As long as employees can remember, pleasing shareholders has trailed behind other objectives.
Texas, once a part of the Confederacy, has trailed behind: its cliché has been a conservative Christian in cowboy boots, much like a certain recent president.
Whereas France's economy has been a star performer over the past few years, Germany's has trailed behind.
It has trailed behind rivals that dedicate themselves either to investment banking or to retail, but not to both.
The need for improvement, to his mind, is clear: just look at how Britain's economic performance has trailed behind those of other rich countries.
Mr. Obama held much the same advantage over Mr. Santorum, who has trailed behind Mr. Romney among women voters in some state polls looking at Republican primary contests.
She yearns to restore New York's reputation as what she called "a progressive capital," worrying it has trailed behind cities like San Francisco, Seattle, even Cleveland.
Even taking into account their strong showing in May, large caps have trailed behind the small caps by nearly 13 percentage points over the last 12 months.
The company has trailed behind rivals in the high-growth region; sales in Asia Pacific make up 11 percent of Thermo Fisher's portfolio, compared with 20 percent for many of its competitors, according to analysts.
The final judgment will lie with the many readers who have yet to discover the novel, which has trailed behind the popular shortlist favourites, Room and The Long Song, in sales terms.
