Strong Market Orientation Research Articles

English

Organisations are forming partnerships to enhance their capabilities to improve product quality, innovation, and market research. Researchers and managers have recognized the potential synergy in a partnership regardless of the types of relationship. The main objective of this paper is to determine the influence of market orientation on the trust-commitment-relational norms model of relationship marketing in the higher education context. Specifically, the researchers are interested in determining whether the private colleges own market orientation and perception of its partner's market orientation have a positive influence on the trust, commitment and relational norms Respondents were chosen from 65 private colleges in Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed by enumerators hired by the researcher. Completed questionnaires were then collected by the enumerators and mailed to the researcher within three month after it was distributed. Results from this study indicate that there were significant correlations between the private colleges own market orientation with its trust, commitment and relational norms toward its partner university. In addition, organisation trust does have significant and strong influence on commitment and commitment in turn has a strong and positive relationship with relational norms. The results highlighted the importance of organisations to have a strong market orientation in order to enhance its level of trust, commitment and relational norms towards its partner. This will help increase the length and strength of the partnership. Key words: Market orientation, private colleges, trust, commitment, higher education.

A Comparison Of The Market Orientation Of Chinese And US Firms

A lack of empirical research exists on marketing orientation in China. In order to begin to address this research gap, a study was conducted assessing managers perceptions of the market orientation of Chinese firms and its impact on business performance. Multiple measures of market orientation and business performance were assessed and analysis was conducted across different types of organizations and in different industries. This analysis shows that Chinese firms have a strong market orientation. They recognize the importance of being kept informed about environmental trends, competitor activities and the evolving needs of their customers. They disseminate information among their staff and respond to opportunities to provide better products and quality services to their customers. Although the relationship between market orientation and business performance may be complex, this study provides some empirical evidence that better performance will be achieved by the market-oriented organization.

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 And Performance: Does Organizational Strategy Matter?

Data from a survey of 159 hospitals was used to test the relationship between market orientation and firm performance for low cost and differentiation strategies. Hospitals pursuing a differentiation strategy had stronger market orientation than those pursuing a cost leadership strategy. Market orientation had a more positive impact on the performance of organizations pursuing a differentiation strategy than on those pursuing a cost leadership strategy. In the cost leader group, the inter-functional coordination component of market orientation significantly affected firm performance, while in the differentiator group the customer orientation and competitor orientation components of market orientation had significant impact on performance. The implications of these findings for managers also are discussed.

Dutch urban governance: Multi-level or multi-scalar?

Many accounts of urban governance emphasize municipal and neighbourhood scales, featuring local participation, social cohesion and the relationship between local government and residents. By contrast, our focus is the vertical governance processes of integrated urban policies. We concentrate on the effectiveness of the steering of urban policies. Using a Dutch city as a case study, we evaluate local stakeholders’ experiences in the vertical governance processes of integrated urban policy and the extent to which their experiences fit in with the theoretical notions of multi-level governance or multi-scalar meta-governance and the EU principles of good governance. The key result is that Dutch urban policy incorporates dominant neo-liberal multi-scalar meta-governance, owing to the simultaneously strong market orientation and state regulation. The legitimacy of urban policy is brought into question when city authorities have very little influence on its contents but are judged on its results. The major lesson learned is that neo-liberal centralistic steering in the core domains of local government that aim to achieve effective and coherent urban governance practices is counterproductive.

Strategic vectors of food production development in Serbia in terms of the global crisis

The world economic crisis was a major factor that caused industrial production and trade over the globe decrease. It closed millions of working places and effected fear of political instability to spread even over the states that have been considered as stable. Economies all over the world face with wide range recessions, that will lead to the 3% to 7% GNP drop with respect to the last decade increasing trend. In such uncertainty conditions, where authorities are not sure about crisis development and duration, banner task is imposed: uncertainty must be passed. In Serbian economy, good model for crisis overcoming is agriculture strategic development and especially within it, the safe food production. One of guidelines of Serbian agriculture development is modernization and change of production structure towards stronger market orientation and improvement of alimentary industry total efficiency. Increased productively technological restructuring achieving increased efficiency, as well as greater competitiveness at domestic and foreign markets should be based on economical, ecological and energy criterions. Also, applied scientific research papers should allow significant increase of size and competitiveness of Serbian agriculture production

The impact of formal processes for market information acquisition and utilization on the performance of Chinese new ventures

The authors examine the performance impact of formal market information processes. Specifically, a theoretical model is developed that hypothesizes that formal processes for market information acquisition and utilization have direct and positive main effects on new venture success and is then tested using a sample of 222 new ventures located in China. Findings indicate that new venture success is positively correlated with the use of formal processes for market information acquisition and use. Moreover, the relative importance of formal processes to the acquisition and use of market information depends on whether the new venture serves an emerging or established market. In particular, the impact of formal processes for information acquisition is higher among new ventures that serve emerging markets. In contrast, the impact of formal processes for information use is higher among new ventures that serve established markets. We present managerial implications of our results. For example, a new venture with a strong market orientation can respond quickly to emerging marketplace needs, and can even seize the advantage from incumbents. If it is in an emerging market, however, the new venture management team should strive to excel at information acquisition; in an established market, it is important for the management team to excel at information utilization.

