The very announcement that a larger or better-known company is working on a competing product may damp interest in the smaller upstart.

Alliant will have sales of about $2.1 billion this year, compared with $10 billion and up for those larger, better-known companies.

Some were better-known companies, like SportsLine .

Of the nationwide car-rental chains, Tempest (www.tempestcarhire.co.za) offers the same fleet as the bigger, better-known international companies but is consistently cheaper.

Its business consists of trying to sell its name back to the other Starbucks - the better-known company from Seattle.

Until such information is mandated by law, experts say, consumers worried about recalls may want to stick with products of better-known companies.

She estimated that about 30 percent of the revenue and earnings for these generally larger and better-known companies came from abroad.

Why, when he has become an international star with offers to dance at larger, better-known companies, does he remain with the Donetsk Ballet?

All-Tech, with 22 offices where traders furiously buy and sell stocks many times during the day, is one of the better-known day-trading companies.

While many of the better-known companies have always had the occasional foreign order come in, the volume of that business until recently did not warrant special marketing efforts.