Lado, NoraMaydeu Olivares, Alberto2011-12-012011-12-012001International Marketing Review, 2001, v. 18, n. 2, pp. 130-1450265-1335https://hdl.handle.net/10016/12626Despite the increasing research importance of market orientation in the marketing literature, few comparative studies between the European Union and the USA have been conducted. This limits the understanding of marketing orientation strategy in global markets. Investigates the influence of competitive environments on the uses of market orientation in insurance firms in the EU and the USA and the effects of market orientation on innovations. Using Lambin's conceptualization of market orientation, our results indicate that, although EU and US insurance firms analyze and react to their environment differently, which in turn is reflected in a differential impact on their degree of innovation, this, however, does not translate into overall market orientation differences across markets, differential relations across markets between overall market orientation and innovation degree and innovation performance. Furthermore, there is a positive impact of overall market orientation on insurance firms' innovation degree and innovation performance in both the US and EU markets. The managerial implications of these findings seem clear: the magnitude and the effectiveness of the innovation activities of a firm can be enhanced through the adoption of market orientation principlestext/plainapplication/pdfeng©EmeraldMarket orientationInnovationGlobal marketingInsurance companiesresearch articleEmpresa10.1108/02651330110389972open access1302145International Marketing Review18