QUESTION 1 1.1 What recent changes have caused supply chain management to gain importance? 1.2 Describe the differences between functional and innovative products. 1.3 With so much productive capacity and room for expansion in South Africa (SA). why would a company based in SA choose to purchase items from a foreign firm? Discuss the pros and cons. 1.4 Have you ever purchased a product based on purchase price alone and were surprised by the eventual total cost of ownership (TCO), either in money or in time? Describe the situation. 1.5 Why is it desirable to increase a company's inventory turnover ratio? 1.6 Research and compare the inventory tumover ratios of these three large retailers: Woolworths, Pick n Pay, and Shoprite. Use the same financial website for all three and compare numbers from the same time frame. What do these ratios tell you? Are you surprised by what you found? QUESTION 2 The owner of a large machine shop has just finished its financial analysis from the prior fiscal year. The following is an excerpt from the final report: 2.1 Compute the inventory tumover ratio and interpret the result. 2.2 Compute the weeks of supply and interpret the result