Measurement of marketing orientation of a financial service industry in a transition economy by use of the Markor scale

The objective of this research was to ascertain whether during the evolution of marketing concept in a transition economy banking sector, banks of different type and characteristics exhibit similar behaviors and tendencies observed in free market economies of the Western countries. More specifically, a concerted effort was made to determine the differences in the perceived importance of different controllable decision variables of the marketing function performed by banks in a transition economy of Central Asia. As well, the study tried to distinguish between the actual practice of marketing orientation among marketing oriented and non-marketing oriented banks. MARKOR (Kohli, Jaworski, and Kumar, 1993) scales developed and used in the USA and a select number of Western countries were translated into Russian and were administered to state and private bank executives of Kyrgyz Republic. Study results indicate that there are significant differences between marketing-oriented bank managers and those of non-marketing oriented managers in terms of their responses to MARKOR statements. Managerial and public policy implications of the study are also discussed.