International Markets’ Segmentation, Marketing and Performance: A BCG Matrix Approach

Aims: In today's economy, which is very competitive, strategic management models are used more often to solve business problems by evaluating the current situation and helping to make successful national strategic plans. From this currently, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix, one of the most well-known tools for strategic planning, is used to evaluate a company's products to help with long-term strategic planning. It assists businesses in finding fresh development prospects and selecting their future investment strategy. This study intends to investigate international markets’ segmentation, marketing and performance of Ethiopian coffee industry using a BCG matrix approach.

Objectives: In this regard, the study has two objectives. First, evaluate Ethiopian coffee industry and its export performance. Second, segment Ethiopian coffee's international markets and assess market attractiveness using the BCG matrix's market share and growth approach.

Methods: The matrix was utilized to examine Ethiopia's coffee export market and the top twenty Ethiopian coffee export destinations with the highest average values over the last six years (2016–2021) were selected from more than sixty countries. The export values extracted from International Trade Center (ITC) database. An explanatory approach was used in this study. In addition to primary data from semi-structured interviews, sales figures and market share from written documents were used as secondary data.

Results: The outcome suggests that Ethiopian coffee destinations are segmented in international markets using a BCG matrix approach, which assists coffee exporters in deciding whether to finance through investments or be liquidated to free up funds with little potential for use elsewhere.

Conclusion: Ethiopian coffee exports have shown growth globally over six years, though dipped in 2018. Germany, USA, Japan, Belgium, and South Korea are top five destinations among the top twenty for Ethiopian coffee export destinations based on an average of six years' worth of export value.