ABSTRACT
The forces of globalization, quickening apace throughout the 1980s, led to a change in the language of strategic management by the early 1990s. Discussions of global markets, global firms, global brands and global industries began to take centre stage and a strategic focus only on local or even national levels became increasingly untenable as many industries and markets became truly global. As they did so, American businesses were exposed to management and organizational practices that did not accord with the main tenets of western management training. There were new players on the scene and they were not conforming to the rulebook of industry analysis and long-range planning. Innovations in digital technology and computer processing power led to radical innovations in manufacturing processes and the introduction of many new goods and services. As a result, Collis and Montgomery (1995: 118) observe, ‘at the business-unit level, the pace of global competition and technological change has left managers struggling to keep up’ (Collis and Montgomery 1995: 118).
