On March
28-29, the Richard Ivey School of
Business hosted the 10th annual IBK
Capital – Ivey Business Plan
Competition, Canada's premiere business
plan competition for students
representing top graduate schools across
the country. Teams representing McMaster
University, Queen’s University, Simon
Fraser University, University of
Waterloo, University of Windsor and
University of Western Ontario competed
for over $40,000 in cash and prizes,
with the top team receiving an
invitation to attend the MOOT Corp
Global Business Plan Competition in
Texas to contend for over $100,000 in
cash and prizes.
(l to r) Bill White,
President, IBK Capital; Michele
Romanow, Queen's University
student; Larry Wynant, Associate
Dean, Programs, Ivey; Miranda
Werstiuk, Vice-President, IBK
Capital; Anatoliy Melnichuk, and
a student from Queen's
University
1st Place and $25,000 to Romanov
Caviar representing Queen’s University:
Michele Romanow, Anatoliy Melnichuk
2nd
Place and $10,000 to ControlX
representing Simon Fraser University:
Andrew Flostrand, John Turner, Frank
Haran, Andre Zandstra, Jonathan Carrigan
3rd
Place and $5,000 to Ideal Energy
representing University of Windsor:
Stuart Murray (HBA ’06), David Mueller
(HBA ’01)
This past
week, the 19th Annual Scotiabank
International Case Competition
was held. The Scotiabank International
Case Competition attracted students
from universities around the world from
a diverse group of countries
including Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland,
New Zealand, Norway, Korea, Mexico,
Singapore, Spain, Brazil, France and the
Czech Republic.
This year, the winning team was from
Corvinus University in Hungary with
Fundação Getulio Vargas from Brazil and
the Norwegian School of Economics
and Business Administration as the other
finalists.
The case, kindly made available by
Murray Bryant and Ken Mark, asked the
students to advise the leadership of
Kaupthing Bank from Iceland on the
takeover of Singer Friedland in the UK.
The Ambassador to Canada from
Iceland, Markús Örn Antonsson, spoke on
Saturday at the closing ceremonies.
(l to r) Ambassador to
Canada from Iceland, Markús Örn
Antonsson; Carol Stephenson,
Beáta Tranker, Péter Csaszar,
András Vlaszak, Ákos Vermes,
Flóra Macher and Darren Meister.
In addition to lead sponsorship by
Scotiabank, sponsors also included
Coke, General Mills, Kellogg's,
Marshall's Pasta, Dominos, Maple Leaf
Foods,
J. Amand Bombardier Foundation, EDC,
Toshiba, and Subway.
The Exec this year consisted of
Co-Chairs Matt Wills and Kristin Tran as
well as Katie Cotten and Sarah
Callaghan. They led a team of
enthusiastic
volunteers. The HBA Program Office
effort was led very strongly by Amanda
Gray and she was supported by Meaghan
Edmiston and Larysa Gamula.
This year's judges included Sylvia
Chrominska (HBA '75), John Barnes (HBA
'75), Scott Bennett (HBA '00), Jeremy
Bornstein (HBA '01/MBA '06), Gordon
Brown (HBA '76), Anthony Chang (HBA
'80), Luc Dupont Mary Federau (MBA '87),
Lorne Goldstein (HBA '72), Pamela
Griffith-Jones (HBA '87/MBA '90), Darren
Jack (HBA '88, MBA '92), Vincent MacNeil
and John Kelleher (HBA '97).
Initiated by the late Harold Crookell, a
former faculty member at Ivey, the
competition was created to provide a
forum for students from the world's
best undergraduate business programs to
showcase their business acumen. It
has become the largest international,
undergraduate case competition in
North America.
Through the competition, students are
exposed to different international
perspectives. They also have the
opportunity to establish valuable
relationships which are increasingly
crucial in today's global business
arena. It also allows Canadian business
leaders (our judges) the opportunity
to contribute to the growth of future
leaders and to gain awareness of the
growing importance of undergraduate
business education.
HBA Program Director, Professor
Darren Meister, thanked the
students, participants, staff, judges,
and sponsors for making this event a
success.
Michael
Raynor, author of The Strategy
Paradox, co-author of The
Innovator’s Solution is also a
consultant and Distinguished Research
Fellow for Deloitte Consulting LLP.
Michael Raynor discusses "The
Strategy Paradox."
The Ivey MBA grad and Nelson M. Davis
Memorial Scholarship winner discussed
corporate strategy and innovation with
Professors
Charlene Zietsma and
Oana Branzei's HBA students.
