The Impact of Market Orientation on Organizational Performance within the Competitive Advantage Framework in SMEs: A Case Study of the Complex of Industrial Parks in Mazandaran Province

Abstract

Market orientation is one of the major research streams developed in strategic marketing during the past ten years. This research aims at the effect of internal and external market orientations on organizational performance. With regard to intermediate variables, competitive advantages and the dependent variable of organizational commitment are evaluated. The statistical population of this research consists of the managers of small and medium sized enterprises in the Complex of Industrial Parks in Mazandaran Province. Totally, 220 managers are selected as a sample, using available non-probable sampling. Also, questionnaires have been used to collect the data. The analysis of the survey model has been done using the Lisrel software. The results show that internal market orientation leads to the development and improvement of organizational commitment. It is also found that the competitive advantage obtained from the positive effects of internal and external marketing helps small and medium industrial companies to improve their organizational performance.

Keywords

• market orientation
• organizational performance
• organizational commitment
• competitive advantage