As national chains and discounters cut an ever-widening swath across the country, many small U.S. businesses are shuddering in trepidation.  Others conjure up the image of David and Goliath and bravely sally forth, confident that the armor of these formidable giants has chinks ready to be exploited.

And they're right.  Savvy merchants are learning fast that smallness has its advantages.  They're capitalizing on what differentiates them from larger competitors and turning these differences into reasons customers should walk through their doors.  However, this is not a contest for the easily dissuaded.

The struggle for the American dollar has never been tougher.  So much so that it attracted the attention of Fortune magazine, which recently devoted an entire issue to the "new consumer."  Warned the publication, "Whether you sell $100 million planes or 79-cent pens, your buyers have changed enormously in the past few years.  Their demands are lengthening; their patience is shrinking.  Epochal shifts in the global economy have given them a sultan's power to command exactly what they want, the way they want it, when they want it, at a price that will make you weep.  You'll either provide it or vaporize."

While these are hardly comforting words, the analysis is not completely discouraging, however.  Fortune also asserts, "A sluggish world economy since 1990 has made consumers everywhere rabid about value, which doesn't necessarily mean the lowest price but does mean the best deal for the precise mix of features the buyer wants."

The concept of value is not a new one.  But what it means to today's consumers is another story.  Figuring out the "precise mix of features" that sets customers' hearts afire and making sure you provide that mix are absolutes if you're going to compete successfully with the big boys.  That involves a lot of homework, effort and willingness to change

One Los Angeles-area restaurant turned to focus groups to get a better sense of customer attitudes.  The owners of the California Pizza Kitchen discovered that for their patrons, value meant larger portions.  Observes co-chairman Larry Flax, "We're learning that people want more for their dollar.  It isn't a matter of lowering prices.  If I took a quarter off the pasta, it wouldn't make a difference."  As a result, the company is holding the line on prices; no entree costs more than $10..