Special Aspects of Customer Orientation on the Example of Companies Operating in the Russian Market: an Empirical Test

The work is devoted to the study special aspects of customer orientation of companies operating on the Russian market. The purpose of this study is to test the methodology (the scale) for measuring customer focus in the Russian market due to the presence of emerging market features on it. Consequently, the impossibility of applying the quantitative scales approved on the western markets. To achieve this goal, the results of qualitative and quantitative research are compared, and after that practical recommendations for modifying the tested scale are made. The base of the research is 15 semistructured in-depth interviews with company managers, and the results of a quantitative survey of 246 managers. Within the framework of quantitative research by the method of factor analysis, the structure of client orientation factors was revealed and the scale indicators describing the factors of this structure were determined. Then, by the method of cluster analysis, the specifics of the manifestations of customer centricity in various groups of companies were determined. The results of in-depth interviews were analyzed using content analysis. New indicators were identified that are necessary to be added to the tested complex scale, and the contribution to the final factor assessment of each of the indicators was determined. The theoretical significance of the work consists in recommendations on the usage of integrated scale in the context of developing Russian market. The practical importance of the work is to provide a new tool for measuring customer orientation in relation to the Russian market, which can be used by both company management and third-party consulting organizations.