1. I hope I don't lose my job. I just heard that our company is going to start .......... next week in an effort to cut costs.

2. I hope you don't lose your job. It is happening everywhere, though, because of the recession. My sister just lost her job because the company she works for just went through the process of .......... .

3. Our company has created a competitive .......... over others in the industry by being the first to switch to a just-in- time manufacturing system. While others are spending huge amounts for inventory storage, we are using that same money to create new innovations.

4. We have decided to sell our delivery trucks and hire Tom's Delivery Service to get our products to our customers. Delivering products is just not one of our .......... competencies. Tom's price to deliver our goods is less than what we spend on maintaining the trucks, paying our drivers, and all the other costs associated with doing deliveries.

5. We need to invest in new computers for the staff. Ours are too .......... to perform the tasks we need them to fast enough with today's software.

6. I used to work in inventory-management but, now, computers do everything I used to do faster and better. When the computer system to do my kind of job first came out, I had to .......... and am now an accountant.

7. I am retired. I started a computer software company that grew into a fairly successful business. It attracted the attention of some of the larger companies and a very attractive offer to sell was made. After the new company bought me .......... . I had enough money to retire and enjoy myself.

8. Companies have realized the high cost and risk involved with mergers and .......... and are now becoming more interested in short-term joint ventures.

9. Companies can reap great rewards from forming strategic .......... with other companies. Some of these are lower research and development costs, less risk, and increased organizational learning.

10. All of the major American auto manufacturers are .......... off employees. General Motors just put another 21,000 workers on the unemployment list last week.