Michael Raynor answered some
individual questions after his
presentation.
EDC is a
Crown corporation with the goal of
developing Canada’s international trade.
They award 25-30 scholarships each year
to business, economics, or combined
business/environment undergraduate
students who have a demonstrated
interest in international business, a
record of leadership, accomplishment and
team player skills and an excellent
academic record. This year, Ivey had 4
winners which is more than any other
university.
Dean Carol Stephenson
congratulates Andrew Tai,
SeungHwan (James) Chang and Tae
Young (Kevin) Kim. Salimah Velji
also won an EDC scholarship.
MBA Program
Services congratulated Ivey’s team on
taking first prize at the 2008 Credit
Risk Case Competition at Dalhousie
University on Saturday, March 1.
Accelerated
MBA(AMBA)
students, Wendy Chan, Mandy Lai, Mariam
Hashmi and Miriam Rybalov took first
place in a unique event that saw teams
from Canadian and US universities test
their skills in credit analysis in a
two-day competition of ideas, theory and
cutting-edge credit risk decision
making.
Engaging
stakeholders in business decisions that
affect their surrounding communities is
arguably the "right thing to do," but
companies who practice this can also
show significant savings and reap other
rewards. Ivey held a forum on Engaging
the Community that brought together
managers, researchers, and government
representatives to discuss best
practices on effective community
engagement.
Denise Carpenter, Senior Vice
President, Public and Government
Affairs, EPCOR Utilities Inc,
addresses participants.
Practitioners often need immediate,
relevant solutions so they often adopt
solutions from other companies based on
anecdotal evidence, said
Tima Bansal, Ivey Professor and
conference moderator. What companies
need to bolster their solutions is
evidenced-based research - that's what
the conference helped provide as it
broke down the silos between academics,
practitioners and the government.
Dr.
Rudolph Knünz, CFO KTM Powersports Group
of Austria spoke to students on Thursday
February 21 in Prof. Charlene Zietsma’s
HBA class.
Students participated in two
case-studies on KTM, focusing on
negotiated alliances with potential
partners for KTM, and then heard from
Dr. Knünz on the actual outcome of some
of the negotiations.
(l.
to r.) Ivey professors Oana
Branzei and Charlene Zietsma,
HBA student Matt Zajac, and Dr. Knünze.
KTM is a leading producer of off-road
motorcycles worldwide, and is a well
respected producer of on-road
motorcycles and ATVs for the extreme
sports and racing segments. KTM products
have won over 120 racing titles
worldwide, and are used by 60% of the
riders in the Paris-Dakar rally, an
off-road race from Paris to Senegal.
HBA student Matt Zajac (pictured) took
part in the event. He started racing
motorcycles when he was 13, and since
then has competed all over Canada and
the United States. At 17 he was the
youngest member of the Canadian National
Team and has represented Canada at World
Championships in Italy and France in
2005 and 2006.
More than
200 HBA 1 students and 63 MBA students
donated their time and effort to the
first 'study-for-charity' project at the
Richard Ivey School of Business.
The idea
behind the project was simple. The
Canadian Labor Researcher and Skills
Network provided grant money to Ivey Professor
Joerg Dietz and Vicki Esses from the Department of Psychology
to reimburse business students
for their participation in a study on
the treatment of immigrants in the
workplace.
An Ivey
student's time is precious, and the $10
per student which was allotted was not
likely to motivate many students to
participate - yet the school's mission
statement urges them to "contribute to
the societies in which they operate."
Rather
than paying $10 to each student
individually, Dietz, with the support of
the HBA and MBA program directors Darren
Meister and Tony Frost, approached the
HBA and MBA philanthropy representatives
and asked them to select charities that
they would like to support.
Once the
London Food Bank, the London Children’s
hospital, the Salvation Army, the
Canadian Cancer Society, and Kiva, a
microfinancing initiative had been
chosen, Dietz and his Ph.D. student
Chetan Joshi conducted the study with
the help of numerous other Ivey Ph.D.
students and research assistants. Nearly
300 students participated, generating
$2,810 which was then topped up with
$200 in faculty donations.
On February
12, Ivey students eagerly filled
Professor
George Athanassakos’ Value Investing
classes to hear from renowned value
investor Walter J. Schloss.
By
videoconference, with Schloss in New
York, the 91 year value investor shared
tips and humorous stories that had
students lining up to ask questions.
Widely considered one of the greatest
value investors of all time, Schloss
delivered no-nonsense, simple investing
advice.
