1.   Acquisitions in the past decade included trash-haulers overseas, water-treatment processors, energy- services companies, and environmental engineering and consulting concerns.

2.   Grebner runs a small political consulting concern in East Lansing, Mich., employing a dozen or so workers, mainly of college age.

3.   He and David J. Murray are co-owners of the Murray-Weitzner Group, a political consulting concern.

4.   In addition to putting former Gen. Robert C. Oaks in charge of safety, USAir signed up an independent consulting concern to evaluate its safety practices.

5.   In March, Auto Pacific, an automotive product and marketing consulting concern, conducted surveys of SUV owners who had bought their cars since September.

6.   Larry Gerbrandt, a senior analyst with Paul Kagan Associates, a research and consulting concern, put it more bluntly.

7.   Mr. Grebner runs a small political consulting concern in East Lansing, Mich., employing a dozen or so workers, mainly of college age.

8.   My favorite example is from David Leinweber, chief executive of the Codexa Corp., a Wall Street research and consulting concern.

9.   Schieber is a vice president of Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a management consulting concern that specializes in employee benefits.

10.   She said her department had never asked for the ranking of reporters or others that the consulting concern provided, only an analysis of coverage.