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This research focuses on the effects that three different strategic orientations have on firm performance in the specific domain of retailing. The paper also aims to deal with the mediating role that innovation plays in this relationship.

Component analysis is used to find out which factors really build up each of the constructs involved. In order to analyze the convergence of the model a confirmatory factor analysis is performed by means of a structural equation model based on LISREL 8.54 technique.

From the 244 responses the results show that market driving proved to be a strong predictor of performance in addition to innovation acting as a mediator between strategic orientations in retailers and business performance.

In a future research it would be advisable to include supplier and customer perceptions of the strategic orientation carried on by retailing firms. The study of different innovation categories should also be enlarged. Furthermore, a wider sample that encompassed several countries and different retailers‐type strata could help to understand culture and industry depending factors.

Among the strategic orientations developed by retail firms, market driving (MD) proved to be better both in its direct influence on performance and by jointly developing innovations – to benefit from the role of innovation as a mediator between MD and performance.

Although there are many references in literature devoted to market orientation (MO), hardly any research has addressed before the role of MD as strategic orientation in the retailing industry – and consequently the relationship between MO and MD. Moreover, the paper researches the role of innovation – in a twofold perspective: innovation in management processes and product innovation – as a mediator between strategic orientations in retail firms and business performance.

The marketing literature indicates that a firm’s organizational culture plays a critical role in determining its market orientation (MO) and thereby the firm’s ability to successfully adapt to its environment to achieve superior business performance. However, our understanding of the organizational culture of market-oriented firms and its relationship with business performance remains limited in a number of important ways. Drawing on the behavioral theory of the firm and the competing values theory perspective on organizational culture, our empirical study addresses important knowledge gaps concerning the relationship between firm MO culture, MO behaviors, innovation, customer satisfaction, and business performance.

We used a survey methodology with Clan Cultural Orientation, Adhocracy Cultural Orientation, Market Cultural Orientation, and Hierarchy Cultural Orientation Clan. Market Orientation Behaviors, Innovation, and Customer Satisfaction and CFROA _t (Net Operating Income + Depreciation and Amortization – Disposal of Assets)/Total Assets.

The overall fit of the first Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) containing the three MO behavior sub-scales, the four organizational culture scales, and the innovation and satisfaction performance measures was good with a χ ² = 760.89, 524 df, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.916 and RMSEA = 0.055. The overall fit of the second CFA containing the business strategy, bureaucracy, and customer expectations control variables was also good with a χ ² = 243.26, 156 df, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.937 and RMSEA = 0.061. We also subsequently ran a third CFA in which the MO behavior construct was modeled as a second-order factor comprising the three first-order sub-scales (generation of market intelligence, dissemination of market intelligence, and responsiveness to market intelligence) each of which in turn arose from the relevant survey indicants. This measurement model also fit well with the data with a χ ² = 84.06, 63 df, p < 0.039; CFI = 0.955 and RMSEA = 0.047. Regressions using seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) with control variables and with R ² values ranging from 0.28 to 0.54.

MO culture has an important direct effect on firms’ financial performance as well as an indirect effect via MO behaviors and innovations. Importantly, our findings suggest that MO culture facilitates value-creating behaviors above and beyond those identified in the marketing literature as MO behaviors. In contrast to a series of studies by Deshpandé and colleagues (1993, 1999, 2000, 2004), our empirical results suggest the value of the internally oriented Clan and to a lesser degree Hierarchy cultural orientations as well as the more externally oriented Adhocracy and Market cultural orientations. The benchmark ideal MO culture profile we identify is consistent with organization theory conceptualizations of strong balanced organizational cultures in which each of the four competing values orientations is simultaneously exhibited to a significant degree (e.g., Cameron & Freeman, 1991). Our findings indicate that the organizational culture domain of MO appears to be at least as important (if not more so) in explaining firm performance and suggest that researchers need to re-visit the conceptualization, and perhaps more importantly the operationalization, of MO as a central construct in strategic marketing thought.

In building an MO culture, an important first step is to assess the firm’s existing organizational culture profile (e.g., Goodman, Zammuto, & Gifford, 2001). Organization theory researchers have developed competing values theory-based organizational culture assessment tools that can provide managers with an easily accessible mechanism for accomplishing this (Cameron & Quinn, 1999). The profile of the firm’s existing culture and the profile of the ideal culture for MO from our study can then be plotted on a “spider’s web” graphical representation (e.g., Hooijberg & Petrock, 1993). This aids the comparison of the firm’s existing cultural profile with the ideal MO profile, enabling managers to easily diagnose the areas, direction, and magnitude MO culture profile “gaps” in their firm (Cameron, 1997). Specific gap-closing plans and tactics for gaps on each of the four cultural orientations can then be identified as part of the development of a change management program designed to create an MO culture profile (e.g., Chang & Wiebe, 1996). Cameron and Quinn’s (1999) workbook provides managers with an excellent operational resource for planning and undertaking such gap-closing organizational culture change initiatives.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the dimensionality of the market orientation (MO) scale.

