Lisa Graves
Dr. Jordan L. LeBel received his MSc from Cornell University and his PhD from McGill University and joined Concordia University in 2000. He teaches MARK 458: The Marketing of Food, as well as MBA 644: Marketing Management. He previously headed the Executive MBA program as well as the Luc Beauregard Centre of Excellence in Communications Research. He has developed many successful and award-winning courses including the MBA elective course "Experience Design and Marketing" and the online course "Marketing Yourself" taken by over 20,000 between 2004 and 2017. He is the recipient of the 2005 and 2010 best teacher award in the John Molson School of Business, the 2011 President's Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2011 MBA Professor of the Year award, the 3M National Teaching Fellowship (2013), and the award for Outstanding Contribution for Student Life at Concordia (2023).
His research focuses on hedonic and aesthetic consumption, especially as it relates to the definition of pleasure, its various dimensions, and its impact on decision making and behaviour in the areas of food choices and healthy eating and lifestyles. He has presented his work at various conferences such as Advances in Consumer Research, Marketing Science, The Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium, and the Canadian Institute of Food Technology. His research on comfort foods, and particularly chocolate, has been featured extensively in both broadcast and print media around the world. He is a regular commentator on food and restaurant marketing issues in the local and national media. Dr. LeBel actively supervises graduate students at the MSc and PhD levels. He is a founding member and co-leader of the Concordia Food Culture Research Group. He regularly consults for large and small organizations in the food, foodservice, and retail industries. He has given keynote addresses to a variety of organizations such as C2MTL, the World Congress of Food Scientists, the Ordre professionnel des diététistes du Québec, and the Canadian Foodservice Professionals Association.
Dr. LeBel started his career in professional kitchens at the age of 12 and has been a chef and a restaurant reviewer. He has taught at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University and lectured at the École Hôtlière de Lausanne in Switzerland. His vintage cookbook collection goes back to 1742. Dr. LeBel is actively involved in various charities and non-profit organizations. He has been a member of the board of directors of YES Montreal, the Quebec Society of Public Relations Professionals, and Croquarium. He currently sits on the Scientific Committee for the Prevention of Obesity at the Institut national de santé publique.
Education
Certificate in Corporate Governance (Laval University, 2017)
Ph.D. (McGill University, 2001)
M.Sc. (Cornell University, 1992)
B.Sc. (Cornell University, 1990)
Associates Degree (ITHQ, 1988)
Areas of expertise
- Eating behaviour
- Food and wine marketing
- Hedonic and aesthetic consumption
- Impact of pleasure on consumption decisions and behaviours
- Internet branding strategies
MARK 458: The Marketing of Food
The food and beverage industry — encompassing variousentities including commodity brokers, importers,distributors, packaged goods manufacturers, transformers, retailers, andrestaurants — is an important source of employment opportunities and avital component of our economy. This course will introduce students to thestructure of the industry, the operating realities of its key players, and themarketing challenges facing them. The course will also expose students to potentialsolutions as well as new theories and concepts that will broaden theirmarketing knowledge and provide them with the tools to develop solutions tofood marketing challenges.
The course is designed to achieve two critical andoverarching objectives: 1) introduce students to the significance — economic,social, and otherwise — of the food industry, and 2) to develop anappreciation for the complexity of marketing issues and challenges facing theindustry while building awareness for the need for responsible stewardship withinit.
MBA 644: Marketing Management
Thiscourse is an introduction to theprinciples and key concepts of marketing management. As such, students areexpected to learn the terminology associated with the field of marketing, itskey concepts, and how to apply them. The course is designed to achieve twooverarching objectives: 1) to develop a “marketing mindset” withinparticipants, meaning an ability to uncover and take advantage of marketingopportunities otherwise overlooked or unexplored; and 2) to foster the values,attitudes and behaviors associated with leadership in the field of marketing.These objectives and the design of the course are rooted in two fundamental premises.First, the economic and competitive landscapes have caused a shift inconsumers’ spending and in business practices, forcing a renewed emphasis formarketers to do more with less and to become accountable. Secondly, pressingsocietal problems of unprecedented magnitude around the world are calling forbusinesses, government and non-government organizations, and other civilsociety members to collaborate in the development of effective and sustainablesolutions.
MBA644 is designed to prepare participants for leadership at the intersection ofbusiness and society. Given the complexity of the problems and environmentalissues faced by today’s businesses, societies, and governments, “silo” thinkingand “business as usual” are no longer acceptable modus operandi. Today’ssuccessful organizations and tomorrow’s leading MBA graduates cannot afford tolook at marketing as an isolated function but must rather develop a mindsetwhereby marketing permeates their every actions and how they look at their environment.If business practices have sometimes been a cause of current problems,businesses and marketers can also be part of the solution. Our common futuredepends on the extent to which managers and executives develop a vision of abetter world and on their ability to draw on the resources of companies andorganizations to help implement that vision. This course will explore howmarketing managers can simultaneously contribute to the success of theirorganization as well as to society’s well-being.
Explorations in Sensory Design
This research program is situated at the intersection of design, marketing, anthropology (including design anthropology and sensory ethnography) and psychology (including consumer psychology and sensory evaluation.
This research program asks: How can we best analyze, and gain a critical purchase on, the flowering of the senses in contemporary design? This project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Corporate Governance and Public Health
Public Health is often seen as the responsibility and exclusive purview of government but pandemics and other crises often confronts the profit-oriented perspective of corporate governance against the population health and wellbeing focus of public health officials. The current pandemic offers a teachable moment to sensitize and outfit board administrators and business executives with tools and understanding needed to leverage the opportunities of crafting a post-pandemic where issues of public health and addressed and accounted for in corporate governance matters.
Refereed Journal Article
Marquis, D., L. Hénautl-Ethier, J. LeBel (2020). Edible Insect Marketing in Western Countries : Wisely Weighing the Foodstuff, Foodie, and Foodscape. Submitted to Journal of Insects as Food and Feed,6 (4), pp. 341-354.
https://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/abs/10.3920/JIFF2018.0037
LeBel, J., M. LeBouthillier (2019). Tacos, Sriracha et sauce soya : le marketing qui nous fait aimer ces aliments venus d’ailleurs. In Cuizine, vol. 10, no. 1, P. Emeline & G. Sicotte (Eds) https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/cuizine/2019-v10-n1-cuizine04600/1059906ar/
Book Chapters
LeBel, J. L. & A. Détolle (2017). « Le marketing du cidre de glace du Québec : quand un repositionnement s’impose pour éviter l’impasse » dans La transformation du cidre au Québec, L. M. Cloutier & A. Détolle (Éds), pages 247-271, Montréal : Presses de l’Université du Québec. This book received a coveted Gourmand World Cookbook Award in 2018 (“Drink Culture” category).
LeBel, J.L. (2016). Food Retailing in Canada : Shaping Choice and What Canadians Eat. In C. Elliott (Ed.) How Canadians Communicate VI: Food Promotion, Consumption, and Controversy, pp. 35-52, Edmonton, AB : AU Press.
