11.   Intuit said it sold Parsons because it wants to focus on its core financial products and on its Internet strategies.

12.   Its core product, Clear Vue, is carried in grocery stores throughout the Northeast and in auto parts stores, discounters and hardware stores nationwide.

13.   Its core product is built on free, open software developed or vastly improved in the last three years and readily available online.

14.   Kellogg is also marketing its core cereal products for the health benefits the company contends they provide rather than for the sugar rush.

15.   Lotus, Microsoft, and Novell have each added instant messaging to core products.

16.   Leonard Brecken, an analyst at Oppenheimer, said the strategy of growth by acquisition could signal trouble with its core products.

17.   Not having enough faith in your core product is another.

18.   Novell is rebuilding its franchise of running corporate networks with a series of software releases, including a new version of its core product, NetWare, Schmidt said.

19.   Plumb said the company ran into problems because it spent too much time researching and developing new technologies before it had exhausted the market potential of its core product.

20.   PowerBar has diversified from its chewy core product in just the last couple of years, introducing more flavorful bars with broader consumer appeal.