This is a firm-level study. A purposive sample of 400 firms (with 2–3 key informants from each firm) has been taken to study the MO of the firms. The psychometric testing of the MO scale was done using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM).

The results have shown that the dimensionality of MO exhibits a different pattern across the sample. The four factors delineated dimensions explain more than 62% of the variance in the data set and are found to be the valuable and versatile measure of MO. Overall, the results provide enough evidence of the validity, reliability and generalizability of the MO scale. The results of SEM indicate a satisfactory nomological validity of the scale.

The study develops a valid measure of MO with a major focus on market intelligence. The study proposes MO as a function of customer orientation, competitor orientation, inter-functional coordination and market intelligence which was largely ignored in the marketing literature.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a concept of an alignment between market and technology orientations (MTs) and investigates the difference in new product innovation activities and performance among the four groups of high-tech firms which are classified into four categories labeled as MT, technology orientation (TO), market orientation (MO) and conservative (CO) firms.

Data were collected from 360 high-tech firms in China. MANOVA was used to identify whether or not new product innovation activities (i.e. timing of market entry and product quality) and performance vary across the four groups.

The results indicate that the four groups of firms significantly differ with respect to new product performance and with new product innovation activities pertaining to timing of market-entry strategy and product quality. Further, the results show that first, MT firms have highest new product performance; second, TO firms are speed leaders which have first-to-market with new product; and third, MO firms are quality champions which are best for the perceived new product quality.

This paper responds to call for synthetic studies of multiple orientations and cross-disciplinary research, especially in the areas of marketing and strategic management. This paper is the first to integrate MO and TO and examine the interactive effects of these two orientations on new product innovation. Against prior study believing the combination of strategic orientations play an important role in innovation management, the findings that TO firms are speed leaders and MO firms are quality champions suggest that the combination of different strategic orientations is not beneficial to all respects of new product innovation, such as timing of market-entry strategy and product quality.

One of the strongest convictions in marketing is that market orientation contributes to firms' performance substantially more than alternative strategic orientations such as innovation and entrepreneurial orientations. Still, some studies show that alternative orientations can also substantially affect the performance of firms, and furthermore, that firms that combine market orientation with alternative orientations are likely to perform even better than firms adopting only market orientation. Also, the nature of the relationship between market orientation and other strategic orientations is not clear. The purpose of this paper is to deal with these discrepancies in the marketing literature. It highlights the importance of the study of the relationship between market orientation and alternative strategic orientations, examines the effect of market orientation on different orientations, and identifies the orientations that are more likely to be combined with market orientation.

The study employs a meta‐analysis procedure to synthesize empirical results on the relationship between market orientation and innovation, learning, entrepreneurial, and employee orientations.

Findings suggest that market orientation is strongly correlated with learning, entrepreneurial, and employee orientations, and that it has a moderate positive relationship with innovation orientation.

Research on market orientation should shift its focus, moving from the study of the direct effect of market orientation on business performance to the study of the various combinations of strategic orientations that firms can pursue in different situations, studying how the more successful market‐oriented firms balance between market orientation and other strategic orientations.

This is the first meta‐analysis to examine the relationships between market orientation and alternative strategic orientations.

Joint ventures (JVs) are known to create value for their parent firms, in part due to the mutually beneficial sharing of information that occurs at the JV level. Market orientation (MO) is a well-documented strategic orientation that has received little attention in the JV literature, despite considerable research suggesting that MO has a positive effect on performance. This study posits that the MO skills contributed to a new JV by parent firms are likely to play a central role in a shareholder's assessment of the potential for success of a newly announced JV, thereby triggering changes in market value for parent firms.

Computer-Assisted-Text-Analysis (CATA) is used to calculate MO heterogeneity from annual reports, and event-study methodology is used to assess parent firm performance. The authors rely on a US sample of 82 public JV parents involved in 41 new equally-weighted JV formation announcements.

The authors find that heterogeneity on MO's behavioral components (customer orientation, competitor orientation, and coordination) is negatively related to parent performance, while heterogeneity on MO's profitability component is positively related to parent performance. However, the effect of MO's long-term focus heterogeneity on parent performance was not supported.

The results suggest that the benefits of information sharing in partnerships may be of a nuanced nature when it comes to MO. Although heterogeneity in profitability inclination created value for parent firms announcing a new JV; heterogeneity in customer, competitor and coordination market orientations did not appear to be rewarded by shareholders.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of market orientation (MO) as a strategic orientation in the management of libraries.

The literature is examined to identify aspects of market orientation, and evidence of adoption of market orientation in libraries. Lessons that can be learned from other sectors regarding market orientation are presented, and their relevance for libraries is examined.

It is found that market orientation is relevant for libraries as one of many strategic orientations. It found that there is a lack of systematic application of MO in library management, with the focus on selected aspects of MO, e.g. customer orientation.

