Customer relationship orientation - evolutionary link between market orientation and customer relationship management

Market Orientation continues to evolve and this paper re-visits the concept. Using 20 cases across two countries and many industries, this paper finds that market orientation (MO) is actually a measure of the organizations ability to maintain, develop and build a relationship with its customer base. A surprising finding is that MO actually depends on the emphasis an organization gives to its past, present and future customer bases. Organizations that fail to reap the benefits of MO do so because they have not embraced MO at the right level. This paper encourages practitioners to identify those factors that contribute to the development of a customer relationship orientation to fully experience the benefits of adopting a market orientation. The paper presents several simplified frameworks that contribute to the overall theoretical body of knowledge and practice.