March 25, 1997

You are currently viewing an old version of the Market Potential Index (MPI).

Global marketing is becoming more and more important along the years with the increasing trend in internationalization. Having too many choices, marketers face the challenge of determining which international markets to enter and the appropriate marketing strategies for those countries.

The focus of this study is ranking the market potential of countries identified as "Emerging Markets" by The Economist magazine. These emerging economies comprise more than half of the world's population, account for a large share of world output, and have very high growth rates; all indicators of enormous market potential.

This indexing study is conducted by MSU-IBC to help companies compare the Emerging Markets with each other on several dimensions. Eight dimensions are chosen to represent the market potential of a country over a scale of 1 to 100. Each dimension is measured using various indicators, and are weighted in determining their contribution to the Overall Market Potential Index.

Notes:
  1. The most recent version of the Market Potential Index can always be found on globalEDGE at: /mpi/
  2. The report for previous years can be reached through the Market Potential Index (MPI) Archive table on the right column.
  3. To sort by any dimension, click on the name of the dimension.

Dimensions and Measures of Market Potential for 1997

Dimension Weight Measures Used
Market Size 4/20
  • International estimates of population(millions)-mid 1994s1
Market Growth Rate 3/20
  • Average annual growth rate(%)-between years 1990-19942
Market Intensity 3/20
  • Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) estimates of GNP per capita (US=100)-19942
  • Private consumption as a percentage of GDP(%)2
Market Consumption Capacity 2/20
  • Percentage share of middle-calss in consumption/income2
    Note: Middle-class=second quantile+third quantile+fourth quantile
Commercial Infrastructure 2/20
  • Telephone mainlines (per 1000 habitants) - 19922
  • Electric production (kwh per person)-19922
  • Commerical vehicles in use(`000)-19931
  • Population per retail outlet - (latest year available)1
  • Percentages of homes with TV(%)1
Economic Freedom 2/20
  • Economic Freedom Index - 19973
Market Receptivity 4/20
  • Average annual growth rate of imports from US(%) between years 1990-19954
  • Per capita imports from US(US Dollars)-19955
    Note: The 1995 imports figure is divided by the mid-1995's population figure.
Data used are those available for most recent year.
  • 1 Source:Euromonitor, European Marketing Data and Statistics - 1997 and Euromonitor, International Marketing data and Statistics- 1996
  • 2 Source: World Bank, World Development Report - 1996
  • 3 Source: Johnson, B.T. and T.Sheehy, The Index of Economic Freedim, The Heritage Foundation - 1997
  • 4 Source: IMF, Direction of Trade Statistics Yearbook - 1996
  • 5 Source: IMF, Direction of Trade Statistics Yearbook - 1996 and CIA Wordl Fact Book

For More Information:

For the indexing methodology, please refer to:

"Measuring The Potential of Emerging Markets: An Indexing Approach" - S.Tamer Cavusgil,
Business Horizons, January-February 1997, Vol. 40 Number 1, 87-91: doi .

" Complementary Approaches to Preliminary Foreign Market Opportunity Assessment: Country Clustering and Country Ranking " - S. Tamer Cavusgil, Tunga Kiyak, and Sengun Yeniyurt
Industrial Marketing Management, October 2004, Volume 33, Issue 7, 607-617: doi .

For additional inquiries, please contact MSU-IBC.