Market orientation and marketing practice in a developing economy

Purpose – The central question of this study is whether the implementation of the marketing concept boosts organizational performance in developing economies. A subsidiary aim is to identify those antecedents that influence the formation of market orientation (MO) and marketing practice (MP). Design/methodology/approach – Interview data were collected from a sample of 57 exporter manufacturers located in central China. Findings – Although there is a link between MP and overall business performance, no such link exists for Narver and Slater's concept of MO. In general, MP was found to be a superior predictor of business performance. This study also found that the most significant antecedents to MO for developing country firms were customers and markets located outside the home market. Research limitations/implications – Marketing‐minded managers in developing economies encounter a number of institutional and environmental obstacles to collecting useful market intelligence. In such cases, the development of a MO will be inevitably hindered and it will be preferable to focus instead on boosting MP, which has a clearer link with performance. As the economy matures, customers and competitors located in export markets may provide useful MO‐enhancing intelligence. Originality/value – As an exploratory study, this study has value as a first step towards integrating the two MO and MP research streams in the context of marketing in developing economies. The study's findings reinforce the idea of the marketing concept as a universal construct when measured in terms of specific business activities.