Beyond Market Orientation: Exploring the Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation

Abstract

Market orientation (MO), which primarily focuses on knowing the customers and competitors, has been a dominant theme in marketing strategy research for the past two decades. Theories and empirical evidence generally support that MO has a robust positive influence on firm performance. However, MO has its limitations. MO, in its traditional form of conceptualization, fails to predict successful commercialization of innovations that results in creation of new markets. A strong commitment to current markets leaves firms beholden to customers who typically have neither the foresight nor the interest for radical innovations. As a consequence, firms may potentially overlook emerging markets. It has been argued that MO may be necessary, but not sufficient, to provide sustainable competitive advantages. Furthermore, meta-analyses on this subject indicate that there has been strong empirical evidence to support the link between MO and perceived attitudinal indicators of performance, such as customer satisfaction and loyalty (CSL); the support for the link between MO to more objective financial performance (FP) has been weak.

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