Publications

01 Apr 2000
News

Getting the Message

attractive outfit walked across the screen carrying a sign that pitched a product. These almost literal translations of billboard and magazine ads did little more than set the previous forms in motion. HBS professor emeritus Alvin J. Silk... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

Profile

Benjamin Wells

HBS." He was part of a team tackling a youth job-training program centered on silk production. "It was about something I had no previous understanding of whatsoever," Ben says. "But it showed me that I could do... View Details

25 Sep 2017
Blog Post

Michael Schrader (MBA 2012) on Finding Entrepreneurial Success with HBS Resources

world, was created based upon technology developed by Tufts University professors David Kaplan and Fiorenzo Omenetto. Kaplan and Omenetto's technique uses a protein found in silk to stabilize vaccines, making it possible to ship them... View Details

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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2008
Working Paper

Concentration Levels in the U.S. Advertising and Marketing Services Industry: Myth vs. Reality

By: Alvin J. Silk and Charles King III

This paper analyzes changes in concentration levels in the U.S. Advertising and Marketing Services (A&MS) industry using publicly released data that have been largely ignored in past discussions of the industrial organization of this industry, namely those available... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Mergers and Acquisitions; Revenue; Analytics and Data Science; Surveys; Marketing; Measurement and Metrics; Rank and Position; Competition; Advertising Industry; Service Industry; United States

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September 2005
Article

Holding Companies: Size-Related Cost Economies

By: Alvin J. Silk and Ernst R. Berndt

Keywords: Size; Cost; Economy; Business Ventures

Profile

Lindsay Hyde

in a simulated climb of Mt. Everest,” she says. “It was a great way to start the year, to begin thinking about how we want to develop as leaders.” In FIELD 2, Lindsay and her team helped an Indian retailer, Nalli Silk Sarees, develop a... View Details

Article

Build It, Buy It, or Both? Rethinking the Sourcing of Advertising Services

By: Alvin J. Silk and Marta M. Stiglin

This paper provides an update on the current state of in-house agencies. Whereas traditional consideration of internalizing advertising services was framed as a binary choice of build or buy, today's advertisers frequently pursue hybrid policies of build and buy to... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Advertising; Advertising Industry

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fall 1994
Article

Costs, Institutional Mobility Barriers, and Market Structure: Advertising Agencies as Multiproduct Firms

By: A. J. Silk and E. R. Berndt

Keywords: Cost; Markets; Advertising; Product; Advertising Industry

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

01 Sep 2016
News

In My Humble Opinion: The Business of Burning Man

There are no trash cans, electricity, or running water.” Character study: “I have two costumes for each day stored in Ziploc bags. One year I dressed as Marie Antoinette in mourning, in head-to-toe 18th-century French rococo black silk... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

20 Mar 2005
Research & Ideas

Lessons of Successful Entrepreneurs

CEO of Silk Road Technologies. For the true entrepreneur, he continued, reality is the superior teacher; and school is an excuse to delay failure. Although their topic was "Post Boom Internet Opportunities," panelists spent most... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2021
Article

Aggregate Advertising Expenditure in the U.S. Economy: Measurement and Growth Issues in the Digital Era

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: Industry Evolution; Advertising; Spending; Measurement and Metrics; Mathematical Methods; Media; Advertising Industry; United States

2004
Chapter

Cost Economies in the Global Advertising and Marketing Services Business

By: Alvin J. Silk and Ernst R. Berndt

Keywords: Cost Management; Advertising; Marketing; Globalized Markets and Industries; Advertising Industry; Service Industry

May 2021
Teaching Note

American Airlines' Value Pricing (Abridged)

By: Sunil Gupta and Alvin J. Silk

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-019. View Details

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

October 1994
Supplement

American Airlines' Value Pricing (C)

By: Alvin J. Silk and Jamie Harper

Designed as a follow-up to American Airlines' Value Pricing (A). View Details

Keywords: Aerospace Industry

September–October 2019
Article

How Purchase Probability Scales Can Shed Light on Consumer Purchase Intentions

By: Rene Befurt and Alvin J. Silk

Market researchers generally, and survey experts specifically, study consumers to learn about their behavior: What are consumers’ opinions, attitudes, thoughts, and actions at the various stages of the buying process? Especially in litigation cases, these and other... View Details

Keywords: Purchase Intentions; Buying Process; Consumer Behavior; Surveys