The influence of market orientation on firm performance and members’ livelihood in Ethiopian seed producer cooperatives

Dawit Tsegaye Sisay, Frans J. H. M. Verhees and Hans C. M. van Trijp

Agrekon, 2017, vol. 56, issue 4, 366-382

Abstract: The positive effects of market orientation and its components on firm performance are empirically supported by studies conducted for large firms in developed economies. However, its influence on performance in developing and emerging (D&E) economies, particularly under a cooperative's context, has been under-researched. This paper examines the impact of market orientation components on the performance of seed producer cooperatives (SPCs) in Ethiopia. Results show that customer orientation, interfunctional coordination, and supplier orientation, but not competitor orientation, contribute to higher business performance. Our findings confirm that customer orientation is the key factor for superior business performance in D&E economies. Business performance has a mediating effect between market orientation components and livelihood performance. Interfunctional coordination and supplier orientation influence the livelihood of member farmers both directly and indirectly via business performance. The study concludes that market orientation of SPCs is very important for business performance and provides a strong basis for the livelihood of seed producer families. SPCs can improve their performance and the livelihood of member-farmer families by implementing market oriented strategies, emphasising the key components of market orientation.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/03031853.2017.1409126 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ragrxx:v:56:y:2017:i:4:p:366-382

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/ragr20

DOI: 10.1080/03031853.2017.1409126

Access Statistics for this article

Agrekon is currently edited by A. Jooste, National Agricultural Marketing Council

More articles in Agrekon from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().