Marketing and Firm Value: Metrics, Methods, Findings, and Future Directions

The marketing profession is being challenged to assess and communicate the value created by its actions on shareholder value. These demands create a need to translate marketing resource allocations and their performance consequences into financial and firm value effects. The objective of this article is to integrate the existing knowledge on the impact of marketing on firm value. The authors first frame the important research questions on marketing and firm value and review the important investor response metrics and relevant analytical models as they relate to marketing. Next, they summarize the empirical findings to date on how marketing creates shareholder value, including the impact of brand equity, customer equity, customer satisfaction, research and development and product quality, and specific marketing-mix actions. Then, the authors review emerging findings on biases in investor response to marketing actions. They conclude by formulating an agenda for future research challenges in this emerging area.