Dynamic market definition: an international marketing perspective

Abstract

Starting from the premise that market definition is critical to developing effective and efficient market entry strategies, shows that current approaches to market definition are unable to meet these challenges, that their deficiency is compounded for multinational entry strategies, and that the crux of their weakness is reliance on a static interpretation of a dynamic construct – time. Next, advances the proposition that accounting for the time‐based effects can improve the strategic planning process, and then, following the percepts of diffusion theory, develops a framework that conceptualizes multinational markets in terms of their media availability and economic development, key variables that reflect an innovation's rate of adoption at distinct stages of the diffusion process. Finally, applies the framework to data that illustrate its ability to help marketing managers achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency from their global, market expansion strategies.