Assignment Marketing Strategy: Segmentation,

Targeting, Positioning

1. Extensive market segmentation is a relatively recent phenomenon. Until

about the middle of the 20th century many firms offered a single basic
product aimed at the entire mass market (such as Coca-Cola or Levi
jeans). But in recent years many firms—including industrial goods
manufacturers and services producers as well as consumer products
companies—have begun segmenting their markets and developing
different products and marketing programs targeted at different
segments. Which environmental changes have helped spark this
increased interest in market segmentation? What advantages or
benefits can a firm gain from properly segmenting its market?

2. Exactly what is the relationship between market segmentation, target

marketing, and positioning? What damage will be done to a company’s
target marketing and positioning efforts if markets are incorrectly or not
effectively or insightfully segmented?

3. Can market segmentation be taken too far? What are the potential
disadvantages of oversegmenting a market? What strategy might a firm
pursue when it believes that the market has been broken into too many
small segments?

4. What is the difference between a growth-market targeting strategy and a

niche targeting strategy? What capabilities or strengths should a
business possess to implement a growth-market targeting strategy
effectively?

5. Given the challenges inherent in repositioning a fast-food chain, how

would you further update the Subway product line and advertising
campaign in light of current healthy food trends?

6. What is meant by a determinant attribute for a given product? Explain

why the identification of such attributes is so important. What would be
an example of a determinant attribute for each of the following products
and services?
a. A cruise line
1
 b. A laptop computer
c. French wine
d. Women’s sportswear
e. A hospital
f. An arts college
g. A tractor

7. Should positioning be based on product features or benefits? Why?

Under what circumstances should features be the focus of an
advertising campaign?

8. In terms of positioning strategy, what is the rationale for the fact that
Nabisco offers many different brands within the cracker category, each
of which is perceived as being only slightly different from the others?
What are the advantages and limitations of such a strategy?