IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hbs/wpaper/09-007.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Internalization of Advertising Services: An Inter-IndustryAnalysis

Author

Listed:
  • Sharon Horsky

    (Bar-Ilan University, Graduate School of Business Administration,)

  • Steven C. Michael

    (University of Illinois, Department of Business Administration)

  • Alvin J. Silk

    (Harvard Business School)

Abstract

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 in-house rather than independent advertising agencies by U.S. advertisers. While the vast majority of large advertisers employ outside agencies, it comes as a surprise to find that when advertisers of all sizes are considered, about half operate some form of in-house agency. Internalization of advertising services is much more widespread than has hitherto been appreciated and varies widely across industries. To explain this variation, we draw on concepts from research on scale economies and transaction costs to develop a set of hypotheses which we test in cross sectional analyses of data covering 69 two digit SIC industries at two points in time, 1991 and 1999. Across industries, we find that the likelihood of internalization of advertising services decreases as the size of advertising outlays increase but increases as advertising intensity and technological intensity increase and is greater for "creative" industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Sharon Horsky & Steven C. Michael & Alvin J. Silk, 2008. "The Internalization of Advertising Services: An Inter-IndustryAnalysis," Harvard Business School Working Papers 09-007, Harvard Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:hbs:wpaper:09-007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-007.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Perry, Martin K., 1989. "Vertical integration: Determinants and effects," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 183-255, Elsevier.
    2. Srinivasan Balakrishnan & Birger Wernerfelt, 1986. "Technical change, competition and vertical integration," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(4), pages 347-359, July.
    3. Peter G. Klein, 2005. "The Make-or-Buy Decision: Lessons from Empirical Studies," Springer Books, in: Claude Menard & Mary M. Shirley (ed.), Handbook of New Institutional Economics, chapter 17, pages 435-464, Springer.
    4. Macher Jeffrey T & Richman Barak D, 2008. "Transaction Cost Economics: An Assessment of Empirical Research in the Social Sciences," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-65, May.
    5. Thomas N. Hubbard, 2008. "Viewpoint: Empirical research on firms' boundaries," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 41(2), pages 341-359, May.
    6. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    7. Lajili, Kaouthar & Madunic, Marko & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2007. "Testing Organizational Economics Theories of Vertical Integration," Working Papers 07-0104, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    8. Mohammad Arzaghi & Ernst R. Berndt & James C. Davis & Alvin J. Silk, 2008. "Economic Factors Underlying the Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services," NBER Working Papers 14345, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Schmalensee, Richard & Silk, Alvin J & Bojanek, Robert, 1983. "The Impact of Scale and Media Mix on Advertising Agency Costs," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 453-475, October.
    10. Alvin J. Silk & Ernst R. Berndt, 1993. "Scale and Scope Effects on Advertising Agency Costs," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 53-72.
    11. Gatignon, Hubert & Anderson, Erin, 1988. "The Multinational Corporation's Degree of Control over Foreign Subsidiaries: An Empirical Test of a Transaction Cost Explanation," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 305-336, Fall.
    12. Claude Ménard & Mary M. Shirley (ed.), 2008. "Handbook of New Institutional Economics," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-540-69305-5, January.
    13. Sharon Horsky, 2006. "The Changing Architecture of Advertising Agencies," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 367-383, 07-08.
    14. West, Douglas, 1988. "Multinational Competition in the British Advertising Agency Business, 1936–1987," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 62(3), pages 467-501, October.
    15. Claude Menard & Mary M. Shirley (ed.), 2005. "Handbook of New Institutional Economics," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-0-387-25092-2, January.
    16. Lal, Rajiv & Matutes, Carmen, 1994. "Retail Pricing and Advertising Strategies," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(3), pages 345-370, July.
    17. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    18. Levy, David T, 1985. "The Transactions Cost Approach to Vertical Integration: An Empirical Examination," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(3), pages 438-445, August.
    19. Macher, Jeffrey T. & Richman, Barak D., 2008. "Transaction Cost Economics: An Assessment of Empirical Research in the Social Sciences," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(1), pages 1-63, April.
    20. Evans David S., 2008. "The Economics of the Online Advertising Industry," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 7(3), pages 1-33, September.
    21. Francine Lafontaine & Margaret Slade, 2007. "Vertical Integration and Firm Boundaries: The Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(3), pages 629-685, September.
