Market Orientation Practices Research Articles

Enhancing corporate social responsibility through market orientation practices in bottom of pyramid markets: with special reference to microcredit institutions

Market-oriented organizations are committed to understanding and serving customer needs. Customers become socially conscious, so market-oriented firms need to carry out ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) initiatives. The main aim of this study was to investigate the influence of market orientation on CSR among microcredit institutions. The findings of this study are useful for microcredit institutions and marketers operating in bottom of pyramid (BOP) market to enhance their CSR through market orientation practices. The sample comprised 250 managers of microcredit institutions operating in the rural areas of Sri Lanka. The surveys were administered for data collection. All the three components of market orientation, that is, customer orientation, competitor orientation, and inter-functional coordination significantly and positively influenced the CSR involvement. Adaptation to BOP Market Culture enhanced the positive influences of both customer orientation and inter-functional coordination, on CSR. From these findings, implications for theory and practice have been discussed.

Market Orientation and the Performance of Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises in the Accra Metropolis

The importance of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises as an engine of economic growth has been widely recognized. However, despite their invaluable contribution in the Ghanaian economy, their performance has not been impressive due to the orientation of their marketing strategies. This study, therefore, sought to investigate the relationship between market orientation and the performance of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in the Accra metropolis of Ghana. Given the purpose and nature of this study where most of the analyses were quantitative in nature, quantitative research approach was deemed the most appropriate and, therefore, adopted. The descriptive and correlational study designs, too, were adopted for this study. Simple random sampling technique, specifically lottery method, was used to select 346 small and medium manufacturing enterprises in the Accra metropolis. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses postulated. It was observed from the findings that positive relationship exists between market orientation and small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises performance. This means that market orientation contribute positively to the well being of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises. The study recommends that policy makers as well as National Board for Small Scale Industries should sensitize owners/managers of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises about the importance of employing market orientation practices in their business operations.

Market Orientation Practices and Effects on Organizational Performance

Today’s organizations need market orientation practices to strive and generate superior performance and competitive advantage in the modern turbulent marketplace. Thus, this research inspects the respective links between the dimensions of (a) competitor orientation and (b) customer orientation and performance in the context of hotels in Malaysia. Data were gathered through self-administrated mail questionnaires directed to the top- and middle-level managers of three- to five-star-rated hotels in Malaysia. The findings indicated that hotels in Malaysia practiced competitor orientation and customer orientation as their core marketing strategy. Specifically, both competitor orientation and customer orientation positively linked to organizational performance. Few studies have investigated the practices and effects of market orientation on performance in the Malaysian hotel setting. Therefore, this study provided new insights into the understanding of market orientation practices in the hotel industry, particularly in Malaysia. In addition, the significance of this study, potential limitations, and future examination directions are highlighted.

Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation and Market Orientation in Malaysia

In Malaysia Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are a significant part of the nation wealth creation and economic. In Malaysia, majority of established businesses are small and medium enterprises with high employment share. The Malaysian government is definite that the framework of the economic transformation plan can raise the small and medium enterprises in developing countries. Therefore, the objective of this study is to thoroughly exploring the predictor which encourages the market orientation practice from the entrepreneurial attitude orientation perspective of the Malaysian entrepreneurs. The contributors of this study are focused on the knowledge body on market orientation to better comprehending of the specific factors that are crucial for business such as small and medium enterprises to help in the country wealth creation.

How to calibrate conventional market-oriented organizational culture in 21st century production-centered firms? A customer relationship perspective

This study explores how the organizational culture represented by conventional market orientation practices influences B2B relationship outcomes and financial returns for production-centered supplier firms. The market orientation practices of 187 large-sized production-centered supplier firms in the U.S. Midwest region are empirically studied using both combined approach and component-wise approach. The multiple regression analysis results confirm the positive effects of an overall market-oriented organizational culture on financial return in production-centered firms. However, a weak link between customer satisfaction and financial return reveals the unique challenge faced by production-centered firms. Our investigation on the three behavioral components of market orientation presents a previously undiscovered pattern for production-centered firms. Interfunctional coordination within a production-centered firm is not related to either customer satisfaction or financial return. Furthermore, interfunctional coordination lessens the positive impacts of customer orientation on customer satisfaction and financial return. Managerial implications on how to optimize market-oriented organizational culture for production-centered firms are discussed.

