Segmenting Global Markets

"I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece, but of the world."
Today we live in a global marketplace that makes Socrates' famous words more valid than ever before. As you read this article, you may be sitting on a chair from Paris, wearing a shirt made in Britain, and using a computer, without which you are handicapped, that probably was made in Taiwan. Have you ever wondered why and how this happens?
Global marketing refers to marketing activities of companies that emphasize four activities: (1 ) cost efficiencies resulting from reduced duplication of efforts; (2) opportunities to transfer products, brands, and ideas across subsidiaries in different countries; (3) emergence of global customers, such as global teenagers or the global elite; and (4) better links between national marketing infrastructures, which paves the way for a global marketing infrastructure that results in better management and reduced costs.
As the business world becomes more globalized, global market segmentation (GMS) has emerged as an important issue in developing, positioning, and selling products across national boundaries. Consider the global segment based on demographics, global teenagers. The sharing of universal needs and desires for branded, entertaining, trendy, and image-oriented products makes it possible to reach the global teen segment with a unified marketing program. For example, Reebok used a global advertisement campaign to launch its Instapump line of sneakers in the United States, Germany, Japan, and 137 other countries worldwide.
WHAT IS GMS?
Global market segmentation can be defined as the process of identifying specific segments-- country groups or individual consumer groups across countries-of potential customers with homogeneous attributes who are likely to exhibit similar buying behavior.
The study of GMS is interesting and important for three reasons. First of all, considering the world as a market, different products are in different stages of the product life...