Measuring Market Orientation in the Context of Service Organizations

Abstract

This study examines the market orientation-performance link in the context of service organizations by comparing different approaches for measuring market orientation. Focusing on 54 shops of a Japanese automobile dealership firm, this study measures market orientation through both managers' and salespersons' perceptions as well as both the MKTOR and MARKOR scales. The results of the analysis reveal that market orientation measured through salespersons' perceptions, particularly its cultural components, positively affects sales productivity. In fact, qualitative evidence suggests that salespersons' perceptions of market orientation indicate their internalization of market-oriented values, which in turn leads to continuous improvement behavior.

Market Orientation and Kaizen Readiness in the Automobile Dealership Context

“…Briefly put, it has been indicated that market orientation has a positive impact on performance through innovation, perceived quality, and loyalty (Kirca, Jayachandran, & Bearden, 2005). However, as most prior studies assume that the unit of analysis is the SBU (Kohli & Jaworski, 1990;Narver & Slater, 1990), limited attention has been paid to the nature of market orientation in the context of service where direct interaction with customers is required (Kosuge, 2015). This paper empirically examines the impact of market orientation in such a context.…”

“…3 Table 1 demonstrates the mean and standard deviation for each item. A kaizen readiness score for 2 See Kosuge (2015) for details on each item. 3 Some items reference those in oractika (organization activation karte, a registered trademark of the Global Business Research Center (GBRC), a nonprofit organization) (Takahashi, 1997).…”

Are call centers sweatshops?

“…Call centers 1Sales and marketing divisions are another important customer interface. For research on sales and marketing divisions, seeInamizu, Sato, and Ikuine (2017),Kosuge (2015),Sato (2015),Yamashiro (2017Yamashiro ( , 2018, among others. 2 Sato (2017) deals with organizations' strategic consistency.…”

Five Steps in Sales and Its Skills

“…Therefore, if sales activities can be improved, it becomes possible to respond to changes in the environment, including market changes, and this impacts the execution of the strategy (Slater & Olson, 2000). In addition, as salespeople develop relationships with customers, they become more customer-oriented (Kosuge, 2007(Kosuge, , 2015; Kosuge & Takahashi, 2016;Reynolds & Beatty, 1999).…”