ABSTRACT
One of the managerial challenges of trading in a globalized marketplace is the need to service an increasingly sophisticated, differentiated and competitive market. We are told that customers have become more educated, affluent and discerning in their choices. This has led, in turn, to demands that companies tailor their products and services more closely to customer needs and tastes (Karpin, 1995: 17). Since globalization has opened up competition across all sectors of an economy, no enterprise, whether large or small, appears to be exempt from such pressures (ibid.: 16). This is true whether companies trade domestically or internationally.
