The Influence Of Competition Strategies On Market Orientation & New Product Development In Commercial Banks Of Iran

the establishment of new banks and financial institutions in recent years has increased tremendously. Obviously, those banks and institutions which give serious attention to competition strategies, market orientation, and new product development will be more successful. Thus, in the present study, assuming three principal relationships between a) competition strategies and new product development, b) competition strategies and market orientation, c) market orientation and new product development, the relationships of competition strategies, market orientation, and new product development with each other have been examined in the Iran's commercial banks. For this purpose, in order to answer the research questions, relevant data have been collected using questionnaire and through a sample consisting of 257 managers and experts of headquarters in 15 commercial banks, which have been the basis for the aim of analysis. In addition, data analysis and evaluation of the relationships between different variables have been done via statistical softwares, namely SPSS 19 and PLS. The results of this research provide general support for the conceptual framework and the hypotheses. Results indicate that the new product development activities of the banks are affected by their competition strategies, either directly or indirectly, through market orientation variable. Based on the findings of this research, in the Iran's commercial banks, differentiation strategy has the greatest impact on new product development activities compared to the cost leadership strategy and focus strategy. Furthermore, those banks which have adopted focus strategy have much less new product activities than other banks.