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Winter 2009
more events from previous month |
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March 31,
2009 |
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Maple Leaf Foods President Michael
McCain shares lessons with Ivey students |
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When Michael McCain addressed the public
about the listeriosis outbreak that
tarnished his company's 100-year record
of providing strong food-safety
performance, it wasn't easy.
However,
McCain (HBA '79) credits his education
at the Richard Ivey School of Business
for giving him the confidence and
insight to make such a tough decision.
"Having
the mental discipline to make a decision
is an enduring skill that I gained from
the Ivey experience," he said. "Life is
increasingly about making choices so
it's an important skill to develop."
McCain,
President and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods,
discussed the lessons from his business
education in an address to Ivey HBA
students at Ivey Business School on
March 31.
Stressing that his business education
was just the beginning of a lifelong
commitment to learning, McCain outlined
four lessons he has learned during his
personal and professional journey:
- The
importance of values-based
leadership;
- The
importance of learning from your
life's failures;
- The
importance of valuing the people on
your team above and beyond your
destination or goal;
- The
importance of matching your
leadership approach to your
situation.
Many of
these lessons were useful during the
listeriosis ordeal.
"This
was a tragedy of epic proportions and it
brought our leadership attributes to
life in a real situation," he said. "The
unthinkable happened but our company's
commitment to values-based leadership
helped us through it."
"Some of
the key decisions we made were made
quickly because we had a strong
values-based culture and everyone knew
what we had to do."
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Maple Leaf Foods
President Michael McCain speaks
to Ivey HBA students |
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In
dealing with the listeriosis crisis,
McCain said he focused on taking
accountability, being transparent and
corrective action.
"When
you make a mistake, it's how you deal
with the mistake that counts –
contriteness, humility, openness and
action going forward are important," he
said. "We certainly learned from it. We
learned to take what were best practices
and make them better. We've also strived
to become the listeriosis educator in
Canada and we invite our competitors
into our facility for workshops. We
don't want food safety to become a
competitive issue."
Referencing the chorus of Jann Arden's
song "Good Mother" that states, "Feet on
ground. Heart in hand. Facing forward.
Be yourself," McCain said the lyrics
make a great motto for students as they
begin their professional journeys.
"Character and leadership are the
foundation of your success," he said.
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March 30,
2009 |
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Cheepbookrentals.com wins feasibility
study competition |
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This year's winner of the Business 2257
Feasibility Study Competition,
Cheepbookrentals.com, proposes to save
post-secondary students money by renting
textbooks to them through an online
website.
A crowd of
over 250 at Richard Ivey Business
School, learned that
Cheepbookrentals.com intends to target
graduating and first-year university
students pursuing post-secondary
education in London, Ontario. Students
who would buy their textbook for $140,
would be able to rent it for just
$45.99. The group plans to expand its
target market to students in
post-secondary institutions across
Canada.
The
seven Business 2257 students who took
home the coveted Robert G. Siskind
Entrepreneurial Award are Kevin Vuong,
Alexandra Cowie, Brooke Thiessen, Ellen
Zhu, Jason Luo, Simon Xu and Jason Liu.
Each member of the Cheepbookrentals.com
wins a cash award and a medal. Dr.
Robert G. Siskind presented the medals
to the winning group and gave an
inspiring talk on the opportunities
offered to businesses during these
economic times.
Business
2257 is a second-year honors business
course designed to enhance quantitative
and qualitative decision-making skills.
The feasibility study, with groups of
six to eight students, is a major course
requirement. The top three project
groups were selected from 208
feasibility study groups to compete for
the Robert G. Siskind Entrepreneurial
Award. The award was established in 1990
by the family and friends of Dr. Siskind
to commemorate his honorary degree from
Western and in recognition of his
outstanding contribution to the
University.
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Winners of the
Business 2257 Feasibility Study
Competition
Back row: Alexandra Cowie, Kevin
Vuong, Brooke Thiessen, Dr.
Robert G. Siskind
Front row: Jason Liu, Ellen Zhu,
Jason Luo, Simon Xu |
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March 23,
2009 |
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Ivey
places first at the National Business &
Technology Conference Entrepreneurship
Competition |
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Prometheus Power Systems, a Richard Ivey
School of Business New Venture Project
by Matthew Busbridge, Sebastian Koper
and Joseph Mocanu (Spring MBA 2009)
placed first at the National Business &
Technology Conference Entrepreneurship
Competition this weekend at the MaRS
Discovery District in Toronto.
