Market orientation in United States and Scandinavian companies. A cross-cultural study

Abstract

Although the market orientation concept has received increasing research attention, the vast majority of published work has been focused on organizations based in the United States. Although this approach has advantages, it limits our understanding of the concept in global markets. The purpose of this research is to examine how a country context affects: (1) levels of organizational antecedents that drive a market orientation including a focus on top management, interdepartmental relations, and organizational systems; (2) levels of market orientation; and (3) strength of linkages between market orientation and its antecedents and consequences. Using a multiple-informant survey design, data were collected from SBUs in the U.S. and Scandinavia (i.e. Denmark, Norway, and Sweden). The findings indicate that (1) organizational antecedents are affected by national context; (2) the effects of the antecedents of market orientation are similar in U.S. and Scandinavia; (3) market orientation affects overall performance in both the U.S. and Scandinavia; and (4) strong effects of market orientation on esprit de corps are evident in both cultures. While the results suggest that the proposed conceptual framework does generalize to a Scandinavian context, it is also clear that the culture and political-economy of a country influences the robustness of the generalization across political-economies and national cultures. Managerial implications and directions for future work in an international context are discussed.