The effects of flexible firm orientations on market information use: intended and unintended consequencies / created by Elliot Maltz, Anil Menon and James B Wilcox

The current business environment, characterized by rapidly shifting marketplace conditions, is pushing firms to create flexible organizational orientations. At the same time, in order to respond effectively to shifting market conditions, managers throughout the firm must be willing and able to disseminate and respond to market research designed to alert firms to shifts in market conditions. However, little work has focused on how creating a flexible firm orientation affects the way market research is disseminated and used. This article reports the findings of a study designed to enhance our knowledge in this area. The study suggests that firms attempting to create flexibility can lean toward an innovation orientation (encouraging new ideas) or a speed orientation (encouraging a rapid response). The study also suggests that firms which have an innovative orientation tend to use disseminated market research in a way that is consistent with the findings of the research. On the other hand, firms which have a speed orientation tend to use market research in a way that is less consistent with its findings.