The Expanding Role of Temporary Help Agencies in Japan's Emerging External Labor Market

The key role of temporary help agencies in the expansion of the external market for labor in Japan is the subject of this article. As a result of deregulatory changes in and after 1999 in Japan, the temporary help industry has impacted on changes in firms' reliance on external labor. Based on a survey of and interviews at temporary agency firms, we found considerable heterogeneity among THAs. One segment of large agencies exhibited a strong market orientation in supplying business services, while two other segments of THAs were continuing, to varying degrees, to draw their business from either capital-related or parent companies within their groups.

The Shoreline Project for Street Drinkers: Designing and Running a Supported Housing Project for the “Unhousable”

The nonprofit sector is increasingly faced with the challenges of adopting unfamiliar orientations focusing on customer service and quality which historically have been more usually associated with the commercial for-profit sector. Such organizations are also facing financial and competitive pressures which are also more commonly associated with the commercial world and market economies. These factors tend to imply that nonprofit organizations should adopt a market orientation. Indeed many initiatives offered by public and nonprofit organizations are now defined as “social marketing.” This article presents empirical evidence from a case study of an innovative supported-housing project for homeless street drinkers and considers the barriers faced when implementing the project. Issues surrounding top management leadership, service design, service quality, consumer engagement, and the engagement of frontline customers facing service delivery personnel are considered, as these would expect to be evident in a service organization with a strong market orientation. However, considering that the project was implemented contrary to the express wishes of both the organization's internal market of its service employees and the primary target market of its service users, conclusions are drawn within a conceptual framework that agrees with the need to consider a social rather than a market orientation to the provision of such services within nonprofit organizations.

Managerial Collective Cognitions: An Examination of Similarities and Differences of Cultural Orientations

abstract Using the context of market orientation, we examine how an exemplary business's market orientation culture is reflected in managers' mental models, evaluate how mental models and perceived behaviours differ across hierarchical levels and functions, and compare the cognitive values and beliefs or the cognitive aspects of market orientation culture with behavioural aspects. Results from a rich, multi‐method, case study suggest that while managers in the business share core beliefs regarding the customer dimension of market orientation, their beliefs regarding competitors, technology and inter‐functional coordination dimensions vary widely across the levels and functions of the business. We found differences in terms of both the integration between the four dimensions of market orientation and the depth of knowledge within the dimensions. Our findings reveal that customer rather than competitor beliefs are the most important commonly shared beliefs in successful companies, leading us to encourage cognitive researchers to move beyond competitor analysis when examining managerial cognition. Another implication for future research is that a strong market orientation implies common core beliefs regarding customer dimensions but does not imply that all beliefs will be or should be shared. From the methodological standpoint, we find that cognitive mapping techniques provide rich insights into a business's market orientation culture that are not gained from behavioural methods alone.

Does Market Orientation Facilitate Balanced Innovation Programs? An Organizational Learning Perspective

There appears to be widespread agreement that optimal new product development programs require a balance between customer‐led and lead‐the‐customer innovation practices. The former is associated with adaptive learning inspired incremental innovation, whereas the latter is associated with generative‐learning‐inspired radical innovation. There is debate, however, as to whether a strong market orientation can facilitate this balance. Some believe that a strong market orientation causes firms to overemphasize customer‐led incremental innovations. Others believe that a strong market orientation can facilitate this balance but assert that traditional measures of market orientation only capture the types of behaviors associated with customer‐led incremental innovations. This latter concern has led some to abandon the single‐construct operationalization of market orientation and to introduce two constructs—responsive and proactive market orientation—into the literature. The purpose of this research is to address these developments. The study makes use of a national sample of marketing executives and employs a cross‐sectional survey design. Measures used are market orientation, radical and incremental innovation priority, generative and adaptive learning priority, and new product success. Confirmatory factor analyses and structural equations models are employed to develop measures and to test hypotheses. The study's results reaffirm the position that a strong market orientation helps facilitate a balance between incremental and radical innovation by shifting firms' innovation priority more toward radical innovation activities. It also suggests that the abandonment of traditional conceptualizations and measures of market orientation are premature.

