A Study on the Effects of the Manufacturer's Market Orientation on Quality Management activity and Business Performance

제조기업의 시장지향성이 품질경영활동과 경영성과에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

Purpose - The market orientation of a manufacturer is a very critical competitive advantage factor in the development of new markets and the sustainability and maintenance of existing ones, achieved through the design of customer-oriented products. This is recognized as a virtuous circle, in which firms grow by means of promoting quality management. However, though market-oriented activities are important in management and operations, they seem to be promoted mainly by large-scale enterprises rather than by small- and medium-scale firms, the latter having invested relatively few company resources. Furthermore, few studies and analyses have examined how market orientation relates to the expansion of quality programs within organizations or with business performance; the market orientation and customer-orientation concepts are mixed together when both are used in research. Given the current market situation in which the servitization of manufacturing firms is rapidly expanding, this study's analysis of the effect on market orientation of manufacturers is a significant contribution. From this perspective, this study has several objectives. First, is to analyze and suggest the relationship between market orientation and quality management activity for manufacturers, focusing on three sub-activities: products, process, and quality management activities. Second, it is intended to identify correlation between manufacturers' market oriented activity and their management performance and then to analyze how market orientation affects business performance. The results of a number of prior studies on the correlation between market orientation and management performance have indicated that market orientation does affect management performance. Third, this study also investigates whether any differences in the relationship among market orientation, quality management activity and business performance occur according to company size. The results are used to present operational suggestions for large- and small- and medium-size firms. Research design, data, methodology - This study seeks to analyze and identify the causal features of the organic relationship among market orientation, quality management, and management performance for Korean manufacturing companies using three years (2005-2007) of market orientation, quality management, and business performance data. Subsequently, structural equation modeling was used to analyze the causal features of related factors and it aims to identify the features of market orientation, quality management, and business performance. Results - The analysis examined how market orientation affected the quality management and management performance of 159 smalland medium-size companies. In particular, enterprise quality management was analyzed in relation to management performance with a focus on activities such as leadership, measurement and improvement, quality control, cost management, and process management. Conclusions - The result of the analysis show that market orientation significantly affected all of the quality management activities and that market orientation in turn significantly affected organizational performance. The result of analysis indicate that quality management activities have a significant effect on quality control and cost management.