MKTOR — Market Orientation Scale

What it measures

Measures market orientation — the organisational culture that places highest priority on creating superior customer value — across three behavioural components. Customer Orientation captures understanding of target buyers and ability to create continuous superior value. Competitor Orientation captures understanding of the short- and long-term capabilities and strategies of key competitors. Interfunctional Coordination captures the coordinated utilisation of company resources in creating superior customer value. One of the most cited papers in Journal of Marketing history, MKTOR established the empirical link between market orientation and firm performance. Widely used in B2B, B2C, services, and non-profit marketing strategy research across industries and countries.

Response format

Likert (1–7, not at all to to an extreme extent)

Scale items

Customer Orientation — understanding and creating superior value for target buyers (Likert 1–7, not at all to to an extreme extent)

• Our business objectives are driven primarily by customer satisfaction.
• We constantly monitor our level of commitment and orientation to serving customer needs.
• Our strategy for competitive advantage is based on our understanding of customers' needs.
• Our business strategies are driven by our beliefs about how we can create greater value for customers.
• We measure customer satisfaction systematically and frequently.

Competitor Orientation — understanding strengths, weaknesses and strategies of key competitors (Likert 1–7)

• We rapidly respond to competitive actions that threaten us.
• Our salespeople share competitor information across business functions.
• Top management regularly discusses competitors' strengths and strategies.
• We target customers where we have, or can develop, a competitive advantage.

Interfunctional Coordination — coordinated use of company resources in creating customer value (Likert 1–7)

• Our top managers visit customers regularly.
• We freely communicate information about our successful and unsuccessful customer experiences across all business functions.
• All of our business functions (e.g. marketing/sales, manufacturing, R&D, finance/accounting) are integrated in serving the needs of our target markets.
• All of our managers understand how everyone in our company can contribute to creating customer value.

Business Performance — indicators of performance (Likert 1–7; often excluded from market orientation measurement)

• Our return on investment is high relative to our industry.
• Our market share is growing relative to our competitors.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

The 2 business performance items are typically excluded, leaving 13 behavioural items. Three subscale scores and a composite market orientation score. MKTOR (cultural orientation) should be distinguished from MARKOR (market intelligence processes) — the two scales operationalise market orientation differently. MKTOR shows stronger direct effects on business performance across meta-analyses.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Narver, J.C., & Slater, S.F. (1990). The effect of a market orientation on business profitability. Journal of Marketing, 54(4), 20–35.

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