Assessment of management approaches in a public water utility: A case study of the Namibia water corporation (NAMWATER)

More than 90% of urban water supply and sanitation services in developing countries are provided by public organizations. However, public provision of services has been inherently inefficient. As a result a number of initiatives have emerged in recent years with a common goal to improve service delivery. In Namibia, the water sector reform resulted in the creation of a public utility called the Namibia Water Corporation (NAMWATER) which is responsible for bulk water supply countrywide. Since its inception in 1998, NAMWATER has been experiencing poor financial performance. This paper presents the findings of a case study that compared the management approaches of NAMWATER to the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm. The focus of the NPM approach is for the public water sector to mirror private sector methods of management so that public utilities can accrue the benefits of effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility often associated with private sector. The study tools used were a combination of literature review, interviews and questionnaires. It was found out that NAMWATER has a high degree of autonomy in its operations, albeit government approved tariffs and sourcing of external financing. The utility reports to government annually to account for results. The utility embraces a notion of good corporate culture and adheres to sound management practices. NAMWATER demonstrated a strong market-orientation indicated by the outsourcing of non-core functions but benchmarking was poorly done. NAMWATER’s customer-orientation is poor as evidenced by the lack of customer care facilities. NAMWATER’s senior management delegated operational authority to lower management to facilitate flexibility and eliminate bottlenecks. The lower management is in turn held accountable for performance by the senior management. There are no robust methods of ensuring sufficient accountability indicated by absence of performance contracts or service level agreements. It was concluded that NAMWATER’s management approaches adhere to the NPM paradigm but some NPM core-ideas such as customer orientation and external accountability (performance contracts) were visibly missing.

Market-Oriented New Product Development of Meal Replacement and Meal Complement Beverages

A strong market orientation and a customer-focused new product process have both been identified as critical new product development success drivers. Five focus groups were conducted at three centres in Ireland between April and May 2003 to evaluate and refine a range of new meal replacement and meal complement beverage concepts. Non-carbonated fruit and yoghurt-based functional beverages for breakfast were most preferred by focus group participants. This study highlighted the role of qualitative market-oriented research methodologies in facilitating consumer interaction with product development personnel.

Factors related to innovative output in the Dutch agrifood industry

The present study assessed the factors related to innovative output in the Dutch agrifood industry, a scale-intensive, supplierdominated industry. We concentrated on explanatory variables related to cooperation, information sources, innovation objectives, obstacles to innovation, and innovation resources. Firm-level data were used from the Dutch section of the 2001 Community Innovation Survey (CIS, N=328). We conducted linear and binary logistic regression to analyse the data. The results show that in order to be successful in product innovation, firms must have a strong market orientation. Furthermore, we found that in order to become (more) innovative, firms must have organisational conditions in place, as organisational obstacles are associated with lower levels of innovative output. Innovation subsidies turn out to have a positive effect on both product and process innovations. With respect to the value of a focal firm's network, the surprising conclusion can be drawn that the network is not perceived as crucial for innovation: cooperation is not a factor that explains innovative output; and network actors are - only to a limited extent - perceived as important sources of information for innovation. Competitors as an important source of information explain the share of the total turnover from new or improved products, whereas suppliers are an important information source for process innovators. In summary, innovative agrifood firms do not rely strongly on external sources, contrary to expectations for supplier-dominated firms. Instead, Dutch innovative agrifood firms more strongly reflect the characteristics of scale-intensive firms.

Privatized urbanity or a politicized society? Reconstruction in Beirut after the civil war

After 16 years of civil war in Lebanon, with massive destruction and, in the end, a fragmented society, the reconstruction of Beirut has been very difficult, with the marginalized state stepping back early on in favour of a private reconstruction under the leadership of the businessman and later Prime Minister Hariri. For the successful implementation of the reconstruction Hariri established a private real estate company that not only expropriated the former tenants and owners, but also evacuated the refugees who had occupied properties in the deserted city centre. The reconstruction of Beirut is characterized by the exclusion of most of the protagonists involved. Tenants, owners, and refugees, but also the former elites from politics, science and society were replaced by a group of newcomers, war-profiteers and investors. The decision-making therefore was strongly profit-orientated and often took place behind closed doors. In Beirut a radical new concept of urban development and urban governance has been implemented that led to a “privatization of the urban”. Due to the profit orientation and the exclusion of the protagonists involved, the reconstruction of Beirut's downtown triggered a highly controversial public debate and resulted in a substantial “political mobilization” of Lebanese society. For the first time after the civil war, Lebanese society dared to speak up and publicly comment on the reconstruction. The political mobilization of the society was accompanied by a subsequent “medialization” of the conflict: The struggle over the reconstruction was negotiated to a large part through the media where initiators and critics tried to promote their strategic visions for the reconstruction. Regarding a New Urban Governance, post-war urban development in Beirut was realized mainly within a framework of democratic society. Nevertheless the process of reconstruction is characterized by an exclusion of most of the protagonists involved and by a strong market orientation which often disregarded public interests.

