ISME's annual conference this year, to be held in the Great Southern Hotel, Killarney, on November 28th and November 29th, will be to the theme "The celtic tiger - fact and fantasy" and will address the underlying reality of shrinking margins in an expanding economy.

"Everybody is busy, the economy is booming, and everyone is ignoring the fact that competitive firms are under pressure from reduced margins," says ISME chief executive, Frank Mulcahy. Irish companies are borrowing to finance expansion a but once the eventual downturn comes these same firms could find themselves exposed, he said.

ISME wants these realities taken on board at official level, not to the extent that the government will start tinkering with the competitive mechanism itself, but rather that it will extend it to its own public utilities and allow market forces to determine the cost of electric power and telecommunications.

Among the speakers lined up are Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mary Harney, ESRI economist Terry Baker, Dan Flinter of Forbairt, Eurostyle's George O'Dwyer, TCD economist Sean Barret, Tom O'Neill of Lissadell Towels, Isolde Goggin from the Competition Authority, Maurice Pratt of Tesco, Annie Gribbon from Makeup Forever, and Tom Walsh of the Health and Safety Authority.

In keeping the with organisation's democratic traditions, speakers may find themselves fielding questions from the floor as they address such topics as EMU, the role of the entrepreneur, the State's economy in the year 2000, the role of BES in developing a company, women in business and the new generation of young entrepreneurs. The £99.83 fee per delegate covers attendance, lunch, post-conference dinner, refreshments, and conference papers, and a programme of leisure activities has been organised for those not attending the actual proceedings. Flight, train, and other details are available from ISME at (01) 6622755.