Word: undercutting
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...rules. The job was undertaken by a multinational force of 13,400 bureaucrats in Brussels -- the embryo of an emerging federal government. Farmers were brought under a common agricultural policy that slashes subsidies and translates into lower food prices. New cars feature catalytic converters so that Italian manufacturers cannot undercut German companies by saving on pollution equipment. Toys from Portugal must meet the same safety guidelines as those made in Denmark...
...thrifty 737s, it concentrates on flying large numbers of passengers on high-frequency, one-hour hops directly from city to city, rather than funneling them through the elaborate hub-and-spoke systems of its larger rivals. The lack of amenities enables it to offer bargain fares (average: $58) that undercut others and allow Southwest to quickly dominate most new routes it enters. Boasts CEO and co-founder Herb Kelleher: "We've created a solid niche -- our main competition is the automobile. We're taking people away from Toyota and Ford...
...long ago, the U.S. semiconductor industry faced extinction. After dominating the worldwide market since the invention of the computer chip in 1958, American manufacturers were devastated by foreign competition during the past decade. Led by the Japanese, low-cost Asian copycats undercut prices and mowed down U.S. chipmakers with murderous effect: the semiconductor industry lost more than $4 billion and 25,000 jobs between 1983 and 1989. Dozens of firms abandoned the business. American companies also hurt their own cause with shoddy work and high defect rates. Written off by many experts, the semiconductor industry seemed destined for the same...
...eight months long. With national attention focused on the presidential candidates, politics resumed the ancient rhythms of the horse race and the cockfight. Women's issues, such as domestic violence, never came up in the presidential campaign, and when abortion did intrude into the vice-presidential debate, Admiral Stockdale undercut his own pro-choice statement with a grumpy plea to "get on past this and talk about something substantive...
Unfortunately, even these fine performances are undercut by some odd production decisions. Virtually all of the important sequences are accompanied by precious, soap-operaesque music that is totally inappropriate to the gravity of the events. On opening night, the sappy music elicited laughs from the audience during most of the pivotal scenes...