner is the differentiator that tips the purchase decision toward one offering. Qualifiers only allow a supplier to be considered at all, and core competencies are internal capabilities rather than customer-facing criteria.

Question 29Supply Chain Strategy and Design

The bullwhip effect describes which phenomenon in a supply chain?

  1. Transportation costs fall as shipment sizes grow
  2. Demand variability grows as orders move upstream from the customer Correct answer.
  3. Lead times shrink as production volume rises
  4. Inventory levels stay stable as orders move upstream

Explanation

The bullwhip effect is the amplification of demand variability as orders pass upstream, driven by forecast updating, order batching, promotions, and rationing. It produces excess inventory and poor capacity utilization.

Question 30Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Strategic fit in supply chain management means that:

  1. Inventory is held at each echelon to protect against variability
  2. Suppliers are located within the same region as the buyer
  3. Every function uses the same information system platform
  4. The chain's design and capabilities are consistent with the competitive strategy and target customers Correct answer.

Explanation

Strategic fit exists when supply chain design and capabilities support the competitive strategy and the priorities of the targeted customer segments. It is achieved by matching responsiveness and efficiency to the type of demand served.

Question 31Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A lean supply chain strategy is primarily focused on:

  1. Maximizing the number of product variants offered
  2. Eliminating waste and reducing variability to lower cost Correct answer.
  3. Rapid response to unpredictable demand through flexible capacity
  4. Holding large buffer inventories at every echelon

Explanation

Lean strategies remove waste and reduce variability so that flow is smooth and cost is low, which suits stable, high-volume demand. Responsiveness to volatile demand belongs to agile strategies.

Question 32Supply Chain Strategy and Design

An agile supply chain strategy is most appropriate when:

  1. Demand is volatile and product variety is high Correct answer.
  2. Customers accept long, predictable lead times
  3. Cost minimization is the only competitive priority
  4. Demand is stable and products are standardized

Explanation

Agile strategies emphasize flexibility, quick response, and buffer capacity to cope with volatile demand and high variety. Stable, standardized demand is better served by lean, efficiency-focused design.

Question 33Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Long-term decisions about the number, location, and capacity of supply chain facilities belong to which decision phase?

  1. Operating decisions
  2. Strategy and design decisions Correct answer.
  3. Scheduling decisions
  4. Planning decisions

Explanation

Facility count, location, and capacity are strategic decisions made infrequently and committing capital for several years. Planning and operating decisions then allocate and execute within that structure.

Question 34Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A firm decides how far upstream to hold inventory before a specific customer order triggers production. This decision determines the:

  1. safety stock reorder point
  2. order-to-cash cycle
  3. push-pull boundary Correct answer.
  4. perfect order index

Explanation

The push-pull boundary is the point where forecast-driven stages end and order-driven stages begin. Its placement sets how much of the chain commits inventory before real demand is known.

Question 35Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Holding finished inventory in anticipation of future customer demand, rather than waiting for orders, is known as:

  1. a level strategy
  2. a postponement strategy
  3. a chase strategy
  4. a speculation strategy Correct answer.

Explanation

Speculation commits inventory or capacity ahead of demand, accepting risk in exchange for economies of scale and fast delivery. Postponement delays that commitment until demand is clearer.

Question 36Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Designing products so they pack and ship more densely primarily improves which supply chain performance driver?

  1. Responsiveness
  2. Transportation efficiency Correct answer.
  3. Information flow
  4. Customization

Explanation

Denser packing lowers cube per unit, raising vehicle and container utilization and cutting transport cost per unit. This is a design-for-logistics benefit rather than a responsiveness or customization gain.

Question 37Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A manufacturer keeps a constant production rate and builds inventory in low-demand months to meet peak demand. This is a:

  1. level capacity strategy Correct answer.
  2. demand-sensing strategy
  3. postponement strategy
  4. chase strategy

Explanation

A level strategy holds output steady and absorbs demand swings with inventory or backlogs. A chase strategy instead varies capacity and output to track demand.

Question 38Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Which action best mitigates the risk of a sole-source supplier failing?

  1. Qualifying a backup source in a different region Correct answer.
  2. Extending payment terms with the supplier
  3. Reducing safety stock to free working capital
  4. Consolidating more volume with that supplier

Explanation

A qualified backup source in another region provides redundancy so a single failure does not halt supply. Trimming buffers or concentrating volume raises exposure instead of lowering it.

Question 39Supply Chain Strategy and Design

The perfect order fulfillment metric measures the percentage of orders that are:

  1. complete, on time, and damage-free Correct answer.
  2. delivered at the lowest possible freight cost
  3. forecasted accurately before shipment
  4. invoiced at the quoted unit price

Explanation

Perfect order fulfillment combines completeness, delivery timeliness, damage-free condition, and accurate documentation into one customer-facing measure. It reports service quality rather than cost or forecast accuracy.

Question 40Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Which balanced scorecard perspective focuses on supply chain performance such as cycle time and process cost?

