Global Marketing Management, 6th Edition

HAPTER OVERVIEW

1. REASONS FOR INTERNATIONAL MARKET SEGMENTATION
2. INTERNATIONAL MARKET SEGMENTATION APPROACHES
3. SEGMENTATION SCENARIOS
4. BASES FOR INTERNATIONAL MARKET SEGMENTATION
5. INTERNATIONAL POSITIONING STRATEGIES
6. GLOBAL, FOREIGN, AND LOCAL CONSUMER CULTURE POSITIONING

In early February 2009 Lenovo, the Chinese computer maker that vaulted onto the international stage four years earlier by buying the personal computers divisions of IBM, reported a loss of $97 million for the fiscal quarter ending December 31, 2008. PC shipments were down 5 percent while revenue had dropped 20 percent compared to the year-earlier quarter. To overhaul its business, Lenovo announced that it would refocus on China and other emerging markets. Lenovo's management also would concentrate on consumers rather than big corporate customers, the mainstay of the former IBM's business.¹

Few companies can be all things to all people. Instead of competing across the board, most companies will identify and target the most attractive market segments that they can serve effectively. Variation in customer needs is the primary motive for market segmentation. When consumer preferences vary, marketers can design a marketing mix program that is tailored toward the needs of the specific segments that the firm targets. Marketers ...