Volvo tried in the 1960s, and quality skyrocketed, according to then-president pehr gyllenhammar (who retired in the 1990s). this approach dramatically boosted quality (and often raised productivity as well) by pushing power down, replacing inspection with responsibility, and having people work in teams. volvo found that production under teams stayed constant, largely due to systems constraints, but that the time and capital invested to make the switch was more than paid off in cost savings from reduced turnover and absenteeism.

Nikolas works in a shoe store as a salesperson. a teenage boy comes in looking for comfortable sports shoes because he is going on a hike. he tells nikolas he wants shoes that have velcro straps. nikolas shows him a wide variety of velcro-strapped shoes, but the customer rejects them because they don't feel comfortable. he asks for sports shoes with laces instead. nikolas once again shows him a wide variety. the boy is once again not satisfied and asks to see the velcro-strapped shoes again. nikolas is irritated but doesn't show his annoyance. what customer service skill is nikolas showing? nikolas is a. meekness b. patience c. persistence

How can a poor housing market put home buyers in a financially unstable position? a. changing property values means it’s easier to find homes with low rental costs. b. when the home value decreases, property taxes and insurance costs increase. c. houses are valued lower than their purchase prices, so the home equity decreases. d. home buyers lose all tax benefits and tax incentives when the housing market goes down. e. mortgage payments can increase even though the home value decreases.

Case in point 1.2 suppose you work in the it department of global hotels, a multinational hotel chain. global hotels runs several specialized business support systems, including a guest reservations system that was developed in-house to meet the requirements of a large company with worldwide operations. guests can make one-stop online reservations by visiting global's website, which has links to all major travel industry sites. global hotels just acquired momma's, a regional chain of 20 motels in western canada. momma's uses a vertical reservations package suitable for small- to medium-sized businesses and a generic accounting and finance package. should momma's use global hotels' information systems or continue with its own? in your answer, consider issues such as business profiles, business processes, system interactivity, edi, ecommerce, and the characteristics of both information systems. what additional information would be to you in making a recommendation?