EXAMINING THE ROLE OF COMPETITION INTENSITY AS MODERATOR ON MARKET ORIENTATION AND PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIP IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES 97 Volume 22 No. 1 Examining the Role of Competition Intensity as Moderator on Market Orientation and Performance Relationship in Private Universities Ruturaj Baber* and Yogesh Upadhyay** Higher education sector in India has witnessed a rapid growth in the past few years. The number of private universities is increasing and so is the intensity of competition in the higher education sector. Scholars in the past have linked market orientation with organizational performance. This paper aims at examining the market orientation-performance relationship in private universities of India. The study also examines the moderating effect of competition intensity on the market orientation and performance relationship. Results of the study confirmed the presence of a positive relationship between market orientation and economic performance. The study not only explored economic performance but also examined the effect of market orientation on students' and research performance of the universities. The results of the study indicated that the intensity of the competition affects the proposed relationship between market orientation and performance in private universities. Implications, limitations and directions for further research are also discussed in the later sections of the paper. * Assistant Professor, Prestige Institute of Management, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. E-mail: ruturajbaber@gmail.com; and is the corresponding author. ** Professor, School of Studies in Management, Jiwaji University, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. E-mail: yogesh400@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Market Orientation (MO) has been epitome of marketing research since inception of the concept. Scholars in the past have emphasized on market orientation-performance relationship. An extensive literature have been provided by scholars in the past on market orientation and performance of an organization (Verhees, 1999; Hult et al. , 2005; Panigyrakis and Theodoridis, 2007; Yeni and Herington, 2009; and Zebel and Goodwin, 2012). More over the market orientation and its relationship with economic Key Words: Competition intensity, Economic performance, Market orientation, Private universities, Research performance, Student performance