When your market is part of a larger market that is in secular decline, the secular trend eventually tends to dominate any local trends that are present in the

When your market is part of a larger market that is in secular decline, the secular trend eventually tends to dominate any local trends that are present in the sub-market. That's why companies attempting to get a piece of a growing pie are generally easier to build and more likely to be successful than companies attempting to get a bigger piece of a shrinking pie.