Prometheus (PPS) competed against teams
from McGill, UBC and U of T and
presented their business as a viable and
profitable opportunity to a panel of
judges (Angel investors and technology
consultants). Top prize was $20,000 of
consulting services to help the team
refine their strategic plan. |
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(L to R): Joseph
Mocanu, Matthew Busbridge,
Sebastian Koper |
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PPS has
identified an innovative method of
monetizing commercial rooftop assets. By
leveraging cutting-edge photovoltaic
technology, favourable regulatory
conditions and a niche underserved
market, PPS offers a CAGR of 49% over a
period of 5 years. For more information,
please contact PPS' management team at
iveynvp@prometheuspowersystems.com
PPS will
now focus on competing against Canada's
best at Ivey's IBK Business Plan
Competition. |
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March 18,
2009 |
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Ivey students learn benefits of working
on a global team |
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Ivey HBA students from a cross-cultural
management course got some hands-on
experience working on a global team with
teammates from Austria and Spain.
The
students participated in a transnational
team project that was funded by a
$10,000-Fellowship in Teaching
Innovation Grant awarded to Ivey
professor Joerg Dietz last year by the
Teaching Support Centre at The
University of Western Ontario. The
project, executed in March 2009 for the
Spring 2009 term, involved
two activities: designing an egg drop
protector and renegotiating a joint
venture outlined in a case study.
It
involved students from Ivey Business
School, Johannes Kepler University in
Austria and ESADE in Barcelona, Spain.
"The
project allowed students to discover the
benefits and challenges of international
and virtual co-operation," said Chetan
Joshi, an Ivey lecturer in
Cross-cultural management and doctoral
candidate, who co-ordinated the project.
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Ivey sub-team
"Green" gets ready to launch its
egg drop protector "Fearless
eggs."
Front and centre: Pavla
Grigarova and Samuel Sunesson
Others in the picture (left to
right): Cristina Salomo Coll, Dávid
Reményi, Laura Morrison, Osama
Siddiqui, Chetan Joshi and
Marisa Tam |
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The
project was recently covered by Western
News. Read the
full article. |
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March 13,
2009 |
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Ivey and Western Law students present at
United Nations |
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Nine Ivey MBA students and a Western Law
student worked to make their mark on
world policy-making by sharing
information about Canadian HIV/AIDS
initiatives at a recent United Nations
(UN) meeting in New York City.
The
students made three presentations to the
UN's Commission on the Status of Women –
part of the Economic and Social Council
– during its annual meeting March 2-13.
Their presentations were sponsored by
the National Council of Women of Canada,
a governmental agency that works to
improve the quality of life for women.
They are the first Canadian university
students to present at a UN meeting,
with sponsorship from a UN-accredited
public policy agency.
"It was
a phenomenal experience to have
interactions with globally-aware
people," said Rashmi Bhat, an Ivey MBA/Law
student and vice president of the
National Council of Women of Canada.
The
initiative was organized by the Ivey MBA
Diversity Committee. Bhat, a founding
member of the committee, attended a UN
meeting last year as an observer and
then pitched the idea of presenting this
year to the committee. Tarun Agarwal, an
MBA student and Diversity Committee
executive was interested, as well as
seven other MBA students – Hetal Pandya,
Pooja Sharma, Manju Das, Charles Newton
Price, Erin MacKenzie, Tory McKillop and
Imad Harb – and Omar Ha-Redeye, a
Western Law student.
Various
members of the group made three
presentations on separate dates during
the session, as follows.
- On
March 6, Pandya, Das, MacKenzie,
Newton Price and McKillop presented
"Insite: Impact of Canada's Safe
Injection on HIV Transmission and
Treatment" about the success of
Canada's only safe injection site,
Insite, located in Vancouver, B.C. ;
- On
March 10, Ha-Redeye presented "The
Role of Shari'ah in Promoting
Women's Rights" about how the
Islamic law is portrayed
inaccurately in the media as being
at odds with women's rights;
- On
March 12, Agarwal, Bhat, Sharma,
Harb and Ha-Redeye presented
"Efforts by Canadian Organizations
to Help Reduce the Social Impact of
HIV/AIDS". The presentation covered
what groups in Canada are doing in
terms of prevention, care and
support, including advances with
vaccinations and microbacids and
education and anti-viral drugs. It
also looked at the role of HALCO, a
legal clinic in Toronto that
provides free legal services for
people with HIV/AIDS, as well as
initiatives from government
organizations, non-governmental
organizations and grassroots
organizations.
