Paul and his wife decided to try a new restaurant. They looked up a review on Yelp and asked their friends for their opinions of the restaurant. However, they could only decide if the restaurant had a good atmosphere, if the waitstaff was good, and if the food was good after dining at the restaurant. This example shows that, compared to goods, services tend to exhibit more qualities.

Garrett is an executive vice president at samm hardware. he researches a proposal by a larger company, maximum hardware, to combine the two companies. by analyzing past performance, conducting focus groups, and interviewing maximum employees, garrett concludes that maximum has poor profit margins, sells shoddy merchandise, and treats customers poorly. what actions should garrett and samm hardware take? a. turn down the acquisition offer and prepare to resist a hostile takeover. b. attempt a friendly merger and use managerial hubris to improve results at maximum. c. welcome the acquisition and use knowledge transfer to impart sam hardware's management practices. d. do nothing; the two companies cannot combine without samm hardware's explicit consent.