How Organizational Learning Strengthen Market Orientation: Findings and Case Study

The term “knowledge management” implies that knowledge is a manageable thing. Previous work of knowledge management is mainly about concept architecture. Its tools and methods are not strong. But what is knowledge, what is intelligence in an organization? Both have to do with collective brainpower, the mass of experience and information that exists in the brains of people who are part of the organization. Organizational learning processes are simply taken for granted as part of the creation and management of tacit knowledge. Little is known about the roles and nature of the knowledge management in organizations’ attempts to strengthen their market orientation. This paper examines how market orientation can be related effectively to the need for firms to learn and change, and how knowledge was shared and integrated across business functions to strengthen market orientation. In general, this study has identified what knowledge is needed to develop an effective market orientation and has explained how knowledge is managed to strengthen an organization’s market orientation and sustain its competitive advantage.