AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

With increasing globalization of world business, multinational corporations are extending their business into emerging economies. For managers in these corporations, a pressing issue is to segment the mass market into identifiable, substantial, accessible, responsive, stable and actionable segments to understand and respond to consumer heterogeneity. This study investigates generation cohort as an a priori basis for segmentation in a hugely important market, urban China. The primary aim is to explore generation cohort as a relevant basis for segmentation in urban China. This is achieved with reference to three previously defined generation cohorts: Red Guards, Modern Realists, and Global Materialists. Specifically, the research project consists of three studies. Study 1, looking at values and memories of historical events of the three generations to explore the validity of generation cohort segmentation, uncovers differences and builds a foundation for segmentation analysis. In Study 2, purchase intention data collected with Juster Scales are analysed to identify any differences/similarities in purchasing and loyalty patterns among the three generations. Descriptive results are benchmarked against theoretical estimates from NBD-Dirichlet models. Generalized-Dirichlet models are estimated with the same datasets to provide statistical support for the identified patterns. Study 3 models brand choices for toothpaste, soy sauce and mobile phones, for which data were collected using conjoint choice experiments. Multinomial Logit modelling uncovers different responses of consumers to marketing-mix variables (price, promotion, sales persons and display) across the three generations. The study not only adds to our understanding of generation cohort theory and extends models that have been developed in a Western context to urban China, but also establishes the empirical validity of generation cohort segmentation in Chinese markets, which has implications for understanding converging/diverging consumer traitsand for the manipulation of elements of the marketing mix. For example, the study reveals that Chinese consumers of different generations have shared respect for traditional culture but differ significantly on openness-to-change. Reactions to marketing-mix variables such as price and price promotion shows generation-based differences, and the older they are the more positive their opinion of manufacturer brands versus private labels.