International Market Segmentation Research Articles

The Gap Between Legal Status and Market Potential of Indonesia Five Super Priority Tourist Destinations

Objective: This study aims to determine the gap between the status of the five tourism development priorities and the market potential of each of the five destinations Borobudur Temple, Lake Toba, Labuan Bajo, Mandalika, and Likupang Theoretical framework: This research uses marketing theory, especially market segmentation analysis using descriptive methods with the help of google trends based on demographic factors: nationality, and keywords used and detected by google trends. Method: This study uses a Descriptive Statistics analysis tool with the help of the Google Trends Tool to determine the popularity of Five Priority Tourist Destinations. Google Trends is a tool to research keywords that are often used and hot topics that are being discussed. Results and conclusion: The most popular tourist destinations are Borobudur Temple, then Toba Lake, then Labuan Bajo, Mandalika, and finally Likupang. The segmentation of Indonesia's Five Priority Destinations is Domestic tourists as the largest market segmentation, then from the international market segmentation are India, France, USA, Spain, and Singapore. Implications of the research: Destination managers and the government can use the results of this analysis as an illustration that nationality demographic market segmentation analysis as a determination of each destination's market segment. Originality/value: the results of this research are almost close to realtime and close to reality and are very easy to duplicate because most of today's travellers have an android that can be geo-detected by google.

Influence of migration policy risk on international market segmentation: analysis of housing and rental markets in the euro area

This paper aims to discuss the influence of migration policy risk on market segmentation of housing and rental markets in the Euro Area. Policy risk is represented by the Migration Policy Uncertainty Index (MPUI) and Migration Fear Index (MFI) of Germany and the United Kingdom; in this study, whether these indexes influence the interaction between the housing and rental markets of the two countries and euro-area countries was examined. The empirical results showed that the influence of the United Kingdom’s migration policy risk on the euro-area countries is higher than that of Germany. The United Kingdom’s MPUI and MFI significantly contribute to the influence of the United Kingdom’s housing market on other markets except for Belgium and Spain. Compared with housing market connectedness, the rental market connectedness is less influenced by migration policy risk and migration fear. This may be because variables related to short-term residence policies influence the rental market. The high policy risk is more likely to influence decisions related to long-term house purchase, but not those related to short-term residence. Finally, this study found that the higher the uncertainty of the migration policies of the United Kingdom and Germany is, the higher the house market segmentation is.

Toward an understanding of segmentation strategies in international tourism marketing: the moderating effects of advertising media types and nationality

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to international tourism market segmentation research by proposing a comprehensive framework that examines behavioral, benefits and lifestyle segmentations. The moderating roles of geographic segmentation (nationality) and advertising media types are also discussed.Design/methodology/approachTourists volunteered to participate in a self-administered survey at random during peak seasons. Total number of collected questionnaires was 966. The authors used WarpPLS 6.0 software to analyze data.FindingsResults from a sample of 919 tourists show that tourists in the benefit segmentation cluster had intentions to revisit the destination but they were unlikely to recommend it to others. Another finding indicates that marketing campaigns on different advertising media types might have different results when targeting different activities.Originality/valueLeaning on the foundations of the marketing literature and the market segmentation theory, this research attempts to create a theoretical contribution that can be used to segment international tourists based on their travel motivations. Additionally, this study highlights the power of conditional probability approach, as it could be of more value than the predominant path coefficient approach.

Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools.

Based on combined data from the China Patent Database, China Industrial Enterprise Database, and China Customs Import and Export Database for the period 2004–2010, this study investigates the impact of heterogeneous environmental regulations on the export technological sophistication of manufacturing enterprises. Given deepening international market segmentation of production and the increasing proportion of intermediate trade, and compared with the traditional method based on exports, the export technological sophistication calculated here, based on value-added, is closer to the true level. Since there has been no in-depth comparative study on the relationship between heterogeneous environmental regulation and export technological sophistication, this study fills the gap. The results show that all three regulation types bear a U-shaped impact on export technological sophistication. Command-control regulation exhibits a restraining effect on mixed trade, eastern, and foreign-funded enterprises. Market-incentive regulation promotes processing and mixed trade enterprises as well as domestic and foreign-funded enterprises. Voluntary-participation regulation promotes all enterprises with different trade patterns and ownership. The mechanism analysis shows that command-control and market-participation environmental regulations affect export technological sophistication through the green invention and green utility innovation channels, while, additionally, market-incentive environmental regulation affects export technological sophistication through the green design innovation channel. Considering the environmental governance issues, the policy implications for enhancing the entire industrial chain and enterprises’ export competitiveness are clear. Due to the unclear functions and powers of competent departments and a rigid threshold, command-control regulation is not conducive to cleaner production technology and the promotion of enterprises’ export competitiveness; it should thus be discouraged. Although both market-incentive and voluntary-participation regulations have promoted cleaner production technology and enterprises’ competitiveness significantly, the environmental tax system requires continuous improvement. The government should continue to raise public involvement in environmental protection to enrich the channels and forms of environmental management.

