One of the major challenges facing companies today is to keep the customers they already have since there are fewer customers to go around. Changing demographics, sophisticated competitors, and overcapacity in many industries are some of the reasons for this. As a result: a. the costs of maintaining existing customers are declining.
b. the costs of attracting new customers are declining.
c. the cost of giving incentives to existing customers all the time is low.
d. the costs of attracting new customers are rising.

Rate of return douglas keel, a financial analyst for orange industries, wishes to estimate the rate of return for two similar-risk investments, x and y. douglas's research indicates that the immediate past returns will serve as reasonable estimates of future returns. a year earlier, investment x had a market value of $27 comma 000; and investment y had a market value of $46 comma 000. during the year, investment x generated cash flow of $2 comma 025 and investment y generated cash flow of $ 6 comma 770. the current market values of investments x and y are $28 comma 582 and $46 comma 000, respectively. a. calculate the expected rate of return on investments x and y using the most recent year's data. b. assuming that the two investments are equally risky, which one should douglas recommend? why?