Market orientation and corporate success: Findings from Germany

The significance of the market orientation for corporate management is the subject of a long‐standing controversy. This empirical study conducted in Germany, the largest European market, shows that together with other basic dimensions of management, the market orientation contributes substantially to corporate success. Indicates that popular practical measures designed to implement the market orientation within the organization may cause negative side effects in terms of corporate success. These risks could be controlled by taking a number of actions suggested in this article. Detecting these risks requires a holistic research approach to corporate management, of which the market orientation represents only one basic dimension. An integrated perspective of research, such as the one presented in this paper, represents a new approach for conducting empirical research on the question of whether the market orientation exerts an impact on corporate success.