Expanding the Role of Marketing: From Customer Equity to Market Capitalization

Abstract

Can a marketer drive the stock price of the firm? Yes, it should be possible. Toward this endeavor, the authors develop a framework to link customer equity (CE) (as determined by the customer lifetime value metric) to market capitalization (MC) (as determined by the stock price of the firm). The authors test the framework in an empirical field experiment with two Fortune 1000 firms in the business-to-business and business-to-consumer contexts, respectively. The findings show that (1) a CE-based framework can reliably predict the MC of the firm and (2) marketing strategies directed at increasing the CE not only increase the stock price of the firm but also beat market expectations. Furthermore, the results indicate that the relationship between CE and MC is moderated by risk factors in the form of volatility and vulnerability of cash flows from customers. By accounting for these factors, the authors improve the association between CE and MC. The findings broaden the scope and role of marketing while reinforcing the importance of the marketer to any organization.