1.   Banks today insist they must get bigger through mergers to cut costs and compete.

2.   Competitors were becoming bigger through acquisitions, and Western Auto had to get bigger, Shaffer said.

3.   Like many of its large brethren, Fleet got bigger through acquisitions.

4.   Others seem happy just to be in a pleasant place, though many acknowledged it seemed so much bigger through the eyes of a child.

5.   But the big businesses got even bigger through cozy ties with the government, a relationship cemented by bribes and political favors.

6.   Such corporations -- some already financially more powerful than medium-sized countries -- will keep getting bigger through mergers and acquisitions, warned Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.