Organizational Search and Market Orientation

Abstract

Market orientation has evolved into a key construct in the marketing and strategy literature. While much progress has been made in empirical research, the concept lacks a coherent theoretical underpinning. This paper contributes to existing marketing research by proposing a theoretical foundation for market orientation, based on organizational search models drawn from the behavioral theory of the firm. We draw on the NK model and the aspiration-level model to de-velop testable propositions that substantiate and extend prior market orientation research. Our results provide new insight into organizational characteristics and consequences of responsive and proactive marketing behaviors, as well as the allocation of attention towards customers and competitors. Finally, we argue that the temporal sequencing of proactive and responsive ap-proaches, on a business unit level, and portfolio management, on the corporate level, might hold the key to superior performance.

Keywords: Organizational search, market orientation, competitor orientation, responsive, proactive, aspiration-level model, risk taking, NK-model, complex landscapes

JEL Classification: M10, M20