    22. Joseph J. Spengler, 1950. "Vertical Integration and Antitrust Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(4), pages 347-347.
    23. Nelson, Philip, 1974. "Advertising as Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(4), pages 729-754, July/Aug..
    24. Anderson, Erin, 1988. "Transaction costs as determinants of opportunism in integrated and independent sales forces," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 247-264, April.
    25. Steven C. Michael, 2000. "Investments to create bargaining power: the case of franchising," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 497-514, April.
    26. Caves, Richard E. & Bradburd, Ralph M., 1988. "The empirical determinants of vertical integration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 265-279, April.
    27. Robert J. David & Shin‐Kap Han, 2004. "A systematic assessment of the empirical support for transaction cost economics," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 39-58, January.
    28. Bagwell, Kyle, 2007. "The Economic Analysis of Advertising," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 28, pages 1701-1844, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Horsky Sharon & Michael Steven C. & Silk Alvin J., 2012. "The Internalization of Advertising Services: An Inter-Industry Analysis," Review of Marketing Science, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-35, October.
    2. Christian Balcells, 2022. "Determinants of firm boundaries and organizational performance: an empirical investigation of the Chilean truck market," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 423-461, April.
    3. Ricard Gil & Christian A. Ruzzier, 2018. "The Impact of Competition on “Make-or-Buy” Decisions: Evidence from the Spanish Local TV Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 1121-1135, March.
    4. Jacqueline Christensen & Pamela Kent & Tom Smith, 2016. "The decision to outsource risk management services," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 56(4), pages 985-1015, December.
    5. M. J. Histen, 2022. "The extent of the firm," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 545-567, September.
    6. Christian Ruzzier & Ricard Gil, 2015. "’Make or Buy’ as Competitive Strategy: Evidence from the Spanish Local TV Industry," Working Papers 119, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Feb 2015.
    7. Dong, Yizhe & Li, Chang & Li, Haoyu, 2021. "Customer concentration and M&A performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    8. Alvin J. Silk & Marta M. Stiglin, 2016. "Build It, Buy It, or Both? Rethinking the Sourcing of Advertising Services," International Journal of Marketing Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, February.
    9. Thomas Mellewigt & Glenn Hoetker & Martina Lütkewitte, 2018. "Avoiding High Opportunism Is Easy, Achieving Low Opportunism Is Not: A QCA Study on Curbing Opportunism in Buyer–Supplier Relationships," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1208-1208, December.
    10. Gonzalez-Diaz, Manuel & Arrunada, Benito & Fernandez, Alberto, 2000. "Causes of subcontracting: evidence from panel data on construction firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 167-187, June.
    11. Maria Alipranti & Evangelos Mitrokostas & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2013. "Comparative versus Informative Advertising in Oligopolistic Markets," Working Papers 1301, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
    12. Marta Gancarczyk, 2015. "Proces wzrostu przedsiębiorstwa w świetle podejścia zasobowego i teorii kosztów transakcyjnych," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 5, pages 5-31.
    13. Alex Eapen & Rekha Krishnan, 2019. "Transferring Tacit Know-How: Do Opportunism Safeguards Matter for Firm Boundary Decisions?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 715-734, July.
    14. Lasse B. Lien & Peter G. Klein, 2013. "Can the Survivor Principle Survive Diversification?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(5), pages 1478-1494, October.
    15. Feng Zhu & Qihong Liu, 2018. "Competing with complementors: An empirical look at Amazon.com," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(10), pages 2618-2642, October.
    16. Robert Gibbons, 2010. "Transaction‐Cost Economics: Past, Present, and Future?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 112(2), pages 263-288, June.
    17. Delbufalo, Emanuela, 2021. "Asset specificity and relationship performance: A meta-analysis over three decades," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 105-121.
    18. Jaideep Shenoy, 2012. "An Examination of the Efficiency, Foreclosure, and Collusion Rationales for Vertical Takeovers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(8), pages 1482-1501, August.
    19. Davide Vannoni, 1999. "Empirical Studies of Vertical Integration: the Transaction Cost Orthodoxy," CERIS Working Paper 199903, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY.
    20. Mohammad Arzaghi & Ernst R. Berndt & James C. Davis & Alvin J. Silk, 2008. "Economic Factors Underlying the Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services," NBER Working Papers 14345, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Advertising Agencies; In-House; Vertical Integration; Make or Buy;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hbs:wpaper:09-007. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: HBS (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/harbsus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.