ABSTRACT
The business environment is increasingly becoming complex, volatile, and greatly impacting on businesses. This chapter considers the inevitable challenges which marketing executives and their organisations need to wrestle with in the 21st Century if they are to succeed in their pursuits and endeavours. They include the following: changes in customers' needs and expectations; changes in society's expectations of the role of modern business; harsh economic conditions worldwide; greater competitive pressures; and challenges associated with conducting business operations in the economies of newly liberalised less-developed countries (LDCs). The chapter discusses the potential effects associated with economic liberalisation - a trend that has recently become commonplace in many African, Asian, Latin American, and Eastern European countries - on marketing decisions; these effects pertain to competition, the changing consumer demands, and high societal expectations. It presents several strategies and imperatives which marketing executives and their organisations need to consider in dealing with the challenges.
