Answer:
The answer is: Ms. Stout needed to be more specific in her request.
Step-by-step explanation:
For an effective business communication, the fact of being competing companies does not affect, as it's part of being ethical. Time zones could be a problem when requests and answers are not clear from the very beginning, however, this isn't a problem when these two last, are clear. So, a request comes before an answer, so the problem resides on the first email, which is the request, if the request isn't clear enough, then consequently the answer won't be either; you will the find yourself sending lots of emails with no right answer, and thus, you will be part of a bad business communication.