بازارگرایی در میان صادر کنندگان کوچک کره ای

Day's conceptual framework linking market orientation with business performance is adapted for the export market, and is empirically tested using a sample of 341 small Korean exporters. The modified measures of market orientation have reasonably high degree of reliability. The prescribed relationships in the framework are supported by empirical findings. The implications are that in a highly volatile export market; market orientation indeed plays a key role in the success of small Korean exporters.

Drucker (1954) first articulated market orientation as the core focus of the marketing concept. Kohli and Jaworski (1990), and Narver and Slater (1990) viewed market orientation as the implementation of the marketing concept. Numerous researchers in the marketing discipline (Aaker, 1995, Burchill & Fine, 1997 and Fritz, 1996) have echoed this position. While the marketing literature has long underscored the importance of market orientation to organizational performance, only recently efforts have been made to operationalize the construct of market orientation and establish empirical support for its relationship to performance (Jaworski & Kohli, 1993 and Slater & Narver, 1994). Kwaku (1996) provides evidence on the impact of market orientation on the performance of product and service innovations. Moreover, this relationship is sometimes moderated by environmental factors (Jaworski & Kohli, 1993 and Slater & Narver, 1994). Confirming evidence gathered to date comes primarily from samples of domestic US companies. Research based on non-US companies typically showed mixed results. Thus, the market orientation–performance relationship may not hold even in domestic markets of non-US countries. Foreign markets particularly in the domain of exporters are largely ignored. Export markets are more politically, culturally, geographically distant and diverse. With the heightened rate of competitive intensity in the global marketplace, exporters should make a more concerted effort to develop a stronger market orientation in order to sustain their competitiveness. The concept of market orientation has to be operationalized within the context of export markets. Its relationships with business performance and factors leading to varying degrees of market orientation have to be investigated in the export environment. On the one hand, market orientation, if indeed, plays a key role in a company's overall strategic program may be even more critical for the success of an exporter. On the other hand, due to the diverse nature of the foreign markets, market orientation is harder to implement, thus lessening its impact on business performance. This study has three objectives. First, the measure of market orientation will be operationalized for exporters in the foreign markets. Secondly, the relationship between market orientation and business performance will be examined. The question, to what extent, the relationship, if exists, may vary by the diverse nature of the foreign market conditions, will also be studied. Thirdly, given that market orientation may be related to performance, it will be fruitful to examine the underlying capabilities of an exporter leading to market orientation. A brief review of market orientation and a broader framework proposed by Day (1994) will first be outlined. Justification for examining the role of market orientation within the export markets will then be presented. A description of the sample of small Korean exporters and the modified measures of market orientation will follow. Next, the paper will detail the analysis and results of the empirical study. The paper will then conclude with implications for exporters on market orientation.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the factors leading to market orientation of exporters and also whether market orientation in the export markets will lead to better performance. The findings of this study suggest that the market orientation of an exporter is indeed an important determinant of its performance. This finding is reported by various researchers (for instance, Jaworski & Kohli, 1993) using mostly US samples of manufacturers in the domestic market. The overall relationship between market orientation and performance remains significant regard-ess of market conditions, growth and intensity of competition. Yet, the effects of market condition surfaced when total business performance is disaggregated into volume of export, growth and profits. In a high growth export market, market orien- tation is not a significant determinant of profit and is only marginally related to export volume. This finding shows in a high growth market, market oriented exporters are likely to place emphasis on long term profits, forsaking short-term returns. The same implication can be drawn for the highly competitive market condition where market orientation is not significantly related to short term profits. As pointed out by Ohmae (1991), market orientation should be used as a safeguard of long-term inter- national competitiveness. The overall degree of market orientation for exporters can be enhanced by engag- ing in any or all of the three sets of activities pertaining to market orientation. For intelligence generation, an exporter is well advised to set aside a foreign market research budget, devote manpower for foreign market research, increase contact with overseas market, subscribe to foreign business intelligence service and maintain con- tact with foreign distributors and agents. Similar implications can be drawn from items constituting intelligence dissemination and market response. An informal or formal information system should be considered for disseminating foreign market information among the various departments. Foreign consumers’ preferences and distributors’ requests should be considered in the overall development of the market- ing plan. This study suggests several capability factors that are related to market orientation. Exporters’ commitment to internationalization cultivates an environment for their employees to be sensitive and responsive to export market developments. Commit- ment to internationalization is also reflected in the establishment of export depart- ment, long range export planning, and export research department. As the results here indicate, level of market orientation is highly correlated with the extent of inter- nationalization. As a firm becomes more and more internationalized, it shifts its focus to international markets. Information gathering activities will intensify and information will be disseminated among departments and its marketing program will also be more responsive to changes in foreign markets.