Developing Global Segments and Forecasting Market Shares: A Simultaneous Approach Using Survey Data

Managers who introduce a new product into the global market must answer critical questions about market size, market responsiveness, and segmentation strategy. Current methods provide a piecemeal approach toward answering these questions. This article provides a new integrated method. The author uses survey-based discrete-choice methodology coupled with latent-class models to identify responsive global segments for a new global satellite-based paging service. The findings reveal seven distinct segments in terms of price responsiveness, size, and market potential. The author shows how these data can be used to develop target segments and marketing strategies. The study adds to the growing literature on international segmentation and pricing.