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The aim of this paper is to propose an approach to international market segmentation that identifies meaningful cross‐national consumer segments, which focuses on airline passengers in the NAFTA market.

A conjoint analysis is used to evaluate consumers' preferences for six flight attributes: price, in‐flight service, number of stops before destination, on‐time performance, frequent flyer programme, and country of airline. A cluster analysis based on the relative importance scores of each of the six flights attributes then identifies five segments that prioritize similar product attributes within each country.

A representative sample of 4,787 airline passengers from the three countries reveal that price is the most important attribute for consumers from the USA and Canada, while on‐time performance is the most important attribute for Mexican consumers. A cluster analysis identifies five segments that prioritize similar product attributes within each country. It is also found that there are five cross‐national consumer segments in the NAFTA market that are homogeneous in terms of consumer preferences but heterogeneous in terms of relative group size and demographic variables.

The study is based on a purposive sample, which limits the ability to generalize to the whole population with any known degree of precision.

The research produces practical operational information on each segment that is translatable into strategy, specifically in terms of positioning, promotion, and targeting of the airline service.

The paper sheds light on the nature of cross‐national segmentation in the NAFTA air passengers market and the resulting cross‐national segmentation will be highly relevant for international marketing management.

Despite the differences among Arab markets (e.g. market size, per capita income, etc.), the existence of numerous important commonalities among the region’s consumers may encourage marketers to adopt across the region’s countries a more integrated marketing strategy based on the principle of market segmentation. For that purpose, the present article proposes a conceptual framework of international market segmentation. The conceptual framework is then tested and supported by empirical research. The results show the existence of a number of thriving consumer segments that transcend national boundaries and which share similar needs and preferences. The findings indicate that in order to approach Arab markets with more efficient marketing strategies, multinationals are requested to standardize their marketing plans to each segment while differentiating their strategies among the different segments. By applying such an approach, the decision maker will be able to identify the relevant marketing variables that may affect consumer decisions and hence know what he must do in order to cater to selected market segments.

Understanding and defining the characteristics of environmentally conscious or concerned consumers has received attention from academic researchers, commercial sector, and policy makers. The purpose of this paper is to identify distinct market segments in three countries (China, Germany, and Turkey) based on several “green” attitude and behavior variables.

A survey was administered in three countries, yielding a total of 1,415 valid survey responses.

Four clusters, ranging from the “greenest” to the “least green” segment, were identified and characterized for each country. Inter- and intra-country similarities and differences are discussed. Existence of cross-national segments was confirmed.

There is a potential gap between actual behavior and reported behavior.

The segment profiles can be valuable to firms, particularly to those competing in multinational markets. By delineating areas of similarity among international diversity, enterprises can develop effective global marketing strategies.

Understanding market segments in this respect is critical for policy makers who try to focus their policies that seek to promote green consumption.

This is the first study that uses cross-national data for segmenting the market based on “green” criteria, to the authors’ knowledge. Methodologically, the paper uses techniques and instruments that have not been used in this context before.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

“Country-collectors” (CCs) are defined here as international leisure travelers who have visited 6 +  countries within the five most recent calendar years primarily to pursue leisure activities. The study here contributes by offering an early workbench model of antecedents, paths, and outcomes of country-collectors’ evaluations and behavior toward countries as place-brands competing for such visitors. This study reports findings from a large-scale omnibus survey in three large Japanese cities (total n = 1,200). Key findings support the model and the following conclusions. Generally, country-collectors represent a small share of a nation’s adult population (less than 5%) but over 40% of the total leisure trips abroad; country-collectors are classifiable into distinct sub-segments according to the country place-brands that they visit; CC sub-segments, less frequent international leisure travelers, and stay-in-country travelers and non-travelers each offer unique assessments of competing countries as place-brands. National place-brand strategists planning a marketing campaign to influence a given nation’s residents to visit a specific destination (e.g., persuading Japanese nationals to visit the United States) may increase the campaign’s effectiveness by using this workbench model. The study offers a blueprint of how to appraise strengths and weaknesses of competing national place-brands among realized and potential visitors in specific national markets.

