Chelsea's start to the season shows it is not easy for a competition to retain both quality and competitive balance.

And with only 10 percent of the population nationally enrolled as health club members, there is tremendous competition between fitness programs to attract and retain another 60 percent of the public who research shows are willing to exercise, but not necessarily devoted to it, say industry experts.

Lacking the resources of the voluntary hospitals and generally perceived by professionals like nurses, X-ray technicians, and pharmacists as less desirable places to work, many of the city's municipal hospital emergency rooms have been unable to keep up in the competition to recruit and retain skilled staff.

The second fostered competition among mobile phone companies by permitting customers to retain their phone numbers when changing providers.

Mr. Weinstein, who is a member of Fidelity's nine-person operating committee, acknowledged that the industry's huge growth has heightened the competition to hire and retain smart portfolio managers and marketing executives.

These figures raise related concerns about "institutional gap" - meaning that universities may not be managing their endowments appropriately and that other universities try to compete with elite institutions, thus charging higher tuition fees in the competition to retain high faculty- and status-ranking.

David Deutsch Associates, which won the account in 1985, was in the competition to retain it.

Lethal won the competition to retain the championship.

With the American market reaching saturation, competition to retain customers has intensified so operators are trying to build brand loyalty.

Now that nearly three out of every four Americans have cellphones, new subscriber growth is starting to slow and competition to retain customers and find new ones is intensifying.