The most influential countries in market orientation

The purpose of this article is to analyze the most productive and influential countries engaging in market orientation (MO) research between 1990 and 2016. This article shows the general trajectories of these countries, the relationships among them, and their research in the area of MO by analyzing results on citations and publications. The article uses applied bibliometric techniques on available information found in the Web of Science. The results show that the 10 leading countries produce more than 70% of total publications, where the United States leads in all indicators, followed by the United Kingdom and China. Furthermore, although there has been a steady increase in overall number of publications, this trend is not shared evenly among different nations.


Introduction
The evolution of organizational approaches shows that there has been a slow but steady increase in the importance of marketing orientation (MO). 1 This trend becomes apparent when we look at the transition from a focus on the internal processes, with marketing being just another department to a greater focus on clients and competition, thus involving the whole organization.Furthermore, studies have established a positive relationship between the MO and marketing intensity, 2 which partially addresses important rising aspects in current business practices. 3lthough no commonly accepted definition of MO 4-6 has emerged [7][8][9] from various studies on the subject, [10][11][12] the most prominent and cited research comes from Narver and Slater 13 and Kohli and Jaworki. 14arver and Slater 13 define MO as an organizational culture that is more effective and efficient in promoting the behaviour required to create greater customer value, which in turn implies a superior outcome for the organization.This definition is similar to the one suggested by Narver et al. 15 who argue that the fundamental value of MO is the commitment from all the members of an organization to the continuous process of creating superior value for clients.On the other hand, Kohli and Jaworki 14 find that the fundamental value is instead the ability of an organization to generate information regarding the needs of all its current and future clients.By disseminating this information through all its departments, an organization is able to generate proper responses to various scenarios.
7][18] Although Van Raaij 19 suggests a combination of both approaches, it is important to bear in mind that there is an additional perspective on the subject: philosophical. 20n addition, the main philosophy behind MO focuses mainly on business performance based on three main constructs: client orientation, competitive orientation and inter-functional coordination (the latter is directly related to the firm's profitability 13 ).However, another MO approach centres instead on three main areas: generation of information and intelligence, dissemination of information and intelligence and timely response. 14here is a rising concern regarding current investigations that promote scientific knowledge in MO, given that the underlying organizational philosophy in MO would constitute too much of an important paradigm shift for these organizations.Some authors, therefore, consider organizational ambidexterity -defined as an organization's ability to align and manage current business demands while adapting to environmental changes -as a viable alternative; this kind of progressive approach has seen a growth in interest in recent years. 21However, given that another stream of research instead favours corporate social performance, 22 we can see how the importance of MO theory has generated a vast array of approaches, significantly broadening our knowledge in the field.
Industries that have successfully implemented MO have thus created a culture where members of an organization believe that the client is the centre of business, which consequently has inspired them to be actively engaged in satisfying the client's every need, generating value and prioritizing them in the company's philosophy.
Furthermore, incorporating this paradigm shift into their business strategy, companies can increase their profitability because, from the point of view of the salesperson, there are a large number of alternatives available for creating added value for the client by either raising benefits and/or minimizing costs. 13egardless of the above, there is scarce use of quantitative methods to explore research on MO. 23,24 In general, the analysis of the progress in the field at the international level has been based on the current literature, [25][26][27][28] which is compatible with current bibliometric research.
This state of affairs is concerning to us since productivity and scientific visibility are key to measuring research excellence. 29Moreover, a further study of countries could improve the conceptual understanding of the philosophy of MO. 30 In fact, reviewing the published articles of various nations provides clear evidence on the evolving process in the field, which allows us to identify the emerging issues in theory and practice, thereby shedding light on the development of knowledge in the field of MO. 31,32 In the following study, we will analyze the development and productivity of scientific knowledge on MO as produced by different countries, focusing not on which marketing techniques or activities are used but on the continuous generation of value to clients to secure longterm survivability, 33 thus proving the evolution of marketing.
Taking the aforementioned into account, the purpose of this article is to analyze the most productive and influential countries that have engaged in research on MO between 1990 and 2016.This study seeks to help researchers produce trustworthy information so that they can judge the reliability of their results and their global impact.In this context, it is important to highlight the tremendous opportunity for parties involved in the editorial/publishing trade and related fields, as they can serve as a source of inspiration and motivation for other groups.
To achieve its objectives, this study analyses the development and contributions of countries engaging in MO research in a 25-year period (1990-2016) using the database of Web of Science (WoS) and corresponding indicators such as total number of publications (TPs), total number of citations (TCs) and the quality and prestige measuring h-index.
This article begins with a comprehensive literature review, followed by a description of the research methodology.Afterwards, there will be a general examination outlining each country's situation, which in turn will be evaluated through a quinquennial analysis throughout the study's time frame and finally a dissertation about conclusions and results of the study.

