REFLECTION REPORT 1

CLASS_78

GROUP 10

MARKETING MANAGEMENT MKGM31129

TRIMESTER 1, 2021

Zheying CHENG [B00790912]

Word Count: 694 words

I was extremely shocked when seeing the case of how McDonalds uses their market

segmentation strategy to benefit. This was the first time I learned the academic

definition of market segmentation. Market segmentation uses classification, such as

geography, demography, and behavior, to separate the market into pieces, in order to

make strategies. A good market segmentation, using multiple bases, can direct the

future of the company to prosper.

It inspired me in the digital healthcare market. Although today many IT companies

especially multinational ones found it attractive and all invested in, the clinical results

are not such good even worse. I had a bachelor in stomatology and we were required

to do clinical job as an intern doctor in hospital. based on the one-year intern

experience, I saw the doctors always refused to use the online health platform, and

meanwhile, the information patients got from the internet were sometime ridiculous.

Meanwhile, there were many medical device research companies brough their new

inventors to the doctors. However, their practical value was such low. Admittedly, the

technology owned by the company is absolutely high, but they seemed to mistake the

healthcare industry with single algorithm technology.

The origin of the wrong direction of the product may be the insufficient market

segmentation. Why is the health market segmentation so difficult for companies to

achieve?

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Healthcare market is more related to humanity, patients. Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention in 20151 indicated that health market is a blending of social network

and health communication. Pires2 proposed that the key issue in health market

segmentation is to notify specific patients need. As a result, to analyze the behavior of

patients, data mining plays an essential part. Swenson et al.3 concluded two gaps in

this market. First is that the data researchers used is not convincible, only from survey

data or a combination of survey and clinical data. The insufficient data will lead to

statistic bias and the mis-conclusion. Second is that health market has an intensive

link with personal needs, but the market segmentation method in healthcare is quite

simple. Liu et al.4 summarized that the multiple objectives such as economic criteria

with responsibility and accessibility may relate to no single optimal solution.

The gaps in market segmentation remind me of the dissolution of Google health in

late August. Just short time before, IBM sold out their health service, Watson health.

The customer segmentation is different in health and IT, but most IT companies did

not recognize it. They just consumed that simple technique progress can benefit the

whole market. The IT companies mistook in two aspects. The online information they

applied to the society is too general, no market focus. Heui et al.5 indicated that little

study had been done for the characteristic of those who use health information. He

generated behavior differences considering gender, health status, and residence areas

in selection of hospital and shopping of health goods. Second is that IT companies

think simple AI innovation can directly make profit in healthcare. However only

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patients in high-class and always in serious illness, whose survival rates are low, care

mostly on the therapy technique. Large part of patients just care about the whole

therapy experience and avoid taking risk. Therefor, companies need to focus more on

the credibility and patients’ demand, which they didn’t do before.

From the revise of market segmentation in health industry, I comprehend more deeply

of its influence factors and impacts.

1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Gateway to health communication &
social marketing practice 2015. Accessed September 19, 2015
2 Pires, G., & Stanton, J. (2008). Marketing issues in healthcare research. International Journal of Behavioural and
Healthcare Research, 1(1), 38–60.
3 Swenson, E. R., Bastian, N. D. and Nembhard, H. B. (2018) ‘Healthcare market segmentation and data mining:
A systematic review’, Health Marketing Quarterly, 35(3), pp. 186–208.
4 Ying Liu et al. (2012), A unified framework for market segmentation and its applications, Expert Systems with
Applications, Volume 39, Issue 11, 10292-10302
5 Heui Sug Jo et al. (2010), Market segmentation of health information use on the Internet in Korea, International
Journal of Medical Informatics, Volume 79, Issue 10, 707-715

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