The old ways break down, times change, and new life blossoms from the ruins. Frederich Schiller These words of a great poet express a basic fact of life-the inevitability of change. If marketers were asked to envision the future, they would not hesitate to answer that the entire globe is involved in a human revolution like no other in history. The changes now taking place, in both industrially developed and developing nations, are indications of the problems, chalÂ- lenges, and opportunities confronting future economic growth and development. Perhaps the most prominent characteristic of this change is the growing economic interdependence of all nations. Today it seems quite unnecessary to point out that any nation’s problems and opportunities anywhere are now every nation’s problems and opportunities everywhere. This economic and business interdependence on a global scale is the new reality, regardless of whether we want to accept it. The task ahead for all corporate managers becomes one of adapting to this new international business reality. It also requires them to assume the leadership role in helping individuals of all nations to become more and more aware of their mutual need for another’s products and services. Today every corporation, whether confined within one nation or not, operates in this dynamic, changing, international business environment.