Literature review
Although the core concepts of MO were developed in the 1990s through the commissioned works by the Marketing Science Institute, it was Kohli and Jaworski 14 and Narver and Slater 13,34 who established the conceptual framework behind MO and highlighted its suitability to business and marketing philosophy. 35,36he concept of MO proposes an outwards looking perspective, where the true importance of organizations lies in creating value for its clients.Thus, Nerver and Slater recommend focusing on organizational culture based on three main constructs: client orientation, competitive orientation and inter-functional coordination. 34On the other hand, Kohli and Jaworski define MO based on generation of information and intelligence, dissemination of information and intelligence throughout the organization and timely response. 14hese different approaches can -and should -be considered as interrelated perspectives. 37Thus, strategic orientation will shape the company's philosophy on how to handle and perform business through a set of deeply ingrained values and beliefs that guide the company's attempt to achieve a higher level of performance. 38These values and beliefs determine the resources that should be employed, going beyond individual capabilities and unifying resources and aptitudes in a cohesive manner. 4It is crucial to highlight that the aforementioned capabilities are intangible and are based on interaction and knowledge. 4,39urthermore, the effects of MO can be divided into four categories: market, clients, employees and innovative capability.As a result, the strategic marketing literature asserts that MO produces an improvement in market detection capabilities and client bonding, thereby increasing organizational performance as a whole. 4,40his also affects employees because improving bonding among co-workers/employees helps MO create a committed organization (defined as the willingness of individuals to sacrifice for the organization), team spirit, motivation to satisfy clients' needs and workplace satisfaction. 14Furthermore, MO can reduce role conflict, that is, the incompatibility of expectations that affects employees' performance. 14inally, it is crucial to consider other effects of MO on an organization's innovation capacity 40 and innovative marketing processes. 41In particular, MO promotes innovation by creating a proactive attitude to satisfy clients' needs by dissemination of information across departments. 42

Bibliometric research in MO
Research on a country's contribution to marketing studies has been carried out using bibliometric research, 43 which is defined by objectives to study, tally, classify and evaluate the production and consumption of scientific information. 44,45ibliometric research can also measure the productivity and influence of scientific investigation by analysing indicators that show statistical data. 46Among the most widely used indicators in this article are the number of publications, 47 the number of citations 48 and the impact factor. 49he general evolution of marketing and MO is linked to global changes in the field's scientific development.Until recently, this has been strongly encouraged by marketingoriented scientific journals since the lack of a centralized research sharing space at the international level has constrained growth in the field. 27Thus, its impact has been reflected in the excessive advancement of the sciences as a whole. 50s a direct consequence, we can see the development of knowledge regarding the efficient practices in marketing 51 ; this trend must continue, and as nations keep contributing in the scientific development of this area, the benefits will be of great value. 52n this context, it is important to mention the main journals that publish relevant (and vital)

