Here is the scenario:
Solution A is in our DEV environment as a Managed solution containing the Case entity and two custom entities (NOTE: this solution belongs to a third-party vendor so that is why it is Managed in DEV). There are two lookups to these custom entities on the Case form. As it turns out, our client would like to have these two lookups renamed so--After updating the Display Name for each of the fields in a client-specific Unmanaged solution, I saved and published. Then, I exported the Unmanaged solution (as unmanaged) with all three entities in it (Case, custom entity #1, custom entity #2). I then imported the Unmanaged solution into our QA environment and published all customizations.
The problem: The updated Display Names for these fields are not updated in the target QA environment.
What am I missing?! I would think that unmanaged customizations would overwrite any in a managed solution. Please help!