Among
the questions asked was how to know
which stocks to buy. Schloss explained
that he researches the company, reads
their annual reports, learns how much
stock directors own and who else owns a
fair amount of stock, and reads any
other background on the company. He also
suggests staying away from companies
with a large amount of debt. Instead,
invest in companies that have just
reached new lows. In his words, “I like
buying companies that have a lot of
simple capital, little debt, and have
management owning a fair amount of
stock.”
Veteran value investor Walter
Schloss answers questions from
students.
He also warned students not to base
their actions on emotions or people. “If
you talk to management, they may be
charming, nice people, but you really
don’t know much about them. Look at the
numbers instead of the people
themselves. Don’t get emotional about
stocks.” He continued, “One of the
reasons I don’t really talk to
management is because they’ll tell you
what you want to hear, and will present
the facts in a way that they want you to
see them. Instead, keep your emotions
out of investing and try to look at
things logically, the way they are, and
not the way you wish they were.”
Finally,
he advised students not to make
speculative decisions, but rather to
focus on what is known. He likes to buy
things the way they are and not the way
he thinks they might be in the future.
On January
25, Professor
Tima Bansal, Director of Ivey's
Cross-Enterprise Leadership Centre for
Building Sustainable Value welcomed more
than 60 participants to the first
knowledge forum on business
sustainability.
The topic for the first of two forums
this year was Valuing Business
Sustainability - actually helping
companies put a dollar value on how
sustainability initiatives impact the
bottom line.
The event was hosted in partnership with
the Research Network for Business
Sustainability (www.sustainabilityresearch.org).
Prof. Bansal began by thanking the
members of the Network’s Leadership
Council - representatives of businesses
in all industry sector across Canada -
who were instrumental in supporting the
forum and in selecting the topic.
Joshua Margolis from Harvard
Business School.
The speakers and audience shared
insights from the worlds of research and
practice. Presentation topics ranged
from ‘The Relationship between Social
and Financial Performance: A Research
Perspective,’ by Harvard Business School
Professor Joshua Margolis; to ‘The
Challenges of Valuing Business
Sustainability: An Executive
Perspective,’ by Claude Ouimet, Senior
Vice President and General Manager,
InterfaceFLOR Canada and Latin America.
The full agenda and further information
are available at
www.ivey.ca/centres/building/valuing
A broad spectrum of participants enjoyed
the forum with half from industry, a
quarter from government and NGOs, and a
quarter from academia.
Ron
Yachnin of Yachnin & Associates
presents interim findings from
his review of sustainability
valuation tools.
Ivey MBA
students had the chance to hear the
inside scoop on Don Cherry and Ron
MacLean, as well as pick up a few tips
on how to land your dream job. Sherali
Najak, Executive Producer for Hockey
Night in Canada, told the interesting
tale of how he has landed at his dream
job at the age of 33.
From the age of 15 when we walked into a
cable station and asked for a job his
passion has only grown for the industry.
From there he worked his way up through
the ranks at CBC from a Studio
Technician and Video Tape Operator to
News Director and finally as a Producer.
His work history includes network
newscasts, news specials including The
Journal, Quebec Referendum, National
Election and Nelson Mandela’s Release to
Freedom Special and various music and
entertainment programs.
A self-professed news-junky, Najak knew
that he wanted his work to include
sports. He loves the drama of sports,
the excitement of the frantic, chaotic,
control room that comes with big egos,
lots of passion, excitement, and drama.
Najak targeted hockey night in Canada
and the Olympics as two goals. He has
already achieved them both.
Sherali Najak tells Ivey
students about the path to his
"dream job."
Among the tips that Najak delivered was
to respect the people around you. He
always has in the forefront of mind of
how he is perceived by others in the
industry. Staying connected with
contacts and coworkers helps; but he
warned not to do so purely to impress
others but rather because you really
care about people and what they think.
Anything else will come across as phony.
Najak is devoted to being a good leader.
He tells his staff to work hard for
themselves, not for him. He’s found that
this has created more ideas, more
passion, and less fear. As a good
leader, you need to focus on people and
put in the extra time getting to know
them. Being a leader is also about
managing different types of people. “If
you love to lead,” he says, “it has to
be unconditional.”
As part of their orientation to Canada
and to Ivey, over 30 new exchange
students had the chance to experience
the impact of culture on behavior first
hand. Professor Joerg Dietz and PhD
candidate Chetan Joshi ran Bafa Bafa, a
cross-cultural simulation to demonstrate
the importance of understanding
different cultures.
