Country segmentation on the basis of international purchasing patterns

Abstract

Companies that successfully incorporate international sourcing into their international marketing strategies enhance their abilities to provide their customers with quality products at acceptable prices. To a large extent, an effective international marketing strategy depends on a firm′s ability to segment its international markets. Previous studies addressed country segmentation on the basis of clustering a group of countries by an array of macroeconomic factors. These studies focussed their attention on segmenting countries on the factors important to making marketing decisions. Focusses on the making of sourcing decisions. More specifically, analyzes the extent to which countries belong to the same grouping on the basis of purchasing patterns of materials, components, finished products or technology. One‐hundred‐and‐thirty‐five firms representing 42 different countries were surveyed. The countries were clustered on the basis of these firms′ sourcing strategies. The market segment approach enables industrial marketers who are inexperienced in marketing internationally to borrow from the experience of firms which are already present in such markets. Furthermore, the availability and reliability of data and the proposed methodology can serve as useful tools in conducting such research.

Attainment of competitive advantage by the exporter–importer dyad

“…Our findings suggest that the greater the role of imports on importer strategy the greater the competitive advantage against competitors. This finding is in line with Frear et al, (1995) who argued that lack of top-management support and strategic direction are major internal barriers to successful importing. Our findings lend support to the notion that top management is instrumental both in seeking import initiation and in maintaining imports as part of their corporate growth strategy.…”

Countering negative country of origin effects using imagery processing

“…Thus, Germany and Poland were chosen as the two CO cues for the main study. These results are supported by research indicating that Germany has a positive CO image (Gürhan-Canli and Maheswaran, 2000a;Hsich, 2004) whereas Poland has a relatively unfavorable CO image (Frear et al, 1995;Hsich, 2004).…”

Exploring the Construct of Segmentation Effectiveness: Insights from International Companies and Experts

“…Benefits related to positioning performance Firms seek to identify new market opportunities such as niche markets that are similar to previously entered markets (Frear et al, 1995;Jain, 1994). 'Based on segmentation several of our client companies want to identify under-served customers groups in markets which are similar to those already served' (BC4).…”

“…Accordingly, firms aim at market differentiation opportunities when practising segmentation (e.g. Frear et al, 1995;Meadows & Dibb, 1998;Sausen et al, 2005) by discriminating among buyers in the marketplace (Piercy & Morgan, 1993). 'Based on the differences between formed customer segments the aim is to design a specific product and communication strategy for each segment' (F2).…”

“…Identifying differences and similarities among customers (customer/market differentiation) Craft and Hassan (2006); Dibb (1995Dibb ( , 1998 (2002); Frear et al (1995); Hunt and Arnett (2004) identified, then appropriate indicators need to be developed for each dimension to make them operational in practice. We approached the above tasks by a three-pronged strategy.…”