Building Capability for Organizational Success: An Emerging Market Perspective

In the world of business, developing the capability to succeed in the marketplace is a sine qua non for most organizations. An examination of studies on firm competitiveness indicates that market orientation, outsourcing, and technology transfer provide firms with the basis for building capability to succeed in the business environment. Nonetheless, in a developing nation context, the comparative influences of market orientation, outsourcing, and technology transfer on organizational success among foreign and local firms when considered together in a combined framework is yet to be investigated empirically. To gain clearer insights, three pathways through which market orientation, outsourcing, and technology transfer improve organizational success in Ghana are postulated. Findings of this study suggest that among foreign and Ghanaian businesses, there are variations in the contributions of market orientation, outsourcing, and technology transfer to developing capability and impacting on organizational success.     

Marketing Concept Manifestations in Fiji Enterprises: Confirming the Link to Organizational Competitiveness

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes an integrative view of the marketing concept (i.e., the ability to understand and satisfy customers) and examines its prevalence and effect on competitiveness in organizations operating in an isolated and less economically developed country. The marketing concept manifests as marketing expertise, market orientation, and externally directed organizational values. Based on a sample of 86 firms operating in Fiji, the results indicate that these three mechanisms promote organizational competitiveness, thus supporting the universality of the marketing concept. These findings confirm the important role of the marketing concept in the competitiveness of firms in a less developed economy.     

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.     

Creating disciples: The transformation of employees into trainers

Business realities demand that organizations place a strategic emphasis on developing knowledge workers and becoming a learning organization. Numerous programs of organizational change and renewal must also be undertaken to keep firms competitive. This requires ongoing training for all employees to succeed in today's global marketplace. While external consultants and professional staff are often called upon to provide this training, many organizations are turning to their own employees as an effective, lower cost alternative. There are several benefits to using this strategy, but significant support must be provided to realize these benefits. Herein, we describe a systematic process to turn novice employee trainers into a powerful force for organizational change. By transforming employees into disciples, organizations can give training the impact it needs.     

Learning Orientation, Market Orientation, and Innovation: Integrating and Extending Models of Organizational Performance

Recent studies have demonstrated effects of learning orientation or market orientation on innovation-driven organizational performance. While these studies have enhanced our understanding of innovation processes in the firm, they have been unable to determine the relative contribution of learning orientation and market orientation to innovation. The integration of these two fundamental strategic orientations in this research enables such an assessment. The model in this research also measures the degree to which market orientation and learning orientation influence organizational performance, independent of their effect on product innovation. The most notable finding is the potential preeminence of learning orientation over market orientation. The implications are of critical importance to marketers because they provide insights into the type of organizational culture that is associated with high levels of performance.     

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.     

Strategies,technologies, and organizational learning for developing organizational innovativeness in emerging economies

Innovativeness is an important organizational capability for competitive advantage sustainability in the dynamic environment of Asia's emerging economies. Drawing upon dynamic capability theory, this study develops a research model of organizational innovativeness development for firms in emerging economies. The proactive strategic orientations reflected by entrepreneurship and technology oriented strategy provide important visions for organizational innovativeness. Further, the utilization of knowledge management systems and organizational learning are identified as intervention processes that translate these strategic orientations into real innovation capability. A survey involving 114 firms operating in China was conducted for hypothesis testing. The empirical results provide strong support and advance the knowledge of organizational innovativeness development for firms in Asia's emerging economies.     

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.     

The efficacy of marketing skills and market responsiveness in marketing performance of emerging market exporting firms in advanced markets: The moderating role of competitive intensity

Emerging market exporting firms in advanced economies must manage a highly dynamic landscape owing to factors such as changing market needs and fierce competition. Hence, these firms need to develop unique marketing skills for superior performance. Accordingly, this study draws on the resource-based and dynamic capability theory to empirically examine the role of marketing skills in developing a dynamic capability—market responsiveness—for improved marketing performance, and the changes in this relationship under highly competitive intensity. Using a sample (n = 98) of firms originating from an emerging market (Pakistan) mainly exporting to advanced markets (the United Kingdom, the United States or both), the findings show that marketing skills, positively mediated by market responsiveness, influence the marketing performance of such firms in advanced markets. The indirect relationship is positively moderated by a higher level of competitive intensity. This study extends the dynamic capability and export marketing streams of literature, particularly for emerging market exporting firms in advanced markets, and provides useful performance implications to export marketing managers.     