The Aptness of Market Orientation Practices on Contractors’ Business Performance: A Look at the Northern State of Malaysia

The concept of market orientation has received attention because of its conceptual and practical values. In general, market orientation focus on customer orientation, competitor orientation, and inter-functional coordination to achieve organizational success. Thus, it is assumed the practices of market orientation will lead the organization into market-driven and consequently lead to superior organizational performance. Failure to develop market orientation may adversely affect business performance. However, the context in which the concept is been applied need to be considered. This study examines the aptness of market orientation on business performance among project contractors in a northern state of Malaysia. The focus is on the level of market orientation practice by the contractors, relationship between market orientation and business performance, and the difference between contractor's demographic factors toward market orientation. The results show that larger project contractors tend to practice more market orientation compared with smaller project contractors. Nevertheless, there was no difference in market orientation practice between contractors' categories and contractors' (company) age. However, this study found that market orientation has significant negative correlation with work value received. Therefore, this study would be useful for the contractors to evaluate their practices of market orientation.

Market Orientation Practices of Multinationals in Lagos, Nigeria

This paper reports the survey of the Market orientation Practices of selected Multinational Corporations in Lagos, Nigeria using the opinions of four hundred and forty-two (442) purposively sampled respondents who were highly placed officers and managers in those corporations. This study investigates if Multinational organizations in Lagos attach a reasonable level of importance to the activities of their customers/clients and also examines the degree to which they ensure client/customer relationships within their organizations. The findings reveal that the companies investigated attach a reasonable level of importance to the activities of their customers and clients among many other market orientation practices which has led to improved success in their business operations. The study identifies some major problems faced by these multinationals and suggestions are proffered on how they could be ameliorated.

Online Media, Market Orientation, and Financial Performance in Nonprofits

The combination of social, political, and economic changes causing simultaneously decreasing funding and increasing demand for services is driving nonprofit managers to engage in proactive marketing in a for-profit model, including the use of online media. This research extends the MARKOR model of market orientation to examine the relationship between market orientation practices, as reflected in the utilization of online media, and their effects on the financial viability of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). The Wayback Machine website (http://waybackmachine.org) provided a unique ability to track site content over time, for comparison with each organization's financial indicators at corresponding points in time. The results of this study confirm the positive relationship between higher market orientation via online media presence and improved financial viability for the sampled group of NPOs. This study provides a simple, actionable, and free measure that NPOs can use to assess their current and planned online media.

Television and Public Sphere in Bangladesh: An Uneasy Relationship

This article examines the struggles and fluctuations of power relations in the arena of television journalism of Bangladesh by employing the concept of the public sphere. Based on primary data and secondary literatures, this paper answers to a central question: does the emerging television industry in Bangladesh facilitate a democratic public sphere? I argue that although the current events of deregulation, marketisation and commodification of communication indicate a quantitative development of mediating space in Bangladesh, however, this space is too unstable and fragile to accommodate a democratic public sphere. The market-orientation practices of majority TV channels debilitate the macro mediation capacity of television news and make it fundamentally incompatible with the normative theses of the public sphere or post-Habermasian public spheres. Therefore, developing countries like Bangladesh need alternative avenues to foster the public sphere. In the conclusion, this paper stresses the importance of public service broadcasting and community radio as the vehicles to foster counter-publics.

Market Orientation Practices in Family Business Owner: The Generation Gap Perspective

In the hyper-competition, every business organization, including family businesses have been demanded to develop the sources of competitive advantage. Some previous researches proved that market orientation has positive effects toward business performance and marketing competency. Market orientation as the culture plays important role to motivate employees throughout the organization to place the highest priority on the profitable creation and maintenance of superior customer value. Recently, as the internet technology has been recognized as the key business resources, the marketing effort must be integrated it, but unfortunately some of the old generation of the family business owner not concern about it. Is it any awareness and commitment gap in market orientation practice between old and young generation of the owner of family business? The objective of this research is to explore the awareness and the commitment of the owner to adopt market orientation and how to linkage it with internet technology. Research involved small family business owners in east Java. The research found that the understanding of market orientation in young generations is further and more comprehensive than the old generation. The young generation have many ideas and program to utilize internet as e-commerce linked with market orientation. They perceived that the company must relate the traditional face to face interaction via technology interface. From young generation perspective it is necessary for the management to extent of internet usage in marketing activities.

An Empirical Study Of Market Orientation In The Life Insurance Industry In South Africa

This paper examines the implementation of market orientation in the South African life insurance firms. A non probability sampling method was employed to select 102 respondents from life insurance organisations. Factor analysis method was used to analyse the data. Results of this study indicate that assessing market orientation practices using customer focus, competitor focus and inter-functional coordination variables is applicable to the South African life insurance industry. The findings suggest that the market orientation scale appears to capture well the construct of market orientation in the South African cultural context and confirms that market orientation is a worthwhile management goal to adopt. The findings are consistent with the literature. The results suggest that the use of sales people in measuring market orientation should be generalised with caution as this factor scored the lowest in the factor loading for customer focus. The Narver & Slatter (1990) scale was found to be reliable in measuring market orientation in the South African life insurance industry.

