A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES WITH SMALLER COMPANIES The time has long since passed when it could be assumed that the fundamental problem of attaining profitability in business consisted simply of an ability to buy at a low price and market a large enough quantity of one's product at a sufficiently high price. Though, of course, it is indisputable that this relationship enters into the process of attaining profitability, the emergence of increasingly complex tax laws has meant that except in simple cases involving little or no investment the normal 'sense' of a situation has been made so complicated that managers may be forgiven if they sometimes feel that investment, and hence operating decisions, have the uncertainty of a lottery.