Another false start?_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Another false start?

Though he says he can still win, not many people are buying it. Even he, in fact, sounds like he is having trouble actually saying the words.

“I’m going to have to put together a good front nine and see what happens,” he said.

- Tiger victim of another false start, WinnipegSun.com, April 9, 2011.

2. THE world is used to big Indian firms planting flags in foreign fields. Now the subcontinent’s medium-sized firms are venturing abroad, too, and often proving quicker and nimbler than their peers in other emerging economies.

Take the Godrej Group, a family-controlled conglomerate based in Mumbai. The firm began as a lockmaker in 1897. While the Indian economy was closed it could not expand abroad much, so it diversified wildly: into soap, typewriters, forklift trucks, animal feed and talcum powder. When India opened up in the 1990s, it had to become less jumbled and to shape up, says Adi Godrej, the chairman. “We put our thinking caps on.”

After a false start experimenting with joint ventures with foreign firms, the group has settled on having clearly defined divisions, typically fully controlled. Together they have sales of $3.3 billion, with the largest being Godrej Consumer Products, a sort of mini-Unilever that cranks out soap, detergent, hair products and weapons for waging war on creepy-crawlies. This unit has led the foray overseas, with deals in Nigeria, Indonesia, Argentina, Britain and South Africa since late 2005. It has spent about $1 billion, says Mr Godrej, and now makes about a third of its sales outside India. In June it announced the acquisition of Darling Group, which sells hair extensions in 14 countries in Africa.