This assignment has been designed to allow students the opportunity to explore the underlying importance and application of marketing concepts, and to develop key academic skills.
Assessment Task
It is proposed that the concept of marketing orientation has a number of components:
customer orientation: understanding customers well enough continuously to create superior value for them;
competitor orientation: awareness of the short- and long-term capabilities of competitors;
interfunctional co-ordination: using all company resources to create value for target customers;
organisational culture: linking employee and managerial behaviour to customer satisfaction;
long-term creation of shareholder value: as the overriding business objective.
Hooley, G., Piercy, N., and Nicoulaud, B., (2012) Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning, 5th Ed. FT Prentice Hall p.8.
By reference to academic literature, critically evaluate this perspective on marketing orientation, in relation to other business orientations and the contribution of a marketing orientation to organisation success.
You are required to produce an essay that demonstrates your understanding of key aspects of different business orientations and the supremacy of a marketing orientation.
The essay should be addressed in a level 7 (MBA) academic style. It should have:
• a sound theoretical and conceptual perspective, containing evidence of critical debate
• appropriate academic English for level 7 work
• appropriate support from secondary literature supported by appropriate UoN Harvard referencing.
Your work should include the following academic references and FIVE to EIGHT other academic references sourced by yourself using NELSON (UoN taught) or A-Z EWO list (Partner Institutions):
Dibb, S. and Stern, P. (2000) Further thoughts on the marketing trifid: the case of marketing orientation. Journal of Marketing Education 22 (3) pp214-224
Drummond, G. & Ensor, J. (2005) Introduction to Marketing Concepts. 1st ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann
Grinstein, A. (2008) The relationship between market orientation and alternative strategic orientations. European Journal of Marketing 42 (1/2) pp115-134
Laukkanen, T.,Tuominen, S., Reijonen, H., Hirvonen, S. (2016) Does market orientation pay off without brand orientation? A study of small business entrepreneurs. Journal of Marketing Management 32 (7-8) pp673-694
Liao, S.-H., Chang, W.-J., Wu C.-C., Katrichis, J.M. (2011) A survey of market orientation research (1995-2008). Industrial Marketing Management 40 pp301-310
Raju, P.S., Lonial, S.C., Crum, M.D. (2011) Market orientation in the context of SMEs: A conceptual framework. Journal of Business Research 64 pp1320-1326
Supplementary and Support Information can be viewed in this video. The information in this video forms an integral part of this assignment brief and is treated as such in assessment, grading and feedback: https://northampton.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/MKTM028_1819_AS1Feedforward/1_mijooc43 (7mins).