Entrepreneurial marketing: a comparative study

This paper uses a comparative study to explore entrepreneurial marketing orientation in small software technology firms, in relation to firm growth. Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) acknowledges the interface between entrepreneurship, marketing and innovation and, pursuance of customer value. Researchers acknowledge that firms adopting other strategic orientations combined with a market orientation are more likely to outperform their competitors. Currently, there are few comparative studies of knowledge-intensive technology firms and no comparative cross-country studies, which consider firm growth and orientation from the EM perspective. This paper addresses these issues by using an entrepreneurial marketing orientation qualitative framework that consists of 15 dimensions, which allow investigation of entrepreneur and employee activities, attitudes and behaviors in such firms. Using a UK and US sample of firms, this research enables assessment of how and why entrepreneurial marketing orientation may lead to sustainable growth for firms in challenging markets and provides a comparison in two different country contexts.     

Customer Orientation of Service Employees—Toward a Conceptual Framework of a Key Relationship Marketing Construct

Abstract

Although customer orientation is a core element of the marketing concept and is especially crucial to the concept of relationship marketing, no widely accepted conceptualization of the construct exists. In the context of service organizations, the fulfillment of customer needs and wishes by customer-contact employeescan be seen as crucial for gaining a high degree of customer orientation. This paper develops a conceptualization of service employee customer orientation which is presented as a three-dimensional construct, the interrelated dimensions being the employee's motivation to serve customers, his or her customer-oriented skills, and his or her self-perceived decision-making authority. Implications are drawn out for relationship marketing of services organizations and relationship marketing theory.     

Market Orientation,Learning Orientation and Product Innovation: Delving into the Organization's Black Box

Many scholars now agree that market orientation is necessary, but not sufficient to facilitate the type of innovation that breeds long-term competitive advantage (cf. Dickson, 1996). In addition to a strong market orientation, a firm must also be able to institutionalize higher order learning processes, the type of learning that enables radical innovation. Recent research (cf. Baker and Sinkula, 1999) has empirically established a synergistic effect of market orientation and learning orientation on organizational performance. This paper attempts to add to the literature by offering a more complete theoretical explanation of how these two constructs interact to affect product innovation capabilities. Three types of marketing firms are identified. Phase I firms learn primarily through modeling and are typically limited to manager-driven incremental innovation. Phase II firms learn primarily through adaptive learning and are typically limited to market-driven incremental innovation. Phase III firms engage in generative learning and pursue ongoing radical innovation. We propose that only Phase III firms are capable of maintaining competitive advantage in dynamic market environments.     

How market orientation and outsourcing create capability and impact business performance

For most firms, developing the capability to compete and perform is crucial. The literature suggests that market orientation and outsourcing are two such sources for building capabilities in the marketplace. However, the relative contribution of market orientation and outsourcing to capability and superior business performance is unclear. To bring clarity, two pathways through which market orientation and outsourcing build capability and enhance business performance are proposed. Using data from foreign and Indian firms, the results indicate that both market orientation and outsourcing contribute to building capability, and that outsourcing further contributes to business performance. Also, it was discovered that low‐risk market‐oriented and high‐risk outsourcing firms experienced a positive impact on business performance. The implication of these results for managers is that market orientation and outsourcing can be complementary tools in their efforts to build capability, enhance business performance, and manage risky environmental conditions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

How strategic orientations influence the building of dynamic capability in emerging economies

Under the fierce pressures of the fast changing environments that characterize emerging economies, firms must develop dynamic capabilities to survive the competition. This study examines how strategic orientation helps build dynamic capability and its contingencies in China's emerging economy. A survey of 380 firms indicates strategic orientations are important drivers of adaptive capability, a key element of dynamic capabilities. The effectiveness of strategic orientations is contingent on market dynamics. In particular, when market demand becomes increasingly uncertain, customer orientation has a weaker impact, whereas technology orientation has a stronger effect on adaptive capability. As competition intensifies, both competitor and technology orientations build adaptive capability more effectively.     

Profiting from product innovation: The impact of legal, marketing, and technological capabilities in different environmental conditions

Although product innovation is a key tool for firms competing in the marketplace, innovating firms often fail to obtain economic returns from their product innovations. This study examines the moderating effects of legal, marketing, and technological capabilities on the relationship between product innovation and firm performance in different environmental conditions in order to identify how a firm can leverage these capabilities to profit from product innovation. Based on the data of 223 Chinese firms, this study finds that legal capability positively moderates the relationship between product innovation and firm performance, especially when competitive intensity is high; the moderating effect of marketing capability is positive, although it is weakened by market turbulence; and technological capability has a negative moderating effect, which becomes more significant as technological turbulence increases.     

