The Role of Market Orientation in the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Proactiveness and Performance

The relationship between entrepreneurial proactiveness and business performance has often been implicitly assumed to be positive. The thrust in this argument is the firm's ability to anticipate needs in the marketplace and also to anticipate the action of its competitors. However, very little research has been done to examine this relationship. The present study makes an attempt to examine this relationship. The study makes an attempt to identify the role of market orientation as a moder ating factor between entrepreneurial proactiveness and business performance. The paper presents the results of the study carried out in the Spanish ceramic tile sector. The study used validated scales to measure the entrepreneurial proactive ness and market orientation. The statistical technique used is path analysis. The research concluded that entrepreneurial proactiveness has a positive effect on market orientation, which again in turn has a positive effect on business profitability and sales growth.