What the hell is Market Orientation?

Sorry for my language, but I hope that I can redeem myself by telling you that there is a well-respected article by Shapiro (1988) with the same title as mine : -)

Well…market orientation, close-2-customers, outside-in....is it really important?
Example comments on resistance from market orientation

1. "We should focus on what we're good at"
2. "Customers don't know what they want so I can't ask them!"
3. "If we're good enough, - customers will buy!"

You hear these comments nearly everyday when working with business development....it's seldom that you respond to them, because they all have truths build into them....but in my opinion, - they are far from wise! They all exhibit how hard it is to be market oriented.
The replies to the statements could be:

1. It makes perfectly sense to do what we're good at but if you cannot link this to any value creation for your customers you will not earn money
2. Customers can't always tell you what they want....but they can respond to something you show them. Developing everything to perfection before it reaches the market is like playing the russian roulette.
3. But how do you know if you’re good enough? You only know that when you confront your customers with your business.

So you see, - peoples lack of market orientation leads to an attitude that says .."I know what the customers want and I'm not bothered with competitors and other external forces. Nothing can rock me if I'm doing what I'm good at"....
In times of financial crisis, global warming and thousands of emerging markets and thousands of emerging business model innovations….it’s getting really hard for any manager to neglect the need to be market oriented!

The Value Proposition
I've found the value proposition to be extremely useful for people who wants to become more market oriented. The value proposition states "what value you are offering your clients in return for their money". Grasping the fact that IF you are successful in giving your clients superior value in return for their money then you will win, - makes it easy for everyone to understand it’s importance. To evaluate whether or not you have a superior value proposition you NEED to listen to the market….not just your current revenue. Being proactive in finding a neat value proposition is a killer for your competitors and a gift for your customers.

But…What the hell is market orientation?
To be honest, - it’s a very hard question to answer. I do think that this professor at CBS has got a very good clue to what it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Www-_jGrIQQ
He also refers to Shapiro’s (1988) article and lively talks about how CEO’s can tell everyone that they need to become more market oriented….and not knowing a bit of what they are talking about. The funny part of this story is that even though that many CEO’s don’t know what it means, - organizations become more market oriented and their results improve!

It’s far more than “getting close to customers”
If you are interested in this subject and want to know what you can do to improve your market orientation you could read the Danish book “Luk Op” (English: “Open Up”) http://www.bogpriser.dk/work-88791389-luk-op/ by strategy professor Anders Drejer at Aarhus School of Business. He introduces a “strategic realtime scanning” model that somewhat sums it up. The thinking behind the model and the business development processes like “systematic creativity” is unique and very hands-on for most people.

More to come
Some of my next blogs at http://baldrian-business-development.blogspot.com/ I will introduce some of these topics:

1. Business Model Innovation
2. Systematic Creativity: Working professionally with crazy things
3. Leadership in Business Development

Please give inputs to other interesting topics.
Have a nice day!