Two Lang students to compete at UofG grad research competition

On Wednesday, March 4^th the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics hosted the Lang Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, a competition for graduate students to consolidate and present their research in three minutes or less to a panel of non-specialist judges.

Students competed for cash prizes and the chance to move on to represent the Lang School at the University of Guelph campus-wide finals, which features the top two graduate students from each college on campus. Congratulations to Robbie Abrams and Stephanie Villers on placing first and second at the Lang competition!

First place ($500):

Robbie Abrams (MSc. Marketing and Consumer Studies)

Robbie’s research looks at the Canadian Grocery Retail Marketplace to better understand the choices that Generation Z consumers make when choosing where to buy their groceries

From a market research perspective, there is little known about Gen Z compared to their generational counterparts (Millennials, Gen X, Boomers). Through his research, Robbie hopes his findings will benefit grocery retailers by providing a better understanding of their youngest consumer group, from their behaviours to the trade-offs they may be willing to make when deciding where to shop.

Second place ($250):

Stephanie Villers (PhD. Management)

Stephanie’s research looks at game theory and how it affects decision making for a service called “Recomposition”, which offers an alternative to cremation by gently converting human remains into the soil. There are three expected research contributions from her research: (1) contribute to the death care literature from a marketing perspective; (2) contributes to the literature on market entry of radical goods and services; and (3) the environmental sustainability literature, which could have broader managerial and societal implications.

Third place ($150):

Shaheer Kamran (MSc. Marketing and Consumer Studies)

Shaheer’s research explores the impact of customer relationship management training activities and delivery types on firm performance. By using transactional level data from an insurance company, a multinomial logit model will be used. The research aims to guide managers in choosing and developing the optimum training programs and the required delivery types while simultaneously minimizing costs.

New this year, the audience had the opportunity to vote for a People’s Choice Award.

Congratulations to Stephanie Villers on also receiving this award!

Congratulations to all graduate students who competed and did an incredible job consolidating their research and its impact in a three-minute presentation. The University of Guelph's final competition takes place on April 3^rd, 2020 in the University Centre room 442. All staff, faculty, and students are welcome to attend and show support for Robbie and Stephanie! The winner of the campus-wide competition will move on to represent the University of Guelph at the provincial competition hosted by the University of Windsor on April 15^th, 2020.