Market‐oriented is more than being customer‐led

Connor, in ‘Customer-led and market-oriented: A matter of balance’, argues, among other things, that we propose that market oriented businesses focus on future customer needs to the neglect of current customer needs, that market oriented businesses over-emphasize marketing activities in their value chains, that market oriented businesses emphasize generative learning to the neglect of adaptive learning, and that only large companies have the resources to become market oriented. These arguments are largely unfair extrapolations of our position and reflect a superficial understanding of the nature and benefits of being market oriented. We use this response to clarify our position on these issues.