Market orientation in Nigerian companies

Abstract

Purpose To investigate the practice of market orientation, with a specific focus on the extent to which Nigerian marketers place emphasis on the different dimensions of market orientation, customer satisfaction, competitiveness, market intelligence, and assessment of the effectiveness of the strategies adopted. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a contextualized and literature‐based research instrument to measure the applications of market orientation “constructs” by 697 small and large manufacturing and service companies operating in Lagos State of Nigeria. The research instrument showed encouraging evidence of reliability and validity. Data were interpreted by factor analysis. Findings It was found that market orientation is practised to a reasonable extent among the surveyed companies, and tentatively concluded that market orientation practices were related to the category of business (service versus manufacturing) and its size. The principal focus was on the gathering, interpretation and implementation of market intelligence, and on measuring the effectiveness of the outcomes. Research limitations/implications The findings are limited to some extent by the confounding effect of variation within and between types of firm and industry sectors, and the use of respondents' own assessments of performance (i.e. respondents' evaluations of organizational effectiveness with regard to market orientation practices). The Nigerian setting and cross‐sectional design limit the generalizability of the findings to other contexts/environments. Continuing research is under way to address these limitations. Originality/value Expands the body of knowledge about market orientation in practice by extending an established research formula beyond the usual context of developed western economies, and thereby potentially contains lessons for practitioners and researchers in other developing countries.

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