The exercise placed students into two
different teams or “cultures”, the Alpha
culture and the Beta culture.
Separately, they learned the rules of
their new culture and then acted out the
newly learned behaviours and norms.
BAFA BAFA participants explore
the customs of their new Alpha
and Beta cultures.
After the simulation the two teams were
brought together to talk about what they
thought of the other’s culture. Both
teams admitted to having trouble
figuring out the other culture. When
asked to describe the opposite culture,
the students used negative terms. This
was mainly due to a misunderstanding of
the culture; the students were trying so
hard to fit into their own newly learned
culture that they didn’t take the time
to try to understand the other students’
culture.
Through BAFA BAFA the students
experienced first hand the problem of
ethnocentrism, which is the tendency to
look at the world primarily from the
perspective of our own culture and the
belief that culture is superior to other
groups. After only an hour of mastering
the rules of a new culture, the exercise
elicited ethnocentric behavior from the
students. Considering that most of the
students have had at least 20 years in
their home culture before coming to
Ivey, BAFA BAFA demonstrated to the
students that they will have to be aware
of ethnocentrism during their time at
Ivey.
Professors
Claus Rerup and
Ann Frost challenged their
second-year HBA students to create
six-minute videos on a socially
conscious issue. Section 4 students came
up with a unique variation on the theme.
Professor
Tima Bansal and Dr Bob Bailey hosted the first
cross-disciplinary luncheon on climate
change with the help of Colette Southam
and Ivey PhD student Brent McKnight. Organized by Ivey’s
Research Centre for Building Sustainable
Value and Environmental Research
Western, the seminar attracted
widespread interest from many faculties
on campus, including science, social
science, engineering, law, medicine and
business.
Professor Tima Bansal addresses
a crowded room during the
luncheon seminar on climate
change.
The aim of the seminar was to engage in
multidisciplinary discussions about
cutting-edge research in social and
environmental sustainability. Five
leading researchers in climate change
gave insight into their research,
understanding of the problem, and their
recommendations with regards to climate
change. This is the first of a series of
biannual events to foster
interdisciplinary cooperation.
The audience heard from Gordon
Southam, Canada’s Research Chair in
Geomicrobiology, who talked about
climate change from an earth sciences
and biology perspective, focusing on
bacterially enhanced carbonation.
Franco Berruti, Professor of
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and
former Dean of Engineering, talked about
the issues and opportunities for
biofuels and bioproducts. Gordon
McBean, Director of Policy Studies
for the
Institute for Catastrophic Loss
Reduction, spoke from the
perspective of a geologist while talking
about Climate Change in Science and
Politics. He touched on points of
climate change projection, the effect of
increasing temperatures, and how the
environment has become politically
important in polls. Dianne Cunningham,
Director of the
Lawrence National Centre for Policy and
Management talked about developing
business policy for sustainable energy.
And finally, Radoslav Dimitrov,
Assistant Professor of Political
Science, gave the audience an insider’s
perspective on the recent
United Nations Climate Change Conference
in Bali.
Michael
Sider’s Management Communications class
at the Richard Ivey School of Business
recently hosted the George Laidlaw
Quartet.
(l. to r.) Bob Hughes, John
Griffiths, Alan Ogborne, and
George Laidlaw .
The live
demonstrations really brought the
communication principles to life for the
HBAs. They could see how creativity is a
group process; they could hear the
importance of listening to each other in
case one gets out of beat; and they
learned that creativity is one part
inspiration and many parts perspiration.
On December 2, 2007, Ivey Connects once
again hosted the Children's Aid Holiday
Party in the Atrium. This was the
event's largest year yet with nearly 100
children in attendance! Thankfully the
HBA1's and 2's were up to the challenge,
coming prepared with gifts, festive
attire and plenty of holiday spirit!
(l. to r.) Rita Choi, Chris
Stefanyk, and Taryn Lipschitz.
The children were kept busy with various
crafts and games, a magic show, pizza
and snacks, carols and a visit with
Santa! Two representatives from KPMG
were also present to lend a hand; as
they have in the past, KPMG continued
the tradition of donating to the event.
Without this donation, the party would
not have been possible so we are
incredibly grateful for their continued
support!
Despite the snow and exams, support for
this event was overwhelming. A thank you
must also be extended to the staff and
faculty who participated in the event
through donation and attendance. Each
child left with arms full of gifts and a
giant smile on their face, helping to
show us the true meaning of the holiday
season.
