As the newly hired hospital marketing director, you have your first meeting with the administrator. "Okay," he says, "we need to advertise our physical rehabilitation program. I’ll give you a couple of days to tell me how much you’d like to spend. Is $5,000 enough? I think we can afford a little more, if you need it. And, based on what I’ve seen in the newspapers, St. Mary’s seems to be spending a little less than that. Give me your thoughts in 2 days." Your 2 days are up.

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.