Using a strategy-aligned fuzzy competitive analysis approach for market segment evaluation and selection

This study applies Five Forces Analysis to evaluate and select market segments for international business using a strategy-aligned fuzzy approach. An illustration segment evaluation procedure is used to demonstrate that our procedure is an effective quantification approach for integrating five forces, generic strategies and marketing information in a group decision-making process. The final decision-maker (DM) synthesizes the total crisp scores of individual alternatives by choosing judgmental coefficients k based on individual attitude towards core business competitiveness and market risks to accommodate differences among market segments to the specific environment with a better understanding of the decision problem and individual decision-making behavior. In the illustration presented here, the final solution is then obtained by identifying the best market segment for further development and negotiation. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.