Studying Heterogeneity in the Subsistence Consumer Market: A Context-Sensitive Approach

This multimethod study develops a context-sensitive approach to subsistence consumer segmentation as advocated in the international market segmentation literature. Building on the theory of consumption values, the authors conduct multisited rapid ethnography research to collect primary data from urban subsistence consumers in South Africa and India who were presented with a simulated product choice situation. The authors convert the data into quantifiable segmentation variables for further analysis. This approach is particularly useful in subsistence consumer markets that are characterized by a dearth of quantifiable consumer data. The study reveals four distinct subsegments—Family-Oriented Workers, Low-Skilled Price-Sensitives, Young Performers, and Conscious Conservatives—that differ significantly in education level, number of children, age, consumption values, and purchase behavior. A detailed discussion of the context-sensitive segmentation approach applied in this study enables scholars and practitioners to deploy and adapt it to different environments and requirements.

Consumption convergence across countries: measurement, antecedents, and consequences

Are consumers across countries becoming more similar over time in terms of their spending across product categories? If so, what are the antecedents and consequences of convergence in consumption? These questions are of interest to scholars and managers alike. To examine them, we propose a novel empirical framework that encompasses: (1) a new measure of consumption convergence (budget allocation gap), and (2) an econometric model that links consumption convergence to its antecedents and consequences of convergence. Our empirical analyses – using data from 71 countries in 21 product categories between 1990 and 2017 – suggest that, overall, consumption patterns have been converging across countries. Yet, the speed of consumption convergence has been decelerating over time. We also show that consumption convergence is influenced by several previously unexplored antecedents, including technological advances, inward trade openness, and ethnic diversity. Of direct interest to managers and policymakers is the finding that the higher the level of consumption convergence, the higher the market concentration. These findings offer key implications for scholars, managers, and policymakers regarding global marketing strategy and audit, global demand forecasting, international market segmentation and penetration, and global competition.

An international market segmentation model based on susceptibility to global consumer culture

PurposeCompanies that wish to market a global brand need to develop a greater understanding of consumers' and potential consumers' susceptibility to global consumer culture (SGCC) with a view to standardizing/adapting their brand according to the desires and preferences of the consumers who belong to specific segments of global consumers. Thus, the aim of the study is to fill a joint segmentation research gap within and between countries based on seven dimensions of SGCC while classifying consumers according to the degree of belonging to specific and hybrid (global citizenship) segments.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was applied online in English in five countries across the Americas and Europe resulting in a sample of 412 consumers. Based on the fuzzy C-means cluster analysis, the study segments the sample of consumers according to the degree of belonging to specific and global citizenship segments.FindingsAnalysis of survey results show three groups; two distinct groups and a third with features of both, a distinct intersection group. These findings suggest that consumers in different countries develop beliefs and attitudes about global citizenship, and this perspective coincides with the characteristics of the intersection group. Consequently, the study shows that fragmentation of the needs of consumers exists within and between countries.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the concept of global citizenship, helping managers of global brands improve their marketing strategy decisions by implementing strategies that are standardized or adapted to specific hybrid segments of consumers that transcend national borders. This study used a statistical method to measure the degree of belonging to each segment.

