Through the years customer orientation is an area of marketing that has received much attention. One of the key aspects of customer orientation is the “ability of the salespeople to help their customers”. There has been research on how salesperson’s behavior influences customer orientation. However, previous research has been conducted on the business unit level. At the moment there is no research done on how a salesperson’s individual behavior affects a company’s overall customer orientation. Therefore, this dissertation will try to fill the research gap on how salesperson’s individual behavior affects overall customer orientation.The study is performed on the three major electronic retail stores in the Swedish market. Twelve types of behaviors were selected and were tested with the mystery shopper method and observations of customers in the stores. Two other behaviors of salespeople were discovered. The results show that many of the behaviors described in theories do apply to salesperson’s individual behavior. However, there are some behaviors that are more common than others. The conclusion is that even though there are some common salespeople behaviors, it is very individual how salespeople behave towards customers.

As a consequence of deregulation in the airline industry, market forces rather than public service considerations increasingly dictate services to and from airports in Europe’s peripheral areas. The new market advocates market-driven management practices as a means of satisfying airline customers and implies that airports that adopt a more marketorientated approach than their rivals will perform better. This study investigates the theoretical foundations of a market orientation, which can be defined as the organisationwide generation, dissemination and response to market intelligence. The main aim of this study is to examine the relationship between market orientation and the performance of airports in Europe’s peripheral areas. The research methodology was implemented using a questionnaire-based survey that was administered to the managers of 217 airports in 17 different countries. Usable responses from 86 airports were received and analysed. The findings of this study suggest that airports wishing to outperform competitors can do so by adopting a market orientation and should seek to continually monitor and improve the way in which they gather, disseminate and respond to market intelligence. This will be particularly effective when market turbulence is high and/or when the focus of the airport is on developing leisure services. In addition, market orientation was found to have a positive effect on performance because it means that airports are more likely to be innovative in their approach to marketing. This means that airport managers should try to develop a market-orientated culture with innovative marketing practices in mind, and visa versa. The fact that independently-owned airports have significantly higher levels of market orientation than regionally-owned or nationally-owned airports suggests that independent ownership is more conducive to the development of a market orientation. The findings of this study do have a number of limitations, the most notable being that they are restricted to airports in Europe’s peripheral areas. It is recommended that future research should be conducted on airports worldwide in order to investigate differences between a wider range of airport types and geographical regions. In addition, the findings of this study suggest that a stakeholder orientation is important for airports seeking to improve their performance, especially smaller airports that are publicly-owned. It is recommended that future studies should investigate antecedents to and consequences of a stakeholder orientation. Future studies should also investigate whether a stakeholder orientation has a greater effect on performance than a market orientation does, and whether the two types of orientation complement each other.

There is a large body of research supporting the importance of market orientation in determining performance. A growing body of research supports the notion that strategic alliance management competencies positively influence performance. Few empirical investigations have examined the importance of market orientation in the biotechnology industry, much less the effect of alliance orientation on performance, or the combined effect of market and alliance orientation on performance. This study explores these relationships among Canadian biotechnology companies with medical/healthcare focuses. Of the 394 Canadian medical/healthcare biotechnology companies identified, 81 usable responses were received, yielding a response rate of 20.6 percent. It was found that market orientation positively and significantly influenced business performance, supporting the first hypothesis. Additionally, alliance orientation positively and significantly influenced business performance, supporting the second hypothesis. However, when market and alliance orientation were examined together, alliance orientation’s effect on business performance remained positive and significant, but market orientation’s effect on business performance became negative and non-significant. This prompted a further analysis that investigated the presence of a mediation relationship. Market orientation was fully mediated by alliance orientation in its relationship with business performance. This study contributes academically by adding to market and alliance orientation research and by the successful development of a biotechnology-specific performance instrument. This study contributes to marketing and management strategy, as it outlines performance indicators that enable high performance.