Our aim is to investigate the quality of segment disclosures by companies in Brazil, Russia, India and China (known as the BRIC economies) that are expanding their operations internationally, and in so doing to assess the extent of convergence with globally recognized standards, that is, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

We examine the financial statements and narrative information provided by the largest BRIC companies. We carry out a content analysis and also apply multivariate regression techniques to evaluate if key firm-specific factors are associated with the number of operating and geographic segments disclosed.

Our results show that the extent of disclosure by the majority of BRIC companies is of a high standard taking into account both quantitative and narrative data. The disclosure of operating segments is commonly based on business lines though most companies also report additional geographic information. As expected, operating segment disclosures are positively associated with the extent of internationalization (percentage of foreign sales) and majority state ownership.

We have examined only the largest companies in each BRIC country and so there are limitations regarding the generalizability of our results. Future research could usefully examine the practices of a wider range of companies within each of the BRIC countries. This could also be extended to a study of disclosure behaviour in other emerging economies.

Our study provides new evidence concerning the quality of corporate financial reporting in the BRIC economies with special reference to a comparative international analysis of the segment disclosure practices of major BRIC companies expanding internationally.

This study aims to use product attributes and retail display information to develop cross‐national segments.

The study uses consumers' choice in wine stores to develop segments of consumers, based on the relative importance of 13 factors consumers use for the retail purchase of wine. Data are collected from 11 countries, using seven languages on five continents. Best worst scaling (BWS) and latent class analysis were used to develop the clusters.

A three‐cluster structure provides a straightforward and robust segmentation across the 11 countries. This model fits better than one based on 11 single country segments. The three segments reveal different ways in which consumers choose wines: cognitive‐based, assurance‐based, and in‐store promotion‐based.

The samples are convenience‐based and do not represent the population of wine drinkers in each country. Choice criteria, including retail communications, can be used to develop useful and robust segments cross‐nationally.

The three segments found in this study provide clear guidelines for wine marketers depending on whether they work for small or large wine companies. The use of choice attributes and BWS show the utility of this method in cross‐national research.

This research demonstrates that product attributes and retail communication devices like labels and displays can be used for cross‐national segmentation. Applying BWS and Latent Class Clustering to choice criteria leads to clear, usable, and robust segmentation across a wide range of cultures and product use histories.

Proposes that the concept of this study regarding market segmentation is at least as applicable to international marketing as to domestic marketing. States the three‐fold purpose is: highlight the nature and importance of international segmentation; to suggest an operational approach; and to review briefly some of the possible bases for segmenting international markets. Concludes that research should be direct not only towards identifying the relevant country and customer characteristics but also towards evaluating cost and benefits anticipated from segmenting on a given base.

The proposed approach to international segmentation capitalises on the inherent similarities across groups of consumers in different countries. By making the customers and not countries the basis of a firm's international marketing strategy, this approach not only facilitates increased consumer orientation, but also offers the potential to optimise the profits of a multinational firm at a global level.

This paper aims to examine the conceptual as well as empirical linkages between segmentation bases and brand positioning strategies in the context of discussing practical implications for firms operating in increasingly globalizing markets.

This paper empirically examines an inventory of market segmentation factors in relation to four global strategic positioning decision options.

The two studies reported suggest that a combined use of macro and micro‐bases to segment world markets is significantly linked to the perceived positioning strategies of global top brands, whereas firms seeking more localized positioning strategies use only micro‐bases to segment.

The conceptual and empirical findings reported in this paper pave the way for embarking on promising and relevant future research that is needed to substantiate and enrich the academic understanding and managerial practice of segmentation and strategic brand positioning decisions in world markets.

This paper is unique in identifying a link between global brand positioning and segmentation factors.