Buying and selling stand-alone brands.

• Position: Business & Finance - Brief article

These findings from Indiana University, Bloomington, indicate that investors have a deeper understanding of marketing's impact and financial value than previously believed. They also set a road map for how companies strategically can select brand assets to acquire or sell and hint at a new business model designed to "incubate" brands specifically for future sale.

Despite active markets for brand assets, little is known about financial benefits from such transactions, though historically, buying entire companies for brand assets tends to harm the shareholder--what is known as the "winner's curse."

"Determining a clear link between marketing investments and share performance has been like chasing the Holy Grail, especially related to brand acquisition, which is among any company's biggest marketing investments," says Neil A. Morgan, chair in marketing at the School of Business. "For the first time, we have empirical data showing that...