INTRODUCTION

After millennia of unchallenged success, businesses and governments around the world are entering a new era of unprecedented openness. The movement to hold corporate officers and politicians accountable is spurred by three powerful forces: economics, technology, and zeitgeist. The entire world is experiencing a deep recession. The Internet, meanwhile, has revolutionized the speed and power of data analysis and dissemination. And financial institutions are being held responsible. In certain industries, Asian manufacturers dominate the United States’ consumer market. Third-world nations in Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and China continue to attract U.S. manufacturers seeking low wages for laborious tasks. And, in the midst of everything, the United States is a giant consumer base with an enormous command of technology but steadily losing the infrastructure needed to create jobs. In addition to significant events that have impacted the world’s business environment, individual firms have had to change radically in response to burgeoning technologies. Historically, the management of materials and component parts was the most neglected element in the production process. Only when the cost of materials and subassemblies increased did management attempt to investigate alternative methods to the planning and control of the acquisition and transformation functions in the organization. Instead, most firms emphasized minimizing the cost of capital and labor. The focus on labor was logical because the industrial revolution had generated many labor-intensive manufacturers. Producing large standardized batches represented the norm for some manufacturers. Some firms have embraced new technologies and invested in technology driven manufacturing systems. Although these new systems are up and running, too frequently they are being operated just like the old