The psychology of consumer ethnocentrism and cosmopolitanism: a five-country study of values, moral foundations, gender identities and consumer orientations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which personal values, moral foundations and gender-role identities affect, in sequence, consumers' constructions of their ethnocentric and cosmopolitan orientations. Achieving a better understanding of the psychological makeup of consumer ethnocentrism and cosmopolitanism should help managers better design international market segmentation and brand positioning strategies.Design/methodology/approachThe study's conceptual framework is anchored in attitude and values theories, and focuses on the social categorizations that consumers make and how these contribute to the formation of their ethnocentric and cosmopolitan orientations. Drawing data from consumers living in five European countries, we test our theoretical conjectures through structural equation modeling approaches, including multigroup analysis at the country level, as well as the identification and scrutiny of potential pan-European consumer segments.FindingsFindings show that personal values, moral foundations and gender-role identities do exert direct and indirect (partially mediated) effects on the formation of consumers' ethnocentric and cosmopolitan orientations. These provide numerous insights for managers in terms of how they can segment domestic and international markets, as well as how to position products and communicate brand strategies.Research limitations/implicationsThe study focused on consumers' personal and role identities and offers implications based on data gathered from a sample of five European countries. Future work should broaden this perspective by including other identity facets, such as religious and ethnic identities, as well as product-category and brand-specific outcomes, in order to help develop a more comprehensive picture of the psychology underpinning consumers' identity-related orientations, and their effects on consumer behavior. Future research should also study these issues in a broader geographical context, by including national markets that have culturally diverse populations as well as places with dissimilar cultural and economic profiles.Originality/valueThe study shows that individuals' personal values, moral foundations and gender roles have a strong effect on the formation of consumer ethnocentrism and consumer cosmopolitanism orientations. Consideration of how these antecedent constructs operate in concert to shape consumers' in- versus out-group orientations has been overlooked in the international marketing literature. Beyond the ramifications for theory, the study offers numerous substantive managerial implications in terms of how consumers are likely to respond to local and global/foreign products/brands based on these orientations.

Marketing concept of promotion’s management of Russian civil helicopters on international markets

This article shows that international multilayer market segmentation of civil helicopters is the base marketing concept for the company, which develops and produces civil helicopters. Implementation of the concept would likely assist the Russian helicopters’ markets widening, own production development and technological update.

THE PROCEDURE OF DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL MARKET SEGMENTATION STRATEGY

Introduction. Increase of intensity of international economic activity under the process of internationalization of commodity markets lead to the necessity of search of attractive international markets and segments. Aim of the article is the development of procedure of international market segmentation strategy and determination of peculiarities of international market segmentation in comparison with segmentation of domestic markets, considering the necessity of evaluation of factors of choice of attractive markets, considering the influence of cultural environment on entrepreneurial activity. Method (Methodology). Application of methods of scientific generalization, analysis and synthesis gave an opportunity to distinguish elements, that characterize segmentation of international markets; to systemize the factors of international market environment, that influence international market segmentation process, define customers’ characteristics, that influence their purchasing decisions; to distinguish stages of international market segmentation; to describe features and marketing tasks of each stage. Results. Segmentation of international markets has to be viewed as the systematized process of division of international markets on the groups of countries and groups of individual customers on the basis of their cultural values and motivations concerning their decision making process, that gives an opportunity to satisfy their specific needs and strengthen international competitive positions. The factors that influence international segmentation process are macrofactors: geographic, structural-demographic, legal, economic, scientific, socio-cultural; and microfactors: common market factors (market demand, competitive factors, factors of quality characteristics of the product) and customer-based factors (psychological, behavioral, individual characteristics of customers). The stages of the procedure of developing of international segmentation strategy are: market attractiveness evaluation; competitive analysis; demand evaluation; cultural environment analysis; macrosegmentation of markets; microsegmentation of markets; implementation of strategy and control. The proposed strategy of international segmentation strategy requires forming of the detailed marketing plan to a certain market segment and constant monitoring of its realization in accordance with changes in market environment and motivations of customers.

How do online reviewers’ cultural traits and perceived experience influence hotel online ratings?

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role and influence of online reviewers’ cultural traits and perceived experience on online review ratings of Russian hotels by taking a direct measurement approach. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopt an explanatory sequential research design consisting of two stages. In the first stage, based on a sample of almost 75,000 Booking.com online reviews covering hotels located in Moscow (Russia), this study examines quantitatively to what extent the cultural traits of online reviewers and hotel guests’ perceived experience in online reviewing affect online ratings also using censored regressions. In the second stage, it interprets the results in light of semi-structured interviews conducted with a convenience sample of managers. Findings Each of the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (namely, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and power distance) exerts a significantly negative influence on the hotel online ratings. More specifically, the higher the levels of individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and power distance, the lower the hotel’s online ratings. Reviewers’ perceived experience in online reviewing is negatively related to online ratings. Research limitations/implications The study’s findings bear relevant practical implications for hotel managers and online platform managers in countries that are not typically covered by online consumer behavior studies in hospitality such as Russia. From a theoretical viewpoint, this study contributes to cultural studies in hospitality management and marketing with a further development of the nascent research stream taking a direct measurement approach to the study of cultural influences on consumers’ behaviors. Furthermore, this study offers a better and in-depth understanding of the role of cultural traits on electronic word of mouth, as well as international market segmentation theory in online settings. Originality/value The conjoint exploration of the effects of cultural differences and perceived experience in online reviewing adds to the nascent research stream taking a direct measurement approach to the study of the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions on online consumers’ behaviors. The authors make multiple theoretical and methodological contributions, highlighting that online hospitality customers cannot be considered as one homogeneous mass. Instead, the application of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions allows identifying distinctively different online behaviors across international online customers: different online customer groups can be clustered into segments, as they display different online behaviors and give different online evaluations.

