International Market Segmentation as Practice

Abstract

Today, understanding how managers in companies segment international customers is important because firms—small or large, local or global, new or old—are increasingly seeking to expand abroad. With the globalization of markets and unprecedented levels of global migration, managers in international companies face significant customer heterogeneity when they enter select countries. For example, managers in international financial service, media, and travel firms that enter the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, among other countries, face increasingly diverse customers due to immigration. To illustrate, in the United States, in 2007, the foreign-born population represented 12.6% of the U.S. population, that is, 38.1 million people who were 53.6% from Latin America, 26.8% from Asia, and 13.1% from Europe. There is a lack of research about how international managers faced with such a diverse marketplace segment customers.