Beyond market orientation: A conceptualization of market evolution

The authors develop a comprehensive conceptualization of market evolution. Toward this end, they take an information-processing perspective on the problem, integrating this outlook with an evolutionary view of market development. Four stages of product-market development are identified in a parsimonious conceptual framework that subsumes a number of existing approaches. The authors then examine the possible future trajectory of the information economy by extending the framework to address what many have alleged is a discontinuity emerging from the forthcoming availability of ubiquitous information accessibility via the World Wide Web. The authors conclude that—as we enter the next millennium—marketing stands, labile at the cusp of another major shift, one that will lead to questioning many of the assumptions on which traditional marketing organizations have been built.