Introduction
The aim of this study was to explain the necessity of paying attention to customers, competitors and inter-sectoral coordination for the effectiveness of marketing programs and the effect of moderating variables, and as a result of improving the export performance status of manufacturing companies. Accordingly, research literature has been reviewed with an exploratory and comparative approach and the closest structure is identified for this important market. Also, export performance has been identified as one of the most important measure of success in companies and one of the structures discussed in relevant research. The main objective of the study is to determine the relationship between market orientation and export performance. Based on the research objectives, the main question of the research was as follows: "Can market orientation culture improve the export performance of exporting companies in Zanjan province and help to expand exports?"
A review of literature, showed that companies that exhibit more market-oriented behavior in their export operations have a more successful export performance than companies that offer a lower level of market-oriented behaviors. However, despite numerous studies conducted in this subject field, there are still many research gaps in this area. First, many previous studies have examined the direct effect of market orientation on export performance, and various results have been reported. Some studies have confirmed the direct relationship between market orientation and export performance, while others have not confirmed the positive and significant relationship between these two variables. Other studies have also examined the impact of market orientation on export performance indirectly through other intermediary and mediator variables. Therefore, in various studies, the relationship between market orientation and the performance of companies has been explored either directly or indirectly by researchers. Considering that in addition to the mediating role of some variables in the relationship between market orientation and export performance, the effect of market orientation on export performance can be a function of environmental changes. Therefore, the study of moderating variables can explain the dichotomy of the results. In addition, the scope of studies should also be increased on the moderating variables of the relationship between market orientation and export performance. Therefore, in this study, the effect of factors of company size and lifetime was proposed as moderating variables on the relationship between market orientation and export performance.
 
Methods
To achieve the research purpose, survey method was used and 129 completed questionnaires were collected. A sample of 190 individuals from a set of managers, experts, experts, owners and owners of exporting companies in Zanjan province was computed using Morgan table and selected by simple random sampling method. Data collection completed by fieldwork and by referring to the workplace of the sample members using a questionnaire. Also, financial documents and corporate documents were used to measure the export performance of the companies studied. In order to analyze the collected data, descriptive and inferential statistics were used. To determine the relationship between research variables and test hypothesis, we used Pearson correlation coefficient and t-test.
 
Findings and discussion
Review of literature and research background showed that companies that exhibit more market-oriented behavior in their export operations have a more successful export performance than companies that offer a lower level of market-oriented behaviors. However, numerous studies conducted in this area, there are still many research gaps in this area. First, many previous studies have examined the direct effect of market orientation on export performance, have been reported various results. Some studies have confirmed the direct relationship between market orientation and export performance, while others have not confirmed the positive and significant relationship between these two variables. Other studies have also examined the impact of market orientation on export performance indirectly through other intermediary and mediator variables. Therefore, in various studies, the relationship between market orientation and the performance of companies has been explored either directly or indirectly by researchers. Considering that in addition to the role of mediators and intermediary relationships of some variables in the relationship between market orientation and export performance, the effect of market orientation on export performance can be a function of environmental changes. Therefore, the study of moderating variables in this study is part of the dichotomy of the results explained. Additionally, the scope of studies on the moderating variables of the relationship between market orientation and export performance has also been increased due to the impact of the company''s size and life force factors as moderating variables.
The relationship between market orientation and export performance was tested by Pearson correlation test at 95% confidence level. Also, company size and life were tested as two factors or two moderating variables in the relationship between market orientation and export performance in three levels of small, medium and large companies, as well as low, medium and high life span. The size of the company was determined based on the natural logarithm of the total assets of the company in the balance sheet and in the year of the research period and the life of the company, based on the number of years elapsed since the company was founded. According to the results, the positive and significant impact of marketing culture on the export performance of units was confirmed except the small manufacturing units. In other words, the life of the manufacturing unit has no effect on the relationship between marketing culture and export performance; however, observing the correlation coefficient shows that the correlation with the increase in the life of the business and the size of the company increases. Accordingly, it can be claimed that in large and long life units, it is possible to exploit the impact of the attitude toward the market to increase export performance more intensively. Based on the main hypotheses of the research, the relationship between each aspect of market orientation with financial and non-financial aspects of export performance was tested in the form of sub-hypotheses.
Regarding the correlation coefficients and the relationship between customer orientation and competitor orientation with each of the financial dimensions of the export performance as well as the significant level or the calculated level of error for testing the hypothesis is more than 5% (Sig> 0/05), as well as the value of the test statistic is less than the absolute value of 1.96. Therefore, by rejecting the H1 hypothesis and confirming the hypothesis H0, the direct relationship between market orientation with the operating profit margin, return on equity and return on equity was not approved. However, a direct and significant direct relationship between customer orientation and competitor orientation with non-monetary dimensions of export performance, that is, the export success perceived by the manager, the satisfaction of the manager from the export performance and the achievement of export goals, was confirmed by the manager. Because, the values ​​of positive correlation coefficients are significantly less than 5% and the absolute value of the test statistic is greater than 1.96. However, these results are different in the third dimension of market orientation. The positive values ​​of the correlation coefficients in the study of the relationship between inter-functional coordination as the third dimension of market orientation with each of the financial and non-financial aspects of export performance as well as the significance level or the calculated level of error for the hypothesis test is less than 5% (Sig