Strategic consensus of market orientation: a transitional economy perspective

In transition economies, firms are faced with the challenge of adapting to new competitive pressures domestically and realizing market opportunities abroad. Amarket orientation is central to such adaptation. Using a multiple-source, multiple-informant design, nearly 4000 employees from 180 Chinese manufacturing firms were surveyed to explore how market orientation evolves. Results show that consensus, about being market oriented, between top managers and non-supervisory employees positively affects firm performance. This consensus is more likely in firms with participative cultures. Interestingly, firm performance was unrelated to middle and top manager consensus and unrelated to middle manager and employee consensus. Also contrary to expectations, the formalization of organizational procedures is not predictive of strategic consensus.