DIEMAKERS GET DOWN TO BUSINESS

Diemakers see the strongest routes to new business this year as through technology investments (cited by 35 percent) and by diversification (cited by 15 percent). The biggest perceived barrier to expansion is price pressure, cited by nearly one third of respondents, and described disparagingly as "lowballing," "underquoting," "cut-throating," and "commoditizing." Other barriers included the slowing of the economy and absorbing the cost of new technologies.