Darcy is in the market to buy a new car. The salesperson shows her the features of each car she is considering, explaining the pros and cons of purchasing each. The salesperson's strategy illustrates:

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."

In 2015, lori assigned a paid-up whole life insurance policy to an irrevocable life insurance trust (ilit) for the benefit of her three children. the ilit contained a crummey provision for the benefit of each child. at the time of the transfer, the whole life insurance policy was valued at $200,000, and since lori had not made any other taxable gifts during her lifetime, she did not owe any gift tax. lori died in 2016, and the face value of the whole life insurance policy of $2,000,000 was paid to the ilit. regarding this transfer, how much is included in lori’s gross estate at her death?

Happy foods and general grains both produce similar puffed rice breakfast cereals. for both companies, thecost of producing a box of cereal is 45 cents, and it is not possible for either company to lower their productioncosts any further. how can one company achieve a competitive advantage over the other?