From Market Orientation to Stakeholder Orientation

Drawing on the marketing orientation and stakeholder literature streams, the authors define the concepts of market orientation (MO) and stakeholder orientation (SO) to explore their potential contribution to marketing. They discuss the potential contribution of each construct along with the similarities and differences that could be significant for marketing strategy. The MO construct focuses on customers and competitors and indirectly on other stakeholder groups. The SO construct does not designate any stakeholder group as more important than another, and the prioritization of stakeholders may change depending on the issue. As such, SO is more contingency based and is a function of contextual aspects surrounding the organization. The SO and MO constructs are not mutually exclusive; there is some overlap between them. The authors suggest further research to explore the most appropriate construct for firms to consider.