U.S. Lags on GLOBALIZATION.

U.S. COMPANIES STAND to be outclassed by their international rivals--and specifically those hailing from the Pacific Rim--if they don't soon devise coherent strategies for gaining customers outside their own geographical borders. According to Jupiter Research, while only one-quarter of the global Internet population will reside in the U.S. by 2005, a mere one-third of American online businesses are actively targeting global markets. Within less than five years, Jupiter analysts predict the Pacific region will outpace the U.S. and will contain as much as one-third of all Internet consumers worldwide.

Latin America is also expected to be a high-growth region, expanding from 5 percent of the world's online population in 2000 to 8 percent in 2005. Increased PC penetration and telco infrastructure improvements and reform in those regions will be responsible for the growth, according to Jupiter.

But while there should be some sense of urgency, senior analyst Preston Dodd warns against a "must-build mentality" and encourages companies to enter foreign markets through strategic partnerships, such as joint ventures and franchises.

Other findings from the Jupiter Research Globalization Report:

* U.S. share of the global Internet population will drop from 36 percent today to approximately 24 percent in 2005.

* A survey of the top 20 Web sites within five categories (shopping, travel, search engine and portals, news, marketing, and corporate) reveals that two-thirds of U.S. companies have not yet prepared for a global online marketplace.

* American companies are just beginning to venture into smaller secondary markets, such as France and Italy, but expansion into primary global markets, such as Germany and the U.K., remains low.