Evolving Toward Product and Market‐Orientation: The Early Years of Technology‐Based Firms

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Abstract
Research studies of 114 technology‐based firms within the Greater Boston area indicate evolution over the first several years after founding toward more product‐oriented businesses and away from consulting and R&D contracting, and increased orientation of the founders to sales and marketing, with lessened emphasis on engineering. In this article Edward Roberts reports that the character of many of these firms changes over time. Evolution toward market‐orientation is manifested in many ways. Firms' use of direct sales forces and sales representatives grows over time, as does their adoption of more formal mechanisms such as marketing departments, sales forecasting and analyses of potential markets. Greater orientation toward marketing in all its dimensions is especially true for multifounder firms, the single founder company being slower to evolve in the characteristics cited.