Why Organizations Struggle to Implement a Market Orientation: Insights Into Beliefs of Top Management

The role of management as an antecedent and barrier to market orientation is well documented. However, the often deeply held beliefs of top management that influence the degree to which their firms are market oriented has been largely overlooked. This study sought to understand these beliefs using a qualitative research method. Case study research employing in-depth semistructured interviews of four Australian vertically integrated horticultural enterprises was undertaken. A total of 28 beliefs of senior management team members were identified. These beliefs, which appeared to have become part of organizational culture, influenced the way market intelligence was gathered and shared and the degree to which the organizations planned, coordinated, and timed their responses to market opportunities and threats. The results suggest that changing management beliefs about marketing and market orientation may be an important component of enhancing the degree to which firms are market oriented.     

Revisiting customer analytics capability for data-driven retailing

Customer analytics is one of the most dominant strategic weapons in today's competitive retail environment. In spite of its strategic importance, there is scant attention to investigating customer analytics capabilities in the retail context. Drawing on a systematic literature review and thematic analysis, this study proposes a multidimensional customer analytics capability model by identifying relevant dimensions and sub-dimensions in retail settings. The principal contribution of this study is that the model links a customer analytics perspective to a resource-based view (RBV)-capability of the retailers by proposing six customer analytics capability dimensions and twelve sub-dimensions in the spectrum of market orientation and technology orientation. The customer analytics capability dimensions depict three crucial themes of marketing, such as value creation (offering capability and personalization capability), value delivery (distribution capability and communication capability), and value management (data management capability and data protection capability). By incorporating this capability dimensions, practitioners will likely be able to engage customers and enhance customer equity.     

The Use of Marketing Plans and Advertising Among Accounting Firms

A decade has passed since accounting firms were allowed to advertise. While the response has been mixed, a more important question is whether accounting firms have embraced a marketing orientation as measured by their use of marketing plans. This study investigates the attitudes toward and use of advertising and marketing plans by accounting firms. The results provide insight into the marketing orientation of the accounting profession and the viability of efforts b marketers to develop a marketing orientation. It is suggested that the current environment provides a real opportunity for marketers to become an important part of the accounting firm's organizational structure and provide the expertise needed for the firm to be competitive into the next century.     

Market responsiveness, top management risk taking, and the role of strategic learning as determinants of market pioneering

This study investigates managerial and organizational factors associated with engaging in a market pioneering strategy. Specifically, top management risk taking and the firm-level capability of market responsiveness are hypothesized to be associated with market pioneering. Additionally, strategic learning self efficacy is hypothesized to moderate the effects of top management risk taking and market responsiveness on market pioneering. Moderated regression analysis based on data collected from 111 manufacturing firms supports the hypotheses. Top management risk taking and market responsiveness positively predict the use of a pioneering strategy. Strategic learning self efficacy makes market pioneering more palatable to risk-averse top managers who might not otherwise engage in pioneering. Finally, strategic learning self efficacy strengthens the relationship between market responsiveness and market pioneering. Implications for future theory, practice, and research are discussed.     

Integrating customer orientation, corporate entrepreneurship, and learning orientation in organizations-in-transition: an empirical study

The paper addresses the issue of interrelationships between market orientation, corporate entrepreneurship, and learning orientation in the context of emerging economies. These three constructs have drawn an increasing level of interest in both marketing and management fields as organizations face challenges in a volatile environment. With a national sample of state-owned enterprises in China, the present study simultaneously tests potential relations between these structural constructs and their relationships with the organizational outcome that is reflected with marketing program dynamism. The findings of this study indicate that: (1) sampled state-owned enterprises demonstrate a higher level of changes in organizational outcome resulted from a stronger customer orientation, corporate entrepreneurship, or learning orientation; (2) learning orientation fully or partially mediates the impact of customer orientation and corporate entrepreneurship on outcome; (3) state-owned enterprises with foreign partnership have a higher level of customer orientation, entrepreneurship, and learning orientation; and (4) state-owned enterprises in the service sector have a higher level of customer orientation.