81.   Excess capacity at home and intense competition from abroad are making it nearly impossible for manufacturers to pass along rising labor and other costs to customers.

82.   Facing intense competition from nonunionized telecommunications companies, Bell Atlantic was under pressure to settle the strike, which was already inconveniencing customers.

83.   Facing intense global competition and pressure from shareholders, companies were reaping the benefits of years of cost cutting and investments in technology.

84.   Feeding the growing popularity of cellphones is the intense competition among cellphone services.

85.   Even without action from the Fed, intense competition is helping to insure abundant resistance to price increases.

86.   Even without such disputes, it is difficult to keep professional sports teams because of the intense competition between cities, Dolich said.

87.   Faced with intense competition from Microsoft Corp., Netscape has repositioned itself as an all-around companyfor serious business communications.

88.   For businesses, productivity advances have been the key to higher profit margins, since intense competition and rising consumer debt have made it tough to raise prices.

89.   For SiteScape, the big challenge may be intense competition because many rivals offer similar products, from small firms to the likes of Lotus and Microsoft Corp.

90.   For businesses, productivity advances have been the key to higher profit margins, since intense competition and rising consumer debt have made it hard to raise prices.