Extant literature on the antecedents of university spin-off (USO) business performance has developed with the aim of highlighting those drivers that could foster the performance of such firms, focusing on a variety of factors. Less interest has been devoted to the market orientation–performance relationship, despite the positive link frequently found in the marketing literature. The aim of the present paper is therefore to fill this gap and investigate the relationship between market orientation (MO) and USO performance using the Netval database of Italian research spin-offs. To measure MO, we adopted an ad hoc questionnaire, and after testing its validity with a factor analysis, we performed a regression model. The results show that MO, particularly some of its components (customer intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination, integration and inter-functional coordination), has an impact on business performance. This contribution presents some valuable research implications useful for academics, but professionals from new high-tech ventures and technology transfer offices may also benefit from this knowledge.

有关大学衍生公司（USO）业务绩效前因的现有文献已经发展起来，其目的是着重于各种因素，以突出那些可以促进此类公司绩效的驱动因素。尽管在市场营销文献中经常发现积极的联系，但人们对市场导向与绩效关系的兴趣却很少。因此，本文的目的是填补这一空白，并使用意大利研究机构的Netval数据库研究市场定位（MO）与USO绩效之间的关系。为了测量MO，我们采用了临时问卷，并在通过因素分析测试了其有效性之后，进行了回归模型。结果表明，MO尤其是其某些组成部分（客户智能生成，智能传播，集成和职能部门之间的协调）对业务绩效有影响。这一贡献提出了一些有价值的研究意义，对学术界很有用，但是来自新兴高科技企业和技术转让办事处的专业人员也可能会从这一知识中受益。