Content area
Full text
Robert E. Morgan: Cardiff Business School, University of Wales, Cardiff, UK
Carolyn A. Strong: Cardiff Business School, University of Wales, Cardiff, UK
Introduction
It is axiomatic that marketing and strategic management are related. However, despite Drucker's (1954) established dictum that customer issues should be the concern for the whole business and not simply restricted to the marketing function, it was not until the last decade that the features of this marketing-strategic management dialogue were examined (Anderson, 1982; Biggadike, 1981; Jemison, 1981). Since that time, pertinent research streams have proliferated to consider topics such as: business strategy and marketing strategy interface (Day et al., 1990; Varadarajan and Clarke, 1994); comparative and competitive advantage (Day and Wensley, 1988; Hunt and Morgan, 1995); organizational culture (Deshpande and Webster, 1989); and, organizational structures and processes (Walker and Ruekert, 1987).
Market orientation has been identified as an important theoretical construct from this corpus of knowledge which has, in itself, stimulated much conceptual, empirical and executive attention (Wensley 1995, p. 59). However, there has been limited research work conducted on the competitive strategies that market oriented firms pursue. In this respect, Slater and Narver (1996, p. 59) assert that "understanding the link between market orientation and strategies ... is important to our comprehensive appreciation of market orientation's contribution to organizational effectiveness". Studies examining the market orientation-business performance relationship have tended to adopt a ceteris paribus approach and neglect the potential mediating effect (Baron and Kenny, 1986) of competitive strategy in their analyses (Day, 1992; Slater and Narver, 1996) which may have an important influence in this debate. In this paper it is maintained that competitive strategy is a key organizing focus for market orientation (Ruekert, 1992). The theoretical basis for such an association is becoming more apparent (Slater and Narver, 1993; Webster, 1992) and this study will attempt to embellish upon the limited platform of understanding in this area by reporting a study testing the relationship between firms' market orientation and six dimensions of strategic orientation, sourced to extensive research documented in the strategic management literature.
The paper, first, explains the nature of market orientation and discusses the conceptual framework and theoretical premises underlying the study. An account of the research method is then given which is followed by a presentation...