THE ADOPTION OF MARKET ORIENTATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: APPROACHES, ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES

During the last few years, the entire business environment has changed, being characterized by volatility and discontinuities. Change has become so intense that companies have lost, on a large extent, their visibility and the strategic planning capacity. In order to operate in such a dynamic environment, companies should be flexible in the strategical, organizational and operational points of view. The higher education institutions are not an exception. Universities have to cope with this change. In this context, the adoption of market orientation approach and principles, which is a business’s concept and practice, may lead to a sustainable development and a higher adaptation capacity to change. Thus, the purpose of this study is to emphasise the approach of market orientation concept in the particular context of higher education institutions and to display some general factors that can intensify or inhibit the market orientation adoption, labelled as antecedents, but also the consequences of market orientation implementation.