Adaptive marketing capabilities, market orientation, and international performance: the moderation effect of competitive intensity
Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing
ISSN: 0885-8624
Article publication date: 8 February 2022
Issue publication date: 21 November 2022
Abstract
Purpose
It is well established in marketing literature that international performance is positively affected by marketing capabilities, whether static or dynamic. However, recent theoretical development proposed adaptive marketing capabilities (AMC) as a set of capabilities able to close the marketing gap. Given the relative newness of this construct, empirical studies are still scarce. Therefore, drawing from a resource-based view perspective, this study aims to analyse the relationships among market orientation (MO), AMC and firms’ international performance, as well as the moderating effects of competitive intensity.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have used survey-based research with 335 internationalised Portuguese business-to-business small and medium sized enterprises (B2B SMEs) during June 2020. The authors analysed responses through structural equation modelling and path analysis.
Findings
Results revealed positive relationships between AMC and international performance and between MO and AMC. Furthermore, results were robust to the competitive environment.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study contributes to international marketing literature by analysing MO as an antecedent of AMC, which has never been done before. Furthermore, it analyses the simultaneous effects of MO and AMC on international performance, as well as the moderation of competitive intensity. Also, the study’s results inform managers and marketeers of internationalised firms about the advantages of adopting a market-oriented behaviour and the development of AMC, whether in more or less competitive environments.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the referees and editor-in-chief for insightful comments and suggestions.
Funding: This work was funded by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., Project UIDB/05037/2020. The author Marcelo Pereira Duarte acknowledges the funding by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., Project UI/BD/150977/2021.
Citation
Reimann, C.K., Carvalho, F.M.P.d.O. and Duarte, M.P. (2022), "Adaptive marketing capabilities, market orientation, and international performance: the moderation effect of competitive intensity", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 37 No. 12, pp. 2533-2543. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-08-2021-0391
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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