TY - JOUR

T1 - Effective Forms of Market Orientation across the Business Cycle: A Longitudinal Analysis of Business-to- Business Firms

AU - Froesen, J.

AU - Jaakkola, M.

AU - Churakova, I.

AU - Tikkanen, H.

N1 - Froesen, J. Effective Forms of Market Orientation across the Business Cycle: A Longitudinal Analysis of Business-to- Business Firms / J. Froesen, M. Jaakkola, I. Churakova, H. Tikkanen // Industrial Marketing Management. - 2016. - Volume 51, Issue 1. - P. 91-99.

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Macroeconomic developments, such as the business cycle, have a remarkable influence on firms and their performance. In business-to-business (B-to-B) markets characterized by a strong emphasis on long-term customer relationships, market orientation (MO) provides a particularly important safeguard for firms against fluctuating market forces. Using panel data from an economic upturn and downturn, we examine the effectiveness of different forms of MO (i.e., customer orientation, competitor orientation, interfunctional coordination, and their combinations) on firm performance in B-to-B firms. Our findings suggest that the impact of MO increases especially during a downturn, with interfunctional coordination clearly boosting firm performance and, conversely, competitor orientation becoming even detrimental. The findings further indicate that both the role of MO and its most effective forms vary across industry sectors, MO having a particularly strong impact on performance among B-to-B service firms. The findings of

AB - Macroeconomic developments, such as the business cycle, have a remarkable influence on firms and their performance. In business-to-business (B-to-B) markets characterized by a strong emphasis on long-term customer relationships, market orientation (MO) provides a particularly important safeguard for firms against fluctuating market forces. Using panel data from an economic upturn and downturn, we examine the effectiveness of different forms of MO (i.e., customer orientation, competitor orientation, interfunctional coordination, and their combinations) on firm performance in B-to-B firms. Our findings suggest that the impact of MO increases especially during a downturn, with interfunctional coordination clearly boosting firm performance and, conversely, competitor orientation becoming even detrimental. The findings further indicate that both the role of MO and its most effective forms vary across industry sectors, MO having a particularly strong impact on performance among B-to-B service firms. The findings of

KW - market orientation

KW - firm performance

KW - business cycle

KW - industry sector

KW - configuration

KW - SCOPUS

U2 - 10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.05.012

DO - 10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.05.012

M3 - Article

VL - 51

SP - 91

EP - 99

JO - Industrial Marketing Management

JF - Industrial Marketing Management

SN - 0019-8501

IS - 1

ER -