Market Orientation and Business Performance in the Container Port Industry

Identification and responsiveness towards customer needs is a notion that rests deeply in the heart of the marketing concept, and has been discussed in various fields of business and economic literature. At the same time literature in port economics and management has proposed various means for analyzing market conditions, overcoming competitive pressures in the port industry and pursuing sustainable competitive advantage. In line with this discussion, albeit with a significant time delay, port economics and management literature has also proposed the use of marketing strategies as a strategic tool towards achieving port competitiveness. However, the early approaches to port marketing, mainly based on consumer marketing principles, where followed by scarce references, mainly dealing with particularities of marketing implementation in ports and terminals. This paper attempts to provide a solid theoretical background to the notion, the need and the applicability of the marketing concept in the container port industry. It investigates the preconditions under which port marketing strategies are designed and formulated, by measuring the level of market orientation of ports and terminals. Furthermore, it attempts to examine the impact of market orientation on port performance, under the mediating role of marketing tactics and the moderating effect of the ports＇/terminals＇ internal and external environment.

Market Orientation and Libyan Tourism Business＇ Performances： A Comparative Study Between Public and Private Sector

This paper aims to achieve these key objectives： （1） to measure the extent to which Libyan tourism businesses embrace the market orientation concept; （2） to evaluate the private and public tourism businesses＇ performance; （3） to identify the link between market orientation and tourism businesses＇ performances; and （4） to test the influence of ownership and organisational positions on market orientation-business performance relationship. A number of 582 questionnaires were distributed to high-level executives and clerks in tourism businesses in Libya. The key finding is that there is a growth in market orientation adoption. The performance of the private businesses is judged to be much better than the public one. There is a positive correlation between market orientation and tourism businesses＇ performance. This link is much stronger in the private sector. The market orientation in tourism sector is a critical element to drive business performance even in the less competitive environment such as Libya. The value of the paper is that it is the first paper to focus on market orientation in tourism sector in Libya. Therefore, the paper enriches the marketing literature with findings from the Arabic and North African region. Practically, the paper demonstrates the importance of market orientation to improve the Libyan tourism sector performance. Hence, international businesses, Libyan Government, tourism sector managers and employees should benefit from the results of the study. The paper concludes with limitations and future researches.

Is Business School Performance Impacted by Market Orientation Toward Students, Employers of Students, and Parents of Students？ Views from Accounting Department Chairpersons, Business School Deans, and Academic Vice-Presidents of AACSB Business Schools

This paper is part of a continuing research stream dealing with organizational behavior and performance in higher education, specifically within AACSB-Intemational business schools. Using responses to a national survey sent to AACSB-International members schools located in the United States, we report market orientation levels toward students, parents of students, and employers of students as well as levels of organizational performance reported by accounting department chairpersons, business school deans, and academic vice-presidents. Theory and empirical research suggest that higher levels of market orientation result in higher levels of organizational performance. Comparisons of the various input scores for each customer group （students, parents of students, and employers of students） submitted by the survey respondents are made against a benchmark established for businesses in the marketing literature and then scores are compared by administrative groups against one another. Finally, regression analysis is used to determine if the reported levels of organizational performance are impacted by the levels of reported market orientation. Altogether, 101 accounting department chairpersons, 130 business school deans, and 110 academic vice-presidents responded. The paper presents details of the research process, findings, statistical inferences, and discusses the implications of the research for schools of business and academic accounting departments.

Market orientation for the hotel segment： The Portuguese case

In view of the importance of the hotel segment for the tourism and for the economy of countries such as Portugal, the objective of this study was to measure the level of orientation for the market of the largest hotel groups of Portugal. This investigation initially emphasized the importance of the marketing for the organizations, mainly the orientation for the market. After a brief explanation on the hotel segment in Portugal, an empirical study was presented, of quantitative, exploratory and traversal character, performed with the largest groups of 20 hotels of Portugal, using as an instrument of collection data, the traditional Markor scale （market orientation） adapted to the hotel sector. After analyzing the data, it was found in the investigated organizations that a good capacity to generate market information and response to the market, which formed two of the three constructs of Markor scale. However the results obtained with the construct of the dissemination of market information were below the expectations. It was possible to conclude that marketing professionals of the large hotel groups in Portugal are well oriented to the market, something not shared by other investigated departments of the hotels. So the current challenge for the main networks of hotels in Portugal is to improve the internal dissemination of information that marketing professionals gathered at the market.

