The study (1) shows that firms aiming to achieve high performance benefit from combining a high market orientation (MO) with an appropriate level and content of marketing performance measurement (MPM) and (2) provides actionable benchmarks for such combinations.

 

Strategic marketing practice and research have widely taken for granted that firms should embrace two organization-wide mechanisms to achieve high business performance: (1) An informal organizational mindset and culture of market orientation (MO), and (2) a formal system of marketing performance measurement (MPM). More recently, however, researchers and practitioners have started to question the universal benefits of MO and MPM.

 

The authors analyze a unique dataset of 628 firms. Using a novel method of configurational analysis, fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), the study identifies four configurations of MO and MPM consistently associated with high performance, applicable to different types of firms. The authors further compare findings from fsQCA with traditional regressions to illustrate the benefits of a set-theoretic approach to organizational configurations adopted in the study.

 

The authors demonstrate that “whereas MO characterizes all configurations that consistently yield high performance, comprehensive MPM is essential for large firms but not for their smaller counterparts. Small firms, in general, attain high performance by embracing high MO and focused MPM (e.g., concentrating either on customer attitude but not financial metrics, or on competitor and financial but not customer attitude metrics), while for small market leaders mere MO may suffice. Across and within individual firm types, there are multiple alternative configurations that equally effectively yield high performance”.

 

For managers, the results of the study suggest that while there are high-performing firms that exhibit neither high MO nor comprehensive MPM, firms aiming to achieve high performance consistently (i.e., rather than relying on exceptional practices or luck) will benefit from “matching” a high MO with the appropriate level and content of MPM.

 

The research is co-authored with Jukka Luoma, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Aalto University School of Business; Matti Jaakkola, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Aston Business School; Henrikki Tikkanen, Professor of Marketing, Aalto University School of Business and Stockholm Business School; and Jaakko Aspara, Professor of Marketing, Hanken School of Economics.

 

The paper can be uploaded from here

 

Our congratulations to Dr. Johanna Frösen and wishes of further scientific achievements!