Market Segmentation: How to Do It and How to Profit from It, Revised and updated 4th Edition

Foreword

In 2004, Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge provided the foreword below, which we have retained without amendment, as it encapsulates the spirit and substance of this, our latest 2012 edition of Market Segmentation.

One of the abiding principles of sound business practice is: ‘Know your customer; know your market.’

The objective, of course, is to gain competitive advantage by building sustained customer loyalty, with products and services meeting, quite precisely, the demands of closely defined markets.

As markets have become more complex, so has this essentially basic process of market segmentation. It is the view of many that, in both the manufacturing and service sectors, the art of defining target markets rarely progresses beyond the assembly of somewhat dull demographics. The logical conclusion is that, if everybody is doing the same, differential advantage is difficult to attain.

Now, Professor Malcolm McDonald and Ian Dunbar have peeled away the layers of complexity and confusion to produce a step-by-step guide through the difficult terrain of market segmentation. The value of their book to business people everywhere, is that it offers the kind of practical applications needed in today’s intensely competitive marketplace.

Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge1

Chairman, British Airways

1Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge, businessman and airline executive, was born on 6 November ...