New Thought about the Marketing Orientation of Middle and Small-sized Enterprises of China

The reasonable marketing orientation is related to the survival and the development of the enterprises. According to the disadvantages and superiority of the middle and small sized enterprises of our country, this paper analyzes the new thought about the marketing orientation from the aspects of marketing product orientation, marketing way orientation, marketing target orientation, marketing strategy orientation and marketing idea orientation. It has great theoretical and practical significance.

Investigation Into the Market-Orientated New Product Development Performance

The effect that the market orientation brings to product innovation performance is reported and the degree of product innovativeness is explored. The interdepartmental integration inside the company is also investigated. A series of hypotheses were developed aiming at presenting a conceptual framework to clarify how market orientation contributes to product innovation performance-moderated by the degree of product innovativeness and affected by the interdepartmental integration. Survey data from 36 business units were analyzed based on the respondents in the research. The statistic results suggest a substantial positive effect of market orientation on product innovation performance. Under the condition of incremental innovativeness among the samples, the more innovative the product is, the more improvements in product innovation performance would be achieved. A variety of particular interdepartmental integration mechanisms have been certified to lend more supports to establishing market orientation and improving product innovation performance.

Perspectives of the Brazilian Poultry Industry for the Chinese Consumer Market

The objective of this article was to analyze the poultry and derivatives commerce between Brazil and China, taking into account the current market and the perspectives for the next years. The method used was the bibliographic review and analysis of secondary data from different sources, associated with the Market Orientation Theory and the Value Chain Theory. Nowadays, China is Brazil＇s main commercial partner in the international market, but taking into account the chicken meat and its derivatives, having Brazil as the first worldwide exporter and China, the second largest consumer, an effective commercial relationship has not been established yet. To understand the poultry market exchanges between Brazil and China, a framework was built to demonstrate the characteristics and factors found to influence country negotiations, considering current reality and future perspectives. Considering the Theory of Market Orientation, it is concluded that Brazil has effective conditions to consolidate itself as a major supplier of chicken meat and derivatives to China, because it shows determinant characteristics and market factors that allows the association of the national poultry value chain to the demands of the Chinese consumers, but some adjustments are needed in the sphere of international politics.

Market Knowledge and Stakeholder Considerations for the Biopharmaceutics Sector—Incorporating User Value and Societal Needs in Therapeutic Interventions

Purpose: Many health systems are considered ill-equipped to adequately meet future demand. Although academic entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) drive health technology innovation, they often suboptimally consider important market and stakeholder requirements. This can result in missed opportunities to improve health system performance, address demand-supply gaps, and achieve financial rewards. Market intelligence can provide crucial information in this regard, but scientifically sourced guidance on how to perform market research for biopharmaceutics is scarce. Our objective was, therefore, to create and provide an easily accessible biopharmaceutics market research toolbox that can be perused by academic entrepreneurs and SMEs to improve the alignment of their developments with stakeholder needs. Design: Guided by market orientation theory, we interviewed senior managers and commercialisation experts from the biopharmaceutics sector. We asked them which information they consider most relevant, and how they collect, analyse and respond to new information to align product features, positioning and stakeholder-relationship management with market needs. Findings: Our innovator toolbox consists of a high-level overview of market intelligence considerations mapped against a novel innovation framework, a stakeholder reasoning and value model, and detailed considerations (checklists) per stakeholder of biopharmaceutics interventions. Originality: We provide here the first market orientation-based overview of market intelligence considerations for the biopharmaceutics sector. Although primarily collated for academic entrepreneurs and SMEs, our innovator toolbox for the biopharmaceutics sector can help all stakeholders better understand their orientation towards markets.