  1. Internal process Correct answer.
  2. Financial
  3. Customer
  4. Learning and growth

Explanation

The internal process perspective covers operational measures such as cycle time, quality, and process cost. Financial, customer, and learning and growth perspectives capture other dimensions of performance.

Question 41Supply Chain Strategy and Design

In the Kraljic portfolio matrix, items with high supply risk and high profit impact call for which sourcing approach?

  1. Long-term strategic partnership Correct answer.
  2. Volume consolidation and price negotiation
  3. Spot purchasing to exploit price competition
  4. Standardized, automated ordering

Explanation

Strategic items combine high profit impact with high supply risk, so buyers pursue close, long-term relationships with joint planning and risk sharing. Leverage items instead reward volume consolidation and price negotiation.

Question 42Supply Chain Strategy and Design

According to frameworks that match supply chain strategy to product type, an innovative product with short life cycles and unpredictable demand should be served by a chain that is:

  1. highly automated and rigid
  2. efficient and cost-focused
  3. centralized with long lead times
  4. responsive and flexible Correct answer.

Explanation

Innovative products carry high variety, short lives, and unpredictable demand, so the chain must be responsive and flexible. Functional products with stable demand are the ones suited to efficient chains.

Question 43Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Which combination of factors most favors moving production closer to the end market?

  1. Higher offshore logistics costs and demand for speed Correct answer.
  2. Rising labor cost advantages abroad and reliable shipping
  3. Falling domestic wages and abundant overseas capacity
  4. Low demand variability and long product life cycles

Explanation

Proximity becomes attractive when offshore logistics and coordination costs climb and customers demand shorter lead times. Lower total landed cost and better responsiveness are the usual justifications for the move.

Question 44Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A manufacturer begins selling directly to end customers and bypasses its established distributors. This channel change is called:

  1. cross-docking
  2. forward integration by the distributor
  3. channel conflict avoidance
  4. disintermediation Correct answer.

Explanation

Disintermediation occurs when a firm sells directly and removes an intermediary from the channel. It can improve margins and customer contact but frequently creates conflict with existing partners.

Question 45Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A value stream map is used primarily to:

  1. separate value-added from waste steps Correct answer.
  2. set credit limits for new customers
  3. calculate reorder points for each SKU
  4. assess a supplier's financial stability

Explanation

A value stream map depicts material and information flow and separates value-adding from non-value-adding steps to expose waste. It is a process-improvement tool rather than a costing or credit instrument.

Question 46Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A firm sells both stable commodity products and fast-changing fashion products. The most effective supply chain design is to:

  1. tailor separate supply chains to each product type Correct answer.
  2. use one highly efficient supply chain for all products
  3. centralize all inventory in a single facility for both lines
  4. apply the same forecast accuracy target to every product

Explanation

When a portfolio spans stable and volatile products, one chain forces compromises on both, so tailoring separate chains lets each be designed for its own demand characteristics. This is the logic of differentiating functional and innovative offerings.

Question 47Supply Chain Strategy and Design

In the SCOR metric hierarchy, which statement best describes Level 1 metrics?

  1. They are used only for supplier scorecards
  2. They gauge overall performance against goals Correct answer.
  3. They define detailed work instructions for operators
  4. They diagnose the root causes of performance gaps

Explanation

SCOR Level 1 metrics are top-level measures of overall supply chain performance against strategic goals. Level 2 metrics diagnose the causes of performance gaps, and Level 3 metrics address detailed process elements.

Question 48Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A supplier has a 10 percent chance of a disruption costing $2 million, and a mitigation program costing $150,000 would remove the risk. Judged on expected monetary value alone, the firm should:

  1. adopt it only if the supplier shares the cost
  2. adopt it, since expected loss of $200,000 exceeds the cost Correct answer.
  3. reject it because $150,000 exceeds the annual disruption probability
  4. reject it because disruption costs cannot be quantified

Explanation

Expected monetary value of the loss equals 0.10 times $2,000,000, or $200,000, which exceeds the $150,000 program cost. On that basis the mitigation is economically justified.

Question 49Supply Chain Strategy and Design

Cost-to-serve analysis is most useful for:

  1. valuing inventory at the end of a period
  2. setting the standard cost of a manufactured item
  3. identifying which customers are truly profitable Correct answer.
  4. allocating overhead to production departments

Explanation

Cost-to-serve assigns activity costs such as ordering, delivery frequency, and returns to specific customers or segments. It reveals which accounts remain profitable once the cost of serving them is included.

Question 50Supply Chain Strategy and Design

A firm wants to limit exposure to currency swings and trade-policy shifts without abandoning offshore production. Which network strategy best fits?

  1. Concentrating volume in the single lowest-cost country
  2. Holding more inventory in the lowest-cost country
  3. Hedging currency exposure only through financial contracts
  4. Maintaining flexible capacity spread across multiple regions Correct answer.

Explanation

Flexible capacity across regions lets the firm shift volume in response to tariffs, currency movements, or disruptions while retaining offshore production. Concentration raises exposure, and financial hedging alone does not address trade policy.