Faculty & Research
Alvin J. Silk

Alvin J. Silk

Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus

Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus

+1 (617) 495-6036
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Alvin J. Silk
Contact Information
(617) 495-6036
Publications Research Summary Awards & Honors

Journal Articles
Journal Articles

Book Chapters
Book Chapters

  • Silk, Alvin J., and Ernst R. Berndt. "Cost Economies in the Global Advertising and Marketing Services Business." In The Global Market: Developing a Strategy to Manage Across Borders, edited by John A. Quelch and Rohit Deshpandé, 217–257. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004. View Details
  • Dolan, R. J., and A. J. Silk. "Marketing Planning and Organization." In Strategic Marketing Management, by R. J. Dolan. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1991. View Details
  • Silk, A. J. "Questionnaire Design and Development." In MBA Field Studies: A Guide for Students and Faculty, edited by E. R. Corey. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1990. View Details

Working Papers
Working Papers

Cases and Teaching Materials
Cases and Teaching Materials

Other Publications and Materials
Other Publications and Materials

  • Silk, Alvin J., and Ernst R. Berndt. "Scale and Scope Economies in the Global Advertising and Marketing Services Business." NBER Working Paper Series, October 2003. (1050 Massachusetts Ave.,Cambridge, MA 02138.) View Details
  • Silk, Alvin J., Lisa R. Klein, and Ernst R. Berndt. "Intermedia Substitutability and Market Demand by National Advertisers." NBER Working Paper Series, December 2001. View Details
All Publications

Alvin J. Silk is Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at the Harvard Business School. His research interests are in the economics of the advertising and marketing services industry, the development and management of advertising campaigns, and decision support systems in marketing.

He served as head of the marketing unit, introduced “Brand Marketing” as an elective in the MBA program and taught “Research Design and Measurement” in the doctoral program. Prior to coming to Harvard in 1989, he was a member of the faculty at MIT’s Sloan School of Management from 1968-88 where he was Erwin Schell Professor and Deputy Dean (1981-88). Earlier, he was a member of the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (1963-66) and the University of Chicago (1966-68). Silk received his BA (Honors) from the University of Western Ontario, MBA (with distinction) and Ph.D. from the Kellogg School, Northwestern University.

 

Journal Articles
Book Chapters
  • Silk, Alvin J., and Ernst R. Berndt. "Cost Economies in the Global Advertising and Marketing Services Business." In The Global Market: Developing a Strategy to Manage Across Borders, edited by John A. Quelch and Rohit Deshpandé, 217–257. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004. View Details
  • Dolan, R. J., and A. J. Silk. "Marketing Planning and Organization." In Strategic Marketing Management, by R. J. Dolan. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1991. View Details
  • Silk, A. J. "Questionnaire Design and Development." In MBA Field Studies: A Guide for Students and Faculty, edited by E. R. Corey. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1990. View Details
Working Papers
Cases and Teaching Materials
Other Publications and Materials
  • Silk, Alvin J., and Ernst R. Berndt. "Scale and Scope Economies in the Global Advertising and Marketing Services Business." NBER Working Paper Series, October 2003. (1050 Massachusetts Ave.,Cambridge, MA 02138.) View Details
  • Silk, Alvin J., Lisa R. Klein, and Ernst R. Berndt. "Intermedia Substitutability and Market Demand by National Advertisers." NBER Working Paper Series, December 2001. View Details
Research Summary
Overview
ECONOMICS OF THE ADVERTISING AND MARKETING SERVICEC INDUSTRY

Professor Silk’s recent research has been focused on the economics of the advertising and marketing services industry. He has conducted econometric studies of the effects of scale and scope on the operating costs of U.S. advertising agencies (Silk and Berndt 1993) and global holding companies (Silk and Berndt 2004, 2005). He has also investigated how institutional arrangements and practices have changed over time including, policies governing conflicts in advertising agency-client relations arising from competing clients being served by a common agency (Silk and Berndt 1994, Silk 2012) and the unbundling of advertising agency services (Arzaghi et al. 2012). Finally, he done a series of longitudinal studies relating to changes in the structure and organization of the U.S. advertising and marketing services industry; specifically, the internalization of advertising services by sellers (Horsky, Michael, and Silk 2012), the geographical dispersion advertising agencies in the U.S. (King, Silk, and Ketelhohn 2003), and concentration levels and the size structure of: (a) establishments and firms in the various sectors comprising the advertising and marketing services industry, and (b) holding companies that own and operate networks of such firms (Silk and King 2013).

Professor Silk has published research on several other advertising topics including the inter-media substitutability in national advertising (Silk, Klein, and Berndt 2002), the position of the internet as an advertising medium (Silk, Klein, and Berndt 2001) and consumer and physician reaction to direct-to-consumer drug advertising (Weisman et al., 2003, 2004).

His earlier work had focused on two areas: (a) developing model and measurement systems to support decisions in the areas of new product development and marketing communications; and (b) methodological issues affecting the reliability and validity of data collection procedures widely used in research on consumer and organizational buying behavior. See Silk’s curriculum vita for a listing of publications on these topics.

Awards & Honors
Winner of the 1982 Management Science Achievement Finalist Award from The Institute of Management Sciences (with A. Kuritsky, J. Little and E. Bassman) for “The Development, Testing, and Execution of a New Marketing Strategy at AT&T Longline” Interfaces, Vol. 12, No. 6 (December 1982), pp. 22-37.
Winner of the 1983 William F. O'Dell Award from the American Marketing Association for the Most Significant Article Published in the Journal of Marketing Research during 1978 (with G. Urban) for “Pre-Test-Market Evaluation of New Packaged Goods: A Model and Measurement Methodology” Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 15, No. 2 (May 1978), pp. 171-191.
Winner of the 1983 Management Science Achievement Finalist Award from The Institute of Management Sciences (with G. Urban, G. Katz, and T. Hatch) for “The ASSESSOR Pre-Test Market Evaluation System,” Interfaces, Vol. 13, No. 6 (December 1983), pp. 38-59.
Honorable Mention in 1983 competition for "Best Article in the Marketing Science Literature, 1982" from the College of Marketing at The Institute of Management Sciences for the paper with M. Kalwani, “On the Reliability and Predictive Validity of Purchase Intentions Measures,” Marketing Science, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Summer 1982), pp. 243-286.
Named an Honorary Fellow of the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management, Brussels, in 1998.
Honored as the 1998–1999 Wroe Alderson Distinguished Lecturer, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Named a 2001 Distinguished Research Associate at the Marketing Science Institute, Cambridge, MA.
Named Edelman Laureate by INFORMS in 2013 in recognition of having been the recipient of Management Science Achievement Awards on two occasion (1982 and 1983) for innovative applications of operations research and management science that had a demonstrable impact on management practice.
Received an Honorary Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa (L.L.D.), in 2015 from the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Additional Information
Professor Silk's CV
Areas of Interest
Additional Information

Professor Silk's CV

Areas of Interest

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