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A market orientation in supply chain management

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Abstract

Despite the logical association between market orientation (MO) and the supply chain management concepts of supply chain orientation (SCO) and supply chain management (SCM), and the potential mediating role of SCO and SCM in the MO-firm business performance (PERF) relationship, there have been few, if any, attempts to investigate MO in a supply chain context. Thus, this study tests the relationships between MO, SCO, SCM, and PERF. Results indicate MO has a strong, positive impact on SCO and SCM. Interestingly, SCO was found to have the largest direct influence on PERF, followed by MO, followed by SCM. Managers should realize that SCO is critical to fulfilling customer requirements, i.e., a firm’s efforts to work with supply chain partners will not pay off if the firm is not supply chain-oriented. Although overshadowed by SCO, MO is still a foundation for managing the supply chain and has a positive impact on PERF. Equally important, the fact that the contribution of SCM to firm performance is overshadowed by MO and SCO does not mean SCM is irrelevant in corporate strategy. Managerial and future research implications of these findings are discussed.

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Notes

  1. A difference was found for only one item (MO–DISS #1,  = 0.01). Since both groups had similar response patterns (5.83 for marketing and 4.80 for SCM, both above the neutral point on the 1 to 7 scale), we concluded there is no strong evidence the groups are different in responding to MO questions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, Michael F. Price College of Business, The University of Oklahoma, 307 West Brooks Room 1, Norman, OK, 73019-4001, USA

    Soonhong Min

  2. Department of Marketing and Logistics, The University of Tennessee, 310 Stokely Management Center, Knoxville, TN, 37996-0530, USA

    John T. Mentzer

  3. Department of Management, The University of Tennessee, 410 Stokely Management Center, Knoxville, TN, 37996-0530, USA

    Robert T. Ladd

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  1. Soonhong Min
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  2. John T. Mentzer
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  3. Robert T. Ladd
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Correspondence to John T. Mentzer.

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Table 6 Measurement item descriptions
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Min, S., Mentzer, J.T. & Ladd, R.T. A market orientation in supply chain management. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 35, 507–522 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-007-0020-x

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