- Case Study: How Fujitsu Services Uses Segmentation to Prioritize Sales Opportunities
In 2007, Fujitsu, a world leading IT Services Company, realized that it was spreading its attention
too thinly across the U.K. market. It knew that there were existing and potential customers that
were worth a more focused selling effort, but it was not sure where to apply the resources to get
the most payback (profit).
So, Fujitsu’s marketing leaders set out to segment its private sector customers and prospects
(mainly large corporations) within the various industries it serves—what Fujitsu calls sector
mapping. The goal of the effort was simple: “Win bigger deals more often by focusing on the
most important opportunities and by building longer-term relationships with a target group of
30–40 companies.”
Of course, carrying out the goal was anything but simple. Identifying your customers by segment
requires careful planning and distinct ability to develop criteria for segmentation that will result in
real insight. It also requires permission and cooperation from sales.
As is the case in many services companies, Fujitsu is organized to go to market by industry.
Therefore, it made sense to focus the effort on revealing the best opportunities for Fujitsu within
the various industries it serves.
The first task was to identify companies within each industry that were attractive to Fujitsu and
that at least had the potential to view Fujitsu in the same way. There were five steps in this
process:
- They developed a list of potential companies from Forbes magazine’s Global 2000 list that
had a capital greater than £1 billion.
- They filtered that list by excluding companies that did not have an estimated IT spend of
at least £100 million.
- They assessed the list with the various business unit directors and managers.
- They created criteria for client attractiveness.
- They collected data against each of these criteria through research, sales, account
managers, and business unit managers.
Using a combination of internal criteria and external reputation criteria, Fujitsu was able to map
its most attractive opportunities within the major industries it serves. As a result, marketing was
able to offer valuable guidance, based on data developed jointly with sales, on the accounts that
could benefit from more attention.
BE200 – Tutor Marked Assessment MG– SPRING 2017
Page 3 of 4
Question 1: (20 Marks)
a. What is the mistake Fujitsu was doing before 2007 and what strategy did the company adopt to
treat it? (10 Marks)
b. As Fujitsu marketing manager, give some recommendations about the way the company should
develop its marketing campaign based on the elements of the marketing mix. (10 Marks)
Word count: 350 words
Question 2: (40 Marks)
a. Explain the three main marketing strategies applied by companies in order to gain competitive
advantage in the current dynamic environment. (15 Marks)
b. How did Fujitsu apply segmentation among the marketing strategies explained in part (a) of
question 2? (10 Marks)
c. Explain the Five steps used by Fujitsu to identify attractive companies within each industry. (15
Marks)
Word count: 350 words.
Question 3: (20 Marks)
Name and describe the elements of the company’s microenvironment factors illustrating the importance of
each one. (20 Marks)
Word count: 300 words
Question 4: (20 Marks)
How did you decide on the college or university you are currently attending? Based on BE200 material
and on your own experience describe the factors that influenced your decision and the decision-making
process you followed.
Word count: 200 words