The paper provides an overview of how library managers can adopt a market‐orientated approach to the strategic management of their library services.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the synergistic impact of marketing orientation (MO) and strategic orientation (SO) on business performance (BP) and to explore role of entrepreneurial qualification (moderating) and SO (mediating) in MO and BP relationship.

Nine hundred small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) owners/managers operating in Jammu District, North India, are contacted during October 2013 to February 2014.

The study identifies and confirms MO (marketing strategy, customer philosophy, operational efficiency and integrated marketing) and SO (defensive, proactive, analytical and risk-averse) as multi-dimensional constructs. Although both orientations have positive impact on SMEs performance, however, their synergistic impact is weak. In addition, the study also reveals that MO has direct and indirect impact (through SO) on BP. Lastly, there exists moderating role of entrepreneurial qualification between MO and SO.

The major limitation of the study is the focus on SMEs. Based on the strength of the relationships among the dimensions and sub-dimensions of the MO, SO and BP, replication and validation of research in service sector across the country and globe is required to generalise the results and to develop stronger theory.

This is the first empirical study to investigate the synergistic impact of two well-established notions – MO and SO. It provides empirical evidence for the claim that synergistic impact of marketing and SO on BP is weak, unlike their respective strong impact on BP. This study also clarifies roles of entrepreneurial qualification and SO in MO and BP relationship.

This study aims to investigate the ways that human capital influences the strategic orientation variables entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and market orientation (MO), which ultimately leverage the firm performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia.

This study used a quantitative method with a total of 274 SMEs in the Regency of Gresik, East Java, Indonesia, as the observable population. Furthermore, the identified samples obtained through the random sampling technique were determined using the Slovin formula with 163 SMEs used for analysis. As the means of analysis, this study used a statistical approach by using PLS-SEM statistics from SmartPLS software. This analytical tool has been proven to be a robust statistical tool that has been used in many marketing studies.

This study found that human capital is a key determinant of EO and MO as strategic orientations of SMEs. Furthermore, this study highlighted that SMEs’ strategic orientations (i.e. EO and MO) provide a valuable thrust that leverages firm performance. Moreover, the role of human capital in leveraging firm performance was found to be significant with the role of the joint effect of EO and MO as mediator. This implies that human capital is not solely a single determinant that leverages SMEs’ performance.

There are few aspects of limitations in this research that could be enhanced by other scholars in the discipline of entrepreneurship. First, the strategic orientation concept being indicated by EO and MO had yet to provide a comprehensive view of strategic orientation. Second, this research used samples that represent the traditional furniture cluster in East Java and had yet to explore other clusters such as food processing and services cluster which may be relevant to the context of SMEs in Indonesia.

As a practical implication, this study would benefit policymakers in Indonesia, such as the Ministry for Cooperatives and SMEs to provide assistance to SMEs to progressively nurture capacity-building through formal and informal education to leverage human capital. Moreover, it could benefit other relevant businesses, such as national banks in Indonesia whose interests are significant, especially in providing financial access to SMEs in Indonesia.

The social implication of this research lay the focus on the suggestion by which SMEs must be able to optimize their capabilities by enhancing levels of human capital particularly for traditionally managed SMEs. The ability to survive external pressures for would be able to contribute to the social well-being of their society as many people are dependent heavily in the operation of the SMEs.

The significance of this study is twofold. Although the use of human capital as a determinant of firm performance has been discussed in the literature, few studies to date has sought to predict human capital with EO and MO as mediators of firm performance. Furthermore, the joint impact of EO and MO as a strategic orientation needs to be holistically explored and explained, particularly in an emerging economy context.

The role of marketing as a business function is rapidly changing in China. Consequently, their views on marketing orientation – whether it is accepted, rejected, modified or reframed – have been seriously impacted. This paper aims to report on the results of a survey among Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) managers and their perceptions of the market-orientation philosophy. In particular, emphasis was placed on three dimensions of market orientation: intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination and responsiveness. The effect of market orientation on business performance was also examined.

The authors collected data from 214 managers from SMEs. These businesses were located in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The commonly used market orientation (MARKOR) measure was used to test the hypotheses.

Consistent with the extant literature, the findings provided empirical support for the three dimensions of market orientation among Chinese SME. The authors also found that a positive relationship existed between Chinese SME market orientation and firm performance.

This study provides major insights into the market orientation measurement and practices of SME in China. From a measurement perspective, the empirical support for MARKOR across a non-Western context is noteworthy. From a practitioner perspective, the implications relating to understanding Chinese SME and how these companies can best market their products and services to their respective markets are critical. Some of the limitations of our study relates to the sample size, convenience sampling and geographic concentration of the respondents.

This study addresses the gaps in the literature by exploring market orientation in non-large scale businesses as well as the adaptation of the concept in a non-Western cultural setting. The findings extend the conceptualization and application of market orientation to Chinese SME.