The answers to the blank provided above are SHORT RUN, and LOSSES ARE SMALLEST, respectively. So in the short run, if profits are not possible, the perfectly competitive firm will seek out the quantity of output where losses are smallest. Provided that the given firm is perfectly competitive, this means that it has already stabilized its processes even if there are instances that there is no gain acquired. BUT, this instance is only possible in the short run. In the long run, this small losses would turn into big ones as well, making the firm unstable.