This item appears at the end of each chapter. It is intended to focus your attention on three key issues for business organizations in general and operations management in particular. Those issues are trade-off decisions, collaboration among various functional areas of the organization, and the impact of technology. You will see three or more questions relating to these issues. Here is the first set of questions:

1. What are trade- offs? Why is careful consideration of trade-offs important in decision making?

2. Why is it important for the various functional areas of a business organization to collaborate?

3. In what general ways does technology have an impact on operations management decision making?