Market Orientation and Performance in the Public Sector

Abstract

Increased calls for transparency and accountability in government organizations underscores the need for a market orientation even in the public sector. The degree of market orientation and its effect on performance and on organizational commitment in government departments in three Australian states is considered. Results provide empirical support for a direct relationship between market orientation and performance and evidence of the mediating role of organizational commitment. Implications are drawn and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Effect of Management Leadership Style on Marketing Orientation,Service Quality,and Financial Results: A Cross-Cultural Study

ABSTRACT

The significance of customer and market orientation has been closely examined in the marketing and management literature. Recent research has focused on how to assess the antecedents of market orientation and the effect of market orientation on business performance via various mediating and situational variables. The present study investigates the impact of management leadership style on market orientation and collaboration between the management and the employees. Their effects on business performance are also scrutinized. The study was conducted on a sample of managers in Taiwan and the United States. A cross-country comparison yields many interesting findings and important managerial implications, as well as future research directions.     

Base-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) orientation and firm performance: A strategy tripod view and evidence from China

The Bottom of Pyramid (BOP) market in developing countries represents an enormous market opportunity. Serving the BOP segment, however, incurs significant risks and costs because BOP consumers are deprived of income and literacy. It remains unclear whether or not serving this market segment would benefit firm performance. Based on related literature, we propose a new construct – BOP orientation, and examine its impact on firm performance and an operating mechanism of such effect – the mediating role of bricolage innovation strategy that emphasizes recombination of existing resources to solve the unique problems faced by BOP consumers. Drawing on the strategy tripod view, we also investigate the contingency effects of both institutional and industry environments in an emerging economy. We collected survey data to test the conceptual framework from 238 firms in China, the world’s second largest BOP market. The results support a positive relationship between BOP orientation and firm performance and confirm that the performance impact of BOP orientation is channeled through bricolage innovation strategy. Further, we find that the effect of BOP orientation is contingent on both the institutional factors and the industry conditions. Specifically, government support strengthens while legal inefficiency weakens this effect; competitive intensity strengthens the effect, while technological uncertainty has no moderating role on this relationship. Contributions to extant literature and useful guidelines for firms of our research are discussed.     

Marketing planning: Operationalising the market orientation strategy

Abstract

Despite strong empirical validation of the relationship between market orientation and business performance, the literature is inconclusive on the implementation of the strategy. This paper reviews the implementation of market orientation, and investigates the associations between market orientation and marketing planning and their associations with business performance. A survey of 216 Australian larger business organisations was conducted to find evidence of these relationships. The results highlight a close association between market orientation and marketing planning, with virtually the same level of association between them, and the business performance measures used. This evidence suggests that they arguably represent the same domain. The results suggest that marketing practitioners may use the marketing planning technique as an intangible productive resource to operationalise the market orientation strategy, and use it to design a specific style and magnitude of market orientation suitable for an organisation.     

Market Orientation and Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Ghanaian Microenterprises

ABSTRACT

While previous researchers have explored the relationship between market orientation and firm performance in larger organizations, such studies in microenterprises are scarce. This empirical study uses a structural equation model to examine the role of market orientation on firm performance of microenterprises operating in Ghana. To measure market orientation, we used a well-known scale (MARKOR), and the data (N = 347) for this study were collected from Ghanaian microenterprises using personal interviews. Study results indicated that the MARKOR scale provided a good measure of market orientation in Ghanaian microenterprises. The conceptualized model provided a good fit to the relationship between market orientation and the performance of Ghanaian microenterprises, indicating that market orientation as measured by MARKOR had a statistically significant positive impact on performance. However, the explanatory power of the model was relatively low, indicating the potential impact of other factors that were not incorporated in the model. Study implications are discussed.     

The Role of Soft Factors in Implementing a Service-Oriented Strategy in Industrial Marketing Companies

ABSTRACT

It has been recognized that in today's highly competitive industrial markets, one of the few ways left to gain differentiation from competitors is by offering value-added services. To do so, however, requires a service-oriented strategy and the active implementation of this strategy which includes significant internal changes in management philosophy and approach. Unfortunately, no study has examined the implementation aspects of a service-oriented strategy. In this context, our research focuses on two important “soft factors,” corporate culture and human resource management, that are necessary for a successful implementation of a service-oriented strategy in industrial marketing companies. We analyze the mediating role of these two soft factors in the causal chain leading from a service-oriented strategy to organizational performance. We find that the soft factors play an important mediating role in the link between a service-oriented strategy and organizational performance.     

Customer Orientation in Chinese Industrial Firms and Global Marketing Implications

Abstract

The study focuses on the moderating role of environmental context (demand unpredictability and technological turbulence) and technological context (production technology routineness and product complexity) on the relationship of customer orientation with market performance relative to the industry in Chinese state-owned industrial firms. The results show significant moderating effects of technological turbulence and production technology routineness: the greater the technological turbulence and the more routine the production technology, the stronger the customer orientation-market performance relative to the industry relationship. The results also show that market performance relative to the industry is positively affected by customer orientation, but inversely affected by demand unpredictability. The findings have implications for global marketing as well as for theory development.     

