Workforce on Tap: A focus on

market orientation to achieve

superior business performance
Kristen Laurent

October 2009

MBA503- Marketing Management

Student ID: 69250645

10 Executive Summary

Since the early nineties academics and practitioners have demonstrated a keen interest
in market orientation and its relationship to business performance. There is
consequently a vast body of literature relating to the conceptualisation of market
orientation, the characteristics that engender a market-oriented organisation and the
consequences that stem from successful implementation of a market orientation.

From a behavioural perspective market orientation is described as the organisational

activities relating to the generation and dissemination of, and responsiveness to, market
intelligence. From a cultural perspective it is described as an organisational culture that
encourages the behaviours necessary for creating superior customer value. The
behaviours that embody an organisation’s activities relating to the generation and
dissemination of market intelligence and its coordinated creation of customer value are
characterised in terms of:

1. Customer orientation – a focus on understanding the needs of the customer to

develop products and services to satisfy and create value for the customer.
2. Competitor orientation – a focus on understanding the strengths and
weaknesses of competitors in order to develop strategies for competitive
advantage.
3. Interfunctional coordination – the coordination of an organisation’s activities
to create value for customers based on customer and competitor intelligence.

Research has shown that a market orientation can generate significant benefits for an
organisation, its customers and its employees. Market-oriented organisations
demonstrate superior skills in understanding and satisfying customers and are therefore
more responsive to customer needs. For the organisation this can enable innovation
and the development of new products and services. For the customer this can mean a
perception of quality in relation to the organisation’s goods and services, satisfaction
and loyalty. Implications for employees working towards the common goal of
customer satisfaction include improved staff morale, job satisfaction, customer
orientation and organisational commitment. The ultimate outcome for the organisation
is increased profit.

In light of the intensely competitive nature of the recruitment industry in Australia the
implications for Workforce on Tap management are clear: 1) a substantial market
orientation should be the foundation of their competitive advantage strategy; and 2)
they should strive to improve their market orientation to achieve superior business
performance.

Workforce on Tap’s customer orientation, competitor orientation and interfunctional

coordination were examined to assess the organisation’s current overall market
orientation. A strong focus on customer focus was found to permeate the business. A
competitive focus and “interdepartmental connectedness” were also evident. On this
basis the organisation has a solid foundation on which to further enhance its market
orientation. To provide Workforce on Tap with a cohesive approach to developing its

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market orientation specific recommendations are proposed within a change
management framework comprising the following key steps:

1. Further assessment of Workforce on Tap’s current orientation and barriers to

becoming more market-driven.
2. Demonstration of top management commitment to a more market-driven
orientation.
3. Alignment of the strategy with the structure and human resources
4. Encouragement and rewarding of market-driven behaviours.

By adopting these recommendations Workforce on Tap can increase the extent to

which market-driven behaviours are embedded in culture of the workplace, thereby
enhancing the performance of the business.

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10 Table of Contents

1.0 Executive Summary..............................................................................................2

2.0 Table of Contents..................................................................................................4
3.0 Introduction...............................................................................................................5
4.0 Market Orientation....................................................................................................6
4.1 Customer Orientation............................................................................................7
4.2 Competitor Orientation..........................................................................................8
4.3 Interfunctional Coordination.................................................................................8
5.0 Benefits of a Market Orientation...............................................................................9
5.1 Organisational Performance..................................................................................9
5.2 Customer Consequences......................................................................................10
5.3 Innovation Consequences....................................................................................10
5.4 Employee Consequences.....................................................................................11
6.0 Workforce on Tap’s Market Orientation................................................................11
6.1 Overview of Workforce on Tap...........................................................................11
6.2 Workforce on Tap’s Customer Orientation.........................................................12
6.3 Workforce on Tap’s Competitor Orientation......................................................15
6.4 Workforce on Tap’s Interfunctional Coordination..............................................16
6.5 The Culture of Workforce on Tap.......................................................................17
7.0 Recommendations...................................................................................................18
8.0 Conclusion...............................................................................................................21
9.0 References...............................................................................................................23
10.0 Appendices............................................................................................................24
10.0 Appendices

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3.0 Introduction

Market orientation is increasingly being recognised as a pivotal factor in achieving and

maintaining market leadership (Pulendran, 2000). Pulendran, Speed, & Widing (2000,
p.119) assert that “…understanding the culture, activities and processes associated
with market-oriented activity have significant implications for organisations in
Australia”. The aim of this report is provide Workforce on Tap (WoT) with a
comprehensive overview of market orientation and the benefits that can be derived
from its implementation. WoT’s current market orientation is assessed and subsequent
recommendations are proffered for improving its market orientation in order for it to
achieve superior business performance.

