Designing and testing the model of selecting components for segmentation of the international market (case study of international gasoline market)

nowadays, the need for segmentation of international markets is widely recognized and a lot of research in order to identify the appropriate bases for international market segmentation has been done. The main objective of the present study has been paid on identifying the components for segmentation of international gasoline market and is based on panel data approach. For this purpose, data of 35 gasoline importing countries in the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific between 1995 and 2012 were analyzed and in seven hypotheses the effect of the components of market size, market receptivity, economic development, the structure of the free market, pump gasoline price, communication infrastructure and income elasticity of demand for gasoline have on gasoline imports have been examined. In addition, the required calculations and analysis have been done through software Eviews-9 and STATA-14.The results indicate that the market size, economic development, the structure of the free market, pump gasoline price and income elasticity of demand for gasoline have direct and significant impact on gasoline imports and market size among other explanatory components has the greatest impact on imports gasoline. It is worth noting, there was a significant relationship between market acceptance and gasoline imports were rejected as well as significant correlation was observed between communication infrastructure and gasoline imports.