Linking Marketing to Financial Performance and Firm Value

Abstract

In January 2002, Donald R. Lehmann, Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute, submitted a proposal for a JM Special Section, “Linking Marketing to Financial Performance and Firm Value.” The proposal included activities to promote interactions among marketing academics and practitioners, designed to advance research on this topic. I was excited about the opportunity to stimulate and publish new research, and after extensive discussions, the American Marketing Association and the Marketing Science Institute formally agreed to cosponsor the Special Section. Authors submitted their manuscripts through a paper competition as well as directly through JM. Donald R. Lehmann, the Consulting Editor, and a panel of distinguished scholars reviewed every submission. The panel included Tim Ambler, Gregory S. Carpenter, Robert Jacobson, V. Kumar, Roland T. Rust, and Rajendra K. Srivastava. All submissions underwent JM's standard double-blind review process under my editorship, and members of JM's Editorial Review Board served as reviewers. I am pleased to have this opportunity to acknowledge the important contributions of these many individuals: both authors and reviewers. As the subsequent essay suggests, three years’ hard work has produced a thought-provoking collection of articles. I hope they will generate further intellectual inquiry and debate about the link between marketing and financial performance in the business community.