Methodology
This study uses bibliometric analysis on data obtained from the WoS for the years 1990-2016.This database is a subgroup of the Web of Knowledge, a system owned by Thomson and Reuters (currently Clarivate Analytics).WoS has more than 15,000 journals and 50,000,000 newspapers/ news classified in 251 categories and 151 areas of investigation/research.Note that in the literature, there are many other approaches for representing academic research, which are strongly connected to scientometrics and informetrics. 535][56] WoS is commonly regarded as the most influential database for classifying academic research.It indexes journals recognized to be of the highest quality.Analysing the bibliographic information using this database is therefore fairly representative.There are other databases that we could have used such as Scopus and Google Scholar.Scopus follows a similar methodology to that of WoS, and therefore, it would have been appropriate.However, this study has to select one database and we decided to use WoS.
To generate the paper's database, 57,58 data were extracted from the WoS on 1 October 2017, using the following documents: articles, reviews and notes.A search through the system with the prementioned filters up until 2017 yielded 2653 relevant publications.Nonetheless, minor complications arose by the use of specific keywords.For example, when entering 'MO', the database would show a large number of documents unrelated to the subject of interest.Thus, to focus our search, the following keywords (relevant to MO) were used: MO, customer orientation, competitor orientation, inter-functional coordination, intelligence generation and intelligence dissemination.In addition, to increase the accuracy of the search, the study classified the research area as 'Business Economics'.
Once the corresponding information per country was obtained, the next step was to classify countries according to the TPs, which serves as a proxy of the country's productivity, and the TCs, which serves as an input that highlights the influence of the article/document.Additionally, we used Hirsch's 59 H-index to measure a publication's quality through the number of times it was published and cited. 60We consider several bibliometric indicators to give a general picture of the variables, thereby allowing each reader to obtain a different perspective depending on his particular interests.The main advantage of this approach is that it gives a quick overview of the leading trends in the literature.

Results
The results of the study present and analyse the scientific contributions of the 50 sample countries, showing the evolution of publications in the last 27 years.Every one of the sample countries was analysed individually, followed by a quinquennial analysis in accordance with the previously mentioned indicators (presented in the following data tables).

Country results at the general level (1990-2016)
Given that countries are understood to be promoters of knowledge, the 50 sample countries were ranked based on their TP levels (in descending order).The other previously mentioned variables are also presented in the corresponding tables.
Table 1 demonstrates that the TP indexes of the first 10 ranked countries hold more than 70% (72.8%) of the total publications on MO.This clearly shows the inequality among countries as 24% of the ranked nations have an Hindex value greater than 20, reflecting the development, quality and prestige of their respective contributions to knowledge in this particular area.
It is important to note that the United States leads in all the indicators in the field of marketing among the selected sample countries, followed by the United Kingdom, Australia, China and the Netherlands, according to the H-index.
Moreover, there is clear evidence of the meagre presence of Latin American countries in the rankings, where only Brazil (an H value of seven) and Chile and Colombia (both with an H value of four) are present.This exposes a huge difference (and distance) between the developed and Latin American countries, which stems from the fact that the latter countries only began research in marketing at the beginning of the 21st century, that is, 30 years after the research in this field had begun in developed countries. 12esuming our analysis in Table 2, the TC indicatorwhich shows a paper's number of citations.Papers are to be evaluated if they have received 200, 100 and/or 50 citations.We can perceive that the majority of the published documents produced by the selected countries have received 50 or fewer citations.This is interesting given that out of 1034 documents, only 111 (10.7%) have received more than 200 citations, whereas 628 papers (60.7%) have received 50 or fewer citations.

Temporary quinquennial analysis on research performed by countries
A quinquennial analysis conducted from 1990 to 2016 was designed to evaluate the evolution of the selected countries with respect to their contributions to the study and research of MO.
In this section, the study employs Table 3, which shows results for 5-year periods over the sample period, except for the final period, which is 7 years.Each table shows the countries that published MO-related documents, ranked from highest to lowest by their respective TP indicators.The TC, H-index and TC/TP values are shown for reference.
At a general level, there is clear evidence of a substantial increase in the number of countries that do research on MO.This can be seen from the fact that in the first quinquennial (1990-1994), only seven countries engaged in research on MO, yet within 10 years, this number almost quadrupled (30 countries).
The tables further show that throughout the years, the United States has maintained its first place ranking in number of publications in each period (which is related to the previously mentioned result in the general analysis).Over the sample period, the United Kingdom has maintained its second-place ranking, with slight variations in the rankings of Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and China; the latter proving Asian countries' increasing contribution to marketing research.However, note that in absolute terms, the number of publications of the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia has decreased in the last period (2010-2016).Since MO is a very specific topic, the reason may have to do with the fact that a couple leading authors have diverted their attention to other fields.Furthermore, the tables demonstrate that Australia has maintained its top 10 ranking while holding the highest TP value in the years 1990-2016.Interestingly, the Netherlands followed a similar behaviour to Australia according to the TP indicator.
Another interesting aspect of the data is the evolution of the TP and TC indicators in the different countries, where a substantial increase of approximately 400% (403%) in TP occurred during the second quinquennial, whereas the growth of the TC indicator has been decreasing at the start of the fourth quinquennial (reaching values of À26% between 2010 and 2016).
In Table 4 together with Figure 1 and Figure 2, can be better seen in a graphic representation of the TP indicator progress, which shows the constant increase in published publications during the study's time frame.
On the other hand, progress of the TC indicator doesn't follow the same pattern of growth.As seen, from the fourth quinquennial onwards, the number drops dramatically.

