From Market Orientation to Stakeholder Orientation

Abstract

Drawing on the marketing orientation and stakeholder literature streams, the authors define the concepts of market orientation (MO) and stakeholder orientation (SO) to explore their potential contribution to marketing. They discuss the potential contribution of each construct along with the similarities and differences that could be significant for marketing strategy. The MO construct focuses on customers and competitors and indirectly on other stakeholder groups. The SO construct does not designate any stakeholder group as more important than another, and the prioritization of stakeholders may change depending on the issue. As such, SO is more contingency based and is a function of contextual aspects surrounding the organization. The SO and MO constructs are not mutually exclusive; there is some overlap between them. The authors suggest further research to explore the most appropriate construct for firms to consider.

Stakeholder marketing: a definition and conceptual framework

“…It was claimed that the 2007 definition's identification of "customers, clients, partners and society at large" was parallel, if imperfect, to the stakeholder term (Gundlach and Wilkie 2010). The attempt to define stakeholders from this limited perspective is not only imperfect but also conceptually incorrect from a stakeholder orientation perspective (Ferrell et al 2010). The 2007 AMA definition still maintains a market orientation perspective by explicitly focusing on "customers, clients, partners, and society at large."…”

“…The major research gap is the narrow focus on one or two stakeholders and the failure to respond to the practical reality that firms increasingly seek to provide value to multiple stakeholders beyond customers and shareholders. Hence, given the growing importance of stakeholder relationships in marketing and the limited marketing research capturing this practical reality, it is imperative to examine, from a holistic perspective, the marketing implications of paying attention and responding to the demands of multiple stakeholder groups (e.g., Bhattacharya and Korschun 2008;Ferrell et al 2010).…”

“…The 2007 AMA definition of marketing was driven by a market orientation focus on customers, not multiple stakeholder relationships (Ferrell et al 2010). There is a need to coordinate, resolve conflicts, and align the competing and complementary interests of various stakeholders.…”

“…While it is imperative for marketing researchers to study the performance implications of stakeholder marketing efforts (e.g., Ferrell et al 2010), it is equally important to investigate how firms can effectively prioritize among the six primary stakeholder groups. Stakeholders have conflicting demands, and at the same time, firms have limited resources.…”

“…In addition, marketing studies should explore whether stakeholderoriented strategies that respond to and devote resources equally to the six stakeholders are more effective than focused strategies that attend relatively more to select stakeholder groups (e.g., customers, shareholders) while paying less attention to the other groups (cf. Ferrell et al 2010). This would provide insights into the marginal value or cost of allocating resources to each additional stakeholder.…”