Market Orientation In Nigerian Manufacturing Companies

This study examined the Market orientation practices of selected Nigerian manufacturing companies. A total of 1,200 copies of questionnaire were distributed to the sales and marketing directors of the sampled manufacturing companies, out of which a total of 1,035 questionnaires were found useable. The collected data were analyzed using relevant statistical tools in the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 10. The findings revealed strong market orientation practices in the selected manufacturing companies.

Market Orientation Critical Success Factors of Malaysian Manufacturers and Its Impact on Financial Performance

The study examines critical success factors of market orientation in the context of Malaysian firms. Besides, the study also investigates the relationship between market orientation and financial performance. Malaysian manufacturing firms represent the sample of the study. Data was collected using mail questionnaire survey approach. One hundred and fifty eight Malaysian manufacturing organizations participated in this study. Results of this study indicated that there were five critical success factors of market orientation practices in the context of Malaysian manufacturing firms: market focus, market action, market planning, market feedback and market coordination. The results also revealed that market action and market planning were positively related to financial performance. Results of individual relationship between market orientation dimensions and performance of Malaysian manufacturing in this study supported previous studies carried out in other developing countries as not all market orientation variables have a direct effect on organisational performance. The outcome of this study provides vital information from a developing country perspective on the impact of market orientation practices on manufacturing organisations’ performance.

The development of market orientation: a consideration of institutional influence in China

PurposeChina has followed an unique transition from central planning to a market economy. The purpose of this paper is to examine how China's unique blend of capitalism and socialism has influenced Chinese firms’ market orientation.Design/methodology/approachBroadly speaking this paper's methodological approach can be described as a positivistic epistemology.FindingsThe paper provides insights into how Chinese institutions facilitate or hinder firms’ market orientation practices through direct effect, externality effect and indirect causal chains. The central theme is that, compared with other countries, China's unaltered political institutions and newly created market institutions have led to unique roles of coercive, normative and mimetic pressures in the diffusion of market orientation among Chinese firms. Especially, regulative institutions’ influence on other institutions is more salient in China than in many other countries.Research limitations/implicationsA lack of primary data and empirical documentation and a lack of in‐depth treatment of some of the key issues are major limitations here.Practical implicationsThe paper analyses institutional pressures facing firms operating in China and their variation across different types of firms. An understanding of these pressures is essential to devise market‐oriented approaches in the country. It also examines different institutional factors (e.g. Chinese professional associations) that influence a firm's capability to implement market‐oriented practices.Originality/valueThis paper's greatest value stems from the fact that it employs institutional theory as a lens to understand firms’ market orientation. The institutions‐market orientation nexus is a very important but highly underexamined subject.

Market orientation, international business relationships and perceived export performance

PurposeThis paper aims at investigating and uncovering the potential effect of exporters' market orientation upon international business relationship with particular emphases on cooperation, dependence, and relationship distance.Design/methodology/approachThis is a quantitative study using a mail survey among Thai exporting firms in various industries. The final sample size was comprised of 388 strategic business units (SBU's) from 279 Thai export firms in over eight industries. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling by means of AMOS 4.01.FindingsExporters' market orientation enhances the cooperation between the exporters and their major overseas distributor while minimizing their dependence and relationship distance. In addition, export performance is higher with greater exporter cooperation and lower relationship distance. Interestingly, the influence of exporter dependence on export performance varied among industry groups.Practical implicationsThis study extends the domain of market orientation in international contexts by illustrating and empirically testing how exporters' market orientation serve as an antecedent to the development of business‐to‐business relationships, which ultimately enhances export performance. To business practitioners, this research pinpoints a particular challenge faced by exporters in managing their relationships with their overseas distributors in order to achieve better performance. Our findings show that market orientation plays a crucial role in developing and nurturing cooperative efforts with overseas distributors. As a result, exporters and their overseas distributors are recommended not only to form cooperative norms that are critical to joint marketing decisions and actions, but also aim to establish and maintain mutual dependence for their superior performance enhancement.Originality/valueThis study contributes to marketing and international business literature and provides insights to exporters by investigating the relationships among market orientation, behavioral aspects of business relationships and export performance. It also provides some evidence that market orientation practices are beneficial in enhancing cross‐cultural relationships, which have been given limited attention in previous literature.