Thee market-driving approach has been cited by several business academic scholars (Jaworski,Kohli, & Sahay, 2000; Carpenter, Glazer, & Nakamoto, 2000; Kumar, Scheer, & Kotler, 2000;Harris & Cai, 2002; Hills & Sarin, 2003; Carrillat, Jaramillo, & Locander, 2004; Schindehutte,Morris, & Kocak, 2008) as a significant approach of the market-oriented company that canprovide a sustainable competitive advantage. Moreover, the organizational cultures developed bythe transformational leadership behavioral style are likely to play an important role in themarket-driving approach (Carrillat et al., 2004). Hence, it is necessary for the market-orientedfirm to understand the interrelationship between these two elements in order to develop asuccessful competitive position in the long-run.The main purpose of our thesis is to create a framework for understanding the interrelationshipbetween the market-driving approach and the organizational culture, which is applicable for amarket-oriented firm. To achieve this objective, we have to identify the types of organizationalcultures and leadership behavioral styles, which are occupied in a market-driving company.Furthermore, we also have to define the relationship between the market-driving approach andthe organizational culture; whether the market-driving approach or the organizational culture isthe origin of effect to the other.To answer our research question, a qualitative approach was applied by conducting semistructuredinterviews with two case studies, which are well-known market-driving companiesoperating in Thailand, IKEA Thailand and Land and Houses. We scope the area of study only inThailand according to our ability of understanding, analyze and access the sources of informationregarding Thai companies.From the research findings, both IKEA and Land and Houses share a similarity of theirorganizational culture, adhocracy and market cultures, and their leadership behavioral style,transformational leaderships. The relationship between the organizational culture and the marketdrivingapproach within these two companies reveals only one direction; their organizationalcultures led by transformational leadership stimulate their market-driving approach. Moreover,we also found that transformational leadership itself can directly generate the market-drivingapproach.Hence, this result provided us with a new conceptual framework that indicates thetransformational leadership as the main factor, which directly and indirectly develops themarket-driving approach.

This research explores the management problem of how individuals can influence the development of a strategic orientation within a firm. A market orientation strategy builds upon three dimensions: the organisation-wide acquisition, dissemination, and co-ordination of market intelligence (Jaworski & Kohli, 1993). Such management of market-based information requires a set of distinct dynamic capabilities or routines. Empirical research about the association between market orientation and performance shows that firms that develop these capabilities improve both their organisational and financial performance (Gray, Buchanan, & Mallon, 2003). This research attempts to understand the circumstances that prompt employees in all areas of an organisation to become accountable for the implementation of a market-oriented strategy. To date, studies have inadequately measured individual contribution to the market orientation of a firm and do not understand each employee's personal responsibility and willingness to act in a market-oriented way. In response, this thesis developed a dynamic, multi-dimensional scale of individual market-oriented behaviour. First-stage research used focus groups and extant literature to construct a measure of individual market orientation. Then, a cross-section of financial services employees completed a web-based survey measuring individual market-oriented behaviour and individual and interpersonal antecedents. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the presence of a single latent construct with three dimensions. Study results identified a strong and significant relationship between the performance of market-oriented behaviours and the perception of a high-quality fulfilled psychological contract with the employer. Employees who were agile learners and frequently in contact with customers were also more likely to practice market-oriented behaviours.

