Creating Market Orientation

eating market orientationCreating a Market Orientation
JOHN C. NARVER*

Professor, School of Business Administration, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
STANLEY F. SLATER

Professor of Business Administration, University of Washington, Bothell, Bothell, WA 98021
BRIAN TIETJE

Doctoral Student, School of Business Administration, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

Abstract A market orientation is a business culture in which all employees are committed to the continuous creation of superior value for customers. However, businesses report limited success in developing such a culture. One approach to create a market orientation, the ap­ proach taken by most businesses, is the “programmatic” approach, an a priori approach in which a business uses education programs and organizational changes to attempt to implant the desired norm of continuously creating superior value for customers. A second approach is the “market-back” approach, an experiential approach in which a business continuously learns from its day-to-day efforts to create and maintain superior value for customers and thereby continuously develops and adapts its customer-value skills, resources, and proce­ dures. Theory suggests that both approaches contribute to increasing a market orientation. It also suggests that when the a priori education of the programmatic approach is sharply focused on providing a foundation for the experiential learning, the combined effect of the two learning strategies is the largest. The implication is that the two strategies must be tailored and managed as a coordinated joint strategy for creating a market orientation.
Keywords: market orientation, customer value, organization culture, organization change

Creating a Market Orientation The literature on the theory and effects of an organization being “market oriented” has grown rapidly in the last few years. Most of the recent research on the theory and effects of market orientation builds on two

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E., Jr. (1994), Market-Driven Management, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. John Narver is a professor of marketing, University of Washington. His current research interests are the behavior and creation of a market orientation, organizational learning, and competitive strategy. He has published three books and numerous articles including five in the Journal of marketing, has won a “Best Paper” award from the Marketing Science Institute, and has been selected U.W. MBA professor of the year. He has been a Fulbright professor in Israel and a visiting professor in Norway, Finland, Turkey, and the Federal Trade Commission. He reviews for several journals. His PhD is from the University of California, Berkeley. Stanley Slater is a professor and the Director of the Business Administration Program at the University of Washington, Bothell. His research is concerned with the nature and benefits of a market orientation, organizational learning, competitive strategy, and the resource allocation process. He has published more than 20 articles in leading marketing and management journals and has won “Best Paper” awards from the Marketing Science Institute and from the International Marketing Reveiw. He serves on four editorial review boards including those of the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Brian Tietje is a doctoral candidate in Marketing at the University of Washington. He received his undergraduate marketing degree at Bowling Green State University and an MBA at the University of Hawaii. He worked for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products, Inc. in key accounts, retail operations, and sales technology. His research interests include sales promotions which enhance brand equity, market evaluation, and marketing strategies.