Market Orientation and Country Markets: A Search for Its Globalness and Role in Competitive Advantage of Firms

Abstract

This paper is a historical analysis of the nature and role of market orientation in global markets. The two-fold goals are to understand first, if market orientation is global in terms of its development, nature, and desired strength, and second if its impact on organizational performance is consistent across countries. Articles on market orientation between 1995 and 2018 were qualitatively analyzed. Analysis shows that market orientation is global to the extent that there are global antecedents of market orientation, and on average, market orientation positively impacts organizational performance across countries. At the same time country environmental and organizational factors moderate the development and nature of market orientation in each country, the development of strategic dynamic capabilities generated from market orientation and, through the latter, its impact on different kinds of performances. Both similarities and differences exist across countries, environmentally similar and different and within-country for different performance variables. The analysis could not bring out set patterns, making generalization difficult and unwise. Findings also indicate that for global competitiveness, market orientation will likely need to be complemented by one or more other strategic orientations. Degree of relative importance of strategic orientations for competitive advantage will vary based on country environments and organizational factors.