• What Is "Market Orientation"?
    • "Customer-driven," "market-driven," "customer-oriented," and "market-oriented" are all terms that have come into vogue in the past decade.
    • To try to understand the operational meaning of the terms, researchers Ajay K. Kohli and Bernard J. Jaworski interviewed 62 marketing and non-marketing managers in a variety of industries. 
    • They concluded that a "market-oriented" organization has one or more departments that are
    (1) actively trying to understand customers’ needs and the factors affecting them
    • Managers interviewed stressed that understanding needs goes far beyond listening to what customers say they want and need,
    • and involves studying
      • the needs of the customers’ customers,
      • competition, regulation,
      • and future needs
      • as well as current needs.
    (2) sharing this information across departments,
    • Market orientation involves more than just the marketing department
    • Other departments in the organization are involved as well.
    (3) using the information to meet these customer needs.
    • The information must be acted on
    • Translated into a good or service that caters to the current and future needs of customers
    • A market orientation is complemented by a climate that produces a "learning organization."
    • George Day suggests that enhancing a market orientation requires
      1. the diagnosis of current capabilities
      2. anticipation of future needs for capabilities
      3. bottom-up redesign of underlying processes
      4. top-down direction and commitment
      5. creative use of information technology
      6. continuous monitoring of progress.
    • in economic crises,
      • a market orientation is most useful if there is high demand uncertainty or high technological uncertainty
      • a market orientation might not be stressed when competitive intensity is high.
    Source: Adapted from Ajay K. Kohli and Bernard J. Jaworski, "Market Orientation: The Construct, Research Propositions, and Managerial Implications," Journal of Marketing (April 1990), p. 1018; Stanley F. Slater and John C. Narver, "Market Orientation and the Learning Organization," Journal of Marketing (July 1995), pp. 63-74; George S. Day, "The Capabilities of Market-Driven Organizations," Journal of Marketing (October 1994), pp. 37-52; Rajdeep Grewal and Patriya Tansuhaj, "Building Organizational Capabilities for Managing Economic Crises: The Role of Market Orientation and Strategic Flexibility," Journal of Marketing (April 2001), pp. 67-80.