Partnering as a Focused Market Strategy

The article discusses the use of partnerships as a focused marketing strategy. The difficulties that managers can encounter in attempting to cultivate strong working partnerships with their customers are examined. A comprehensive, strategic approach is given to offer managers guidance on decisions about which market segments and individual customer firms to target for close, collaborative relationships. The initial task for a supplier firm in formulating a relationship strategy is to segment the marketplace into relatively homogenous groups of firms based on product application and customer capabilities. Business firms segment markets in a number of ways, with demographics such as account size and industry being the most common basis.