Market orientation in Nigerian companies

PurposeTo investigate the practice of market orientation, with a specific focus on the extent to which Nigerian marketers place emphasis on the different dimensions of market orientation, customer satisfaction, competitiveness, market intelligence, and assessment of the effectiveness of the strategies adopted.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a contextualized and literature‐based research instrument to measure the applications of market orientation “constructs” by 697 small and large manufacturing and service companies operating in Lagos State of Nigeria. The research instrument showed encouraging evidence of reliability and validity. Data were interpreted by factor analysis.FindingsIt was found that market orientation is practised to a reasonable extent among the surveyed companies, and tentatively concluded that market orientation practices were related to the category of business (service versus manufacturing) and its size. The principal focus was on the gathering, interpretation and implementation of market intelligence, and on measuring the effectiveness of the outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are limited to some extent by the confounding effect of variation within and between types of firm and industry sectors, and the use of respondents' own assessments of performance (i.e. respondents' evaluations of organizational effectiveness with regard to market orientation practices). The Nigerian setting and cross‐sectional design limit the generalizability of the findings to other contexts/environments. Continuing research is under way to address these limitations.Originality/valueExpands the body of knowledge about market orientation in practice by extending an established research formula beyond the usual context of developed western economies, and thereby potentially contains lessons for practitioners and researchers in other developing countries.

Modeling store loyalty: perceived value in market orientation practice

PurposeThis study developed a model of customer store loyalty for retail service based on a value‐based market orientation practice, staff performance and customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachA comprehensive qualitative study was undertaken to develop measurements, derived from both perspectives of firms and consumers. The model was then tested empirically in a retail setting in Taiwan, using a dyadic data collection approach. For each service provider from a random sample of hairdressing salons in Taiwan included in our survey, a matched set of customers provided information concerning their expectation and evaluation of service.FindingsOur findings provide an insight into the effect of perceived customer value in market orientation practice as well as its impact on customer retention. The model indicates that marketing practitioners should manage customer satisfaction and perceptions of value in their implementation of market orientation as they are directly related to customer store loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsThis study involved only one service industry (hairdressing salons) in one country (Taiwan). However the scales and methodology described here could and should be replicated in other settings.Practical implicationsBy using our scale and results, service providers may be able to enhance their customers' perception of value and increase their degree of store loyalty.Originality/valueDespite the importance of customer value for organizations seeking to become market oriented, customer value measures are not included in market orientation scales. This study shows how including customer value into market orientation measurements can assist in enhancing business performance via customer retention.

Market orientation in Ivory Coast: measurement validity and organizational antecedents in a sub‐Saharan African economy

Despite renewed interest in the cross‐national implementation of market orientation, there is hardly any consideration of this practice in sub‐Saharan Africa. The present study examines the validity of two widely used market orientation scales from Kholi and Jaworski and Narver and Slater, in Ivory Coast, and the ability of both scales developed from explained market orientation practices among Ivorian firms. The results of this study confirm the transferability of both scales, although Narver and Slater’s were found to perform better. In addition, several related organizational antecedents recommended in the extant literature were found to predict market orientation in this sub‐Saharan African country. Several managerial recommendations and implications for further research are also discussed.

Market orientation practices among small and medium hotels (SMHS) in tourist destination island of Langkawi

The purpose of the study is to investigate the underlying components of market orientation practices and their effect on the Small and Medium Hotels (SMHs) performances on tourist destination island of Langkawi. Fifty SMHs were randomly selected from a sampling frame of a list of SMHs registered with Malaysian Tourism Board. For data collection purposes, structured questionnaires were personally delivered and collected. Rotated component matrix factor analysis of the data extracted four underlying factors that explain seventy nine point four six percent of the total variances and alpha reliability coefficient of ninety eight percent. Those components were named as customer orientation, interfunctional orientation, service orientation, and competitor orientation. One sample Kolmogorov‐Smirnov Test indicates that SMHs in Langkawi practices market orientation in their operations and businesses. However, the finding of the study showed that their performances in 1998 was lower than 1997. We believe that this outcome is due to the effect of national and regional economic downturn in 1998.

Can there be different forms of market orientation and new product development?

This paper examines popularly accepted approaches to market orientation and compares and contrasts them with currently applied alternative approaches. Approaches to new product development are also discussed. It argues for consideration of the existence of pluralism in the marketing domain, with conventional views on what constitutes market orientation and appropriate new product development practice being at times at odds with what is practised.