ارتباط عملکرد محصول بازارگرایی جدید: تعریف مجدد نقش تعدیل شرایط محیطی

Past studies concerning the impact of market orientation on the performance of new products do not necessarily conclude that it has an effect. To explain those seemingly contradictory results, some studies have dealt with the existence of moderating variables of the relationship. These studies focused essentially on the moderating role of the environmental conditions. Based on a survey of 142 product managers or sales directors, this article offers a new approach. Firstly, it completely models this moderating effect, providing a structured framework for future research. Secondly, thanks to the use of an original measurement scale, it apprehends objective environmental conditions. Thirdly, it details the market orientation–new product performance relationship, by modeling a new mediator, the instrumental use of available information, thus giving a clearer insight into how and where the moderating effect actually takes place.

Many studies have been conducted on market orientation, defined as the implementation of the marketing concept (Kohli & Jaworski, 1990). The role of market orientation as an antecedent of organization performance has been extensively investigated in various contexts (Deshpandé & Farley, 2004, Rodriguez Cano et al., 2004 and Voss & Voss, 2000), however, studies concerning the market orientation–new product performance relationship are less common; despite the strategic importance and the high failure rates of new product introduction. Moreover, all studies do not lead to a conclusive link. For example, Subramanian and Gopalakrishna (2001) show an impact of market orientation on new product performance, whereas no significant link is found by Langerak, Hultink, and Robben (2004). These seemingly contradictory results have stimulated several studies concerned with the finding of moderators of the relationship (Atuahene-Gima, 1995, Baker & Sinkula, 1999, Gatignon & Xuereb, 1997 and Slater & Narver, 1994). These have principally focused on the moderating role of environmental conditions and the purpose of this article is to offer a new insight into this moderating role. First, in order to provide a structured framework for research, it exhaustively models this moderating effect. It therefore uses the exhaustive conceptualization as suggested by Dess and Beard (1984) and refined by McArthur and Nystrom (1991) and Tan and Litschert (1994). Second, a new measurement scale is developed in order to model the moderating role of the objective environmental conditions, thus improving previous studies, which only measured its perceived conditions (Atuahene-Gima, 1995, Baker & Sinkula, 1999 and Slater & Narver, 1994). This conceptualization leads to a better understanding of the moderating role of environmental conditions in the market orientation–new product performance relationship: the strength of the link does not depend on its perceived state but only on its objective state. Third, in this article, the market orientation–new product performance relationship is broadened through the modeling of a mediator, highlighting how and where the moderating effect actually takes place. The research therefore models a central variable in the relationship between a new product development team and its environment: the instrumental use of the information which defines this environment. This article is organized as follows. First, the theoretical context of the study is presented. Second, the research methodology is discussed. Third, the findings and insights from our research are presented. Finally, potential research directions that emerge from the study are provided, as well as limitations of our research.

The existence and strength of the market orientation–new product performance relationship have been tested through several studies. However, because of their contradictory results, no definitive relationship has been established. Further research has therefore focused on the moderators of the relationship in order to give a better understanding of the variability of these results. These studies have mainly been concerned with environmental conditions. Given this context, our research offers a threefold contribution: – From a conceptual point of view, it uses an exhaustive conceptualization of environmental conditions as suggested by Dess and Beard (1984); indeed, up to now, the study of specific characteristics of environmental conditions led to partial results. This approach thus completely models the moderating effect of environmental conditions within a structured research framework. – From a methodological point of view, this research uses objective measures of environmental conditions, whereas previous research used perception measures. Hence the model can apprehend the moderating role of objective environmental conditions instead of merely apprehending the role of perceived environmental conditions. – Finally, the study of a new mediator (i.e. the instrumental use of available information) which characterizes the relationship between the development team and its environment, leads to a deeper understanding of the moderating role of the latter. First, our research confirms that the market orientation4–new product performance relationship is moderated by the environmental conditions (see Table A3). This result has been obtained using an objective measure of environmental conditions, whereas past researches were conducted with subjective measures. Hence we can say that whether objective or subjective, the measures of environmental conditions lead to convergent results. Although this conclusion should be confirmed, this result could facilitate the replication of this research in other contexts, as services or in other countries. In addition, our research highlights the mediating role of instrumental use of information. From a managerial point of view, in order to improve the market orientation impact, managers should make especially sure that available information about customers and technology is fully used by the development team. Moreover, the more complex, dynamic and capable the objective environmental conditions, the more attention has to be paid to its full use. A two-step process is thus suggested. To begin with, managers should diagnose the objective state of their own environment, using a dynamism, complexity and capacity measurement scale (see Appendix C). Then, the role of available information in their decision making should be adapted, according to the environmental conditions, as they appear through these scores. In a highly dynamic, complex and capable environment, the role of this available information should be reinforced. Conversely, in a low dynamic, complex and capable environment, more attention should be paid to other key success factors, as identified by Henard and Szymanski (2001) and Montoya-Weiss and Calantone (1994). Second, the confirmation of the mediating role of instrumental use of information leads to a better understanding of the way a market-orientation organizational culture is transformed into a superior performance of a very specific output of this organization (i.e. a new product). This could be reached through a higher mastering of the informational components of new product development process. Our research partially confirms Homburg and Pflesser (2000)'s results. Indeed, their findings indicate that the three organizational behaviors defining a market orientation (Kohli & Jaworski, 1990) are a consequence of the firm's market orientation culture, i.e. of its values and norms (Deshpandé & Webster, 1989, p. 4). From a practical point of view, the efficacy of existing methods or recommendations for implementing a market oriented culture (Day, 1994, Kohli & Jaworski, 1990, Kennedy et al., 2003, Lichtenthal & Wilson, 1992 and Ruekert, 1992) could be improved by a better use of information. This one, as indicated previously, should be adapted to environmental conditions. Third, our research suggests that new products are more likely to be successful if both based on the use of technology and consumer information. This result indicates that the probability of success is higher when the new products are based on both technological advances and consumer expectations. Thus it follows that none of generic innovation strategies (i.e. technology push vs. market push) should be favored, as better results seem to be obtained through composite strategy. The importance of the collaboration–even the integration–of marketing and R&D services in new product success is hence highlighted by our findings (confirming Griffin & Hauser, 1996 or Henard & Szymanski, 2001). Such a cooperation would enable a joint use of technological and consumer information, and would furthermore reinforce the relationship between technological orientation and the instrumental use of technological information. This cooperation could hence be modelled as a moderating variable of this relationship in future research.