| Abstract: | The well-trained group of professionals had worked hard at the business they knew well. Their efforts had paid off--they were highly respected for their quality; their business grew; they had a close, trusting relationship with their customers; and they had the satisfaction of running their business as they alone knew to be best. As they looked ahead, they saw the personal security of a bright, safe future, of more of the same success. Then, slowly at first but building steadily to a feverish pace, their business and their lives were uprooted and torn apart in an all-encompassing economic and social earthquake. Now, with a force the professionals could hardly believe, let alone keep track of, the very definition of their business was changing, the trusting relationship with customers began to break down as massive numbers of new and different competitors vied for their business, many new players began to control how they ran their business, and security vanished into a confusion of competition, entrepreneurship, and risk. |