Building a Market‐Oriented Organizational Environment: An Implementation Framework for Small Organizations

The strong link between a market orientation and performance in small organizations rests on the organization’s ability to use its market‐oriented culture to create a sustainable competitive advantage. To do this requires the firm to build and maintain a strong market orientation. Using an internal customer‐internal supplier perspective, this paper identifies a framework for implementation that an organization can undertake to create a market‐oriented workforce. The foundation for the framework is the development of dyadic relationships between internal customers and suppliers. The implementation structure relies on a performance management system that rewards behaviors appropriate for the establishment of a market‐oriented culture.

Market Orientation and the New Product Paradox

The extant literature shows that the strength of the market orientation–performance relationship decays as the terminal measure of performance shifts from new product success to profitability to market share. As Day (1999) concluded, a broader nomological inquiry is needed to more fully understand the nature and limits of market orientation's effects. This suggests that a broader nomological inquiry is needed to fully understand the nature and limits of market orientation's effects.Utilizing a national sample of marketing executives, the present study's purpose is to build a fuller understanding of the effects of market orientation on firm performance. Its structural equations model includes measures of new product success, profitability, and market share.The research reinforces a strong positive relationship between market orientation and new product success. The expanded nomological network under study, however, implies barriers to market orientation's effectiveness. First, market‐orientation‐inspired increases in the priority firms place on “breakthrough” learning without commensurate increases in the priority placed on “breakthrough” innovation capabilities can boomerang and negatively impact new product success. Second, market‐orientation‐inspired new product development programs that are unable to increase market share can negatively impact profitability. These gatekeepers to the success of market orientation underscore the need for firms to coordinate a strong market orientation with resources and capabilities that increase the effectiveness of the marketing function. Without such coordination, the positive effect of market orientation on new product success may be limited to incremental innovations, and the overall effect of successful new products on profitability may be limited.

Tradeoffs in marketing exploitation and exploration strategies: The overlooked role of market orientation

Marketing strategy can improve a firm's current expertise (marketing exploitation strategy) and/or require the development of new knowledge and skills (marketing exploration strategy). Research in strategy and organizational learning suggests that utilizing both approaches may compromise firm effectiveness in each individual area and reduce firm financial performance. We argue that a firm's market orientation allows it to combine marketing exploitation and exploration strategies effectively by providing a unifying frame of reference focused on customer goals, facilitating market information flows between the two strategy processes, and integrating the two activities by serving as a dynamic market linking capability. A study of Dutch firms in the packaged food industry indicates that a firm's strong market orientation facilitates a complementarity of high levels of marketing exploration and marketing exploitation project-level strategies which results in improved new product financial performance measured at two distinct points of time. However, as predicted by the tradeoff, firms with a weak market orientation engaging in high levels of both strategies display a significant reduction in new product financial performance.

Content Differences between Daily Newspapers with Strong and Weak Market Orientations

A content analysis of more than 13,000 items on the main display pages in twelve daily newspapers finds that publications with a strong market orientation publish fewer items about government and public affairs and more items about lifestyle and sports than newspapers with a weak market orientation. But it also finds that content for the public sphere continues to dominate the main display pages of both newspapers that embrace market-driven journalism and those that do not.

Assessment of the scientific basis of interdisciplinary, applied research: Application of bibliometric methods in Nutrition and Food Research

We present the results of a study to assess crucial aspects and the strength of the scientific basis of a typically interdisciplinary, applied field: Nutrition and Food Research. Our approach is based on an advanced bibliometric analysis with novel elements to assess the influence and dissemination of research results and to measure interdisciplinarity. In order to adjust the contrast with ‘single-disciplinary’ research assessment, we represent application-oriented research by an interdisciplinary research profile that with a clear distinction between basic and applied research. Application of our approach to support an international audit of the Nutrition and Food Research Institute showed that advanced bibliometric analysis allows assessment beyond conventional academic standards. An important policy-relevant implication, strongly supported by the audit committee, is that realignment of an applied research institute toward a stronger market-orientation should not be at the expense of basic research. Not only is basic research the cradle of future applications, it acts also directly as an institutional visiting card for customers to show scientific thoroughness. A novel element is a disciplinary breakdown of knowledge dissemination by a research institute based on a field-specific analysis of all publications citing the work of the institute. It reveals the mutual boosting of applied and basic research. Particularly, the analysis of publications citing applied work can be regarded as a novel indicator for potential users of knowledge and with that, new markets. In this context, it is important to compare actors (e.g. countries, institutes) involved in citing publications with those involved in the institute’s international co-operation.