Market orientation, marketing capabilities, and firm performance

• Published in: Strategic management journal Vol. 30; no. 8; pp. 909 - 920
• Main Authors: Morgan, Neil A., Vorhies, Douglas W., Mason, Charlotte H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.08.2009; John Wiley & Sons; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Subjects: Alliances; Assets; Business structures; Coefficients; Corporate finance; Corporate strategies; Debt management; Dynamics; Economic resources; Financial performance; Financial risks; firm performance; Impact analysis; Industrial market; Market; Market orientation; Market prices; Marketing; marketing capabilities; Marketing strategies; Research Notes and Commentaries; Return on assets; Strategic management; Studies
• ISSN: 0143-2095; 1097-0266
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.764

Drawing on traditional resource-based theory and its recent dynamic capabilities theory extensions, we examine both the possession of a market orientation and the marketing capabilities through which resources are deployed into the marketplace as drivers of firm performance in a cross-industry sample. Our findings indicate that market orientation and marketing capabilities are complementary assets that contribute to superior firm performance. We also find that market orientation has a direct effect on firms' return on assets (ROA), and that marketing capabilities directly impact both ROA and perceived firm performance.