Publications

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June 2018
Case

American Airlines' Value Pricing (Abridged)

By: Alvin J. Silk and Sunil Gupta

This is an abridged version of the 1992 case where American Airlines (AA) launched "Value Pricing" in an attempt to simplify the pricing structure of the airline industry. AA expected that this plan would benefit not only consumers, but also AA and the entire airline... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Marketing; Market Segmentation; Pricing; Pricing Strategy; Demand Analysis; Competition; Marketing; Segmentation; Price; Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Analysis; Air Transportation Industry

Educators

17 Apr 2014
News

Striking a Balance

Alvin J. Silk The struggle to balance career and family was all too familiar to the late Diane Doerge Wilson, whose memory is being honored with an HBS professorship funded... View Details

2010
Working Paper

The Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services: An Economic Analysis

By: Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis and Alvin J. Silk

We address a longstanding puzzle surrounding the unbundling of services occurring over several decades in the U.S. advertising agency industry: What accounts for the shift from bundling to unbundling of services and the slow pace of change? Using Evans and Salinger's... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Change; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost; Price; Analytics and Data Science; Surveys; Marketing Strategy; Media; Service Operations; Agency Theory; Mathematical Methods; Advertising Industry; United States

2013
Article

How Concentrated Is the U.S. Advertising and Marketing Services Industry? Myth vs. Reality

By: Alvin J. Silk and Charles King III

We analyze changes in concentration levels in the U.S. Advertising and Marketing Services industry using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's quinquennial Economic Census and the Service Annual Survey. These data, heretofore largely ignored, allow us to redress some of... View Details

Keywords: Concentration Levels; Data; U.S. Census Bureau’s Quinquennial Economic Census And The Service Annual Survey; Measurement Problems; Herfindahl-Hirschman Index; Concentration Ratios; Advertising; Advertising Industry; North and Central America

2008
Working Paper

Economic Factors Underlying the Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services

By: Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis and Alvin J. Silk

This paper addresses a longstanding puzzle involving the unbundling of services that has occurredover more than two decades in the U.S. advertising agency industry: How can the shift from the bundling to the unbundling of services be explained and what accounts for the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Framework; Service Operations; Decisions; Relationships; Price; Diversification; Geography; Cost; Advertising Industry; United States

March 1996 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Dewar's (A): Brand Repositioning in the 1990's

By: Alvin J. Silk and Lisa Klein Pearo

Dewar's, a major brand of Scotch whisky, produced by United Distillers of the U.K., and the U.S. leader in the Scotch category with a 15% market share, faced a declining market among traditional consumers of distilled spirits. Given the growing societal, legal, and... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Customers; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Market Participation; Strategic Planning; Opportunities; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom; United States

Educators

04 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 4

and Why? Authors:Stephen Leider and Alvin E. Roth Publication:Journal of Transplantation 10 (May 2010): 1221-1227 Abstract The shortage of transplant kidneys has spurred debate about legalizing monetary payments to donors to increase the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 3, 2008

Exercise of Leadership, a New Model Authors:Werner Erhard, Michael C. Jensen, Steve Zaffron, Kari L. Granger Abstract This paper is the (pre-course) introduction document to an experimental course developed by the authors and taught at... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Dec 1999
News

The Message and the Media: Advertising's Brave New World

professor Ernest R. Berndt), HBS professor Alvin J. Silk looks at both internal and external forces affecting the industry, with particular attention to the impact of the... View Details

Keywords: Peter K. Jacobs

2008
Working Paper

The Internalization of Advertising Services: An Inter-Industry Analysis

By: Sharon Horsky, Steven C. Michael and Alvin J. Silk

The common perception appears to be that vertical integration of advertising services is more the exception than the rule in the U.S. advertising industry. This study investigates the extent of such outsourcing and examines inter-industry variation in the use of... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Cost; Analytics and Data Science; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Service Operations; Creativity; Perception; Vertical Integration; Information Technology; Advertising Industry; United States

24 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 24, 2009

Stockholder Consumption Risk and Asset Returns Authors:Christopher J. Malloy, Tobias J. Moskowitz, and Annette Vissing-Jørgensen Publication:Journal of Finance (forthcoming) Abstract We provide new evidence... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 1994
Background Note

Notes on Scalogram Analysis

By: Alvin J. Silk

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July 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Supplement

American Airlines' Value Pricing (B)

By: Alvin J. Silk

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation Industry

2020
Working Paper

Aggregate Advertising Expenditure in the U.S. Economy: What's Up? Is It Real?

By: Alvin J. Silk and Ernst R. Berndt

The two components of the advertising industry—the creative sector that develops and produces messages, and the communications sector that transmits messages via various media—have each been greatly affected by advances in creative design and communications... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Advertising; Spending; Media

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Web

Site Credits | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

TV Bibliography From the Director Site Credits Visit & Contact Us Special Collections Baker Library Search Search Search U.S. Steel Resources Site Credits Site Credits Guest Curator Melissa Banta HBS Faculty Benson P. Shapiro Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing,... View Details

January 2019
Teaching Note

American Airlines' Value Pricing (A), (B), and (C)

By: Alvin J. Silk

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 594-001, 594-019, and 595-037. View Details

15 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 15, 2008

Working PapersEconomic Factors Underlying the Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services Authors:Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis, and Alvin J. Silk Abstract... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

22 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 22

banking system. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-101.pdf Conflict Policy and Advertising Agency-Client Relations: The Problem of Competing Clients Sharing a Common Agency Authors:Alvin J. View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 1999
Background Note

Note on Statistical Tests for a Randomized Matched Pair Experimental Design, A

By: Alvin J. Silk

Concerns understanding the conditions under which an experimental design that employs matching and randomization may result in gains in precision as compared to a design that utilizes randomization and independent samples--i.e., no matching. An empirical example is... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Performance Efficiency; Mathematical Methods