RESEARCH NOTES AND COMMENTARIES MARKET ORIENTATION, MARKETING CAPABILITIES, AND FIRM PERFORMANCE

Drawing on traditional resource-based theory and its recent dynamic capabilities theory exten-sions, we examine both the possession of a market orientation and the marketing capabilities through which resources are deployed into the marketplace as drivers of firm performance in a cross-industry sample. Our findings indicate that market orientation and marketing capabilities are complementary assets that contribute to superior firm performance. We also find that market orientation has a direct effect on firms ’ return on assets (ROA), and that marketing capabilities directly impact both ROA and perceived firm performance. Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd