Sourav Ray | Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics

Sourav Ray

Sourav Ray
Lang Chair in Marketing and Professor
Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies
Email: 
s_ray@uoguelph.ca
Summary: 

Dr. Sourav Ray is the Lang Chair in Marketing and a tenured full Professor of Marketing.

Dr. Sourav Ray’s primary research interests are in marketing strategy, distribution channels, pricing, innovation, governance, and technology.  He uses quantitative research tools to study substantive questions relevant for practice and policy. 

Sourav’s work has been published in top-tier Marketing and Economics journals such as, Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of Law and Economics, Economica, Journal of Business Venturing etc.

Sourav joined the University in 2022.  Prior to that, he was the M. Lee-Chin Family Professor of Strategic Business Studies and Professor of Marketing at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, and an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University.  Sourav has supervised several doctoral students who are now established in their own careers.

Sourav has a PhD in Marketing from University of Minnesota, and aerospace engineering degrees from Texas A&M University and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in India. 

For prospective Graduate Students (MSc and PhD):

Much of my research focuses on firm decisions, e.g. retail pricing decisions, firms collaborating with each other for innovation, technology adoption (digital transformation of business), designing salesforce and franchise systems, managing conflict in dealer networks, organizing omnichannel marketing etc. I also study how customer (firm/individual) limits to information processing abilities impact business decisions. Understanding how these business practices can impact sustainable development and climate stewardship are important considerations and offer interesting, valuable, as well as challenging research opportunities. I aim to do theoretically driven quantitative empirical work and students working with me get trained accordingly. 

If you are interested in pursuing graduate studies in the areas of my interest and want to learn together with me, please do feel free to reach out to me with your cv. If there is a fit, I will respond and explore further. A background in technology and industry experience are desired but not necessary. Discipline, initiative, curiosity, perseverence and comfort in navigating uncertainty are all necessary for ensuring success. Graduate studies is exciting and challenging and I wish you all the best in your efforts to find a fit.

Please contact the graduate school for details about programs, elgibility, deadlines and regulations. Do note, all admission and scholarships are committee decisons.

Pricing

Distribution Channels

Designing for effective Business to Business Marketing

Innovation

Marketing Strategy in Technology Intensive Industries

Digital Transformation

Consumer Inattention

Quantitative Marketing

Selected Publications

Marketing journals:

Eshghi, Kamran, Ray, Sourav (2021). Conflict and Performance in Channels: A Meta Analysis; Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, (JAMS).  Vol 49; 2021, pp. 327–349.

Ray, Sourav, Bergen, Mark E. and John, George (2016). Understanding Value-Added Resellers’ Assortments of Multi-Component Systems, Journal of Marketing. Vol.80(5), Sep. 2016. pp 76-91.

Ray, Sourav, Wood, Charles and Messinger, Paul (2012). Multi-Component Systems Pricing: Rational Inattention and Downward Rigidities; Journal of Marketing. Vol.76(5), September 2012, pp. 1-17.  

Ray, Sourav, Chen, Haipeng, Bergen, Mark E. and Levy, Daniel (2006). Asymmetric Wholesale Pricing: Theory and Evidence; Marketing Science; Vol. 25(2), March–April 2006, pp. 131–154.

Economics journals:

Ray, Sourav, Snir, Avichai and Levy, Daniel (2023). Retail pricing format and rigidity of regular prices. Economica, 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecca.12492.

Bergen, Mark E., Levy, Daniel, Ray, Sourav, Rubin, Paul and Zeliger, Benjamin (2008). When Little Things Mean a Lot: On the Inefficiency of Item Pricing Laws; Journal of Law and Economics. Vol. 51(2), May 2008, pp. 209-250.

Chen, Haipeng, Levy, Daniel, Ray, Sourav and Bergen, Mark E. (2008). Asymmetric Price Adjustment in the Small; Journal of Monetary Economics. Volume 55(4), May 2008. pp. 728-737.

Interdisciplinary journals:

Vaishnav, Bharat and Ray, Sourav (2023). A Thematic Exploration of the Evolution of Research in Multichannel Marketing. Journal of Business Research. Vol 157, March 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113564.

Eshghi, Kamran, Shahriari, Hesam and Ray, Sourav (2021). Sports Sponsorship Announcements and Marketing Capability. Journal of Sports Management. V. 36(2), Sep. 2021; pp. 171-187. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2020-0294.

Müller, Georg and Ray, Sourav (2007).  Asymmetric Price Adjustment: Evidence from Weekly Product-Level Scanner Price Data; and Sourav Ray.  Managerial and Decision Economics. Vol. 28, 2007, pp. 723-736.

Ardishvilli, Alexander, Cardozo, Richard N. and Ray, Sourav (2003).  A Theory of Entrepreneurial Opportunity Identification and Development.  Journal of Business Venturing. Vol. 18(1), January 2003, pp. 105-123.

Book chapters:

Sadeghi, Iman, Bannerjee, Ranjan, Ray, Sourav, Bergen, Mark E. and Dutta, Shantanu (2022). Agency Theory and B2B Marketing: Review and Future Directions. Handbook of Business-to-Business Marketing, 2nd Edition.  Editors: Gary L. Lilien, Andrew Peterson, Stefan Wuyts.  Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM), Smeal College of Business, Penn State University, University Park, PA. (Pub: Edgar Elgar, Northampton, MA, USA).  2022, pp. 39-55.

Dutta, Shantanu, Bergen, Mark E. and Ray, Sourav (2020). Marketing in a World with Costs of Price Adjustment. Review of Marketing Research. (Ed.: Naresh K. Malhotra). Vol. 6, 2010, pp. 168-187.

Eshghi, Kamran and Ray, Sourav (2019). Managing Channel Conflict: Insights from the Current Literature, Kamran Eshghi, Sourav Ray. Handbook of Research on Distribution Channels.  Editors: Charles A. Ingene, James R. Brown, Rajiv P. Dant.  Edward Elgar Publications, Northampton, MA, USA.  ISBN 978 0 85793 859 6.  2019.  pp. 130-160.

Ph.D., Marketing, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, USA.

M.S., Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.

B.Tech., Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, India.