Following a review of literature relating to the conceptualisation of the market

orientation construct, a description of the behaviours and activities that characterise a
market-oriented organisation is presented as three distinct behavioural components -
1) customer orientation 2) competitor orientation and 3) interfunctional coordination.
This presentation framework is based on the construct of market orientation presented
by Narver & Slater (1990).

Research into the consequences of market orientation has identified numerous

organisational gains. The benefits are discussed in terms of organisational
performance, customer consequences, innovation consequences and employee
consequences.

Narver & Slater’s multi-item scale – MKTOR (1990) - is used to measure WoT’s
current market orientation. Insights into the structure, culture and processes of the
organisation have been obtained through several interviews with the Managing
Director undertaken throughout September 2009. This report presents observations of
WoT’s customer orientation, competitor orientation and interfunctional coordination.
Although the MKTOR scale does not address the important cultural dimension of
market orientation, relevant cultural aspects of the organisation are also considered.
This leads to a proposed plan for WoT to further develop its market orientation.

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4.0 Market Orientation

Market orientation is a business approach founded on the marketing concept that “a

business has a greater chance of meeting its goals when it is organised in such a way
that the current and potential needs of customers are met more effectively than by their
competitors” (Doyle, 2006). It is an outwardly-focussed customer orientation that
evolved in the second half of the twentieth century as organisations began to realise the
importance of meeting customer needs as the best means of achieving sales and profits
(Pride, 2006).

Two perspectives of market orientation have emerged within marketing literature.

Kohli and Jaworski (1990, p.6) define market orientation from a behavioural
perspective as “the organizationwide generation of market intelligence pertaining to
current and future customer needs, dissemination of the intelligence across
departments, and organizationwide responsiveness to it”.

In contrast, Narver & Slater (1990) present a cultural perspective of market orientation,
focussing on the norms and values of an organisation that encourage behaviours
necessary to create superior value for customers. As illustrated in Figure 1 they address
three specific behavioural components:

1. customer orientation,
2. competitor orientation, and
3. interfunctional coordination
, that together embody an organisation’s activities relating to the generation and
dissemination of market intelligence and its coordinated creation of customer
value.

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Figure 1

Kohli & Jaworski (as cited in “The market-led organisation” Retrieved Oct 4, 2009, from
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=210405)

Narver & Slater (1990, p.22) emphasize that marketing orientation has a long-term
focus in relation to profits and the implementation of these three behavioural
components. As explained by Pride et al (2006, p. 440-441), a long term perspective is
important because customers are more financially profitable over a lifetime. A
customer-oriented organisation therefore recognises that satisfied customers are a true
economic asset and sees the value of satisfied customers in terms of profit.

4.1 Customer Orientation

Customer orientation is a focus on understanding the needs of the customer. It involves

the generation and sharing of customer intelligence in the target market to identify
their current and future needs. This knowledge is then employed to develop products
and services that satisfy and create value for the customer. This is supported by Narver
& Slater’s definition of customer orientation as “the sufficient understanding of one’s
target buyers to be able to create superior value for them continuously” and their
suggestion that it encompasses all of the activities associated with the generation and
dissemination of market intelligence (1990, p. 21).

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Information systems play an important role in the generation of comprehensive market
intelligence. Pride et al (2006, p. 15) go so far as to suggest that an organisation cannot
be market-oriented without an adequate information system. The understanding that is
gained through the generation and sharing of customer intelligence enables market-
oriented companies to identify latent and incipient customer needs, creating new
opportunities for organisations to be innovative (Doyle, 2006). It also enables
organisations to be responsive to the changing needs of their customers, thereby
satisfying customers through the development of appropriate products and services.

