Mcdonald-Market Segmentation
MARKET SEGMENTATION: ORGANISATIONAL ARCHETYPES AND RESEARCH AGENDAS*
Mark Jenkins & Professor Malcolm McDonald Cranfield School of Management
Address for correspondence: Mark Jenkins, Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University, Bedford, MK43 0AL, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 234 751122; Fax: +44 (0) 234 750070 EMail: m.jenkins@cranfield.ac.uk
Paper submitted to the European Journal of Marketing, February 1995. The authors acknowledge the invaluable comments of Professor Martin Christopher and the anonymous referees on earlier drafts of this paper.
*
1
MARKET SEGMENTATION: ORGANISATIONAL ARCHETYPES AND RESEARCH AGENDAS
Summary
The study of how organisations segment their markets has traditionally taken a prescriptive and analytical approach. More recently, a number of academics and practitioners have voiced concerns over the evident gap between how such concepts are viewed in theory and how they are applied in practice. These issues have already been raised in academic papers, but almost entirely at an abstract level. This paper introduces a more concrete aspect to the debate by proposing a series of organisational archetypes which illustrate how organisations may segment their markets in practice. These archetypes are developed from a series of minicase studies which provide a basis for understanding how organisations may interface with the market at both an explicit and implicit level. The implications for both academic research and organisational practice are reviewed and discussed
Background
The activity of marketing and the concept of the market are inextricably linked. If an organisation is to enjoy any level of marketing success, this is through an ability to match its own capabilities to the requirements of the market place. Central to this matching process is the segmentation of the market. Wendell Smith [1] is widely cited as providing the basis for the concept of market segmentation as it is applied today. An overview of the literature on market
Mark Jenkins & Professor Malcolm McDonald Cranfield School of Management
Address for correspondence: Mark Jenkins, Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University, Bedford, MK43 0AL, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 234 751122; Fax: +44 (0) 234 750070 EMail: m.jenkins@cranfield.ac.uk
Paper submitted to the European Journal of Marketing, February 1995. The authors acknowledge the invaluable comments of Professor Martin Christopher and the anonymous referees on earlier drafts of this paper.
*
1
MARKET SEGMENTATION: ORGANISATIONAL ARCHETYPES AND RESEARCH AGENDAS
Summary
The study of how organisations segment their markets has traditionally taken a prescriptive and analytical approach. More recently, a number of academics and practitioners have voiced concerns over the evident gap between how such concepts are viewed in theory and how they are applied in practice. These issues have already been raised in academic papers, but almost entirely at an abstract level. This paper introduces a more concrete aspect to the debate by proposing a series of organisational archetypes which illustrate how organisations may segment their markets in practice. These archetypes are developed from a series of minicase studies which provide a basis for understanding how organisations may interface with the market at both an explicit and implicit level. The implications for both academic research and organisational practice are reviewed and discussed
Background
The activity of marketing and the concept of the market are inextricably linked. If an organisation is to enjoy any level of marketing success, this is through an ability to match its own capabilities to the requirements of the market place. Central to this matching process is the segmentation of the market. Wendell Smith [1] is widely cited as providing the basis for the concept of market segmentation as it is applied today. An overview of the literature on market
References: 25 CHANGES REQUESTED BY REVIEWERS (FEBRUARY, 1995)