The effects of market orientation, centralized business models, and competitive hostility on business performance in the U.S. legal professional services industry.

Prior research on the market orientation-business performance relationship research has focused on tangible products, larger diverse firms, and examining the relationship in the context of different countries and cultures (McNaughton, Osborne, and Imrie, 2002; McNaughton, Osborne, Morgan and Kutwaroo, 2001; Uncles, 2000; Gopalakrishna and Subramanian, 2001).

This study contributes to this body of literature by extending this knowledge in a new direction by examining the business model as a moderator of the relationship between market orientation and firm performance, by examining competitive hostility as a moderator of the relationship between market orientation and firm performance, and by examining each of these relationships in the context of professional services industries; specifically, the U.S. legal professional services industry.

This paper extends the knowledge of the business model by examining the centralized and decentralized business models of larger U.S. law firms on firm performance and how competitive hostility moderates this relationship.