Country segmentation on the basis of international purchasing patterns
In: The journal of business & industrial marketing, Band 10, Heft 2, S. 59-68
ISSN: 2052-1189
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.