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 Professor 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 or are forthcoming in top-tier Marketing and Economics journals such as, Journal of Marketing Research, 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 University of Guelph in 2022.  Prior to that, he was the Michael 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 serves as a Senior Editor of the journal Electronic Commerce Research and Applications (ECRA), an Associate Editor in Journal of Business Research (JBR), and also assists several startups in advisory capacities.

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. 

Find Related People by Keyword

Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies, Faculty & Staff, marketing faculty

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.

Designing for effective Business to Business Marketing

Marketing Strategy in Technology Intensive Industries

Digital Transformation

Pricing

Distribution Channels

Innovation

Consumer Inattention

Selected Publications

Journal rankings by Financial Times list (FT-50), Chartered Association of Busines Schools, ABS (4*, 4,), and Australian Business Dean's Council, ABDC lists (A*) included in "[...]" as indicative journal quality.

Marketing Journals

Shekari, Saeed, Sourav Ray (2024). Monitoring Technologies in Industrial Systems. Journal of Marketing Research. (Forthcoming). [FT-50, 4*, A*]

Elhelaly, Nehal, Sourav Ray (2024). Collaborating to Innovate: Balancing Strategy Dividend and Transactional Efficiencies. Journal of Marketing. 88(5), 153-179. [FT-50, 4*, A*]

Eshghi, Kamran, Sourav Ray (2021). Conflict and Performance in Channels: A Meta Analysis. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, (JAMS). 49(2021), 327–349. [FT-50, 4*, A*]

Dutta, Shantanu, Mark E. Bergen and Sourav Ray (2020). Marketing in a World with Costs of Price Adjustment. Review of Marketing Research. 6(2020), 168-187. 

Ray, Sourav, Mark E. Bergen and George John (2016). Understanding Value-Added Resellers’ Assortments of Multi-Component Systems, Journal of Marketing. 80(5), 76-91. [FT-50, 4*, A*]

Ray, Sourav, Charles Wood and Paul Messinger (2012). Multi-Component Systems Pricing: Rational Inattention and Downward Rigidities. Journal of Marketing. 76(5), 1-17. [FT-50, 4*, A*]

Ray, Sourav, Haipeng Chen, Mark E. Bergen and Daniel Levy (2006). Asymmetric Wholesale Pricing: Theory and Evidence. Marketing Science. 25(2), 131–154. [FT-50, 4*, A*]

Economics Journals

Ray, Sourav, Avichai Snir and Daniel Levy (2023). Retail pricing format and rigidity of regular prices. Economica. 90(360), 1173-1203. [3]

Bergen, Mark E., Daniel Levy, Sourav Ray, Paul Rubin and Benjamin Zeliger (2008). When Little Things Mean a Lot: On the Inefficiency of Item Pricing Laws. Journal of Law and Economics. 51(2), 209-250. [3, A*]

Chen, Haipeng, Daniel Levy, Sourav Ray and Mark E. Bergen (2008). Asymmetric Price Adjustment in the Small. Journal of Monetary Economics. 55(4), 728-737. [4, A*]

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

Interdisciplinary Journals

Vaishnav, Bharat and Sourav Ray (2023). A Thematic Exploration of the Evolution of Research in Multichannel Marketing. Journal of Business Research. 157(2023), 113564. [3]

Eshghi, Kamran, Hesam Shahriari and Sourav Ray (2021). Sports Sponsorship Announcements and Marketing Capability. Journal of Sport Management. 36(2), 171-187.

Ardishvilli, Alexander, Richard N. Cardozo and Sourav Ray (2003).  A Theory of Entrepreneurial Opportunity Identification and Development. Journal of Business Venturing. 18(1), 105-123. [FT-50, 4, A*]

Research Handbook Chapters

Sadeghi, Iman, Ranjan Bannerjee, Sourav Ray, Mark E. Bergen and Shantanu Dutta (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.

Eshghi, Kamran and Sourav Ray (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. Students (as dissertation supervisor)

Rehan khan - in progress.

Iman Sadeghi - in progress.

Bharat Vaishnav - in progress.

Dr. Nehal Elhelaly (McMaster University) - Graduated 2022. Assistant Professor, Mansoura University.

Dr. Xiao Ling (McMaster University) - Graduated 2021. Assistant Professor, Central Connecticut State University.

Dr. Kamran Eshghi (McMAster University) - Graduated 2018. Associate Professor, Laurentian University.

Dr. Saeed Shekari (McMaster University) - Graduated 2017. Associate Professor, William Patterson University.

 

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.