31.   Chase could face its biggest challenge in credit cards and other national consumer finance businesses because it will run into tough competition, Garea of Heine Securities said.

32.   China hoped to protect its agriculture and service industries, which are vulnerable to tough international competition.

33.   Davidson has played tough competition, including Duke and UMass.

34.   Digital has been dogged by tepid sales growth, tough competition and a series of reorganizations.

35.   Dubreuil declined to forecast profit for this year, saying only that the company would work to improve profit margins which have been squeezed by tough competition.

36.   Electric Boat faces tough competition in surviving a subcommittee vote.

37.   Ending almost five years of secrecy, Transmeta Corp. Wednesday announced a radical new microprocessor design that promises tough competition for Intel Corp.

38.   EarthLink is facing tough competition in the ISP market from free ISPs and from computer makers offering rebates if users sign up with a particular ISP.

39.   Even on the fashion front, there is tough competition.

40.   Even so, tough competition prevented them from raising their prices much, meaning that profit margins were squeezed.