Methodological Options in International Market Segmentation

Abstract

The last decades were marked with an increasing involvement of multi-product manufacturers into cross-border business activities. Dealing with heterogeneous needs of consumers in different countries is one of the biggest challenges in the modern business. Correspondingly, special importance is being attached to international market segmentation. Finding transnational segments and developing standardized marketing programs for targeting them gain on popularity. The doctoral research of Dr. Iryna Bastian contributes to clarification of problematic issues connected to international market segmentation. In particular, advantages and limitations of conducting international market segmentation in the form of additive intranational market segmentation and integral market segmentation are investigated. Moreover, effectiveness of segmentation approaches based on the Ward's method, K-means method, and SOM in finding transnational segments is assessed.