A review and evaluation of market orientation research in an emerging African economy

ABSTRACT

The paper synthesizes the level of strategic market orientation of firms operating in the emerging economy of Ghana over the last two decades. It dwells on market orientation studies in general, and the banking industry and exporting firms in particular. Market orientation has a positive relationship with performance for both foreign and domestic firms across the many studies. Foreign firms in general appear more market oriented due to experience effect and relationship with parent organizations. As competition heats up in the banking industry, organizations need to be more innovative to sustain their performance or to survive. For exporting firms, there is the need for decreased formalization and increased decentralization so as to enhance the levels of market orientation. The paper develops propositions to guide organizations in applying marketing principles in the running of their business activities. Further, the paper provides an update on the literature with suggestions for future research in the theory and practice of strategic market orientation in the context of the study.     

Perceived Risks in Supply Chain Management E-Collaboration

ABSTRACT

Supply chain management is an accepted concept involving a process-oriented, integrated approach to procuring, producing, and delivering products and services to customers. The boom in applying Internet-based applications is driven by corporate desires to use wireless access, extranets, Internet-based EDI, e-marketplaces, web services and other remote networks for supply chain activities. This paper reports the findings of a study that aims to examine perceived risks of e-commerce in supply chain activities. The conceptual model developed from previous research identifies four types of risks, namely technological, organizational, implementation, and relational risks. The model is tested via in-depth multiple case studies in seven firms from a cross-section of different industries who applied e-technologies in their supply chain activities. The findings highlight factors that contribute to risks and the related undesirable consequences that the firms experienced.     

Interdisciplinary Research Within a Modified Competing Values Model of Organizational Performance

Abstract

An interdisciplinary model of firm performance based on a modified and extended Competing Values Model of Organizational Culture combines elements drawn from three different research traditions-organizational culture and climate from organizational behavior, innovativeness from economics, and market orientation from marketing. The model has been used to analyze firm performance in business-to-business markets in a number of countries in the industrial and the industrializing worlds. In general, successful firms are found to be innovative, market oriented, and to have organizational cultures and decision-making climates which are externally oriented. In most countries, there are also identifiable national culture-specific patterns. In this paper, we focus on the inter-relationships among the streams of research upon which the model is built. Using Brazil, previously unstudied in this context, we attempt to identify a structure among the model elements to test hypotheses about (1) the inter-relationships of the explanatory variables, and (2) the relationships of the explanatory variables to each other and to firm performance. We find that the contributing disciplines produce interpretable results, and that performance is improved by achieving good results simultaneously along several inter-related dimensions.     

Organizational Learning in China: The Role of Returners

ABSTRACT

The Chinese authorities have launched a range of policies and incentives at the national and regional level to attract citizens who have studied and worked abroad to return in order to contribute to upgrading the competitiveness of the Chinese economy, particularly in light of China's entrance to the World Trade Organization. In other words, the returners are expected to stimulate organizational learning in existing organizations and in new companies. This article provides an overview of what has been done to date and points out that simply increasing the number of returners is not enough to achieve organizational learning. Drawing on research findings about the barriers to organizational learning from returned expatriate managers in international companies, the article develops recommendations for government policies, corporate strategies, and Chinese returners.     

Organizational Culture,Innovativeness, Market Orientation and Firm Performance in South Africa: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

ABSTRACT

For a sample of South African firms, this paper analyzes the relationships of firm performance and a set of organizational measures which includes organizational culture and climate, market orientation and innovativeness. These organizational measures are drawn from three different disciplines–organizational behavior, strategy and economics. The replicative study is framed in an extended model of competing organizational values which have been used in 13 countries including three transition economies (Vietnam, China and Russia). The work has also been done under a variety of conditions–for example, the US in a period of study growth, Thailand during the Asian Crisis and Hong Kong after the handover to China. Comparisons are made between South African results and those of firms from a group of five industrial countries. Market Orientation is the most important explainer of performance of the South African firms, and Innovativeness is also important. Specific elements of Organizational Culture are apparently less important in South Africa than elsewhere.     

The mediating role of communication satisfaction in relational demography – a study in Macao,SAR context

Challenges in the global market and sensitive cross-Straits relations negatively influence Taiwanese industries. Continuous learning is the way to respond to the challenges posed by the rise of China in the world economy. Learning is the process by which knowledge is refreshed. A learning organization is a more competitive organization. Many researchers have discussed the relationship between organizational learning and business performance, but few of them have explored the issue in practice. This article provides a more thorough assessment of the link between organizational learning and organizational performance for industry comparisons. It also aims to determine the status of Taiwan's industries with regard to organizational learning. The findings of the study demonstrate that applying organizational learning influences corporate performance; however, only high-tech and financial firms have consistently applied the organizational learning concept throughout their organizations. Our investigation may offer new insights into organizational learning, and enable leaders and scholars alike to develop strategies to enhance competitiveness.     

