ecessary if customer competencies and experiences are to become an integral part of the process by means of which organizations create value (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2000). The Internet is an excellent medium for the development of these activities. In point of fact, the Internet seems likely to become a ubiquitous medium of communication and dialogue between companies and their customers. Chat rooms, newsletters, interest and newsgroups, and e-mail are all opportunities for a company determined to maximize its understanding of customer experience and tap into customer competence to reach its target audience and market. Information technology, which is driving globalization, is also seen by Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2000) as driving the customer experience movement.
More significantly, this theory of adding value is based upon the realization that the "product" of any organization is subordinate to the "experience" that customers acquire. Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2000) recognize that preparing an organization for customer competence invari
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