4.2 Competitor Orientation

Competitor orientation encompasses all of the activities associated with the generation
and dissemination of intelligence about an organisation’s competitors in the target
market (Narver, 1990). Satisfying customer needs better than competitors is viewed by
Narver & Slater as the key to obtaining sustainable competitive advantage and
achieving superior business performance. A competitor orientation is therefore
important to achieve an understanding of competitors’ short term strengths and
weaknesses and as well as their long term capabilities and strategies.

Competitive benchmarking is an important process for a competitor-oriented

organisation to measure customer satisfaction against that of its competitors(Doyle,
2006).

4.3 Interfunctional Coordination

The marketing concept guides a market-oriented organisation’s overall objectives and

activities therefore it is important all parts of a market-oriented organisation work
together (Pride et al, 2006, p.14). Narver & Slater (1990, p. 22) refer to this
organisation-wide coordination of resources as “interfunctional coordination”- the goal
of which is to create superior value for the customer based on customer and
competitive intelligence.

As stated by David Packard, cofounder of Hewlett-Packard, “Marketing is far too

important to leave to the marketing department”(Day, 1990). This sentiment is
supported by Gummeson in his article “Marketing Orientation revisited: The crucial
role of the part-time marketer” (1991) in which he advocates the importance of all

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members of an organisation playing a role in the delivery of customer value.
Gummeson views all people, outside of the marketing department, who have an
influence on customer relations, customer satisfaction, customer-perceived quality and
revenue as “part-time marketers”.

5.0 Benefits of a Market Orientation

5.1 Organisational Performance

A link between market orientation and business survival was suggested as early as
1960 by Levitt in his seminal article “Marketing Myopia” (1960). The notion of a
market orientation as a key determinant of business performance has been widely
accepted by both academics and practitioners. This relationship was validated by
Narver & Slater’s empirical study of the effect of a market orientation on profitability
(1990). Narver & Slater identify profitability as being the overriding objective of a
market-oriented organisation. Their results demonstrate that the higher an
organisations market orientation the higher its business performance. Research
conducted by by Jaworski & Kohli (1993) suggests that this relationship is affected
little by environmental moderators, supporting Narver & Slater’s claim that market
orientation is relevant in every market environment.

Day (The capabilities of market driven organisations, 1994) proposes that superior
business performance, as validated by Narver & Slater (1990), is the result of superior
skills in understanding and satisfying customers. He refers to these skills as ‘market-
sensing’ and ‘market-linking’ capabilities. Day suggests that an organisation with these
capabilities has a competitive advantage because it will be more responsive than its
competitors. He later refers to these capabilities as a company’s “invisible assets”
(Market driven strategy: processes for creating value, 1990, p. 358) and argues that
these capabilities reperesent the most sustainable of all competitive advantages
because they are difficult for competitors to imitate. This is consistent with Narver &
Slater’s belief that a market orientation can facilitate sustainable value for current and
future customers.

In relation to organisational performance, meeting needs generates higher margins than

selling products (Doyle & Stern, 2006, p.43). Subequently, an organisation that

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satisfies customers builds profits. A customer’s increased profit potential over time
(lifetime value) underlies the need for a long-term commitment and perspective by
market-oriented organisations. As stated by Doyle & Stern (2006, p. 49) “loyal
customers are assets”.

5.2 Customer Consequences

Jaworksi & Kohli (1993) propose that customer-perceived quality of an organisation’s

products or services, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are consequences of a
market orientation. Customer satisfaction and loyalty are enhanced because the
market-oriented organisation anticipates customer needs to provide goods and service
that satisfy these needs. Brady & Cronin (as cited in Kirka, Jayachandran & Bearden,
2005, p. 25) suggest that market orientation can enhance the customer’s perceived
quality of an organisation’s products and services by helping to create and maintain
superior customer value.

5.3 Innovation Consequences

A market-oriented organisation understands its customers and can harness this

knowledge to identify new and better ways to meet their needs through the creation
and implementation of new ideas, products and processes, and new product
performance (Kirca et al, 2005, p. 25). As suggested by Day (Market driven strategy:
processes for creating value, 1990, p. 360) organisations that are attentive to their
customers’ underlying requirements and problems can innovate to better satisfy the
customer, providing real opportunities for growth and profit (Doyle, 2006).

