Creating a market segment selection tool for tech-based businesses : A design-based approach

The selection of market segments is perceived to be a critical decision for businesses. However, a market segment selection tool that specifically considers the needs of tech-based businesses seems to be unavailable within existing literature on the topic. Therefore, this thesis provides such a tool in the form of a framework. This framework is based on relevant theory and data acquired from various (tech-based) organizations through semi-structured interviews and has also been demonstrated at a tech-based firm during a case study. The developed framework allows businesses to flexibly analyze market segments by examining the attractiveness of the segment and its suitability with an organization. The flexibility of the framework is also highly represented in the pre-screening step, which recommends firms to first focus on the most important factors to examine a market segment before extensive research is conducted. Consequently, tech-based firms can flexibly create a foundation to make well-considered decisions concerning market segment selection by applying the tool developed within this thesis.