Balancing the act: the implications of jointly pursuing internal customer orientation and external customer orientation

Abstract

Current marketing paradigms recognise a need for organisations to create value for both internal and external customers. However, jointly pursuing an internal and external customer focus has been argued to be both synergistic and contradictory. Using cluster analysis, this paper develops a typology on the basis of employees’ perceptions of their organisation’s joint pursuit of internal and external customer orientation. This allows an examination of the joint implications of these strategic postures on organisational processes, including information generation, information dissemination, training, communication and human resource practices. The results suggest that employees have the most positive perceptions of organisational processes when they perceive the organisation pursues a strong internal orientation, followed by those organisations that are jointly strong on internal and external customer orientation.

Keywords:

• internal marketing
• internal customer orientation
• external customer orientation
• typology
• cluster analysis

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jodie Conduit

Dr Jodie Conduit is a senior lecturer at the Business School of the University of Adelaide, Australia. Her research interests include customer and employee engagement, market orientation, marketing strategy, service design and innovation, and corporate social responsibility. She has published in the Journal of Business Research and International Business Review and Journal of Market-Focused Management. Jodie also has extensive industry experience as a research consultant with large service organisations.

Margaret Jekanyika Matanda

Dr Margaret Jekanyika Matanda a senior lecturer in the Department of Marketing, Monash University. Her research interests are in marketing strategy, B2B relationships, B2B branding and small business management. Margaret has published in international journals such as Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Management, International Business Review, Journal of Chain and Network Science, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, and Romanian Marketing Review. Margaret has also worked as a consultant and executive trainer in developed and developing countries in the private and not-for-profit sectors.

Felix T. Mavondo

Dr Felix Mavondo is a professor in the Department of Marketing, Monash University. His research interests include marketing strategy, organisational capabilities, business orientations, relationship marketing, retailing, agribusiness and research methodologies. He has been published in Journal of International Business Studies. Industrial Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Psychology and Marketing, Tourism Research, Decision Science among others. His teaching interests are closely aligned to his research interests. Felix has been a reviewer for many top Marketing and Tourism journals.