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Research Article

Customer Value and Market Segmentation

Kim, Yeongchan

Published: January 2004 · Vol. 33 No. 6 · pp. 1757-1779
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Abstract

Research on customer value has recently emerged as an important topic not only in business practice but also in the marketing academy. Efforts to identify the value criteria inherent in customers' psychology and to link the effects of these values on consumers' product choices and usage situations play an important role not only in positioning strategies for existing products but also in market strategies for new products. However, most studies on customer value have been skewed toward conceptual research, and relatively few studies have been conducted on the formulation of marketing strategies that actually reflect customer value. Therefore, this study aims to explore the conceptual definition of customer value—which has emerged as an essential element for securing competitiveness in modern business management—through a review of various literature. Additionally, this study proposes a theoretical methodology by which firms can create and deliver customer value by integrating the laddering technique, a qualitative research method used to identify customer value, with quantitative research methods. To this end, this study identified customers' latent values through Hierarchical Value Map (HVM) and Latent Cluster Analysis techniques, and presented market segmentation results based on customer value. For the model analysis, market research data on a company's new television product were utilized.
Keywords: customer valueHierarchical value mapLatent cluster analysisMeans-end chainvalue-based market segmentation