5.4 Employee Consequences

Kohli & Jaworksi (1990) posit a number of psychological and social employee benefits
in relation to market-oriented organisations that they believe stem from employees
working towards the common goal of customer satisfaction:

• Better ‘esprit de corps’;

• Job satisfaction;

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 • Customer orientation- supported by Doyle & Stern’s (2006, p. 45-46)
suggestion that an organisation that structures itself in such a way as to
best serve its customers’ needs has the potential to empower and
motivate its frontline staff in satisfying customers and delivering
results;

• Organisational commitment.

Market orientation can also reduce role conflict stemming from the incompatibility of
communicated expectations (Kirca, 2005).

6.0 Workforce on Tap’s Market Orientation

6.1 Overview of Workforce on Tap

Workforce on Tap (WoT) is an independent recruiting company that operates within a

highly competitive market in regional Victoria and Southern New South Wales. The
company employs twenty-three full-time equivalent staff across four separate
branches. It provides recruitment services for temporary and permanent staff to a wide
cross-section of business clients in industry, commerce and government, including
national and international corporations. Key competitors of this organisation include
Adecco, Drake and Skilled.

Following a change of management in 2003 WoT has seen a two-fold increased in

business. The organisation has recently engaged an external marketing consultant to
assist reassessment of its market positioning and to develop an effective plan for
promoting the business. Subsequent initiatives such as the client newsletter and client
case studies allow WoT to engage its customers and leverage its strengths in relation to
customer service and safety.

In this report a distinction is made between WoT “staff” and “employees”. “Staff”
refers to employees working within the various branches of WoT that are involved
directly and indirectly with servicing their business clients through the provision of
temporary or permanent candidates. The temporary and permanent candidates are
referred to as “employees”.

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6.2 Workforce on Tap’s Customer Orientation

Numerous observations support a customer orientation within the organisation. These

include:

• Evidence that organisational objectives are based on customer satisfaction

WoT’s objectives are reflected in its mission and vision statements (Appendix
1) which are framed around the understanding of customer needs. The
organisation seeks to satisfy the perceived needs of its customers for the benefit
of the customer and the organisation. The specific reference to “mutual positive
business outcomes” demonstrates that WoT also has an understanding of the
derived needs of its business customers. WoT’s vision is to achieve “preferred
provider” status, meeting the needs of customers better than its competitors
through a focus on “quality” and “value”. If quality is the key to value creation
and customer satisfaction, as suggested by Kotler, Keller & Burton (2009, p.
137), WoT’s objectives are clearly driven by customer satisfaction.

• A demonstrated understanding of customer needs

Day (Day, 1990) stresses that a market-driven organisation must keep close to
its customers and ahead of its competitors. In a highly competitive market
environment WoT has successfully engineered two key competitive advantages
based on an understanding of customer needs:

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 1. Superior responsiveness to customer needs

WoT recognises that the larger size and hierarchical structure of their
national and multinational competitors impedes their responsive to
customer needs. In contrast WoT has a decentralised structure. Its
strategy is to allow individual branches to exercise a high degree of
autonomy in decision-making to enable faster customer response times.
In addition to benefiting the customer this empowers frontline staff to
take responsibility, accept accountability, exercise initiative and deliver
results (Doyle & Stern, 2006, p. 46).

This capability to respond quickly to customers is central to WoT’s

positioning as the recruitment firm that is the fastest and easiest to deal
with.

2. Value-added safety

Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) functions within recruitment

firms are typically managed by branch managers. Recognising the
customer-perceived importance of employee safety, WoT has
established a “Corporate Safety Manager” position with a sole focus on
safety. This allows WoT to include specialist OHS consultancy as part
of its value proposition. The after-sales service provided by the
Corporate Safety Manager is important in building customer loyalty
through the creation of institutional ties.

