stone of today's business environment, the
             barriers for a customer to defect to the competition were greater. Today,
             customer service has become more important as the Internet has fostered
             This shifting power to the consumer is known as the democratizing
             element of the Internet and is changing the way business is conducted
             today. Not only is the individual more empowered than in the past, but the
             distinction between large conglomerates and small businesses is not so
             Before the advent of the Internet, most businesses relied on their
             physical presence to establish their dominance in the market. Today, this
             bricks-and-mortar role is not as important as it once was. A business that
             has a significant presence in the "real" world cannot afford to overlook
             the importance of establishing a cyber-entity. This is especially true
             with customers who, as mentioned above, often turn to the Internet to learn
             A corollary to this idea of democratization is the benefit to smaller
             companies. If the Internet empowers customers, it is having a similar
             impact on small-business owners around the world. Whereas the barriers to
             entry in some markets have traditionally been prohibitive for small
             companies, the Internet has gone a long way to changing this. A company
             that can establish itself in cyberspace has a chance at participating in a
             market formally controlled by large corporations. The Internet can give a
             small business a global profile, and a professional website alone can
             transform a "Mom n' Pop" business into a "lean" company with a worldwide
             This force of democratization relies upon some of the other functions
             enabled by an Internet environment. It is no longer necessary for a
             business to maintain a large, far-flung workforce when, in many cases, work
             can now be outsourced and strategic alliances can be used to advance your
             core business. Much of the outsourcing, an...