The Effect of Market Orientation and Customer Loyalty on Business Performance: An Empirical Evidence from Rice Industry of Thailand

Abstract

Market orientation is a process in which customers’ need is identified and emphasized on customers' wants by meeting with them. In other words, market orientation refers to an organization’s adjustment with the customers. However, the essential purpose of the market orientation is to achieve customers’ loyalty, which significantly influences the company's business performance companies or organization. According to the current study, major factors of market orientation, such as customers’ orientation, competitors’ orientation, and inter-functional coordination, directly correlate with customers’ loyalty and business performance. While customers’ loyalty also has a direct relationship with business performance. Moreover, customers’ loyalty mediates between the relationship of market orientation and business performance. To obtain the current study outcomes, a survey for primary data collection was initially conducted from 255 employees working in various companies involved in Thailand's rice industry. Furthermore, a statistical software named Partial Least Square was used to analyze the collected primary data to obtain the current study outcomes. In the end, it was concluded that market orientation has a positive effect on the business performance of companies, especially involved in the rice industry of Thailand. Hence, the current study contributes a lot to increase the business performance of the concerned companies and practitioners.