The International Marketplace

The term world class evolved from changes in the marketplace over the last several decades. In the 1960s and early 1970s, U.S. companies had both domestic and international markets. If a company chose to compete in the domestic market, it found that its competition was from within the U.S. as well. If it had a shortage of raw materials, a trucking strike, a rail strike, or some other interference, its competitors suffered the same problem. All other things being equal, success often came down to price, quality, and delivery. In many cases, little distinguished one vendor from another in the domestic markets. If a company chose to enter international markets, it found it generally had superior products, technology, and marketing skills compared to its competitors. U.S. companies could control the lion s share of the international market. In 1965, the United States had a 30% share of the world s market for manufactured goods, despite having less than one-tenth of the world s population.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a fat cat attitude developed, the notion that American industry could do no wrong. They could sell whatever was made, no matter the cost, no matter...