The unrest in the overall economic market conditions. This has given rise to customers adopting short term buying patterns as well as increasing pressures on margins. We're also seeing certain once niche type products being commoditised by low cost Far East competitors creating a false price expectation. But equally, such market conditions also give rise to new opportunities with the challenge being that few of us are able to exploit them due to the market pressures.
 
What characterises a good design-in distributor?

Making yourself useful to the customer as well as your supplier. Adopting a "Product Bureau" approach with less emphasis on pure sales people , improve your outreach with good marketing programmes and employ enough technical resource to provide a high level of in depth technical product support. This means your customer relationships will be right and the sales will follow. And never stand still, I recommend constant reinvention of the model you've adopted but sticking to your original principles.
 
If you had to name one interesting new product technology what would it be?

MEMS technology, I guess it's still fairly new?

See also: Q5 - Interviews with electronics industry leaders
Read all the Electronics Weekly Q5 interviews. From ARM's chairman, Sir Robin Saxby, to touchscreen technology firm Zytronic's MD, Mark Cambridge, the business leaders share their particular insights on the UK electronics industry.