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International market segmentation: Economics, national culture and time

Desislava G. Budeva (Anisfield School of Business, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah, NJ, USA)
Michael R. Mullen (College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA)

European Journal of Marketing

ISSN: 0309-0566

Article publication date: 8 July 2014

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the influence of economic and cultural factors, separately and combined, on international country segments and to reveal the stability of factors and country segments over time.

Design/methodology/approach

Principal component analysis is used to develop three economic factors and two cultural factors borrowed from the World Value Survey. Cluster analysis is used to form country clusters based on the economic and cultural factors, separately, and then combined, to detect whether both economics and culture need to be included as bases for macro-country segmentation. Further, the authors look at these issues across time, the beginning of the decade (1990) and then at the end of the decade (1999).

Findings

Results support the hypotheses that economics and culture are both necessary for country-level segmentation but reject the hypothesis of cultural convergence as a consequence of technological development and industrialization. The authors confirm that cultural values and beliefs, although persistent, may change gradually under the influence of environmental forces such as economic development. The results support the instability of country segment membership when analyzed over one decade. Economic changes in some countries lead to their movement across segments.

Practical implications

Results suggest that managers concerned with international segmentation should include both economic and cultural variables and reevaluate country segment membership continuously rather than relying on results obtained in a single period.

Originality/value

Many international segmentation studies have used macro-level, secondary data to identify country clusters based on similarities in political, economic, geographic or cultural variables for a single period. This study extends existing international segmentation models by examining economic and cultural variables (separately, and then combined), and segment membership over time.

Keywords

Citation

G. Budeva, D. and R. Mullen, M. (2014), "International market segmentation: Economics, national culture and time", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 48 No. 7/8, pp. 1209-1238. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-07-2010-0394

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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