The effect of market orientation dimensions on multinational SBU's strategic performance An empirical study

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to provide new insights into the link between market orientation (MO) and strategic performance by disaggregating the MO construct. With a focus on responsiveness, a crucial element of MO, this research explores antecedents as well as outcomes in the strategic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational marketing review Vol. 30; no. 6; pp. 591 - 616
Main Authors Dong, Xiaodan, Andrew Hinsch, Christian, Zou, Shaoming, Fu, Huifen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Emerald Group Publishing Limited 01.01.2013
Subjects
Behavior
Competition
Competitive advantage
Decision making
Investigations
Market orientation
Product development
Production management
Strategic business units
Studies
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Summary:Purpose – The purpose of this study is to provide new insights into the link between market orientation (MO) and strategic performance by disaggregating the MO construct. With a focus on responsiveness, a crucial element of MO, this research explores antecedents as well as outcomes in the strategic business units (SBUs) of MNCs. The decision-making structure of the firm was modeled as a moderator of the link between responsiveness and performance. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data from upper level managers employed by 126 MNC SBUs representing 23 industries were collected. Findings – The key findings indicate that: responsiveness mediates the link between intelligence generation and strategic performance; responsiveness also mediates the link between resource flexibility and strategic performance; and the link between responsiveness and strategic performance is moderated by the SBU's decision-making structure (i.e. centralization). Originality/value – This study contributes to the conceptual precision of the composite construct MO, and also illustrates an avenue to increase strategic performance. Managerially, it provides managers with prescriptive suggestions for leveraging the value of the elements of MO with respect to the firm's decision-making structure.
ISSN:0265-1335
1758-6763
DOI:10.1108/IMR-12-2011-0284