A Conceptual Model for Evaluating of Market Segments Research Paper - 1

A Conceptual Model for Evaluating of Market Segments - Research Paper Example It is suggested by the analysis that a synthesis of these three models can potentially produce a holistic tool for evaluating segments; a tool which considers both the internal and external forces and which incorporates the firm’s specific needs. The evaluation of market segments is one of the most critical aspects in the entire segmentation analysis, given that the segments that are eventually selected by firms need to be attractive, measurable and substantial (Beane and Ennis, 1987; Sarabia, 1996). Segmentation is crucial because it provides a direction for marketing strategies to be developed; on the basis of segmentation firms design specific marketing activities targeting clusters of the market which shares some degree of homogeneity and which are likely to respond in a similar manner to marketing incentives (Jonker et al., 2004). According to Wind (1978) and Ou et al. (2009) segmentation should be not only approached through statistical measures which only provide a picture of the differences between various segments, but more consistently should be approached through subjective measures as well, which denote the essence of the judgements of the decision makers and as Sarabia (1996) stresses, the distinctiveness of each firm (and each firm’s needs). Thus evaluation of segments becomes of crucial importance because it shows, on the one hand, the attractiveness of each segment identified but this attractiveness is measured by incorporating the specific-firm aspects as well. In this paper, three models for evaluating segments are presented and assessed in terms of their strengths in an attempt to synthesize a theoretical framework for segment evaluation. Market segmentation is treated differently by many academic researchers and scholars. According to Beane and Ennis (1987), the existence of various approaches to market  segmentation reveals the different viewpoints on the subject.