Market Orientation and Organizational Performance in Mainland China: Test of the Market Orientation Scale (Markor)

Past empirical marketing strategy studies conducted in the USA and western European countries concluded a stronger relationship between market orientation and the company performance in cases of technological and market turbulence. The objective of this study is to investigate the reliability and validity of the market orientation construct in a very different socio-economic, cultural and business environment of Asia. Specifically, using MARKOR scale, this study investigates the market orientations of the Chinese business managers who operate in a select number of industries/sectors in urban China. The explanation for this stronger relationship appears to be that the managers operating in more turbulent markets become more sensitive to market changes and developments. It must be pointed out here that a strong growth market such as the Chinese economy shows a high degree of environmental turbulence with respect to fluctuating economic growth, company performance changes, unemployment, and inflation rates. There is also emergence of burgeoning of strong consumer markets particularly along the coastal cities of eastern China.