Consolidation - Not Unique to Telecom - Filene's Sold
/Canada has gone through a similar purging of old-line department store names upon which our retail sector has been built for many generations - Eatons, Simpsons and now the Bay. Not much left up here any more in terms of home-grown retailers, which is really too bad.
A lot of this speaks to the passing of an era where the local general department store was the dominant form of retail - and so much more. This type of consolidation is happening of course in the telecom sector - and other industries - and it makes you wonder what the fate of our old-line RBOCs will be. Clearly, they have to re-invent themselves - in ways that Filene's and Marshall Fields could not.
The markets are very different of course, but in both cases, where choices exist, consumers vote with their feet and their wallets. Much of what works in retail works in telecom - convenience, quality, ease of doing business, choice, customer service, etc. I'd like to think that the RBOC strategy guys are smart enough to look outside their industry to see how the big players adapt in other sectors. I sure would be.