THE USER IN FOCUS - THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MARKET-ORIENTED CORPORATE CULTURE

Successful product innovation requires market-oriented thinking. On th e basis of empirical studies of manufacturing companies and service or ganizations in several countries, it is shown that a market-oriented c ulture can be developed by: (1) a bottom-up approach at the operationa l level, with focus on the application of market-oriented concepts and tools in connection with product innovation projects; or by (2) a top -down approach at the strategic level, comprising a company-wide chang e programme. The focus of the paper is on the top-down approach which starts at the top level and comprises an analysis of strategic factors such as management philosophy, business concept, major objectives, et c., and is followed by the planning and implementation of the change p rocess. Several propositions have been formulated that will serve as g uidelines for practitioners and pose a challenge to researchers for fu rther studies.