Marketing orientation and its determinants: an empirical analysis

While a strong association between marketing orientation development and company performance has been established, the understanding of the marketing orientation remains unclear since some studies have suggested a philosophical nature for marketing orientation and some other studies concluded that marketing orientation represents a behavioural notion. As a result of this antithesis, research has not proceeded in the investigation on the factors that determine the degree of marketing orientation development. A study shows that marketing orientation should be conceptualised synthetically since it represents the integration of a certain culture with specific behaviour. It closely examines the major determinants of marketing orientation development. Although exploratory in nature, the study suggests that marketing orientation development is determined by company-specific, as well as by market-specific factors with the former having a facilitating effect and the latter a coercive effect.