ABSTRACT
In Chapters 5 –7 we focused on approaches to environmental, customer and competitor analysis, and the frameworks within which strategic marketing planning can best take place. Against this background we now turn to the question of market segmentation, and to the ways in which companies need to position themselves in order to maximize their competitive advantage and serve their target markets in the most effective manner. It does need to be recognized, however, that for many organizations the strategic issues of market segmentation, market targeting and positioning often take on only a minimal role. A variety of authors (see, for example, Saunders, 1987; Solomon et al., 2006) have all pointed to the way in which approaches to segmentation are often poorly thought out and then poorly implemented.
