What Firms Learn Depends on What Firms Know: The Implications of Prior Knowledge for Market Orientation

The ability to recognize and capitalize on new knowledge, i.e., to learn, can lead to competitive advantage(s) in the marketplace. Drawing from marketing and management strategy literatures in general and absorptive capacity literature in particular, this paper explicates the role of prior knowledge in market orientation. Specifically, this paper (1) focuses on ways in which an organization’s existing knowledge can influence its ability to recognize the value of generated intelligence, facilitate its dissemination, and guide the organization’s response, (2) develops several, empirically testable propositions, and (3) proposes avenues for future research.