• Business strategies are driven by the creation of customer value

WoT’s business strategies are derived from beliefs about how they can generate
greater value for their customers. This is clearly illustrated in Table 1:

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Table 1:

Major attributes and Associated strategies Key Performance

benefits identified by Indicator (KPI)
WoT as being valued
by customers
1. Timeliness • Being fastest to • Timely delivery of
respond to a request service and quote
for a quote • Timely response to
• Delivering a candidate client orders (“Lead
in the shortest Time”) and inquiries
possible time
• Provision of accurate
and timely invoices
1. Quality • Providing the best • Absence of customer
possible candidate complaints
that can add value to • Quality customer
the client’s business relationships
• WoT’s “Satisfaction
Guarantee” (Appendix
2)
• Monitoring candidate
performance
• Provision of a
qualified OHS Officer
• Adopting an attitude
of exceeding client
expectations

• Customer satisfaction is measured frequently and systematically

WoT has a systematic internal process to measure customer satisfaction

following the placement of a new employee at a client worksite. This involves:

14
 1. An “Employee Appraisal” (Appendix 2) – involving customers’ active
participation in an appraisal of the employees’ performance one week after
initial employment and monthly thereafter. This collaborative effort is
crucial to the organisation meeting its “Satisfaction Guarantee”.
2. Weekly client visits - one-on-one communication between the Branch
Manager and the client in order to monitor the client’s needs and
satisfaction.
3. A “Customer Satisfaction Report” (Appendix 4) - a quarterly client
satisfaction survey. Responses to this survey are reviewed by management
on an ad-hoc basis. The data is not systematically measured and reported
across the organisation.

• WoT provides comprehensive after-sales service

This includes the processes for measuring customer satisfaction and the
Corporate Safety Manager’s ongoing client support. WoT is also responsive to
customer complaints and in the event of customer defection is active in
investigating the customer’s motivations. These activities enable WoT to
cultivate highly satisfied customers and build customer retention.

These observations are indicative of a customer orientation. However, consideration

does not appear to have been given to measuring the organisation’s commitment and
orientation to serving customer needs, either through measurement of customer
perceptions by an independent source or through a self-critical analysis. The
implications of this are twofold -

1. In the absence of a crisis, such as the loss of a major client, the organisation
may become complacent with regard to their customer focus.
2. The organisation has no meaningful measure by which further achievement in
customer orientation can be recognised.
(Day, 1990)

6.3 Workforce on Tap’s Competitor Orientation

Indications of a competitor orientation within WoT include:

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 • Sharing of competitor information
Competitor strategies along with market trends and developments are regularly
discussed at quarterly Branch Manager meetings. Strategic planning also
occurs in this forum, involving a SWOT analysis to evaluate competitor threats
to the organisation’s success in achieving its objectives.
• Competitor benchmarking
WoT benchmarks its performance against that of its competitors in two
measureable areas: safety (as measured by Workcover costs) and rates.
This competitive focus allows WoT to be highly responsive to competitor actions.
This is clearly illustrated in the following case study:

In 2007 following a strong long-term relationship with Rubicon Systems

Australia, WoT was challenged to respond quickly to a competitor threat. This
threat coincided with the client being awarded a lucrative Government contract
which it anticipated would result in a substantial increase in the client’s
requirement for temporary recruitment services. In response to the competitor’s
lower cost proposition and with consideration to the client’s new status in terms
of “customer lifetime value” WoT promptly modified its offering to provide a
revised rate schedule for the client based on volume. On this basis WoT was
able to retain the client and continued to cultivate the relationship to secure a
loyal and valuable customer. WoT’s responsiveness to the changing needs of its
customers is supported by following unsolicited testimonial of Rubicon’s
Production Manager, Kevin Shelton, in 2009 (Appendix 5): “From recruiting
casual staff for seasonal employment, through to permanent placements,
Workforce on Tap is Rubicon’s first choice. WFOT continually evolve and
improve their services to maintain a close alliance with our business
requirements”.

6.4 Workforce on Tap’s Interfunctional Coordination

Jaworski and Kohli (1993) refer to “interdepartmental connectedness” as an

attribute that encourages employees to act in a “concerted” manner in relation to
the generation and utilisation of market intelligence. The following factors have
been identified as fostering interdepartmental connectedness within WoT:

16
 • The exchange of market intelligence is facilitated through intra-branch
and inter-branch meetings that involve staff from all functions.
• The existence of technological links including a central network and
Customer Relationship Management database to promote physical
proximity (Jaworski, 1993).
• Their cross-functional approach to client visits. In keeping with the
Narver & Slater’s suggestion that “the most effective way for a seller to
discover opportunities to increase buyer value is to visit a buyer’s
business and the buyer’s customers frequently” (1990), Branch
Managers, Operations Managers, the Regional Manager and the
Managing Director follow a regime of scheduled visits to client
workplaces so that there is a shared understanding of customer needs.