Is market orientation affected by the product life cycle?

Considerable scholarly interest has been shown in the relationship between market orientation and business performance. Although a number of environmental moderators have been postulated to influence the market orientation–performance link, extant findings are inconclusive. This study takes a different approach by conceptualizing product life cycle stages in terms of variations in competitive intensity, market and technological turbulence. Data collected in Hong Kong reveal that Atuahene-Gima's [Atuahene-Gima, K. (1995). An exploratory analysis of the impact of market orientation on new product performance: A contingent approach. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 12: 275–293] product life cycle measure successfully discriminates stages in terms of market and technological turbulence, but fails to capture variation in competitive intensity. Market orientation is also found to be more highly valued by firms in growing and mature markets than firms in introductory and declining markets. Finally, the link between market orientation and firm performance is found to be strongest for firms in the growth stage and weakest for firms in the introductory stage of the product life cycle.     

The moderating effect of brand orientation on inter-firm market orientation and performance

Abstract

While prior research has shown that market and brand orientation are key contributors to successful business performance, research to date has not fully explored how inter firm collaboration for these two key orientations can enhance business performance. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the relationship between inter-firm market and performance; to test for the moderating role of brand orientation in that relationship. A total of 169 completed pairs of surveys were collected of small and medium enterprises operating internationally in a variety of industries in Switzerland. The results show that inter-firm market and brand orientation are two antecedents of marketing and financial performance. The impact of inter-firm market on marketing and financial performance is significant when the brand orientation is favorable. This study extends previous research by examining the moderating role of brand orientation on inter firm market orientation, which is important, especially for firms wanting to increase their brand reputation by entering into partnerships with other firms. Further research is indicated, to identify the key moderators of the driving force of inter-firm market in relation to business performance and the reason why maintaining a strong brand presence is important in the international marketplace.     

The Internet,Strategy and Performance: A Study of Australian Export Market Ventures

ABSTRACT

This study examines the impact of the Internet, firm-specific characteristics, market characteristics, and export marketing strategy on export marketing performance. The unit of analysis was an individual product/market export venture. Data were gathered via a self-administered mail survey of 315 Australian firms involved in exporting. The findings indicate that, when the Internet was used for communication purposes and to provide the firm with a competitive advantage, it had a significant impact on export marketing performance. Firm-specific characteristics and export marketing strategy also had a significant impact on export marketing performance.     

Moderating roles of national culture for alliance relationship advantages and performance in Asia

Purpose: Despite the fact that some studies examine the role of cultural attributes as determinants of successful alliance relationships, there has been lack of studies that explored how a firm’s orientation toward alliances, as a culture, might provide competitive advantages in the form of alliance relationship, which influences the firm’s performance. The current study therefore proposes a research model, in which alliance orientation as an intangible resource enhances the alliance relationship advantage, which eventually improves alliance performance, with national culture as a moderator.

Design/methodology/approach: To test the hypotheses, responses were obtained from 145 South Korean and 123 Chinese firm samples. The proposed model was estimated using structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression analysis.

Findings: The empirical study confirms that alliance orientation directly influences alliance relationship advantage, en route to alliance performance. When uncertainty avoidance is greater, the relationship between alliance relationship advantage and alliance performance grows weaker, whereas when masculinity and long-term orientation are greater, this relationship becomes enhanced.

Research implications: Leveraging source–positional advantage–performance structures (Day and Wensley 1988), this study clarifies how alliance orientation influences a firm’s alliance relationship advantage as a positional advantage, which eventually enhances its alliance performance. Moderating effects of cultural factors arise between alliance orientation and alliance relationship advantage, thereby revealing the important, contingent role of cultural factors in managing the link between alliance orientations and competitive advantage.

Practical implications: This study provides managerial guidelines for how firms operating in different countries such as Korea and China can manage their alliance orientation and alliance-related activities to enhance their competitive advantages and firm performance, by noting and accommodating different cultural characteristics.

Originality/value/contribution: The proposed contingency model relies on the moderating role of national culture, reflected by uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long-term orientation, to explain the relationships between alliance competitive advantages and alliance performance.     

Explications of political market orientation and political brand orientation using the resource-based view of the political party

Abstract

This paper adopts the resource-based view of the firm as a platform for an examination of three important political party capabilities: proactive political market orientation, responsive political market orientation, and political brand orientation. We develop a theoretical argument outlining the importance of the complementarity between these capabilities. The approach taken illustrates the links between political market orientation, using what we label as responsive political market orientation, proactive political market orientation, and political brand orientation by building on the marketing literature. We suggest that our treatment of political market orientation is important in helping to understand better its role within the resource-based view of the party. Further, it also aides in understanding political market orientation and branding in political marketing by parties within the context of competitive strategies and electoral performance.     

