ABSTRACT
In seeking to launch a product on the international scene the marketer often has to grapple with the problem of deciding as to which countries ought to rank in his plans as the priority markets for development. Clearly among the 200 or so countries in the world a few countries are bound to represent excellent target markets whereas others should be avoided at all cost. Most well-informed businessmen can list countries which in their opinion are attractive markets and those which should be avoided like the plague. However this kind of instantaneous judgement has its danger inasmuch as some countries offer useful opportunities for a specific product in spite of their adverse image among international marketers. In fact if every marketer would reject a country as an unpromising market for development the one who is foolhardy enough to step in may find fairly rich pickings. This is the essence of market segmentation: the one who can attain a dominant penetration of a small market or segment is often better off than the firm that attains a minute market share of the total market. The firm that manages to dominate an ostensibly poor and small geographical market is not necessarily silly. If the figures prove that the marketing effort is justified, so be it.