Predicting export performance remains an important issue at the heart of export research and management. This is because of the primary role of exporting to ensuring the profitability, growth and survival of firms. Given these and other benefits that firms stand to gain (and the challenges that firms face) for their active engagement in exporting, scholars have exerted efforts into explaining the causes of export success. Export marketing strategy, firm characteristics, capabilities and firms' orientations towards export markets are some the variables studied. Firms' entrepreneurial orientation towards export markets has been one important variable that has captured the attention of researchers. This study is an attempt to introduce an export context-specific entrepreneurial-oriented behaviour (or export EOB) to the study of antecedents of export performance. A theoretical model involving the relationship between export EOB (and its dimensions) and export performance is, therefore, developed and empirically tested using data from 212 exporting organisations. Findings suggest that firms' overall level of export EOB is a major driver of export success. The study further establishes that a high level of market-oriented behaviour in exporting organisations can help firms to derive stronger benefits from their entrepreneurial activities. At the specific level of the export EOB components, results suggest that development of novel product innovations, high export risk-taking, and strong proactive and competitively aggressive behaviours can help exporting organisations to improve their performance. However, product innovation intensity and autonomy are negatively related to export performance, suggesting that high levels of these two behaviours might lead to poor export performance. Nevertheless, further analysis shows that the negative association between product innovation intensity and export performance becomes positive when moderated by product innovation novelty. In addition, the study shows that autonomy has indirect positive association with export performance through interaction with proactiveness and competitive aggressiveness. In other words, autonomy facilitates the effectiveness of proactive and competitive aggressive behaviours. Further analyses of moderating effect relationships reveal mixed results. Specifically, the study finds that export market orientation positively moderates the link between production innovation intensity and export performance. In addition, export customer dynamism positively moderates the association of product innovation novelty and risk-taking with export performance. On the contrary, export customer dynamism negatively moderates the link between product innovation intensity and export performance. Theoretical, export managerial and policy implications of these findings are discussed and useful areas for future research are proposed.

A review of the literature indicates that a universally enhancing relationship between market orientation and performance is not conclusively supported. Recent research suggests that the relationship between marketing investments and profit may be inverted U-shaped such that there is an optimal level of marketing investments which maximises profit (Mantrala et al 2007). In this study, it is proposed that market orientation has different curvilinear relationships with different types of performance. Using a performance categorisation suggested by Kirca et al (2005), it is theorised that market orientation s relationship with revenue-based performance (e.g. sales growth, market share growth) is subject to diminishing returns such that performance is enhanced for all levels of market orientation but the incremental benefits diminish as market orientation increases. For cost-based performance (e.g. profit, return on sales), it is proposed that the incremental costs of implementing market oriented activities may exceed the benefits. Thus, cost-based performance may have an inverted U-shaped relationship with market orientation. Three mechanisms by which diminishing returns affect the market orientation - performance relationship are identified; duplication, contradiction and prioritisation. A review of over 400 papers in the market orientation literature demonstrates that a research gap exists for different curvilinear relationships between market orientation and different types of performance. In particular, an inverted U-shaped relationship has not previously been found between market orientation and profit. A sampling frame was selected to control for both the macro-environment, and different performance levels in different industries (Dess and Robinson 1984). In a sample of 113 UK car dealers operating in the new car market the hypothesised relationships were tested using both objective and subjective performance measures. The findings relating to objective performance measures support the full inverted U-shaped relationship between market orientation and profit across the observed range of values. The relationship for objective revenue-based performance is more curvilinear with significant linear and curvilinear components. In highly competitive environments maximum profit shifts to a higher level of market orientation and overall the relationship is predominantly enhancing. Conversely, in uncompetitive environments profit is maximised at a lower level of market orientation and the relationship becomes detrimental at moderate market orientation levels. In recession, the profit for all new car dealers is reduced and maximum profit occurs at a lower market orientation level. In addition, the relationship between market orientation and sales growth turns negative in a recession. Interestingly, the results for subjective performance are distinctly different to, and sometimes contradict, the objective performance results. In particular, subjective performance predominantly has a positive linear relationship with market orientation.

Product management as an organizational system has a long history of practice, which predates most modern academic management research. Its activities span the external environment of the firm, while simultaneously spanning across internal functional specialties of the organization. Thus product management obtains, codifies, simplifies and stores external information making it available to a responsive organization, which uses it to establish competitive advantage and ultimately superior performance. Building on the resource based view of the firm and boundary theory, these spanning activities, which are heterogeneously dispersed across firms, are considered organizational capabilities. Drawing upon the extant product management literature, this research uses product management as a proxy for boundary spanning capabilities of the firm. These capabilities are then empirically measured against two well established firm capabilities; market orientation and firm-level innovativeness. This research addresses a gap in the literature by establishing product management as a set of firm-level capabilities, distinct from the well established constructs of market orientation and innovativeness. Results indicate that external product management capability, defined as channel bonding activities, fully mediates the market orientation – firm performance relationship, while firm level innovativeness continues to have a small mediating effect on performance. Internal product management capabilities, defined as market and technical integration are shown to negatively moderate the external product management capability - firm performance relationship. Theoretical implications include establishing a link between boundary theory and the resource based view of the firm. Practical implications include the strong relationship between external spanning capabilities and firm performance and the dampening effect of cross-functional integration on firm performance. This empirical link between product management boundary spanning practices and how firms ultimately perform could assist practitioners in allocating resources and managing the relationship between the marketing and technological factions of the organization. Most importantly this research establishes the hereto untested link between product management capability and firm performance.

