This study investigated the impact of the latest developments in big data analytics capabilities (BDAC) on firm performance. The BDAC have the power to innovate existing management practices. Nevertheless, their impact on firm performance has not been fully is not yet fully elucidated. The BDAC relates to the flexibility of infrastructure as well as the skills of management and firm's personnel. Most studies have explored the phenomena from a theoretical perspective or based on factors such as organizational characteristics. However, this study extends the flow of previous research by proposing and testing a model which examines whether organizational exploration, exploitation and market agility mediate the relationship between the BDAC and firm performance. The proposed model was tested using survey data collected from the long-term employees over 10 years in 250 companies. The results analyzed through structural equation modeling show that a strong BDAC can help improve firm performance. An organization's ability to analyze big data affects its exploration and exploitation thereby affecting market agility, and, consequently, firm performance. These results also confirm the powerful mediating role of exploration, exploitation, and market agility in improving insights into big data utilization and improving firm performance.

While market orientation is long evident to be a key contributor to firm performance (Narver & Slater, 1990; Jaworski & Kohli, 1993), firms now increasingly find that proactive market orientation (Narver, Slater & Maclachlan, 2004) may be more appropriate for the rapidly changing market. Not only can it contribute to new product development success, it is proposed that it can enhance the ability to market which is labeled marketing exploration (Kyriakopoulos & Moorman, 2004). In this study, we posited proactive market orientation together with the original market orientation named here responsive market orientation as essential to developing a firm’s marketing exploration capability. As marketing competences reside in the everyday routines and practice related to the marketing function, marketing exploration enables one to update the ability to perform various marketing tasks which is essential capability of the firm to get ahead of the competition. Entrepreneurial orientation is also introduced as a mediating factor between the above relationships with the argument that such posture is related to a firm’s propensity to innovate, take risk and be proactive (Lumpkin & Dess, 1996) which is related to a proactive market orientation. A survey was carried out in China and results show that proactive market orientation is positively related to marketing exploration while responsive market orientation has positive impact on marketing exploration only through entrepreneurial orientation. Marketing exploration in turn positively impact firm performance. Results of this study contribute theoretically in revitalizing the market orientation literature which has been research for almost three decades. While leading customers with a proactive market orientation is getting more salient in this rapidly changing market environment, the original market orientation cannot be ignored. Both orientations are essential to enhance firms’ ability to renew their marketing skills and routines. This is definitely more important than just coming up with new products/services as it enables firms to update its marketing knowledge and skills so is crucial to long term performance.