Paper info

EXPERIMENTAL RE-SEGMENTATION Implications for network position and business model

Per Freytag and Ann Clarke and Peter Petersen

The paper was published at the 32nd IMP-conference in Poznan, Poland in 2016.

Not available

Segmentation is a widely researched area within marketing. However, little is known of how firms re-segment their markets and what the subsequent consequences are for the business model and network position. Segments are moving targets when customer needs and wants evolve, so, in turbulent markets, re-segmentation is pivotal in order to address the changing customer needs and wants. When segments move, there are implications for addressing customers as well as for adapting the business model and network position. We selected the graphical industry to research re-segmentation because graphical firms have felt the pressure of a turbulent market for years. Offset printing and traditional graphical solutions are being replaced and reshaped by an evolution in digital solutions. Firms have responded differently to the challenges depending on abilities and network position. This paper reports from a research project containing several workshops with graphical firms and their customers. The firms have to a greater or lesser extent adapted their business models to keep or create different offers and preserve or gain another network position. The workshops were facilitated to experiment with re-segmentation and thereby gain a better understanding of the challenges of re-segmentation and their effect on business model and network position. We seek thereby to gain a richer understanding of the interdependencies between re-segmentation, business model, and network position. This paper thus contributes to the understanding of how to perform re-segmentation and what the challenges of re-segmentation are.