Rejuvenating wood carving industry in Taiwan Sanyi： A perspective of strategic management

This research aimed at providing suggestions to rejuvenate the wood carving industry in Taiwan Sanyi. The authors conducted interviews with representative store keepers and sculptors to gain industrial insights, and applied the strategic matrix analysis developed by Dr. Seetoo to examine industrial conditions and formulate strategic suggestions for wood carving companies. The industry was found lack of market orientation, which was considered as the critical factor of the long term depression. However, a market of tourism for nostalgic and cultural experience started developing in the near area, providing opportunities for Sanyi wood carving industry to recover. The main suggestions the authors made are （1） restructuring the product scope to respond to the market, and （2） branding with resorts in near area.

On Market-Oriented Technological Innovation

Technological innovations, the lifeline of enterprises, should originate fromand endure the test of the market. Technological innovations are not only related to technology butmore so to marketing. Hence, technological innovations should be market-oriented and relativemarketing operations should be enhanced.

How Market-Guanxi Ambidexterity Affects Adaptive Capability in China＇s Transition Economy

Whether market- and guanxi-based strategies are complementary or substitutable in shaping adaptive capability is a critical yet controversial issue. This paper tackles this problem by adopting the ambidexterity perspective. Specifically, using a sample of 185 Chinese private firms, this study examines the independent and interactive effects of market orientation （MO） and guanxi orientation （GO, i.e., emphasizing on building business and political ties） on adaptive capability of firms in transition economies. Our results suggest that both direct impacts and complementary impacts of MO and GO strongly exist in shaping firms＇ adaptive capability, indicating the importance of ＂strategic ambidexterity.＂ These findings have several theoretical implications for studies on ambidexterity and adaptive capability, and practical implications for finn strategies in transition economies.

A Study of the Development of the World Postal Parcel Service

The paper makes an analysis of the market demands, market competition,collaboration and the current development of the postal parcel service, and discusses some factorscounteracting the development of the postal parcel service. Furthermore, this paper gives anorientation to the future development of the postal parcel service through a comprehensive researchon the developing trend of the postal parcel service in some countries.

Time Lag Effect of Supply Chain Management on Firm Performance

The objective of this paper is to identify time lag effect in the relationship between supply chain management and financial performance.We hypothesize that firms with higher supply chain management capability are associated with higher financial performance and the impact would last longer.In addition,we introduce two contextual variables,ownership and market orientation,to detect the moderating effect of ownership structure and organizational culture,respectively.We use firm-level empirical data from 1,131 public Chinese manufacturing firms for the 2010–2019 period to investigate the effect and the result shows that there is a two-year time lag effect in the relationship,which means the positive impact of current supply chain management would last for three years.Furthermore,we find evidence that supply chain management in non-state-owned firms is more efficient and its positive financial impact would last longer than that in state-owned enterprises.Finally,we indicate that market-orientation can’t moderate the relationship between supply chain management and financial performance.

System innovation:the key to pension reform

Along with the accelerated advancement of population aging,China’s economic development has led Chinese residents’income to a moderate level.However,the unfair and unsustainable features of“dual standard of pension insurance”for both rural and urban cadre and employees have become so increasingly prominent that the time to change it has come.The top-level design of pension insurance should be taken shape on the basis of clarifying such concepts as old-age security,insurance,system,institution,and mechanism,and be carried out gradually in several steps at different levels.At the first level,basic pension insurance system should be reformed and created;at the second level,a new institution for pension insurance system should be reformed and created;at the third level,reform and improvements are made to compensate pension insurance system.Among these,the key is to establish a uniform pension insurance system for both urban and rural cadre and employees which is primarily dependent on individuals’payment and secondly by enterprises(units).Such institutional innovation requires initiatives from both government and market towards a market-oriented reform.