Transition to a market orientation: preliminary evidence from China.

Bathgate, Ian; Omar, Maktoba; Nwankwo, Sonny; Zhang, Yinan

Abstract

Purpose – The research objective was to assess the challenges of transition that firms face in adopting a market orientation in China, as the basis for providing a context-specific explanation of market orientation.
Design/methodology/approach – A sample from the He Bei Light Industry Directory was selected by the systematic-selection-from-lists procedure. The survey instrument was adapted from the widely used MARKOR scale.
Findings – Although some of the early results are consistent with those obtained in the West, an underlying lacuna needs to be addressed in order for a useful culture-sensitive interpretation of market orientation to be offered vis-à-vis locale-specific knowledge. Research implications/limitations – While there can be little doubt that market orientation delivers superior performance in developed western economies, implementations in many transition-economy contexts reveal a range of paradoxes, which point to some gaps in both the theory and practice of marketing.
Originality/value – A useful explanation of market orientation in transition economies should necessarily embed an approach that accommodates the institutional peculiarities of the environment under study, focusing the temporal, spatial and wider socio-cultural and historical characteristics of marketing itself.

Citation

Bathgate, I., Omar, M., Nwankwo, S., & Zhang, Y. (2006). Transition to a market orientation: preliminary evidence from China. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 24(4), 332-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/02634500610672080

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2006-06
• Deposit Date: Feb 18, 2008
• Print ISSN: 0263-4503
• Publisher: Emerald
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 332-346
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/02634500610672080
• Keywords: China; market orientation; transition management
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/2087
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02634500610672080