ABSTRACT
In their book on strategy, Hamel and Prahalad ( 1 994) claim that there are "three kinds of companies : companies that try to lead customers where they don't want to go (these are companies that find the idea of being customer-led an insight); companies that listen to customers and then respond to their articulated needs (needs that are probably already being satisfied by more foresightful competi tors); and companies that lead customers where they want to go, but don't know it yet. Companies that create the future do more than satisfy customers, they constantly amaze them" ( 1994: 1 00). Both of the first two kinds of companies can benefit from an application of target marketing; the third is undoubtedly already practicing target marketing.
