Market orientation emphasized addressing the needs, desires and wants of therntargeted market. Based on this concept market oriented firms gain competitivernadvantage by delivering value to the customer with more convenience and lesser costrnthan their competitors.rnThus the objective of this project paper is to have a conceptual understanding ofrnmarket orientation and to assess the status of its application in Ethiopia by taking therncase of United Abilities factory, which is the only producer of umbrellas and dry cellrnbatteries since 1964.rnTo gather the necessary information that will help to analyze and arrive at conclusionrnas a basis for possible recommendations, interviews and secondary sources such asrndocuments of the factory on market study, strategic plan, production data, prices datarnetc. are used.rnAs per the findings the factory has faced various problems due to usage of oldrntechnologies, high level of imported inputs, increasing trend in imported competitivernproducts, and lack of well-established distribution channel.rnAt the prevailing situation the factory is not in a position to become market-orientedrnfirm and cannot gain any competitive advantage either in cost leadership orrnresponsiveness in addressing the needs of the market.rnSo, to address these issues the proposed recommendations include application ofrnrecent technology, improving distribution of the products and promotional activities