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The study aims to explore, via empirical evidence, executive assessment of Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduates in Nigerian companies.

The research utilized a descriptive research design with structured questionnaire developed from relevant extant literature. Relevant data analysis, including determination of the psychometric properties of the research instrument, was undertaken via the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software.

The research results indicate that MBA graduates in the surveyed Nigerian organizations exhibited desired managerial tendencies only at an average extent.

The limitations associated with the research include the use of convenience sampling approach, limited sample size and combination of respondents from different industrial sectors.

The research has practical implications for organizational executives associated with management development programmes via MBA, in addition to university administrators with regard to content, format, curricula and process for MBA education programmes.

The research is original and has practical and theoretical values.

To 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.

The 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.

It 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.

The 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.

Expands 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.

This study investigated the total quality management (TQM) strategies of Nigerian companies with regard to emphases on dimensions of TQM strategies, the impact of environmental factors on TQM strategies, and the empirical relations of TQM strategies, impact of environmental factors on TQM strategies, and measures of organizational performance. Using a survey research methodology, it was found that most dimensions of TQM strategies witnessed reasonable levels of emphasis, and the impacts of environmental factors on TQM strategies have been substantial. Statistically‐significant empirical relationships were established between most dimensions of TQM strategies and measures of performance. The findings have support in previous normative and empirical studies. Suggestions were made with respect to replicating the study in specific Nigerian industries and some developing African countries that have embraced the structural adjustment programme.

The purpose of this paper is to examine political marketing with regard to its different conceptualisations and dimensions, and to suggest cognate areas for empirical research efforts, especially in Sub‐Saharan Africa.

Perspectives from relevant extant literature on meaning and dimensions of political marketing are examined, and empirical examination of these perspectives in developing countries suggested.

It was found that political marketing has many conceptualisations and dimensions, and its practice may be coloured by environmental issues, especially in developing economies with weak democratic infrastructure.

Empirical investigations of political marketing in developing economies, as suggested in this paper, may be constrained by secrecy, lack of secondary data, and aparty on the part of relevant party executives, among others.

Party executives will benefit from the conceptualisations and dimensions documented in this paper. In addition, researchers and students in the areas of marketing and political science will find the research agenda a fertile ground for empirical research effort.

This paper should be of value to political party executives, electoral commissions, educators and students of marketing and political science, in addition to government executives interested in relating beneficially with their citizens and other relevant stakeholders.