You're part of the marketing department at Cemex, a global provider of building materials. Your team has been called to a meeting at the Monterrey, Mexico headquarters with members of several other departments, and Cemex's CEO, Oswaldo Villalobos. "I just reviewed last quarter’s sales figures," Villalobos says, "and I'm not happy. Profits are down in North America."

Villalobos continues: "I've called this meeting because I'd like you to form a cross-functional business development team to focus on expanding our US operations. We know that spending on infrastructure is increasing," he says.

Villalobos is referring to a large infrastructure package recently signed by the new US administration. Your team was just discussing the news over coffee yesterday morning.

The plan includes funding for bridges, roads, and sewage systems. There's no question that US infrastructure spending will be up in the coming years.

"We're well-positioned to grab a bigger market share of the cement business," Villalobos says. "Cemex has mothballed capacity that we should tap into."

Villalobos looks at your group: "Report back to me in four weeks with a detailed marketing plan for this expansion. Include the steps to implement the plan along with the control measures to ensure that our forecasted sales targets are met."

The first step in developing a marketing strategy involves segmenting, targeting, and positioning (STP).

Segmenting refers to breaking the US cement market down into homogenous groups. Targeting refers to selecting the customer groups(s) that you will focus your marketing efforts on. The appropriate segmentation variable is dependent on the needs and wants of customers. These decisions are directly tied to your value proposition and require extensive marketing research on the customers. Once the segmentation variable is determined and the target markets selected, you need to develop the positioning strategy, which refers to the way you want the customer to view the product relative to the competition.

Describe the market research you would conduct to analyze and segment the US cement market. Explain how you would select your target cement markets, and explain the process of positioning Cemex's cement products relative to the competition.