Rutgers Business Policy and Strategy Practice Exam

The sequence starts by defining the market you plan to serve, then segmenting that market using meaningful criteria (such as geography, demographics, psychographics, and behavior) to form distinct groups with similar needs. After that, you assess each segment’s attractiveness—looking at size, growth, profitability, accessibility, competitive intensity, and how well it fits your company’s capabilities. With that understanding, you select which segments to target and decide on the appropriate targeting approach (undifferentiated, differentiated, concentrated, or micromarketing). Finally, you tailor your offerings and the marketing mix to fit the chosen segments, delivering value in a way that meets their specific needs.

This order makes sense because you can’t effectively tailor offerings until you know who you’re serving and why they matter. The other options skip or misorder essential steps: targeting everyone ignores meaningful segmentation; choosing targeting criteria like packaging color is not a robust basis for meaningful segments; starting with R&D before defining the market overlooks market realities that should guide product development; and trying to globalize before defining market segments ignores where and how to compete most effectively.