| This dissertation takes the position that market orientation scales developed for large firms cannot be used for small firms. In fact, the concept of market orientation may not have relevance for especially small firms within certain industries. The study considered three construct dimensions: manager risk-taking, customer understanding/satisfaction, and competitor analysis. Of the three, competitor orientation had the greatest relation to any of the profitability and performance metrics for the entire survey. However, when the analysis controlled for firm size, only considering firms with 75 or more employees, customer understanding/satisfaction correlated most significantly with the metrics. No support was found for strategy, industry type, or market turbulence moderating the relation between market orientation, or its dimensions, and profitability/performance. However, firms in markets of high turbulence appear to operate with a higher level of market orientation.;This study sought to identify a correlation between market orientation and adoption of new technology. Use of the Internet was considered as an indicator of new technology. The adoption of the Internet into firms' business models appears to have nothing to do with a company's level of market orientation. Adoption of the Internet does not vary across industry. How companies integrate the Internet into their business models, as indicated by specific uses of the Internet by firms, does, however, appear to vary across industry. Four distinct Internet strategies were identified; these strategies are emphasized differently between industry types. |
