# Segmentation and Competitive Intelligence

Reference for segmentation scoring and competitive-intelligence synthesis. Pairs with `segmentation_scorer.py`.

## What makes a segment useful (Kotler)

A market segment is only useful if it meets five criteria. The scorer weights and gates them:

1. **Measurable** — you can size and identify it.
2. **Substantial** — it is large and profitable enough to be worth serving. (Gate: a tiny slice is not a market.)
3. **Accessible** — you can reach it through channels you can afford. (Gate: an unreachable segment is academic.)
4. **Differentiable** — it responds differently to your offer than other segments do; otherwise it is not a distinct segment.
5. **Actionable** — you can design and execute a program for it.

Substantiality and accessibility are **gates** because they are the two that most often fail silently: teams fall in love with a precisely-described segment that is too small or has no viable channel.

## Bases of segmentation

- **Firmographic** (B2B): industry, size, geography — easy to measure, weak at predicting behavior.
- **Demographic** (B2C): age, income, role — same trade-off.
- **Needs-based / behavioral**: grouping by the job customers are trying to get done. Stronger predictor of response, harder to measure. Christensen's **Jobs-to-be-Done** reframes segmentation around the progress a customer is trying to make, not who they are.

The strongest segmentations pair a needs-based core with a firmographic/demographic proxy you can actually target.

## Competitive intelligence

CI synthesis is structured, ethical analysis of the competitive landscape:

- **Porter's Five Forces** frames structural attractiveness (rivalry, new entrants, substitutes, supplier power, buyer power).
- **SCIP (Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals)** publishes a code of ethics: no misrepresentation of identity, no acquisition of protected/confidential information, full compliance with law. CI is built from public and ethically-obtained sources.

## Advanced preference measurement

When you need to quantify trade-offs, **conjoint analysis** and **MaxDiff** (best-worst scaling) estimate the relative importance of attributes and the willingness to trade one for another — far more reliable than directly asking "how important is X?"

## Sources

1. Kotler, P., & Keller, K., *Marketing Management*, 15th ed. — segmentation criteria.
2. Christensen, Hall, Dillon & Duncan, *Competing Against Luck* (2016) — Jobs-to-be-Done.
3. Porter, M., *Competitive Strategy* (1980) — Five Forces.
4. SCIP, *Code of Ethics for CI Professionals*.
5. Orme, B., *Getting Started with Conjoint Analysis*, 4th ed. (Sawtooth, Research Publishers).
6. Smith, W., *Product Differentiation and Market Segmentation as Alternative Marketing Strategies* — J Marketing 1956 (the founding segmentation paper).
