Event study methodology in the marketing literature: an overview

Event studies examine stock price movements around corporate events. These events can be voluntary firm announcements (e.g., new product introduction, alliance formation, channel restructuring) or announcements made by other entities such as regulatory bodies (e.g., FDA approval) or competitors (e.g., new market entry). The event study methodology was developed by finance researchers but has been widely adopted in other fields, including marketing. We review the manner in which event studies have been used in the marketing literature and summarize the current state of knowledge about the design and interpretation of event studies. We provide guidelines for researchers who use this methodology and for readers who draw inferences from results obtained from event studies, and we highlight a few areas where the methodology can be leveraged to help us better understand the financial value of marketing actions.