Corporate strategy for a diversified or multi-business enterprise chiefly concerns the development of a strategic vision a set of objectives and a strategy for each business the company is in and also specifying the functional area and operating strategies that each business must employ concerns strategy initiatives to establish business positions in different industries, whether to hold or divest existing businesses strategic actions to boost the combined performance of the set of businesses the company has diversified into, and how to capture cross- business synergies and turn them into a competitive advantage concrns developing the strategic initiatives and approaches that are to be used in managing key operating units (plants, distribution centers, geographic units) and specific operating activities with strategic significance for the company as a whole is orchestrated by the company's CEO and other top executives and consists of a collection of business strategies--one for each business the company has diversified into. is orchestrated by the general managers of each of the company's different lines of business, Often with advice and input from the heads of functional area activities within each business and other key people

An office manager is concerned with declining productivity. despite the fact that she regularly monitors her clerical staff four times each day—at 9: 00 am, 11: 00 am, 1: 00 pm, and again at 3: 00 pm—office productivity has declined 30 percent since she assumed the helm one year ago. would you recommend that the office manager invest more time monitoring the productivity of her clerical staff? explain.

Zachary company produces commercial gardening equipment. since production is highly automated, the company allocates its overhead costs to product lines using activity-based costing. the costs and cost drivers associated with the four overhead activity cost pools follow: activities unit level batch level product level facility level cost $ 64,800 $ 27,730 $ 15,000 $ 154,000 cost driver 2,400 labor hrs. 47 setups percentage of use 11,000 units production of 780 sets of cutting shears, one of the company’s 20 products, took 240 labor hours and 7 setups and consumed 15 percent of the product-sustaining activities. required: (a) had the company used labor hours as a company wide allocation base, how much overhead would it have allocated to the cutting shears? (b) how much overhead is allocated to the cutting shears using activity-based costing? (c) compute the overhead cost per unit for cutting shears first using activity-based costing and then using direct labor hours for allocation if 780 units are produced. if direct product costs are $150 and the product is priced at 30 percent above cost for what price would the product sell under each allocation system? (d) assuming that activity-based costing provides a more accurate estimate of cost, indicate whether the cutting shears would be over- or underpriced if direct labor hours are used as an allocation base. explain how over-or undercosting can affect vaulker's profitability. (e) comment on the validity of using the allocated facility-level cost in the pricing decision. should other costs be considered in a cost- plus pricing decision? if so, which ones? what costs would you include if you were trying to decide whether to accept a special order?

Manipulation manufacturing's (amm) standards anticipate that there will be 5 pounds of raw material used for every unit of finished goods produced. amm began the month of maymay with 8,000 pounds of raw material, purchased 25,500 pounds for $ 15,300 and ended the month with 7,400 pounds on hand. the company produced 4,9004,900 units of finished goods. the company estimates standard costs at $ 1.10 per pound. the materials price and efficiency variances for the month of maymay were: