Environmental scanning refers to
a. continually acquiring information on events occurring outside the organization to identify and interpret potential trends.
b. assessing any possible negative impact a firm’s activities might have on the local ecology.
c. initiating an internal talent search to identify employees who can think "outside the box" to generate solutions to marketing problems caused by changes in the marketing environment.
d. setting up a regular schedule to assess the performance of different divisions within a firm.
e. requiring all employees to spend time outside the office to avoid the "ivory tower" syndrome.

For 2018, rahal's auto parts estimates bad debt expense at 1% of credit sales. the company reported accounts receivable and an allowance for uncollectible accounts of $86,500 and $2,100, respectively, at december 31, 2017. during 2018, rahal's credit sales and collections were $404,000 and $408,000, respectively, and $2,340 in accounts receivable were written off.rahal's accounts receivable at december 31, 2018, are:

Costco wholesale corporation operates membership warehouses selling food, appliances, consumer electronics, apparel and other household goods at 471 locations across the u.s. as well as in canada, mexico and puerto rico. as of its fiscal year-end 2005, costco had approximately 21.2 million members. selected fiscal-year information from the company's balance sheets follows. ($ millions). selected balance sheet data 2005 2004 merchandise inventories $4,015 $3,644 deferred membership income (liability) 501 454 (a) during fiscal 2005, costco collected $1,120 cash for membership fees. use the financial statement effectstemplate to record the cash collected for membership fees. (b) in 2005, costco recorded $46,347 million in merchandise costs (that is, cost of goods sold). record thistransaction in the financial statement effects template. (c) determine the value of merchandise that costco purchased during fiscal-year 2005. use the financial statementeffects template to record these merchandise purchases. assume all of costco's purchases are on credit.

Afarmer is an example of what kind of producer?