Market Orientation and Business Performance in the PRC

Abstract

This study examined the applicability of Narver and Slater's market (1992) orientation model across different economies (planned versus market economy). First, we assessed the scale properties of market orientation from different cities in Mainland China (Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou). Second, we then tested the relationship between market orientation and business performance. Tests for convergent, discriminant and predictive validity across the four Chinese economies with different market environments were supported by our findings. On the other hand, the impact of market orientation on business performance were found to be different across the four cities.     

Re-examining the deployment of market orientation in the public leisure sector

Abstract

This paper examines the moderating effects of market orientation's intelligence generation and dissemination components on the response–performance relationship. We offer valuable insight into the application of, and subsequent returns to, market orientation in the public leisure sector, thereby helping to broaden the appeal, relevance, and usefulness of this important marketing theory to other contexts. The research involved a national survey questionnaire to 1060 public leisure managers of local government leisure facilities in England. Empirical testing through structural equation modelling revealed two important findings. First, intelligence generation efforts of the organisation can in part affect the performance returns to an organisation from its responsiveness to market intelligence. Second, intelligence generation coupled with organisation-wide dissemination of intelligence can have a destructive impact on the response–performance relationship, demonstrated by a negative significant moderating impact on this relationship. This paper provides an alternative explanation to the deployment of market orientation as a means to create value and an explanation that transcends its current linear portrayal in public-service delivery.     

Performance implications of market orientation,marketing resources,and marketing capabilities

Abstract

Drawing on the competitive capability theory, this paper examines how market orientation, marketing resources, and marketing capabilities contribute to firm performance. The empirical results show that being market oriented influences the level of marketing resources firms possess and the capability to deploy such resources. The findings show marketing resources and marketing capabilities are significant drivers of firm performance, and their impact is greater when they are complementary to each other.     

The Service Industries and Input-Output Analysis

This paper makes an empirical investigation into the influence of service innovativeness on the relationship between market orientation and innovative performance, first as a moderator with specified interaction effects, and secondly as a mediator in the path from market orientation to innovative performance. A sample of 169 new service development (NSD) projects in Chinese knowledge-intensive business service firms provides the data for an empirical test of these issues. The results indicate that service innovativeness does not play a moderating role in the relationship between market orientation and innovative performance, but a mediating role in this relationship. For NSD, project, innovativeness is only a temporary trait. The impact of market orientation is to spur innovativeness, which, in turn, affects innovative performance.     

Book reviews

Many commentators suggest that market and competitive dynamics threaten the very survival of small shops in the UK. In light of this, the research presented here reports the findings of a major study that investigates the relationship between market orientation and performance in small UK retailers through an empirical analysis of survey data. Findings indicate that market orientation and performance are positively related and, moreover that, the customer strategy focus of small retailers is the key determinant of success compared with other components of market orientation and environmental influences. The implications for practitioners and policy makers are considered, particularly the importance of market-oriented culture in formulating and implementing customer-led strategies which distinguish successful small retailers from those that struggle to survive.     

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.     

On the Consequences of Market Orientation across Varied Environmental Dynamism and Competitive Intensity Levels

Many firms attempt to develop market‐oriented attitudes and behaviors because of their presumably positive consequences for performance. A market orientation can provide the cultural basis for successful differentiation strategies focused on customer satisfaction. However, inconclusive evidence regarding the relationship between market orientation and performance demands an analysis of possible moderators. This paper therefore analyzes the moderating role of environmental characteristics in the market orientation–performance relationship. Heterogeneous methodologies and measures could explain some diversity in empirical results. Moreover, both the market orientation–performance relationship and the moderating effects of environment dynamism, turbulence, hostility, and complexity may depend on more general characteristics of the environment. A complete diagnostic of the moderating effect of the environment must analyze phenomena in different socioeconomic and political–regulatory contexts. Therefore, the authors (1) analyze the moderating role of environmental dynamism and competitive intensity; (2) consider a broad range of performance measures, distinguished as effectiveness, efficiency, and adaptability measures and as financial and operational measures; and (3) focus on a priority 1 region of the European Union, characterized by small and medium‐sized enterprises that face a global competitive scenario from a disadvantaged local environment. The empirical results support the positive relationship between market orientation and performance and indicate the relationship is inhibited by competitive intensity, which contrasts with existing arguments and empirical results.     

Market Orientation in Vertical Business Networks

Abstract

This research addresses three questions: (1) Why are some business network firms more market orientated than others? (2) What effect does the environmental uncertainty have on the network performance impact of market orientation activities performed by a network firm? (3) Does network embeddedness influence the effectiveness of a firm's market orientation activities? The findings from a study on a vertical grocery network suggest that the performance impact of market orientation activities depends on the network identity of the network firm. Network embeddedness of a network firm is found to enhance this performance link. Finally, uncertain market environments favor down-stream allocation of market orientation activities in our sample.