International Experience of Green Bond Issue

The subject of the research is current state and trends in a new segment of international finance market — the market of green bonds aiming at financing ecological projects.The purpose of the work is to assess the prospects of using green bonds through comparative analysis of their issuing actions taking into consideration the newest trends in world economy and finance developments. The importance of the article is predetermined by the novelty of the study subject, by the growth in number of issuing such bonds in both developed and developing countries due to the global trend of becoming more ecological, as well as by public support for ecologically pure projects. Moreover, green bonds allocation practices in different countries demonstrate their financial success attracting this way private investors to the sphere. The success is also supported by the process of specialization and certification. The author also emphasizes the trend of growing specialization in the field of international green bonds and confirms the prospects if its digitalization. The emission of green bonds should meet some specific requirements, such as verification conducted before their access to the market through an independent expertise by a third party. It is concluded that it is advisable to stimulate green bonds emission and circulation because of their viability on the world financial market.

Equivalence and Research Design Optimization for International Market Segmentation

Equivalence and Research Design Optimization for International Market Segmentation

Reforms and the real exchange rate: The role of pricing-to-market

The paper investigates how endogenous markups affect the extent to which policy reforms can influence international competitiveness. In a two-country model where trade costs allow for international market segmentation, we show that endogenous pricing-to-market behavior of firms acts as an important transmission channel of the policies. By strengthening the degree of competition between firms, product market deregulation at home leads to a reduction in domestic markups, which generally leads to an improvement in the international competitiveness of the Home country. Conversely, the power of competitive tax policy to depreciate the real exchange rate is dampened, as domestic firms take the opportunity of the labor tax cut to increase their markups. The variability of markups also affects the normative implications of the reforms. This indicates the importance of taking into account endogenous pricing-to-market behavior when intending to correctly evaluate the overall effects of the reforms.

International Market Segmentation with the Use of CMS Method and Cluster Analysis

The segmentation of foreign markets is currently treated as an important element of the strategy of operations of enterprises that participate in international exchange of goods and services. This paper fits squarely into a current trend in research on the matter. The article presents the possibility of combining the model of Constant Market Share developed by Leamer, Stern (1970) with cluster analysis. The CMS method allows for a detailed assessment of the sources of changes occurring in the export of compared countries, and in particular its results allow for answering the following question: To what extent may changes in export be explained by the economic situation in the world trade of individual clusters of commodities and to what extent do they result from the competitiveness of these countries? The application of the multivariate statistical methods for the designated effects will allow for the identification of the clusters of countries of the most similar position in the spatial and commodity arrangement, including countries of similar competitiveness of trade. This approach has been applied to the segmentation of EU countries’ markets.

Evaluating the liberalization process on Telecommunications services for EU countries

This paper investigates the main determinants of Telecommunications demand for European Union (EU) countries using a panel data set for 19 EU countries over the period 1991-2010, capturing the years before and after the liberalization process. The goal is to clarify whether any changes in the demand of Telecommunications, as expressed by volume of traffic in local, mobile and international market segments, are attributed to regulatory process or to some other major drivers, taking also into account the relevant price elasticities. It turns out that the regulatory process does not seem to have significant impact on demand for Telecommunications services for the first period of liberalization.

Bilateral Capital Flows: Transaction Patterns and Gravity

Holdings of cross-border bilateral assets are highly responsive to information frictions, market size, transaction costs, and trade ties. But empirical support using transactions data are constrained by the lack of comprehensive bilateral capital flows data covering large sample of economies for several years across investment and investor types. One expects that as information frictions weaken, transaction costs decline, and trade links strengthen, financial transactions between two economies will rise. This paper tests this hypothesis. Using bilateral Financial Accounts data from the Regional Balance of Payments Statistics of 10 advanced economies—yielding an unbalanced panel with 182 country pairs—for 2000-2016, the results provide strong evidence on the significance of information frictions, bilateral trade, transaction costs, and market size on bilateral capital flows. However, the findings show varying sensitivities of domestic and foreign investors to information asymmetries and trade ties. Moreover, investors appear to be more responsive to domestic transaction costs and foreign market size effects, than the converse. This study demonstrates an application of using bilateral capital flows data in revealing the patterns of international financial market segmentation still prevailing in cross-border financial transactions.

