Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and influence of artefacts in market-oriented firms.

Document analysis, direct observation and 14 key informant interviews were undertaken in 6 case study of companies.

The research investigated the nature and influence of four categories of artefacts in market-oriented firms, specifically, stories, arrangements, rituals and language. The four categories of artefacts were found to embody, reinforce, create and compliment the values, norms and behaviours of a market-oriented culture. Market-oriented artefacts are thus core to a market-oriented culture and in developing a market orientation.

The four categories of artefact, namely, stories, arrangements, rituals and language embody a market-oriented culture; these artefacts are necessary to implement market-oriented behaviours. Artefacts play a significant cultural and behavioural part in creating a market-oriented culture.

To be a market-oriented firm means implementing a market-oriented culture. This paper requires managers to assess the degree to which they have developed and used market-oriented artefacts in the establishment and strengthening of a market-oriented culture.

This paper addresses the limited understanding of market-oriented artefacts as an element of a market-oriented culture.

The past decade has seen a flurry of academic and practitioner interest in organizational culture. This has coincided with an increase of theoretical interest in organizational marketing. However, despite some obvious linkages, there have been few studies examining the links between the two. This paper synthesises existing marketing and culture theory into conceptualisations of organizational and market‐oriented cultures. Specifically, such cultures are presented as stratified, processual and subcultural. Thereafter, the development of a market‐led culture is reviewed in terms of the ability of the subculture of marketing to dominate the wider organizational culture. A series of propositions is forwarded relating to factors which affect this interaction. Conclusions and implications for research are presented and discussed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of internal market orientation on the adoption of external market orientation among the retail banks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study adds to the previous research regarding external market orientation. It also develops an empirical model on the basis of the results.

This study used a self-administered structured questionnaire to collect data from the front-line marketing and non-marketing employees from the banks. Data were collected from 98 branches of all the 49 banks that operate in the UAE. Two major emirates of the UAE, namely, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, were considered for data collection. Each bank contributed responses from a minimum of two branches, and 113 completed questionnaires were received out of 196 respondents approached for data collection. The reliability, convergent and discriminant validity issues of the data were assessed, and the results of these confirmed the appropriateness of the data used in this study.

Direct entry regression and multivariate analysis of variance were used for identifying the conclusions surrounding the hypotheses of the study. The results measured the extent of internal market orientation and employees’ organisational commitment. They both confirmed their positive role on the adoption of external market orientations among the retail banks in the UAE. The results of the study further provided evidence that once an external market orientation focus is adopted, this benefits customer loyalty and satisfaction in addition to overall positive business outcomes for the banks concerned.

The findings of this study support the theoretical arguments of the role of employees and internal market orientation on the adoption of external market orientation. This study further identifies the reason why the adoption of external market orientation is critical for the success of banks.

A theme emerging from research into the determinants, content and consequences of market orientation is that developing a market‐oriented culture exerts a profound influence on the organizational culture of a company. Explores and describes the manner and forms of front‐line employees’ responses to market‐oriented culture change initiatives. The paper begins with a brief overview of existing literature discussing the definition and components of a market orientation. Thereafter, extant research into the consequences of developing a market‐oriented culture is reviewed critically. After detailing the research design and methodology adopted in this study, the summary findings of two in‐depth case studies are presented. The findings indicate that front‐line employees respond differentially to market‐oriented culture change programmes. Concludes with a series of implications for both marketing and culture theorists and practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how export learning capability and export environmental turbulence serve as mechanisms and boundary conditions to link export market-oriented culture to export performance.

A quantitative approach was undertaken to analyse longitudinal data of 249 small- and medium-sized exporting firms in Nigeria, a Sub-Saharan African economy.

Four major findings emerged from the study. First, export market-oriented culture positively influences export performance. Second, possessing an export market-oriented culture results in the development of high export learning capabilities. Third, export learning capability mediates the relationship between export market-oriented culture and export performance. Fourth, increases in export environment turbulence weaken the positive effect of export learning capability on export performance.

This study does not investigate moderating effects which might affect the relationship between export market-oriented culture and export learning capability as this was beyond the scope of this study.

This study looks at developing economy environment as a unique context to examine the direct, mediating, and moderating effects of export market-oriented culture on export performance.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how the countervailing processes for enhancing academic excellence based on professional norms are balanced out with the market-oriented processes of standardisation and performance management in a university. Further, the authors aim to explore how and if organisational learning occurs in balancing these processes.

The longitudinal, inductive three-year study of a higher education institution in Lithuania was used to understand how a higher education institution based on the norms of academic excellence was balanced out with the market-oriented processes and what mechanisms of leaning took place during the process. The authors drew upon three data sources – archival materials, observation and interviews with academic staff and administrators – to capture the processes of rebalancing and learning.

