NUMBING NUMBERS

摘要

How the sliding economy has reshaped what it means to be among the 200 Best Small Companies in America. The weakening economy that hit large-cap companies hard whacked the daylights out of many candidates for America's 200 Best Small Companies (see p. 154). Especially damaged were the technology and telecommunications industries. A large fistful of companies that made our list last year—including Advanced Fibre Communications, RF Micro Devices and Inet Technologies—fell off this time, thanks to sharply lower earnings over the last 12 months.