This study examines whether and how responsive and proactive market orientations impact exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation, and finally improve overall business performance. A questionnaire survey conducted among 227 manufacturing firms in mainland China reveals that: (1) the measurement scales of responsive and proactive market orientation as well as exploratory and exploitative innovation, developed by western scholars, also have acceptable reliability and validity in Chinese manufacturers; (2) both types of market orientations are positively related to both types of innovation, while proactive market orientation impacts product innovation and business performance more significantly; (3) both types of innovation contribute to overall business performance; (4) innovation ambidexterity can also improve business performance significantly. Managerial implications are provided for Chinese manufacturers to decide on to what extent they should adopt market orientation as strategy management tool in order to attain satisfactory new product performance and business performance.