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Above (L - R):
Rashmi Bhat, Mary Scott, Omar
Ha-Redeye, Pooja Sharma, Muriel
Smith, Imad Harb, Tarun Agarwal.
Mary Scott and Muriel Smith are
from the National Council of
Women of Canada. |
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For Pandya,
the chance to tour the UN, see the
various assemblies and how policies are
made was eye-opening. She is even
exploring doing an internship with the
UN.
"The
experience taught me that, as business
leaders, we aren't just responsible for
driving corporate growth, but to also
impact the community," she said. "This
was also a great way to elevate the
reputation of Ivey Business School and
The University of Western Ontario within
the global community."
Agarwal
said the experience revived fond
memories of visiting the UN a few years
back when his father was a diplomat.
"It was
a glamourous, royal moment," he said.
"It was great to see people from all
over the world debating about important
international issues."
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March 12,
2009 |
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Guest speaker explains power of word of
mouth |
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Psst.
Wanna
know a secret?
If your
curiosity is piqued, you aren't the only
one.
According to Matthew Stradiotto,
co-founder of Matchstick Inc., a
Toronto-based word-of-mouth marketing
company, the grapevine is quickly
becoming stiff competition for
traditional marketing mediums when it
comes to promotion of goods and
services.
Stradiotto spoke to HBA students in Matt
Thomson's Advertising and Promotions
class on March 12 about the power of
word-of-mouth marketing and outlined a
specific case study of its use.
"People
are turning away from the media avenues
they traditionally relied upon. More and
more consumers don't believe what
advertisers are telling them and they
prefer to get their information from
their friends. Consumers are becoming
reliant on tips and stories and
anecdotes about products and services
that they receive from their friends,"
Stradiotto said. "This means a brand
today is measured by what it does, not
what it says it does. Control has moved
away from the corporation to the
consumer."
This
paves the way for the rise of
word-of-mouth marketing, which is simply
facilitating consumer-to-consumer
communications about a product or
service, such as educating people about
a product or service and providing tools
that make it easier for consumers to
share that information.
Stradiotto outlined six forms of
word-of-mouth marketing, recognized by
WOMMA, a U.S-based trade organization
for the word-of-mouth marketing
industry, and gave examples of
successful initiatives, as follows:
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Buzz marketing – High-profile
"stunts" or events, using
traditional media forms to create a
big bang about a product or service.
A few years ago, Oprah Winfrey gave
each of her 276 audience members a
new Pontiac car to celebrate the
premiere of her show's 19th season
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Viral marketing – Messages that are
passed along from place to place
often electronically or by e-mail.
Example: In 2007, Cadbury Schweppes
launched a video ad for Dairy Milk
that featured a gorilla playing a
drum solo of Phil Collins' track ‘In
the Air Tonight'
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Community marketing – Forming or
supporting niche communities, such
as discussion forums, to share
information about a product or
service. Example: Urbanmoms.ca, a
site where women with children share
opinions
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Brand blogging – Creating blogs
and/or sharing information that the
blog community may talk about.
Example: Fast Lane Daily car news
blog by General Motors Corporation
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Evangelist marketing – Enabling fans
of a product or service to take a
leadership role in spreading the
word. Example: Ambassador Club for
fans of Maker's Mark bourbon whisky
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Influencer marketing – Identifying
key opinion leaders and enabling
them to share information about a
product or service to a larger
audience in advance of mass market
rollout. Example: Exclusive movie
previews
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Above:
Matthew Stradiotto, co-founder
of Matchstick Inc. |
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In
addition, the Internet has created new
opportunities for companies to launch
word-of-mouth marketing initiatives via
avenues such as social networking sites,
Stradiotto said.
"You don't
have to have the most innovative product
or service to do word-of-mouth
marketing. You just have to give people
a reason to talk about your product or
service," Stradiotto said. "Consumers
like to talk about products. People like
to have information that other people
haven't heard."
For more
on Matchstick Inc., visit
www.matchstick.ca |
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March 10, 2009 |
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Guest
author discusses roots of the financial
crisis |
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Three years ago, when Jerry Davis began
work on a book outlining how American
society had become tied to finance, he
had no idea how relevant his work would
be.
It wasn't
until the housing bubble in the U.S.
burst, resulting in a global economic
crisis, that the implications of a
finance-centered society were revealed
and his book could be considered
essential reading for anyone wanting to
know the roots of the problem.
