What type of planning is conducted at the highest levels of management and deals with products, capital, research, and the long- and short-term goals of a company?

Wallis company manufactures only one product and uses a standard cost system. the company uses a predetermined plantwide overhead rate that relies on direct labor-hours as the allocation base. all of the company's manufacturing overhead costs are fixed—it does not incur any variable manufacturing overhead costs. the predetermined overhead rate is based on a cost formula that estimated $2,886,000 of fixed manufacturing overhead for an estimated allocation base of 288,600 direct labor-hours. wallis does not maintain any beginning or ending work in process inventory.

Richardson hired j.c. flood company, a plumbing contractor, to correct a stoppage in the sewer line of her house. the plumbing company's 'snake' device, used to clear the line leading to the main sewer, became caught in the underground line. to release it, the company excavated a portion of the sewer line in richardson's backyard. in the process, the company discovered numerous leaks in a rusty, defective water pipe that ran parallel with the sewer line. to meet public regulations, the water pipe, of a type no longer approved for such service, had to be replaced either then or later, when the yard would have to be excavated again. the plumbing company proceeded to repair the water pipe. though richardson inspected the company's work daily and did not express any objection to the extra work involved in replacing the water pipe, she refused to pay any part of the total bill after the company completed the entire operation. j.c. flood company then sued richardson for the costs of labor and material it had furnished. (c) for what, if anything, should richardson be liable? explain."

With the slowdown of business, how can starbucks ensure that the importance of leadership development does not get overlooked?