The Impact of Market Orientation on Business Performance. A Study on the Food and Beverage Industry in Sri Lanka

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, , language: English, abstract: This thesis studies the business performance of firms in the food and beverage industry in Sri Lanka by using the market orientation theoretical framework to explain why some firms are more successful than others. It also investigates how firms become more market-oriented and whether there is a significant relationship between market orientation and business performance. Data was collected through a survey using a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 160 questionnaires were sent to top and middle level managers employed in 21 food and beverage companies operating in Sri Lanka. 120 questionnaires were returned, all of which were usable. In a next step, the questionnaires were coded into SPSS version 21 for Pearson Correlation Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis. The results from this study indicate that market orientation has a positive impact on business performance of organizations operating in the food and beverage industry in Sri Lanka. Moreover, the results reveal that customer orientation has a positive significant impact on business performance. Also, results suggest that the impact of competitor orientation on business performance is positive and significant. Results suggest that inter-functional coordination has a negative significant impact on business performance of organizations operating in the food and beverage industry in Sri Lanka. The results of this study suggest that firms operating in the food and beverage industry should be focused on approaches of customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination activities of organizations in order to be more successful in the prevailing business environment and to achieve high business performance.

Sanath Dasanayaka is a Sri Lankan personal development author and a leadership expert. He is a management graduate from one of the prestigious state universities in Sri Lanka. He loves reading, writing and adventures. Sanath's writings are basically on goal setting, leadership, higher purpose of life and ways of living better. Sanath's voice: "I am just a common man, who loves exploring the deep bottoms in my mind and experimenting about the better ways of living. I love thinking without boundaries and journaling my insights. I have spent years, searching for the ways to achieve more in life; love, better relationships, happiness and success. I started my searching, while I was still in the university years ago. Time passed. Read hundreds of books. Experienced a lot. Finally, I realized something invaluable. The way of achieving more in life is the result of personal transformation. In other words, everything can be achieved, by transforming yourself to the next level of realization."