What is it about?
The quest for the diversification of Botswana’s mineral-led economy necessitates an examination of other performing ones such as the Tourism-Transport and Finance-Consulting small service sectors which have been identified as also contributing immensely to its economy. So, this paper investigates variations in market orientation and performance among small service firms in Botswana.
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Why is it important?
Small service firms in Botswana have shown evidence of growth capabilities which call for ways to enhance their growth. Therefore, this study sheds light on the extent to which antecedents and consequences of market orientation behaviour inform strategic decision making in the sampled service sectors. After all, contemporary market orientation literature offers a rich, but a fragmented picture of what MO is and how it can be improved. This research, therefore, determines if the level of market orientation and its antecedents vary with the sector of the sampled firms in Botswana; and to establish if economic and non-economic performance metrics vary with the sector of the sampled firms in Botswana.
Perspectives
This study contributes to extant literature by examining the effect of antecedents and market orientation behavior on the performance of small service firms in different service sectors. As we know and drawing from the work of Aziz and Yassin (2010), due to inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability, small service firms require the concept of market orientation more than large firms due to their size, nature of offerings, operational constraints, as well as the orientation that services are consumed directly. The results thus help advance the nexus between contingency theory and market orientation with respect to service sectors. Additionally, the implication of the empirical results for managers is that they should appraise a combination of internal and external antecedents that are critical to market orientation behaviour. Hence, the one size fits all approach hitherto adopted irrespective of service sectors should be revised by managers, policy makers and other institutional frameworks in Botswana.
Prof Chux Gervase CG Iwu
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Sectoral variations in market orientation and performance among small service firms in Botswana, Management & Marketing, September 2018, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.2478/mmcks-2018-0024.
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