These industries have lagged behind others because it takes longer for them to regain lost overseas markets.

Within manufacturing, British firms and industries have often lagged behind their overseas competitors in terms of productivity and various other key performance measures.

Low salaries have attracted little talent, publishers don't know their readers and will not spend enough to create new ones, and the industry lags behind in technology.

Internationally, its solar industry still lags behind that of other, much smaller nations.

"The industry normally lags behind the general economy by one or two quarters," said Dan Lee, hotel analyst for the First Boston.

And its industry has lagged that of Germany.

Despite the military's contribution to the industrial sector, in 1987 Chinese industry lagged far behind that of the industrialized nations.

Some later studies were even more pessimistic about how far the American industry lagged, estimating that Japanese costs were $2,500 or more below Detroit's.

In spite of strong government support Russian car manufacturers have received over the last few years, from a technological perspective the industry still lags far behind leading international players.

In Italy, Spain and Britain, the industry does not lag far behind.