The Space Between: Towards a Typology of Interfirm Relations

ABSTRACT

Understanding and managing the relationships between firms is the central issue in business to business marketing. Some of the results of a program of research undertaken in Australia to study interfirm relations are used to develop an empirically based typology of interfirm relations focusing on the mix of cooperative and competitive elements coexisting in a relationship. Measures are developed of relationship cooperativeness and competitiveness and relations are classified into one of four types based on whether they score high or low on each dimension. A dynamic process model of interfirm relationships is developed as a basis for identifying the main factors driving relationship development. Measures of these factors form the basis for regression analysis to identify the characteristics of each of the four types of relations and examples of particular relationships are used to illustrate the characteristics identified.     

Measuring market orientation: A multi‐factor,multi‐item approach

The marketing literature reflects remarkable inconsistency in defining two of its most frequently used terms, “the marketing concept” and “market orientation”. Through a critical review of the marketing literature and an empirical analysis of data collected from 248 Canadian firms, the authors established a four‐component measure of “market orientation”. The resulting multi‐factor, multi‐item instrument provides a foundation for future studies.     

Validating the innovation prowess framework for firms in emerging economies facing tight regulatory regimes: the case of Indian pharmaceutical firms

ABSTRACT

The purpose is to investigate the generalizability of an innovation prowess framework, developed for firms in developed countries, for firms in emerging economies facing tight regulatory regimes. Using a qualitative approach we investigate key informants in six firms, supported by secondary documents and the business press, as well as in-depth organizational observation within one organization. Academic evidence suggests there are four factors – one external (industry structure) and three internal (economic structure of the firm, organizational structure of the firm, and historical development of the firm) – that drive the innovation prowess of firms. While firms in developed economies take such factors as the norm, firms in developing countries face evolving norms and internal challenges to comply with tighter regulatory regimes; however, the research suggests that impact of these four factors appear to be similar to those faced by firms in developed countries. Our research contributes by seeking to broaden our understanding of innovation prowess in emerging country contexts. Innovation in these markets is generally less well understood, especially as they adapt to the tighter regulatory regimes required to compete in global markets (e.g. WTO).     

Drivers of Adoption and Continued Use of E-Procurement Systems: Empirical Evidence from China

ABSTRACT

This article develops and empirically tests a research framework that models the role of technological, organizational, and environmental factors in organizational intention toward using e-procurement systems. The partial least square analysis of survey data from 211 firms in China demonstrates that technological factors including perceived efficiency benefits and perceived ease, organizational factors including business to business commerce expertise, information sharing culture, and top management support, and an environmental factor, business partner pressure, shape in different ways organizational intention to adopt and to continue with e-procurement. The findings of the study not only offer valuable insights for stimulating the diffusion of e-procurement systems but also provide important guidance to systems vendors in strategizing their marketing campaigns and focusing limited resources on relevant strategic components.     

Exploring the Role of Product Development Capability for Transforming Marketing Intelligence into Firm Performance

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This study examines the role of product development capability for transforming marketing intelligence activities into firm performance on industrial markets.

Methodology/Approach: The authors apply structural equation modeling to analyze survey data from 342 industrial manufacturing companies.

Findings: Results reveal that sales integration and holistic macroeconomic view are particularly important features of the marketing intelligence capability on industrial markets to gain additional insights in order to develop products successfully. Results also reveal that product development capability transforms the marketing intelligence activities into firm performance on industrial markets.

Research Implications: This study offers new insights on marketing theory by extending and concretizing the concept of market orientation to a broader concept of the marketing intelligence capability for industrial markets. Further, this research reveals that the product development capability serves as a mediator to business performance.

Practical Implications: This study’s systematic and tangible outline of the dimensions of marketing intelligence and its link to the product development capability helps firms to better understand how to capitalize on market orientation’s potential values.

Originality/Value/Contribution: This research (a) reveals the relevant dimensions of marketing intelligence on industrial markets and (b) shows how the product development capability tranforms marketing intelligence activities into firm performance on industrial markets.     

Operationalizing the Marketing Concept in the Nonprofit Sector

ABSTRACT

This paper questions the validity of applying the market orientation construct, which was developed ostensibly for and in large multinational organizations, to a sector whose characteristics differ greatly. Instead, this paper argues for a new approach to the operationalization of the marketing concept in the nonprofit sector. The components of this 'societal orientation' are delineated, as are the organizational imperatives, antecedents and the potential consequences and benefits associated therewith.     

Competing through relationships: Grounding relationship marketing in resource‐advantage theory

A common element of all views of relationship marketing is the “co‐operate‐to‐compete” thesis. That is, to be an effective competitor often requires one to be an effective co‐operator. One implication of this thesis is that not all instances of firms co‐operating with each other constitute anti‐competitive collusion. This article argues that, although neoclassical, perfect competition theory cannot provide a theoretical foundation for relationship marketing's “co‐operate‐to‐compete” thesis, the recently developed “resource‐advantage” theory of competition can do so. Furthermore, this article uses resource‐advantage theory to address the relationship portfolio conundrum. Specifically, the paper argues that firms should develop a relationship portfolio that is comprised of relationships that constitute relational resources.     

