Final answer:
Category management started evolving in North America along with significant economic transformations and increased globalization starting in the latter half of the 20th century, specifically during the 1980s and 1990s.
Step-by-step explanation:
When considering when did category management start evolving in North America, it's essential to examine the broad economic changes that the United States encountered. This evolution in category management can be closely linked with the economic transformations that occurred in the latter half of the 20th century. By the 1970s, the U.S. faced cooling economic conditions due to domestic inflation and increased foreign competition, particularly in industries like steel and automobile production, which were once dominated by the U.S.
The economic pressures, including the oil embargoes and a push towards regional economic integration, led the U.S. and Canada to create the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in 1988, paving the way for globalization in trade practices. Concurrently, the media landscape changed significantly with the move from product placements to commercial breaks in the 1960s, and the advent of cable networks in the 1980s offered more targeted advertising opportunities.
With globalization, traditional market boundaries changed, leading to increased global competition. Category management as a discipline began to take shape in this context - when companies recognized the need to approach product marketing and management on a category-by-category basis in response to more complex consumer markets and intensified global competition. While there isn't a specific date marking the beginning of category management, these economic and societal shifts in the 1980s and 1990s strongly suggest that the discipline started to evolve during this period in North America.