Half its clients need help essentially to squelch a competitor's project--a supermarket chain, say, wants to keep a big box out of town.

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But with interest rates low and housing inventory continuing to decrease, there is a runway for builders, property owners and companies throughout the housing food chain to keep reaping the benefits of a comeback.

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Besides, a company might want to keep control of its supply chain to protect its brand and knowledge.

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One of the biggest reasons why Apple has managed to keep its margins high is through its tightly controlled supply chain, which gives it a greater bargaining power while negotiating the cost of its supplies.

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The secret of success in this new M2M world is creating a rich ecosystem that can maximize the value and keep costs low at each step of the chain that runs from the devices all the way up back up to the data center.

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Last month EU farm ministers approved a programme to destroy all older non-BSE tested cattle to keep them out of the food chain, affecting up to two million animals.

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