Conclusions
The objective of this study is to show the trajectory of the development and respective contributions of countries in the field of MO during the years 1990-2016.Using a bibliometric analysis on information from the WoS database, a general quinquennial ranking was performed taking into account the indicators for H-index, TP, TC and TP/TC.The results show that 24% of the countries possess an Hindex value greater than 20 and that the first 10 ranked nations possess 72.8% of the total publications (TP).This reflects a very unequal situation between nations (in terms of development and progress), where the United States leads on all indicators, followed by the United Kingdom, Australia, China, and the Netherlands in the H-index and TC indicators.
Regarding the TC indicator, the majority of publications in the sample countries receive 50 or fewer citations, which represents 60.7% of the studied countries.Furthermore, the growth rate of this indicator at the start of the fourth quinquennial decreases considerably, reaching negative values of À26% in the years 2010-2016.
On the other hand, the quinquennial analysis shows a significant increase in the number of countries that engage in MO research, growing from 6 in the first quinquennial (1990-1994) to 30 in the third quinquennial (2000-2004).
Through this study, we aim to provide a better understanding of the evolution of interest in MO 29 by identifying tendencies at both the country and MO levels through applied bibliometric.Our results can help public officials, businessmen and entrepreneurs, professors and publishing groups by providing objective values regarding their publications in the area of MO, thus attracting professionals, researchers, donors and other relevant agents. 61The work identifies the leading countries (regions) in which research in the MO field is carried out.Therefore, both PhD students and newcomers to the field can quickly identify the leading regions for doing research in MO or find a more specific place to visit and engage in such research.Policymakers may also quickly identify the leading countries doing academic research in this field.This could be very helpful in deciding where to develop new research projects related to this field.
In this sense, research on MO has contributed to a greater and better understanding of the philosophy underlying this field, thereby encouraging companies to incorporate MO-based insights into their strategic and organizational culture, while responding to the dynamic and ever-changing environment that surrounds them.
Applying insights from MO has also been established as an effective way for companies to achieve better performance and results.This translates into a greater return on investments, profits and social impact as the marketoriented firm understands that it can create additional consumer benefits through a sustainable competitive advantage. 34 from the WoS database.R: ranking; WoS: Web of Science; TC: total number of citation; TP: total number of publication.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Evolution of total number of publications in each quinquennial.Source: Elaborated from the WoS database.WoS: Web of Science.
research on the quantitative analysis of MO, such as Journal of Marketing, MIS Quarterly, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Marketing Research, Industrial Marketing Management, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Research, Information Systems Research, Journal of Retailing, Management Science, International Journal of Technology Management, Harvard Business Review and Organization Science.

Table 1 .
Ranking of the 37 sample countries based on the Hindex indicator (1990-2016).a Source: Elaborated from the WoS database.a R: ranking; >500, >250, >100, >50, the number of papers with more than 500, 250, 100, 50 citations.WoS: Web of Science; TC: total number of citation; TP: total number of publication.b UK: England, Scotland, Wales, North Ireland.c China: Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.

Table 2 .
Summary of the publications of the selected countries during the years 1990-2016.

Table 4 .
Progress of TPs and TCs in each quinquennial.