Impact of Organizational Structural Characteristics on Market-Oriented Behavior

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to clarify the influence of the structural characteristics of organizations in Japanese enterprises on market-oriented behavior, starting from a study to grasp the market orientation of organizations represented by Kohli and Jaworski (1990) from the behavioral perspective. This paper focuses on the centrality of the influence of marketing decision-making, formulation of strategy, and task conflict among departments as precedent factors affecting market-oriented behavior, which are strongly related to management of marketing strategies. The paper takes an empirical approach using structural equation modeling based on a survey of marketers in the Japanese manufacturing industry on how the combination of preceding factors affect each other, after segmenting the process of market-oriented behavior into the generation and diffusion of market information and the reaction. The results showed that (1) the market-oriented behavior process does not persist as a seamless process, and (2) it is difficult to design an optimal organizational structure that satisfies all conditions in improving market-oriented behavior, and it is necessary to adjust the organizational structure according to the situation.

Keywords

• market orientation
• centralization of influence
• formalization
• conflict