Growth Area

Recently I came across the expression "relais de croissance" quite many times in French newspapers, only to discover that the meaning of it was not as clear as its English counterpart "Growth area". Indeed, each time the term was being used in a article, it meant some economic model distortion enabling the report of better activities on a define exercise... Well, more clearly, it was intended to hide the fact the company didn't do so well, due to the market or to its own lack attractiveness blah-blah..., by dodgy methods, which market analysts can't see through..
Well, it's still not really clear: let's find an example, like mobile phone companies that have bad result for the first three quarters of 2007, say, they can easily implement news fees for ring tone downloading, as these things are all too obscure anyway, then increase the price of hot lines, no toll free hot lines and things, and eventually call it "maximizing the company's peripheral sources of revenue". Added to the fact that it's always better to assume that when your company does not do well it has more to do with the market short-term evolution than the strategy, and HERE, you're covered! Mazel Tov!
Eventually, it appeared to me this wicked meaning seems to be just another frogginess as most U.S web sites refer to growth area as meaning only... growth area!
And to prove I'm not only reading USA Today & Le Parisien, I found this sweet Nietzsche's quote, somewhat related to today's subject: "That immense framework and planking of concepts to which the needy man clings his whole life long in order to preserve himself is nothing but a scaffolding and toy for the most audacious feats of the liberated intellect ".