Market Orientation in Service Firms – An International Comparative Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate how market orientation is applied in service firms to resolve complexity with intangibility and heterogeneity while offering services to the customers. To conduct this study, two interest-free banks from Sweden and Bangladesh have been compared. It is argued in the paper that these niche banks will emphasize on tangibility and heterogeneity to have competitive advantage over the traditional banks. As interest-free banking is intricate and the research purpose is theory development, a case method has been used to conduct this study. A theoretical framework is developed based on trust and network which influence market orientation, tangibility and heterogeneity resulting to value creation. In the Swedish bank, value creation is found to relate with supporting ecological thinking, visible banking, customers’ friendly terms & conditions and offering normal banking facilities. Partnership, risk sharing, problem solving approach, trust and interest-free borrowing are considered value creating components in the Bangladeshi bank. Future research can include all service characteristics and also compare between pure Islamic banks focusing marketing orientation.