Davis, a
professor at the Stephen M. Ross School
of Business at The University of
Michigan and author of "Managed by the
Markets", spoke to a capacity crowd at
the Richard Ivey School of Business on
Tuesday, March 10.
His
presentation, "How Finance Reshaped
America" outlined the shift in the U.S.
from a manufacturing-centred society to
a finance-centred society and how the
financial crisis was a product of that
shift as society became increasingly
tied to financial markets. According to
Davis, more than half of U.S. households
are invested in the stock market through
mutual funds and 401(k) plans.
"In
2008, George W. Bush said Wall Street
got drunk but that's not really so. It's
not that Wall Street got drunk, the
American economy got drunk and Wall
Street was just the bartender," Davis
said.
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Jerry Davis talk
about "How Finance Reshaped
America" |
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Additionally, the majority of American
homeowners took advantage of mortgage
securitization and low interest rates
and refinanced their mortgages in the
first half of this decade, extracting
about $800 billion per year in home
equity. Housing price increases fuelled
economic growth and jobs were created,
largely in real estate and retail.
Companies such as Wal-Mart, a mega
retail enterprise, replaced
manufacturers such as Ford as America's
largest corporations.
"People
began to spend more and jobs were
created, but the housing bubble merely
disguised weaknesses in the real
economy," Davis said.
Pointing
out that the subsequent crash was not
unpredictable, he outlined four major
transitions in U.S. society since the
early 1980s that created a
finance-driven society:
• Corporations shifted from being social
institutions to being focused on
creating shareholder value;
• Banks went from taking in deposits and
making loans to a model in which assets
were changed into tradable securities;
• Governments began intervening in the
world of business and markets;
• Average citizens became investors.
"Finance
has changed things in radical ways that
you might not have expected," he said.
For more on Davis' research and book
"Managed by the Markets" please visit
www.managedbythemarkets.com |
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March 4, 2009 |
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Inaugural Ivey Film Festival impresses
judges |
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Western student Kara MacLean took top
honours at the inaugural Ivey Film
Festival at the Richard Ivey School of
Business on March 4, winning Overall
Film Excellence for her short film I
Remember.
The event
showcased a variety of short films, each
less than 10 minutes, from about 50
submissions.
High-profile judges, including Greg
Mason, vice-president of marketing at
Walt Disney Studios Canada, Carrie
Wolfe, vice-president of publicity and
promotions for Alliance Films and Cam
Haygarth, an executive at CBC, picked
the winners.
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Western student
John Gould and Ivey HBA student
Ryan Nelson won an award for
Best Comedy.Photo Source:
Western Gazette
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"The
judges said they were extremely
impressed with the quality of the films.
There was good energy. You could tell
the films were getting good feedback,"
said Gabe Diamond, an Ivey HBA student
and co-chair of the Ivey Film Festival.
"Next year, we hope it can be bigger and
better."
The
event was recently covered by the
Western Gazette. Read the
full article.
For more
on the Ivey Film Festival, please visit
IFF.
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March 2,
2009 |
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Western
wins the University Oldtimers Faculty
and Staff Hockey Tournament with help
from Ivey |
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Western won the 32nd annual University
Oldtimers Faculty and Staff Hockey
Tournament held February 19 and 20 in
Guelph. The team compiled an impressive
record of 4 wins and 1 tie against teams
from Guelph, Waterloo, Laurier, Lakehead
and Nipissing, outscoring opponents
22-11. |
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(standing L to R): Mike
Courtney, Cam O'Donnell, Chris Bumbacco, Darrin Barrow, Chris
Higgins, Mark Vandenbosch, Tim
Gibson, Tim Hart, Dave Simpson;
kneeling L to R: Bob Pronk, Adam
Foulon, Craig Dunbar, Glenn
Yonemitsu, Larry Daer. |
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Western's
team was bolstered by the raw talent
from Ivey's own Chris Higgins, Mark
Vandenbosch, Dave Simpson, and Craig
Dunbar.
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February 27,
2009 |
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Ivey and CSTAR partnership shows value
of cross-enterprise leadership |
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MBA students at the Richard Ivey School
of Business learned about the challenges
of building an organization from the
ground up when they visited Canadian
Surgical Technologies and Advanced
Robotics Centre (CSTAR) for a special
cross-enterprise leadership case class.
The
class, held January 7 at CSTAR's
headquarters at London Health Sciences
Centre's University Hospital, was led by
four professors at Ivey Business School
– Jim Hatch, Mary Crossan, David Sharp
and Gerard Seijts – along with John
Parker, director of CSTAR.