A complex balance is observed between the strive for academic excellence and market relevance. Market relevance has been the dominant reform tone for the central administration of a Lithuanian university (LTU), while maintenance of academic excellence prevailed among academic staff. The LTU manages the countervailing processes by standardising, financialising, surveying and disciplining. The rebalancing resulted in dissent from the academic community. Organisational learning could be observed in the example of the introduction of a new examination procedure, while it could not occur during the process of new performance management system introduction. The process led to mutual distrust between the academic staff and the management of the LTU.

This study contributes to the literature on organisational learning in higher education, showing how an eager entrepreneurial university engages in the reform process and how it engages in the complex balancing of countervailing processes of academic excellence and market relevance. The authors contribute with empirical evidence on how rebalancing processes in a professional organisation works and what limitations it faces. The study shows the vital multi-stakeholder involvement and understanding of the process of change. The authors further contribute to the discussion on the adoption factors of performance-based systems and the process of institutionalisation using a longitudinal perspective as called for in previous research.

Hitherto, assessments of the effectiveness of Indian microfinance institutions in achieving their economic and social goals have largely identified only limited success. Critics of Indian regional rural banks (RRBs) and their prevailing culture have argued that a product‐focused rather than a market‐oriented approach to new service development (NSD) is responsible for their inadequate performance. With this in mind, this work aims to develop a conceptual understanding of the factors influencing market orientation in these institutions, and to assess its impact on outreach performance.

Following an extensive review of the literature on the Indian microfinance sector, market orientation and new service development, a model framework for understanding the relationships between the factors affecting outreach performance in Indian RRBs is developed. Research propositions for further evidence‐based investigation are posited.

The attitudes and behaviours of managers, along with institutional characteristics, are identified as influences on market orientation, service innovation, customer satisfaction and outreach performance within RRBs.

This paper is theoretical in its nature and as such proposes a basis for a detailed empirical examination of the proposed model and its associated propositions.

Banking practitioners need to be aware that market orientation may influence NSD and performance in this and related contextual situations.

The conceptual relationships proposed inform those seeking to enhance the performance of RRBs of some of the key internal marketing issues involved in their success, and thus give direction to the development of policies to reduce poverty. In particular, cultural issues relating to perceptions of customers and their effect on effective NSD are examined.

The role of corporate culture in relationship marketing is significantly under‐researched, although there is evident consensus in the literature about the importance of this topic. The purpose of this paper is to present a model for the corporate culture of a relationship‐marketing‐oriented company.

A qualitative methodology involving 58 in‐depth interviews that were analysed and interpreted from a grounded theory standpoint was adopted in order to build a conceptual model.

The two key shared values required to successfully put relationship marketing into effect are client orientation and a high degree of concern for employees. Furthermore, another six shared values (trust, commitment, teamwork, innovation, flexibility, and results orientation) also seem to facilitate the development of a relationship marketing orientation.

Although the research methodology is qualitative and does not allow statistical generalisation, the study provides valuable insights into the role of corporate culture in relationship marketing.

The paper offers a guide to the values that should be developed in order to be able to put a relationship marketing orientation successfully into effect.

The paper proposes a model for the corporate culture of a relationship‐ marketing‐oriented company.

Begins with a review and critical analysis of the literature surrounding the obstacles or barriers to the development of organization‐wide market orientation. Suggests that, though valiant attempts have been made to identify individual barriers, a diversity of academic opinion appears to prevail. Consequently, presents a preliminary framework for the study of barriers, which revolves around the application of a broad definition of organizational culture to orientation inhibitors. Then applies the framework of assumptions, values, artefacts and symbols to a company case study and discusses the issues involved. Draws managerial recommendations and outlines implications for further study.

Marketing theorists and practitioners have for many years extolled the need for and the value of developing a concept which has become known as a “market orientation”. Indeed, since the early 1950s a variety of researchers have argued that a market orientation is frequently associated with high levels of performance. However, despite the widespread acceptance of the merits of a market orientation, researchers have found comparatively low levels of adoption within British industry. The relatively limited extent of market orientation development is possibly explained through the findings of a number of studies which conclude that a wide range of organizational barriers impede market orientation. However, this paper argues that extant research into the barriers to market orientation is frequently restricted by the explicit concentration on management‐level barriers to the detriment of shopfloor‐derived impediments. Hence, via the exploratory case study of two retailing organizations, a typology of the barriers to market orientation development at the shopfloor level is presented. Implications for theorists and practitioners are identified and an action plan discussed.