In response to the just‐in‐time (JIT) II purchasing strategy developed at Bose, sellers in the manufacturing sector have become JIT‐II sellers. The purpose of this study is to test the propositions that implementation of a JIT‐II‐selling strategy strengthens the strategic link between the production and marketing functions and leverages the impact of a market orientation on organizational performance.
Data related to JIT‐II‐selling, market orientation and organizational performance were collected from 166 managers of large US‐based manufacturing companies and analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach.
Results indicate that market orientation fully mediates the relationship between JIT‐II‐selling and organizational performance.
Manufacturers adopting a JIT‐II‐selling strategy to enhance a market orientation philosophy can expect improvements in organizational performance.
This study is the first to describe and define the JIT‐II selling construct and to empirically assess its relation to market orientation and organizational performance.