6.5 The Culture of Workforce on Tap

WoT’s workplace culture described by management as fun, friendly and team-oriented

is integral to its market orientation. The “New Employee Induction” presentation
(Appendix 5) provides insight into how both a customer focus and competitor focus
are instilled in staff at an early stage. It emphasises the importance of customer service
and satisfaction, and requires the inductee to identify competitors to WoT in their
region.

Other factors that have been identified as fostering a market orientation include:

• Strategic planning for the organisation is a cross-functional,

participative process.
• Management recognise that sales staff have a ‘customer-satisfying’
role so consequently there is a supportive relationship between senior
management and sales.
• In all functions of the organisation there is an emphasis on the
recruitment of staff who can provide exceptional customer service and
have the potential to take on the role of “part-time marketer”
(Gummesson, 1991).
• Staff regard each other as ‘internal customers’. Gummeson (1991)
regards internal marketing as being a positive influence on external
marketing.

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7.0 Recommendations
The following recommendations are intended to assist WoT in achieving a higher
degree of market orientation by increasing the extent to which market-driven
behaviours are embedded in the organisation’s culture.

The proposed plan provides a cohesive approach to this task and follows Day’s four-
step change management framework (Day, 1990):

1. Assessment of WoT’s current orientation and barriers to becoming more

market driven.

Day (Day, 1990) believes that “measurement is essential to recognisable

achievement”. To establish a baseline measurement of the organisation’s
market orientation and to identify potential barriers to becoming market driven,
further assessment of the organisation’s current orientation is required. This
should involve:

a. Measuring customer perceptions – ideally through a third party to

assure objective feedback. This independent customer audit may
include ‘focus group interviews’ and/or customer surveys. There may
be potential to tap into the survey tool that is planned for establishing a
“Regional Business Confidence Index”.

b. Management judgement of effectiveness – Narver & Slater’s MKTOR

scale (1990) of market orientation used in this report would be a
suitable tool for WoT management to assess the organisation’s
commitment towards its customers. Farrell & Oczkowski (1997)
propose a refined version of this scale based on their study of its
effectiveness in a sample of privately owned Australian companies
(Appendix 6).

Results of these audits should be communicated to all staff so that they have an
understanding of how customers judge the organisation, where the problems lie
and what can be done to increase competitiveness (Doyle p. 56).

1. Demonstration of top-management commitment to a more market-driven

orientation

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Jaworksi & Kohli (1993) consider top management emphasis on market
orientation, through continual reminders of the need for staff to be sensitive
and responsive to market developments, as an essential prerequisite to a market
orientation. Day (Day Mark Drive Strategy p. 48) also identifies leadership
from senior management as important in achieving a cultural shift towards a
greater external focus and in ensuring broad participation in, understanding of
and acceptance of new directions. He refers to the need to “energise”
organisations to be market-driven.

Actions to reinforce management commitment to market orientation include:

• Greater dissemination of customer satisfaction results - collated data

from the quarterly customer satisfaction reports could constitute a Key
Performance Indicator that is published for all staff. This KPI may also
influence assessment of Branch Managers performance.

• The existing organisational chart could be turned upside-down - many

of today’s leading companies are recognising that everything starts
from a customer perspective therefore employees closest to the
customer are positioned at the top of the organisation chart (Doyle,
2006). Inverting WoT’s organisational structure would reflect the
customer focus that is facilitated by the decentralised management of
the organisation and would serve as a powerful symbolic gesture
(Appendix 7).

