Organizational strategic orientation types and the role of market learning capability

Organizations with different strategic orientations have different perceptions of the environment and therefore engage differently in developing organizational capabilities. Market-focused learning capability is critical for organizations pursuing innovation-based competitive strategy. The results of empirical research in Slovenian organizations show that market learning capability in organizations with innovation-based competitive strategy are not at a much higher level compared to organizations pursuing quality or cost-based competitive strategy. The ability to gather, disseminate and process information about customer needs and competitors is thus in Slovenian organizations pursuing innovation-based strategy not supportive enough to attain levels of innovation and competitive advantage comparable to organizations in the most developed economies.