Innovation or customer orientation? An empirical investigation

This paper explores the contrast between marketing and innovation orientations and develops a model that provides an inclusive paradigm. The resulting archetypes and their inter‐relationships are discussed. A measurement scale, ICON, is developed to assess the extent to which a firm or a business corresponds to the resulting archetypes. An empirical test of reliability and validity resulted in four clearly defined factors that correspond to the archetypes in the model. A refined version of the scale is then used to examine the relationship between the strategic archetypes and firm performance.