Market orientation and business performance: some evidence from Hong Kong

Abstract

Recent studies conducted in the USA and the UK have shown evidence of a relationship between market orientation and company performance. The overall aim of the research reported in this paper was to build on this limited body of literature by considering the evidence from another, non‐Western, business environment, namely Hong Kong. In addition, this study sought to clarify the distinction, not often made in the literature, between a market‐ and a marketing‐orientation. Data from 73 textiles and garments manufacturers were collected using an instrument based on Narver and Slater’s (1990) scale. Consistent with previous findings in Western cultures, the results of this study are suggestive of a relationship between market orientation and company performance. However, surveyed firms exhibited a much higher marketing orientation suggesting that it is possible to be effective at implementing the marketing function without possessing a market‐oriented organisational culture.