Another important component in Corporate Express' success has been our aggressive growth plan. Over the last four years, we acquired approximately 200 companies that offer the products, service and geographic breadth our customers seek. These acquisitions - facilitated by growing consolidation in our industry - have helped to accelerate our growth, adding new revenue sources, capabilities, regions, products, customers and people to Corporate Express. They have also created new challenges for our management team, who has worked effectively to create an integrated, unified organization from these different corporate cultures, sales forces and technologies.

Critics might say that we tried to do too many things at once. We certainly maintained a steady focus on meeting our customers' needs at every turn. However, as we sought to meet external demands, we became less focused on leveraging our internal strengths and generating growth.

I believe that other companies that have grown as rapidly as Corporate Express have faced similar issues at some point in their evolution. There comes a time for these companies when they must return to the basics to pursue the kind of growth that will deliver long-term value. For Corporate Express, that time came in 1998.