The Impact of Investments in Market-based Assets on Firm Performance

Market-based assets, such as brands or customer relationships, can be thought of as intangibles that arise through the commingling of the firm with its environment. As such, they are constructs that bridge the conceptual gap between managerial actions and firms' financial performance. This dissertation conducts three studies that advance the understanding of investments in market-based assets conceptually, empirically, and methodologically: First, it rigorously examines prior research in the marketing-finance interface and synthesizes the findings in a conceptual overview of the field. Second, it examines investments into different drivers of customer-based firm value and relates them to different aspects of firm performance. Third, it develops a novel method to estimate investments in market-based assets for firms with undisclosed accounting information through textual analysis of legal statements.