They include, first and foremost, a need for strategies for doing business in the new world marektplace. For senior management this is going to mean, finding a new management approach that blends some of the best ideas from successful Japanese and Europeon business models into an approach that makes sense in an American culture. Some of the strategies in meeting these challenges will include an emphasis on better customer service, a greater commitment to producing quality products, and a new push for greater productivity inside the organization. Business organizations must also deal with some very negative fallout from the 1980s, which may result in a new swing towards greater government regulation to control some of the excesses of that earlier era which resulted in great economic upheaval for workers and communities throughout America. Adding to all of this is an accelerating pace of information and communication that is changing business.
Markets seem to emerge and disappear overnight.
Product life cycles shrink. Companies are focusing on developing flexibility, nimbleness, customer focus. The result is constant reorganization. Few companies really seem to be able to manage the dynamics of change - GE, Xerox, and British Air are a few examples often given. Compaq, Sears, GM and IBM are companies that seem to not be able to react as quickly.