Der Workshop-Beitrag beschreibt die Bedeutung marktorientierter Technologieentwicklung, die Umsetzung der Marktorientierung im Projekt EFFEKT der TU Dresden auf insgesamt 4 Stufen. Besonderer Augenmerk wird dabei der Wirtschaftlichkeitsbetrachtung des Modellverarbeitungsprozesses und den Anwenderstudien geschenkt.

As microempresas são consideradas uma importante parte de um sistema econômico. Sua importância está centrada em sua diversificação de atuação, relacionada ao comércio, serviço e à indústria, formando um sistema de amortecimento das variações econômicas de uma nação. Sua importância em números de empresas em funcionamento e no número de funcionários é fundamental para a economia. A capacidade absortiva pode ser entendida como a capacidade de uma empresa em extrair conhecimento a partir do ambiente externo; reconhecer o valor da informação externa, assimilá-la e aplicá-la para fins comerciais, para aumentar/desenvolver a inovação. (COHEN; LEVINTHAL, 1990). Já a orientação para o mercado é descrita por Narver e Slater (1990) como um construto formado por três componentes comportamentais: orientação para o cliente, orientação para os concorrentes e coordenação interfuncional, bem como foco no longo prazo e na lucratividade, denominadas como critérios de decisão. Este trabalho buscou analisar a relação destes dois construtos com o desempenho das microempresas localizadas no Corede Serra do Rio Grande do Sul. A pesquisa foi realizada com uma amostra de 295 microempresas. Os resultados indicam que há uma correlação significativa entre a capacidade absortiva, a orientação para o mercado e o desempenho das empresas estudadas. As correlações apresentadas foram significativas em nível da significância (p<0,01), mesmo sendo baixas a moderadas, com valores em torno do 0,4, representou que há uma relação percebida entre capacidade absortiva, orientação para o mercado e desempenho nas microempresas. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-04-30T12:58:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Joao Vicente F. de Godolphim.pdf: 672225 bytes, checksum: 6a9e2b401501fa64e565d6a705c039d1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-04-30T12:58:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Joao Vicente F. de Godolphim.pdf: 672225 bytes, checksum: 6a9e2b401501fa64e565d6a705c039d1 (MD5) / Microenterprises are regarded as an important part of an economic system. Their importance is centered on their action diversification, which is related to trade, services and industry, thus forming a buffering system for the economic variations of a nation. Their importance in terms of both number of operating companies and number of employees is fundamental to the economy. The absorptive capacity can be understood as a company’s ability to extract knowledge from the external environment, recognize the value of external information, assimilate it and apply it to commercial purposes in order to increase/develop innovation (COHEN; LEVINTHAL, 1990). Market orientation, in turn, was described by Narver and Slater (1990) as a construct comprising three behavioral components: customer orientation, competitor orientation and interfunctional coordination, with a focus on long-term and profitability, which have been denominated as decision criteria. This paper aimed at analyzing the relationship of these two constructs with the performance of microenterprises located in Corede Serra in Rio Grande do Sul. The sample consisted of 295 microenterprises. The results evidenced a significant correlation between absorptive capacity, market orientation and performance of the companies under study. The correlations presented were significant at the significance level (p<0.01). Despite being low to moderate, with values around 0.4, they evidenced a perceived relationship between absorptive capacity, market orientation and performance in micro-enterprises.