The Effect of a Market Orientation on Business Profitability

Abstract

Marketing academicians and practitioners have been observing for more than three decades that busi- ness performance is affected by market orientation, yet to date there has been no valid measure of a market orientation and hence no systematic analysis of its effect on a business's performance. The au- thors report the development of a valid measure of market orientation and analyze its effect on a busi- ness's profitability. Using a sample of 140 business units consisting of commodity products businesses and noncommodity businesses, they find a substantial positive effect of a market orientation on the prof- itability of both types of businesses. Abusiness