In the context of our discussion, there appear to be a number of trends that hold great importance for competition in existing global industries and for the creation of new ones.
Reduction in Differences Among Countries. A number of ob-servers have pointed out that the economic differences among devel-oped and newly developed countries may be narrowing in areas like income, factor costs, energy costs, marketing practices, and distri-bution channels.12 Part of this reduction may be due to the aggres-siveness of multinational companies in spreading techniques around the world. Whatever the causes, it works toward reducing impedi-ments to world competition.
More Aggressive Industrial Policy. Industrial policies of many countries are in flux. From passive or protective postures, gov-ernments like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and West Germany SS ü developed markets because of wide differences from iocal conditions.
Source: Porter Michael E. (1998), Competitive Strategy_ Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, Free Press; Illustrated edition.