A New Player Enters the Consolidation Competition

"Increasing competition has generated a wave of consolidations within the printing industry, making it more difficult for mid-size operations to compete," notes Dennis Watt, CEO of the newly christened Watt/Peterson-Cimarron, explaining the thinking behind the strategy.

But Watt believes a fatal flaw has emerged in the business plans of many consolidators. "Many of the industry giants have pursued a consolidation strategy based on financial considerations alone: cutting costs, trimming staff and combining equipment and other assets. Not surprisingly, their customer service has suffered. Many of these publicly held printing firms now find that they're losing customers and trading at a discount to the S&P 500."