planning process demands flexibility; a flexibility that permits adjustments to changes in a firm's external environment. In this context, strategic planners and top managements must accept the concept of pluralism, and organizations, through their strategic planning process, must be able to adjust to discontinuities in their external environments. Top managements and strategic planners must be flexible enough to recognize and deal with uncertainties.
A critical source of Komatsu's eventual success was the organization's attention to product quality and customer service. While Japanese companies are noted for high levels of quality and customer service, these factors did not always characterize the Komatsu organization. Komatsu's greatest success has occurred subsequent to the organization's implementation of a strategy emphasizing product quality and customer service.
Komatsu's success is also attributable to a strategy that has centered on the development and maintenance of a significant market shares in some international markets thatare largely supported by production in those markets. The
organization has not followed this strategy in all international markets; however, Komatsu has attained significant success where this strategy has been employed. Komatsu has learned that both an important market share and a profit base can be built and can be protected from within a market. By operating from within an international market, the company can avoid any penalties associated with import quotas.
Komatsu's success is also attributable to a strategy that, since the earliest days of the organization, has emphasized the need to export. The export orientation of
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