Competitive by design

This paper is concerned with the role of design in the competitiveness of manufacturing companies and reports on design management in commercially successful firms. The findings are based on a survey of design policies and practices in over one hundred British and foreign companies from several industries, ranging from furniture to electronics. The paper shows that while in theory design plays a key role in competition, influencing both “price” and “non‐price” factors, in practice many managers do not give design high priority in company strategy and product development. The commercially most successful firms were those that not only invested resources in design and managed it effectively, but had other strengths, for example in marketing and manufacturing.     

High Performance Firms in a Complex New China

SUMMARY

A study published in the Journal of Global Marketing(Deshpandé and Farley 2000) found that, for a representative sample of Shanghai firms competing in business-to-business markets, success was related to innovativeness, a high level of market orientation, and outward-oriented organizational cultures and climates. Because of the great cultural diversity of China, questions were raised at that time and subsequently as to whether these results generalize to other parts of China. To the extent that the Shanghai results do generalize, the development of a more general strategy for dealing with Chinese business-to-business markets will be feasible. We compare organizational cultures and personal values of managers in representative samples of firms in six Chinese cities. There are indeed systematic differences among the cities- Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Shenzhen and Wuxi. Shanghai firms seem the best-positioned for transformation to a more market-oriented economy in terms of innovativeness and market orientation. There are also some differences among State-Owned Enterprises, Joint Ventures, Village-Based Enterprises and Wholly-Owned Foreign Subsidiaries. There are, however, clear patterns of similar response among firms which perform well in terms of high levels of innovativeness and market orientation, plus organizational cultures relatively open to outside influences. All kinds of firms seem to draw their managers from a pool of people who hold much the same kinds of values.     

Tradition Versus Change: Evaluating the Currency of Some Traditional Chinese Values in Today's Business Environment

Abstract

In the last decade, the discussion about how marketing is changing has focused largely on practices in more affluent industrialized economies. Far less attention has been given to understanding the marketing strategies and practices of firms in emerging and transition economies. In this paper, we compare marketing of multinational firms versus local firms in Argentina. We identify the environmental characteristics of Argentina's emerging economy and, using survey data of 96 firms, we group firms into five clusters. We refer to two clusters as “traditional/local” as they use very basic marketing methods, with one serving business markets and the other consumer markets. The other three clusters we refer to as “progressive” as they represent state-of-the-art practices. The first two of these are foreign-owned and serve consumer and business markets, the third represents locally-owned service firms. The managerial implications are examined.     

The Earth Is Flat,Almost: Measuring Marketing Standardization and Profit Performance of Japanese and U.S. Firms

ABSTRACT

Globalization has fostered greater interest in all aspects of standardization theory, including the four Ps (product, price, place [distribution], and promotion) of the marketing mix. The study researches the firm's strategy of marketing standardization as it correlates to the firm's profit. Multinational firms from Japan and the United States operating in a global environment were studied in order to correlate marketing standardization to profit performance. The results indicate there is increasing support for a strategy of standardizing marketing mix components and contributing to a firm's profit performance.     

企业营销创新中真实型领导与创新绩效的关系研究

本文在相关文献研究与实际调研的基础上,建立了企业营销创新中包含真实型领导、组织氛围、隐性知识共享以及创新绩效之间相互关系的结构方程模型,并以246家企业为样本对其进行了实证检验。研究发现,企业营销创新中真实型领导对组织氛围和隐性知识共享有正向的显著影响,组织氛围对隐性知识共享有正向的显著影响,组织氛围和隐性知识共享对创新绩效有正向的显著影响,组织氛围及隐性知识共享在真实型领导和创新绩效之间发挥了完全的中介作用。这一结论进一步丰富了真实型领导理论,为企业真实型领导的实施提供了一种新思路。     

Organizational culture and the tolerance of corruption: the case of South Korea

ABSTRACT

There has been long term and widespread criticism of organizational corruption around the world. This also includes South Korea with many examples, both historical and current. This is underpinned by several elements but an important and high profile factor is a seeming creation and tolerance of corruption by the large, diversified, dynastic family-owned and run conglomerates – the chaebol – and their nexus with the political elite. This study examines if there is any relationship between organizational culture and the tolerance of corruption within Korean firms. For this purpose, we chose four cultural traits as independent variables: large power distance, the government–business relationship, hereditary management and naembi culture, along with the tolerance of corruption as a dependent variable. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey and we used regression analysis to test our four hypotheses. According to the results, all our hypotheses received statistical support which implies these four cultural characteristics positively affect the tolerance of corruption within firms. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are also discussed.     

The Impact of Organizational and Environmental Variables on Strategic Market Orientation

Abstract

This paper offers a new look at market orientation by conceptualizing it from a strategic perspective. It differs from the current literature in that it develops a measure that emphasizes managerial attitudes and strategic intent. The new measure is empirically scrutinized by an investigation of its relationship with pertinent organizational and environmental variables, as well as company performance. Based on a survey of nearly 400 companies operating in the U.S., significant relationships emerged between Strategic Market Orientation and three organizational variables, namely strategic priorities, inter-departmental coordination and ownership nationality. Two of the environmental variables, namely intensity of competition and rate of technological change were also significantly related to Strategic Market Orientation. The relationship between Strategic Market Orientation and company performance remained inconclusive.