The Market Map Tool

Abstract

Strategy Question: Is there a simple yet comprehensive way to characterize the business health of my markets, segments, and niches?

Summary: Now that we have the markets segmented and niched, we need to research each segment relative to attractiveness. This can be simply an indication of segment growth prospects in the chosen planning horizon, or it can be a conglomeration of key elements important to the organization (market strength, opportunity for growth, margin yield opportunity, etc.). This tool takes the user through ways to evaluate the segments for use in prioritizing the importance of various segments to product/service and channel actions. We build on either the Market Segmentation Tool or the Segment Niching Tool by assigning an attractiveness code to the column heading (green, yellow, or red). We then recommend the organization rank order the segments, with the one chosen most attractive positioned on the far left, and those next bests located in decreasing order to the right. We have found the resulting one-page Market Map Tool output extremely helpful in simply conveying what is usually a difficult and very complex picture to explain and communicate.

Citation

Fairbanks, S. and Buchko, A. (2018), "The Market Map Tool", Performance-Based Strategy, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 61-70. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78743-795-120181007