1.   And if pricing competition does not eat up profits, strategist like Charles Clough at Merrill Lynch suggest that other factors will.

2.   For months, many technology companies have been feeling the pressures of stiff pricing competition, a glut of components and a worldwide slowdown in personal computer sales.

3.   The company is expecting aggressive marketing of multipacks and strong pricing competition in key markets during the peak summer season, Kiely said.

4.   The HMO industry has faced shrinking margins for several years, stemming largely from intense pricing competition as health plans have fought for market share.

5.   The metal has been losing ground to plastic in the U.S. and European soft drink markets, and severe pricing competition has cut into profits.

6.   The Overland Park-based trucking giant has posted two straight years of losses and has been hurt by intense pricing competition from nonunion carriers.

7.   The reasons for the poor financial results range from no new best-selling software, a heavy reliance the repackaging of older products and severe holiday pricing competition.

8.   This past week, a survey by the National Association of Purchasing Management turned up more evidence of this intense pricing competition.

9.   The Supreme Court in a decision last week said provisions on inventory, tariff differential and predatory pricing inhibited fair competition and encouraged monopolies.

10.   But in the United States the volume of cigarette sales fell three percent in the quarter, which the group attributed to intense pricing competition.