Reaching middle class consumers in emerging markets: Unlocking market potential through urban-based analysis

The international business landscape has transformed in dramatic ways over the past three decades. In particular, the importance of middle class households, concentrated especially in urban areas in emerging markets, is now well-recognized. We propose and demonstrate a systematic approach to urban-based market potential analysis. Based on international market segmentation literature, our key argument is that a more focused market potential analysis, based on middle class households, is superior to an aggregate, country-level market potential analysis. The proposed method highlights specific market potential indicators, especially suitable for middle class analysis. Further, we demonstrate this new approach through a case study. Finally, this manuscript positions itself as a managerial tool.

Assessing international market segmentation approaches: related literature at a glance and suggesstions for global companies

With the increasing role of globalization, international market segmentation has become a critical success factor for global companies, which aim for international market expansion. Despite the practice of numerous methods and bases for international market segmentation, international market segmentation is still a complex and an under-researched area. By considering all these issues, underdeveloped and under-researched international market segmentation bases such as social, cultural, psychological, etc. are assessed in this study. In addition, the segmentation methods such as a priori and post methods are discussed in detail based on the extant literature review. As a result, this study is providing an extant inventory of international market segmentation bases and methods grounded on the international marketing literature. Comparisons and assessments of international market segmentation bases and methods in a study will contribute essential understanding and critical insights for global companies.

Presidential Address: Macroeconomics and Online Prices

The availability of microeconomic pricing data has produced an empirical revolution in macroeconomics. Two events were the main culprits: First, national statistical offices allowed economists to study the data underlying the construction of the consumer price index (CPI), which gave our profession the chance to tackle many questions that have been open for decades. Second, scanner data from several supermarkets and merchandising companies were made available as well, offering another great opportunity for research. The earlier literature used aggregate price indexes to address questions of price rigidity, the law of one price, cost and exchange rate passthrough, international market segmentation, and so on. The aggregation and the procedures behind the construction of those indexes mask several economic phenomena. The availability of more detailed data has allowed the profession to take a closer look at old questions.1The microeconomic CPI data has several advantages. The first and most important is its representativeness. Statistical offices invest in the design of the data to make sure they include a representative set of prices for the consumption basket. The second advantage is the long history. When the microeconomic price data are released, researchers generally have access to several years and sometimes decades. This feature is quite important for evaluating pass-through and relative price equilibrium deviations. The disadvantages are many, including the one indicated by Alberto Cavallo in his thesis: microeconomic CPI prices are plagued with unit values.2 Although unit values are conceivably a very good piece of information for the computation of inflation, they are terrible for understanding price-setting dynamics, especially when evaluating price stickiness. The second disadvantage is that even though the data are representative, CPIs tend to have very few items in each sector, which means that the heterogeneity within sectors is disguised by small samples.The scanner data resolved some of the issues in the CPI data and worsened others. The scope was clearly much bigger, and the extensive product variety allowed researchers to deal with heterogeneity much better. In addition, several scanner data sets have information on cost and quantities, as well as on the prices, which facilitates addressing questions on pass-through. The disadvantages, however, are several. First, scanner data are not representative. The data characteristics vary greatly depending on the data provider, the location, and the time period when the data were collected. Databases available for research are usually from a single retailer, which makes generalization even harder. Furthermore, the quantity data captured by scanner data can be biased. The reason is simple: a supermarket that sells milk at an unusually low price will experience unusually large sales of milk. Using the quantities to determine aggregate implications produces a massive bias. Second, scanner data also has unit values, with prices reported as a ratio of sales over quantities and averaged over a week. Not all scanner data suffer from this problem, but most of the data sets that have been used in the macroeconomic and international literature do. Observing the average price is not necessarily wrong if the question asked is about pass-through or inflation. It is, however, the incorrect data point when addressing questions of price stickiness and price dynamics.3Alberto Cavallo and I started the Billion Prices Project at MIT (BPP) almost a decade ago to explore how using web methods can improve the collection of prices.4 We use web scraping to download millions of prices every day, from hundreds of retailers in more than seventy countries. The purpose is to collect all the products sold by a store, identify the posted prices every day, and also detect information about sales, promotions, and the like, in which case we collect all prices available. There are some advantages and disadvantages to these data. …