• There should be an emphasis on customer and market issues during

strategy reviews (Day, 1990)

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2. Alignment of the strategy with the structure and human resources

Customer satisfaction should be the central task of all personnel (Kotler, 2009).
Gummesson (1991, p. 18) suggests that marketing orientation “only becomes alive
when all members of an organisation have asked themselves “How do I contribute
to excellence in customer relations and to revenue?”, have answered the question
and implemented the answer”. WoT should further develop staff understanding of
their role in influencing customer relationships by asking them this question.
Specifically,
• Upon recruitment of new staff - this may involve dedicating part of the
“New Staff Induction” presentation to addressing the importance of
market orientation and customer focus within the organisation. The staff
member should be actively engaged in answering this question as a
basis for further discussion. As part of the training process new staff
should also be provided with detailed information on the most valued
customers and competitors before they start working (Becker, 1999).
• As part of ongoing performance appraisals.
Additional means of aligning the strategy with human resources include:

• The implementation of market-oriented training – to heighten staff

sensitivity to customer needs thereby eliciting market-oriented behaviours
(Ruekert, 1992).
• Further cross-functional activities to enable well-coordinated
interfunctional efforts (Becker, 1999) and decrease the likelihood of
interdepartmental conflict which can impede market orientation (Jaworski,
1993).
1. Encouragement and rewarding of market-driven behaviour throughout
the organisation.
Whilst sales growth and profits are rewards for past successes, Jaworski & Kohli
(1993) believe rewards that are based on the contributions of individuals in sensing
and responding to market needs can be instrumental in shaping these market-
oriented behaviours. To motivate staff actions that enhance market orientation,
WoT should introduce an ‘externally oriented’ reward system for all staff using
measures of market-oriented behaviours such as:

20
 • complaints and complaint handling
• customer satisfaction, particularly measures from external sources
Practical implementation of market-driven rewards could include:

• Suggestion boxes to encourage the sharing of market-based ideas

(Pulendran, 2000).
• Rewards for employee suggestions that lead to an overall increase in
WoT’s customer orientation (Becker, 1999).
• Awarding prizes to anyone who consistently provides useful market
intelligence (Becker, 1999).
These initiatives will focus staff on the common goals of a market orientation -
strengthening long-term customer relationships (Doyle, 2006) and creating
“unity of function” (Day, 1990).

8.0 Conclusion

Management’s sustained focus on exceptional customer service and alignment of the

organisation’s resources with customer needs appears to have instilled workplace
norms and values that are consistent with a market orientation. Subsequently, WoT
demonstrates a strong customer orientation, a competitive focus and
“interdepartmental connectedness” - an antecedent to interfunctional coordination. The
Rubicon case study provides a key insight into WoT’s market orientation, illustrating
its ability to satisfy customers and build long-term relationships.

Despite this strong foundation, there is scope for WoT to increase the extent to which
market-driven behaviours are embedded in the organisation’s culture. The
recommendations for improving WoT’s market orientation have been formulated on
this basis, with a view to enhancing business performance and to helping the
organisation to achieve their vision of market leadership. By building on its solid
foundation of exceptional customer service WoT can achieve a level of market
orientation that sets the benchmark for its competitors.

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A brief presentation “Achieving Market Leadership” has been produced for the
management of Workforce on Tap and can be accessed via the link:
http://wotmarketorientation.blogspot.com/

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9.0 References

Becker, J. (1999). Market-Oriented Management: A Systems-Based Perspective.

Journal of Market Focused Management , 4, 17-41.

Braithwaite, I., Attree, K., & Rosenstreich, D. (Revised 2009). Marketing for
Managers MBA503 Study Guide. Charles Sturt University.

Day, G. (1990). Market driven strategy: processes for creating value. New York: The
Free Press.

Day, G. (1994). The capabilities of market driven organisations. Journal of Marketing

, 58, 37-52.

Doyle, P., & Stern, P. (2006). Marketing management and strategy (4th ed.). Essex:
Pearson Education Limited.

Farrell, M., & Oczkowski, E. (1997). An Analysis of the MKTOR and MARKOR
Measures of Market Orientation: An Australian Perspective. Marketing
Bulletin , 30-40.

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10.0 Appendices

Appendix 1: Workforce on Tap Mission Statement, Vision Statement and Values

Appendix 2: Workforce on Tap Quality Policy

Appendix 3: Workforce on Tap Employee Appraisal

Appendix 4: Workforce on Tap Customer Satisfaction Report

Appendix 5: Workforce on Tap New Employee Induction Presentation

Appendix 6: Farrell & Oczkowski’s modified MKTOR scale

Appendix 7: Workforce on Tap Existing Organisational Chart & Inverted Alternative

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