A market-oriented culture remains a source of competitive advantage for organisations. Despite calls for an integrated research perspective on the linkage between organisational culture and market orientation (e.g., Deshpande and Webster 1989; Deshpande and Farley 2004), scholars have made limited attempts to examine the relationship between the two concepts. The objective of this study is to investigate what kind of organisational culture encourages and rewards market orientation behaviours.
A structured survey was administered to 870 senior managers attending part-time EMBA programmes in prestigious business schools in China. A total of 370 completed questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of 43 percent. The research findings suggested that different organisational cultures have different impacts on market orientation. Specifically, the results indicate that an adhocracy and a market culture facilitate the development of a market orientation, while a hierarchical culture hinders market orientation behaviours. However, the hypothesised negative relationship between a clan culture and a market orientation was not supported.
This study seeks to extend the literature by responding to Deshpande and Webster ’s (1989) call for an integrated research of organisational culture and marketing. Besides its theoretical contributions, this study also offers some important insights for leaders of organisations. As organisations are driving to become more market-oriented, leaders need to understand why certain organisational cultures exist and their impact on market orientation practices. Although this research provides interesting insights on the understanding of market-oriented organisational culture, it is important to recognise the limitations of the research. Culture is a complex system of norms and values that develops over time and influences organisational processes and behaviours (Hurley and Hult 1998; Schneider and Rentsch 1988). On the other hand, time affects market orientation in a number of ways, such as lagged or cumulative effects during the implementation of a market-oriented strategy (Gauzente 2001). The inclusion of
The need for a co-alignment between internal and external marketing has largely been discussed in the literature. In an attempt to increase the conceptual and empirical body of knowledge, the present study follows a systematic presentation of balanced market orientation. After a brief literature review, it tackles research gaps building on theoretical hypotheses. An empirical examination based on 217 questionnaires, addressed to hotel managers, illuminates the role of culture in this context. Results unveil a significant positive relationship between internal marketing, market orientation and firm performance, irrespective of the underlying culture. Opting for a balanced market orientation, hotel managers gain particular insight into its principal axes and their interrelationships in practice.
Although the role of Guanxi in the Chinese business to business (B2B) market as a form of relationship marketing has received increasing attention in recent years, few empirical studies have explicitly distinguished between Guanxi and relationship marketing. Westerners typically consider Guanxi as unethical, but foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) may have some difficulty in fully practicing relationship marketing in China without considering the influence of Chinese culture. In this regard, this study is guided by the following research question: “In China, should foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) adopt Guanxi instead of relationship marketing in the B2B market?” In this study, we first provide an overview of previous research on Guanxi, focusing on the fundamental differences between Guanxi and relationship marketing. We then provide an empirical analysis of the differential effects of Guanxi and relationship marketing on firm performance by investigating 295 FIEs in the Chinese B2B market. The results suggest that Guanxi and relationship marketing are not trade-off options in today’s Chinese market. Guanxi and relationship marketing have synergetic effects on firm performance, that is, they have differential effects based on the mode of market entry and the type of competitor. Guanxi is more likely to influence firm performance for collaboration based entry firms rather than entry without collaboration firms, whereas relationship marketing is more likely to influence firm performance when FIEs’ main competitors are foreign firms than when they are local firms.
시장의 글로벌화는 시장환경을 급격히 변화시키고 있다. 따라서 본 연구는 이에 부응하여 디자인을 통해 글로벌경쟁우위를 차지하려 노력하는 글로벌 기업들을 위해 글로벌 디자인 프로세스를 제안하고자 한다. 본 연구는 글로벌 소비자문화의 의미구조와 이동의 관점에서 글로벌 세분시장을 구성하는 글로벌 소비자문화, 글로벌 디자인 및 글로벌 세분시장을 구성하는 소비자간의 순환적 인과구조를 규명하여 글로벌 디자인을 위한 새로운 연구의 틀을 창조한다. 그리고 이를 바탕으로 소비자들이 선호하는 디자인을 위해서 글로벌 소비자문화-기반 글로벌 디자인 프로세스를 제안하는 데 목적이 있다. 연구목적을 위해 먼저 글로벌 세분시장과 글로벌 소비자, 글로벌 소비자문화 및 글로벌 디자인을 고찰한다. 그 다음 이들 간의 인과구조를 규명하기 위해 이론적 고찰로서 McCraken의 제품의 문화적 의미구조와 이동에 관한 이론을 적용하여 그것을 바탕으로 연구의 틀을 구성한다. 그리고 글로벌 소비자문화 중 10대 청소년의 글로벌 문화에 대한 2차 자료를 바탕으로 사례연구를 진행한다 마지막으로 연구의 결과로서 글로벌 소비자문화-기반 글로벌 디자인 전략을 제안하고 미래 연구를 위한 방향을 논의한다.