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The present data illustrate the effectiveness of utilizing theoretically guided models to develop consumer-based micro-segmentation strategies. The results provide marketers with a powerful discriminant function calculated from six variables to profile consumers and make informed decisions regarding promotional content and channel delivery to stimulate processing of marketing communication. The function also enables marketers to carve out casual, moderate, and loyal market segments with 74.3 per cent accuracy utilizing only 18 survey questions.

The purpose of this paper is to present a two‐stage international market selection and segmentation model addressed to help decision makers such as foreign institutions and market‐seeking multinational enterprises (MNEs) identify and select the most suitable European countries and groups of consumers.

The first stage is conceived as a macro‐segmentation screening process based on market attractiveness. The second is a micro‐segmentation process addressed to identify which groups of people are most similar across Europe in terms of social and personal values. The authors' model is rooted in previous assumptions and findings from international market selection (IMS) and Inglehart's theory of material and post‐material values.

The model is applied to the current 27 European Union (EU) member states and is validated through the groups of countries empirically obtained. The model allows us to cluster the European countries by market attractiveness, group the European consumers by personal and social values and describe the value orientation of the resulting clusters.

The authors used cross‐sectional data to validate their model. Among the implications, they encourage international marketing and business scholars to make use of Inglehart's framework.

Institutional decision makers and market‐seeking MNEs can follow or adapt the prescribed model in order to identify the most promising and similar European countries and groups of consumers. Public policy makers can gain an in‐depth understanding of specific personal and social values allowing them to shape public policy agendas.

This paper contributes to the existing literature on IMS and segmentation in three ways: it proposes an original and parsimonious two‐stage IMS and segmentation integrative model for both country‐level and consumer‐related analyses (suitable to handle and reduce the European diversity that decision makers have to face when dealing with the general public or consumer products); it applies theoretically grounded general segmentation bases and an alternative established framework of consumer values (Inglehart's value system), and it adopts an updated and pan‐European perspective over the enlarged EU.

This paper aims to report a research methodology that is used to identify business buyer segments by relating demographic indicators to the needs of various market segments.

The research was based on a survey in the office systems industry. The respondents were asked to evaluate the importance of marketing services that are used by dealers to select, evaluate, and retain vendors.

Market segments were identified and categorized using demographic and need‐based data. Discriminant analysis was able to distinguish between demographic market segments and to identify these segments based on their market needs.

This paper demonstrates a methodology to identify customer needs based on demographic data, lowering the cost of identifying the product and service needs of different market segments.

Demographic and need‐based business segmentation methods are widely used, However, empirically based research that bridges the gap between these two segmentation processes has not been previously reported.

Small firms can approach foreign markets notwithstanding their limited resources by adopting a niche strategy. This permits to understand how SMEs can reach high levels of export intensity and broad geographic scope. Moreover, a global niche approach permits to explain – among other factors – why and how infant firms can be international or even global since their inception. The case studies analysis shows a positive relation between niche strategy and high international performance, in terms of export intensity, precocity, speed, and scope. The international expansion of niche firms is based on an horizontal micro-segmentation of the global market: they move internationally following global customers, independently from the psychic/geographical distance, and compete mostly on a non-price basis.

Proposes that the main objective here is a system being developed for segmenting industrial markets on the basis of the level demonstrated by buying centre members. Examines the factors which influence the individual member of the buying centre in the context of his/her participating in the acquisition of an innovation. Explores the concept of consumer creativity or maturity as developed in the context of consumer marketing, and considers factors which are deemed influential. Posits that greater success rates in new product development would be achieved if research and development worked in tandem with an identified cross‐section of sophisticated buying centre members.

A central finding in the relationship marketing/buying literature is that the thought and decision processes by both marketers and buyers include a series of branching, if-then, questions and answers. For example, will customer X accept a 7 percent price increase? The correct answer: acceptance depends on the changes in the other attributes on the table (i.e., in the bid proposal or product–service design). Consequently, from designing and evaluating bid-purchase proposals to evaluating the current state of the overall seller–buyer relationship, the perceived value of the level of any given attribute depends in part of the value perceived in the levels of several other attributes. Possibly, business-to-business decisions and outcomes may be understood best by constructing thick descriptions of the multiple contingency paths that marketers and buyers think about and sometimes enact when deciding. Chapter 10 reports the use of two “think aloud” methods to learn the contingency thoughts and decisions of marketers and buyers of industrial solvents. The main conclusions of the study: designing generalized “gatekeeping,” contingency, models of if-then decision paths can be achieved; these models are useful for constructing accurate behavioral theories of marketer–buyer relationships.

