Market orientation is a business perspective that makes the customer the focal point of a company's total operations. "A business is market-oriented when its culture is systematically and entirely committed to the continuous creation of superior customer value."'°Market orientation involves the use of superior organizational skills in understanding and satisfying customers."

Becoming market-oriented requires the support of the entire workforce. Executives must identify rapidly changing customer needs and wants, determine the intact of these changes on customer satisfaction, increase the rate of product/service innovation in business strategies; and develop strategies that build the organization's competitive advantage.

We first look at the characteristics and features of market orientation and discuss the importance of becoming market-oriented. Next, several issues in making the transition to a market-oriented organization are discussed.