Exploring how value creation impacts business profitability, productivity and consumer welfare

Businesses need to work hard to convince customers of a product or service’s value, especially in a global marketplace where choice is often a click away.

A few ways in which they create this value is through marketing communications, advertising, branding, category choice and management and sales promotions. Our John Molson researchers, like the CURC in Consumer Psychology and Visual Marketing, the CURC in Psychology of Resource Scarcity and the RBC Professorship in Strategic Relationship Marketing, give companies insight into the new consumer decision-making journey.

They examine, for instance, the effects of sensory cues (i.e. visual, auditory, olfactory) on product sales, outline how the scarcity of products and/or resources impacts prosocial behaviour, and demystify the changing nature of the customer-brand relationship due to the rise of collaborative communication such as social media.

Untangling how capital markets can drive innovation and create value for stakeholders

Long-term investment is more accessible to corporations than ever before, be they big or small. But the volatile and fluctuating nature of financial markets in recent years poses a threat to companies seeking to raise funds to sustain their operations. At John Molson, academics such as the Senior Concordia University Research Chair, Finance, study the regulation of global capital markets, fundraising and events like crises, both in the Canadian and global contexts.

They also investigate alternative investment strategies like crowdfunding, as well as short selling and how volatility impacts extreme returns, through researchers such as the Van Berkom Endowed Chair in Small-Cap Equities. Their work touches upon Islamic banking/finance and how its principles impact shareholder returns, the study of financial markets and how they operate (market microstructure,) and the intrinsic worth or fair value assigned to a good or service in the market.

Examining the financial instruments responsible for putting money in Canadians’ pockets

Wealth management concerns almost every Canadian in some way. Those who can, invest their hard-won earnings in financial products like mutual funds, which are supposed to help them lead more comfortable lives. John Molson researchers, including the Manulife Professorships in Financial Planning, provide expertise in financial planning, risk management and study the latest developments in FinTech. They examine portfolio selection and the impact of items such as transaction costs and government regulation, and topics such as sustainable investing vs values-based investing.

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Read about how John Molson is advancing knowledge and education in the area of stakeholder value creation.