Model of Market Orientation of High-tech Firms in the Czech Republic

Abstract. This article will contribute to better understanding of the phenomenon of market orientation and measurement of market orientation on the Czech market. The primary aim of this paper is to describe a concept of market orientation and to develop a modified model of market orientation (MMOM). The target group of respondents is mainly managers (N=328) of high-tech companies. Reached respondents were asked to fill in a questionnaire prepared on a website in digital form. A seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (absolutely disagree) to 7 (absolutely agree) were used to help the respondents express their opinion. The main method of statistical analysis is exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. This analysis supported the hypothesis about four-factor structure. Four dimensions (Customer Intelligence Generation, Competitor Intelligence Generation, Intelligence Dissemination & Integration and Responsiveness to Market Intelligence) were found.Keywords: Market Orientation, Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Reliability, Validity, High-Tech Sector, Czech Republic, MMOM, MMOSJEL Classification: M31, M10IntroductionThe main aim of this contribution is to create a model of market orientation of high-tech firms with emphasis on the current trends in management and marketing. Market orientation of firms is a concept which is particularly used in the strategic marketing. The whole field of research belongs to popular, however not much explored topics in the Czech Republic so far. Today the need to use modern scientific approaches, enabling firms to act more effectively, is still permanently increasing. It can be done only when the firms are sufficiently aware of their market environment, which is changing of course, and therefore it is necessary to react adequately and to adapt to present trends. The firms are forced to a permanent improvement and modernization of the offered products due to increasing competition in the global environment and growing requirements of the key customers. Management of the firm in present market conditions requires an active involvement of all departments across the whole firm and its coordination. The author tries to proceed from older models of market orientation and to evaluate their strong and weak points. In this study a particular emphasis is placed not only on importance of spreading of market information (dissemination) within the high-tech firm, but also on integration and change to knowledge that may be used by the company management during the planning of a particular strategic action. The studies performed so far across all continents mostly showed that market orientation is measurable and its proper implementation has a positive influence on the company performance. It is necessary to point out that there still exists a range of geographic places and business sectors where valid measurement has never been realized yet. It is recommended to repeat the research after certain time in the areas where it was already performed. The solved topic offers a high potential to pick up the threads of contemporary world results and detailed research of market orientation of firms from the point of view of theory and practice in our country.1. Concept of market orientation and definitionThe basic principle of market orientation is to reach success owing to fact that the firm, within its decision-making process, "is led" by market. Majority of definitions place emphasis on a customer, particularly identification and satisfaction of his needs. However, this problem may be viewed from different angles. Therefore the following lines shall outline definitions of market orientation according to important authors.Shapiro was concerned with definition of market orientation in 1988 (Shapiro, 1988). He came to the conclusion that a company is market-oriented if it is successful at getting information about customers, which will be used properly and processed in all company sections. …