When assessing global marketing strategies, as we did a couple of years ago with a mobile media company soft launch in Vietnam to be followed by rollouts in China and India, it’s useful to segment markets according to stages of economic development before digging in to assess real opportunities and challenges. This is particularly the case when endeavoring to leverage marketing efforts, brand positioning and operational practices proven successful in a company’s existing markets when expanding into new markets.
The World Bank provides some useful segmentation categories, with gross national
product (GNP) providing a basis. The four key categories include Big Emerging Markets (BEMs), Least-Developed Countries (LDCs), Newly Industrializing Economies (NIEs) and The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) comprised of mature economies.
According to the United Nations, there are 50 countries in the low-income ranks that are considered “least developed” in terms of market potential. A key contrasting characteristic of these markets, particularly the case in China, is that market growth is largely driven by cheap but highly motivated labor forces serving international markets through trade/export activities. China is also categorized as a “Big Emerging Market” (as are India and Brazil), and what quite obviously makes these countries increasingly powerful are their large populations, which provide not only the opportunity to harness cheap labor in the manufacturing sectors, but also reach large numbers of consumers … a billion-plus in China alone. As if you haven’t already heard that a hundred times or more this year alone, eh?
Posted by: Colin Mangham