THE USER IN FOCUS - THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MARKET-ORIENTED CORPORATE CULTURE

Successful product innovation requires market-oriented thinking. On the basis of empirical studies of manufacturing companies and service organizations in several countries, it is shown that a market-oriented culture can be developed by: (1) a bottom-up approach at the operational level, with focus on the application of market-oriented concepts and tools in connection with product innovation projects; or by (2) a top-down approach at the strategic level, comprising a company-wide change programme. The focus of the paper is on the top-down approach which starts at the top level and comprises an analysis of strategic factors such as management philosophy, business concept, major objectives, etc., and is followed by the planning and implementation of the change process. Several propositions have been formulated that will serve as guidelines for practitioners and pose a challenge to researchers for further studies.