Nineteenth-century unions brought members protection from overbearing employers operating in underdeveloped markets.

Another way is to target underdeveloped markets.

Private commercial banks and Russian subsidiaries of international banks were the main players in this underdeveloped market.

"The beer market is the last big underdeveloped market in Russia, and it is potentially lucrative."

"It's a tough but underdeveloped market."

Increasingly, they are turning to Europe, which they consider an underdeveloped market that has avoided the worst of the Internet boom and bust.

"The existence of a continued large-scale capital flight, underdeveloped market institutions and lack of fiscal resources all complicate the fight against money laundering."

Write Yergin and Stanislaw: "Underdeveloped markets was a complete nonstarter.

His investments have included stakes in the parent of United Airlines, US healthcare companies, and businesses in underdeveloped markets including Subsaharan Africa.

Underdeveloped Markets Financial analysts applauded the acquisitions, saying they gave Pepsico an opportunity to use its marketing expertise to build underdeveloped snack-food markets.

Meanwhile, Western European executives are crossing their fingers for Mr. Gorbachev, hoping that the economic restructuring called perestroika may mean the flourishing of underdeveloped markets to the east.

But the company has long tended to ignore Africa's underdeveloped markets and only recently has the continent acquired priority status - a decision made largely by the new chairman and chief executive, M. Douglas Ivester.

"The Internet illustrates that when you have a powerful brand, an innovative product and an underdeveloped market, that market can come to life," said David M. Gross, Ducati's director of strategic planning, commenting on the success.

But with the Hispanic population in the United States growing rapidly, NBC executives think its nearly $2 billion acquisition of Telemundo from Sony, Liberty Media and several investors is a fair price to pay for entree to an underdeveloped market.

"Unlike some businesses that the defense contractors are considering entering, transportation is still an underdeveloped market, and a lot of the skills used in defense are applicable to mass transit," said James Raffel, a research analyst for the National Commission for Economic Conversion and Disarmament, a Washington group.

In 2009, IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has partnered with Magrabi Hospitals & Centers to expand private eye care in MENA region, to address the need for ophthalmology services, and to bring clinical and patient care to underdeveloped markets in the region.