The Internet is changing the way that companies carry out their business and, in fact, constitutes an entirely new application domain, which makes product innovation possible. Moreover, it is a new medium for reaching consumers, which is a central preoccupation to organisations in the current business market. Here interest lies in video chatting on the Internet. This is a type of service that adds video support to chatting using a Web cam and is gradually attracting more Internet users. The paper consists of a market feasibility study evaluating the potential commercialisation of a software program that enables the “cutting away” of the chatters from the original background filmed by the Web cam, and later re‐integrates them into a new background. The software program could, therefore, be interesting for advertising companies.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the threats and potential of Big Data for strategic communication. It explains the concepts of datafication and Big Data and establishes the social and cultural context of Big Data from the way those constructing algorithms superimpose their value systems and cultural references onto the data. It links Big Data and strategic communication through the segmentation devices and strategies both use and propose discourse analysis as a valid method for the critique of Big Data. The importance of strategic communication for the public sphere suggests that Big Data can pose a serious threat to public discourse.

This is a conceptual and theoretical paper that first explains and interprets various new terms and concepts and then uses established theoretical approaches to analyze these phenomena.

The use of Big Data for the micro-segmentation of audiences establishes its relationship with strategic communication. Big Data analyses and algorithms are not neutral. Treating algorithms as language and communication allow them to be subjected to discourse analysis to expose underlying power relations for resistance strategies to emerge. Strategic communicators should guard the public sphere and take an activist stance against the potential harm of Big Data. That requires a seat at the institutional technology table and speaking out against discriminatory practices. However, Big Data can also greatly benefit society and improve discourse in the public sphere.

There is not yet empirical data available on the impact of datafication on communication practice, which might be a problem well into the future. It also might be hard to do empirical research on its impact on practice and the public sphere. The heuristic value of this piece is that it laid down the theoretical foundations of the phenomena to be studied, which can in future be used for ethnographic research or qualitative studies. It might eventually be possible to follow personalized messages generated through datafication to study if they actually lead to behavior change in specific audience members.

As guardians of the public sphere strategic communication practitioners have to educate themselves on the realities of Big Data and should consciously acquire a seat at the institutional technology table. Practitioners will need to be involved in decisions on how algorithms are formulated and who they target. This will require them to serve as activists to ensure social justice. They also will need to contribute to organizational transparency by making organizational information widely available and accessible through media bought, owned, and earned. Strategic communicators need to create a binary partnership with journalists of all kinds to secure the public sphere.

The paper exposes the role of algorithms in the construction of data and the extent to which algorithms are products of people who impose their own values and belief systems on them. Algorithms and the data they generate are subjective and value-laden. The concept of algorithms as language and communication and the use of Big Data for the segmentation of society for purposes of communication establish the connection between Big Data and strategic communication. The paper also exposes the potential for harm in the use of Big Data, as well as its potential for improving society and bringing about social justice.

The value of this paper is that it introduces the concept of datafication to communication studies and proposes theoretical foundations for the study of Big Data in the context of strategic communications. It provides a theoretical and social foundation for the inclusion of the public sphere in a definition of strategic communication and emphasizes strategic communicators’ commitment to the public sphere as more important than ever before. It highlights how communication practice and society can impact each other positively and negatively and that Big Data should not be the future of strategic communication but only a part of it.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is deemed to have a significant impact as a value driver for the firms and help them get an operational and competitive advantage. However, there exists a lack of understanding of how to appropriate value from this nascent technology. This paper aims to discuss the approaches toward knowledge and innovation strategies to fill this gap.

The discussion presents a review of the extant strategy and information systems literature to develop a strategy for organizational learning and value appropriation strategy for AI. A roadmap is drawn from ambidexterity and organizational learning theories.

This study builds the link between learning and ambidexterity to propose paths for exploration and exploitation of AI. The study presents an ambidextrous approach toward innovation concerning AI and highlights the importance of developing as well as reusing the resources.

This study integrates over three decades of strategy and information systems literature to answer questions about value creation from AI. The study extends the ambidexterity literature with contemporary.

This study could help practitioners in making sense of AI and making use of AI. The roadmap could be used as a guide for the strategy development process.

This study analyzes a time-tested theoretical framework and integrates it with futuristic technology in a way that could reduce the gap between intent and action. It aims to simplify the organizational learning and competency development for an uncertain, confusing and new technology.

A central finding in the relationship marketing/buying literature is that the thought and decision processes by both marketers and buyers include a series of branching, if‐then, questions and answers. For example, will customer X accept a 7 percent price increase? The correct answer: acceptance depends on the changes in the other attributes on the table (i.e. in the bid proposal or product‐service design). Consequently, from designing and evaluating bid‐purchase proposals to evaluating the current state of the overall seller‐buyer relationship, the perceived value of the level of any given attribute depends in part of the value perceived in the levels of several other attributes. Possibly, business‐to‐business decisions and outcomes may be understood best by constructing thick descriptions of the multiple contingency paths that marketers and buyers think about and sometimes enact when deciding. We report the use of two “think aloud” methods to learn the contingency thoughts and decisions of marketers and buyers of industrial solvents. The main conclusions of the study: designing generalized “gatekeeping”, contingency, models of if‐then decision paths can be achieved; these models are useful for constructing accurate behavioral theories of marketer‐buyer relationships.