Whole Foods successfully asserted that it could exclude a shareholder's 3 percent/three-year proposal because it would conflict with a similar but more stringent (9 percent/five-year) management proposal. An appeal of the Whole Foods no-action decision has been filed by the proponent of the original proposal, and, possibly in response, Whole Foods subsequently filed a preliminary proxy statement with a 5 percent/five-year management proposal — less stringent than the proposal set forth in its no-action request. Following the Whole Foods decision, a number of companies have submitted no-action requests on the grounds that shareholder proposals will conflict with the company's own more restrictive proposal, and more issuers are likely to follow suit. Note, however, that if shareholders approve management's more stringent proposal, the Project or other activists may subsequently re-submit the standard 3 percent/three-year proposal.