It was
based on a case prepared last spring by
former Ivey business students, Leah
Hillier, Lyndsay Passmore and Virginia
Ritchie, with direction from Ivey
professors Jim Hatch and John
Hayward-Farmer, addressing how CSTAR
might generate sustainable funding
through developing partnerships and
offering educational programming.
CSTAR,
established in 2003, is a collaborative
research, education and clinical care
program on minimally invasive surgery
from London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC),
St. Joseph's Health Care and Schulich
School of Medicine & Dentistry at The
University of Western Ontario. Its focus
is on developing, testing and
implementing technologies such as
computer-assisted surgical techniques
and equipment.
The
class discussion centred around how
CSTAR could generate funds from donors
and grants, through fees from
educational and training programs and
via industry partnerships. The analysis
covered all perspectives of the
organization including strategy,
measurement and control, finance and
leadership.
"The
issue was that this young organization
did have little traction. So how do you
build this from scratch and bring
structure to it? How do you grow this
thing?" said Seijts. "When we look at it
through a cross-enterprise lens, we
don't teach in silos, so we looked at it
from a strategy point of view but also
other measurements."
"It
really engaged the students. It led to
four hours of intense discussion and the
students learning quite a bit. When you
have four faculty members and a key
player in the organization there, the
level of interest really increases."
For
Parker, whose role was to answer
questions and give feedback on the
students' recommendations, it was a
chance to learn as well as to teach.
"It was
a great opportunity to hear external
insights from people in the world of
business. I learned a tremendous amount
about CSTAR and myself as a leader and
an administrator. It showed me what will
help CSTAR to stabilize and move
forward," he said. "There was a lot of
objectifying, detailing and discussion.
It was a bit like laying a fish on the
table and filleting it, the way CSTAR
was analyzed. That's hard to do when
you're within the organization."
"It was
also helpful to hear that someone else
acknowledged that this is a complex
entity. It legitimized it for me."
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Professor Gerard Seijts
discusses the challenges of
building an organization from
the ground up to MBA students at
the Richard Ivey School of
Business. |
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As part of
the class, the students were able to
tour the facility, which gave them
greater insight into how CSTAR operated.
"I think it
was helpful that this was a homegrown
organization right in their backyard.
It's different than studying Enron or
Wal-Mart because they're more remote,"
Parker said.
"I loved
helping the students to learn. LHSC's
trademark is ‘Caring for You. Innovating
for the World' and, in some measure,
this activity was about innovating –
innovating interaction and innovating
relationships."
For more
on CSTAR, visit
CSTAR
To learn
more about cross-enterprise leadership
at Ivey Business School, click here:
http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/cel/
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February 25,
2009 |
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Joint Venturing – approach them like a
marriage, with patience and
communication |
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Ivey Professor Paul Beamish and Larry
Innanen presented the fourth Ivey Idea
Forum to an engaged and sold out
audience at Ivey's ING Leadership Centre
on Feb. 25.
They
discussed the value and challenges of
joint ventures – when two companies join
forces to create a shared initiative.
Prof.
Beamish has facilitated joint ventures
for numerous Fortune 500 and other
corporations, while Larry Innanen is a
business advisor to the public and
private sector and was president of
Cerbuco Brewing Inc., a subsidiary of
Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd. In 1997, Innanen
negotiated Cerveceria Bucanero SA,
Labatt's joint venture in Cuba with
representatives of the Cuban government
corporation, Coralsa.
Prof.
Beamish outlined the Joint Venture
Paradox where some companies are
hesitant to embark on joint ventures
because they're "too messy," have too
much uncertainty, are too slow and are
too difficult to end. But, because of
the value of them, companies acknowledge
that they'll be using more of them.
One
crucial factor in embarking on a joint
venture is patience, said Innanen.
"I can't
overstress patience as a key virtue,
joint ventures are like a marriage,"
said Innanen. |
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Professor Paul Beamish's book,
Joint Venturing, served
as the topic of discussion.
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In his
experience in Cuba, Innanen said that
business didn't get done without
approval from the top – that meant
having dinner with Cuban leader Fidel
Castro. That also paved the way for
future peace-keeping during the joint
venture. "Whenever we had difficulties
in our relationship – and we did – we
could go to the top," he said.
Prof.
Beamish shared his experiences in
helping provide the due diligence for
many proposed joint ventures – and in
helping companies decide that sometimes
a joint venture wasn't the way to go. He
talked about the importance of internal
alignment before negotiating a joint
venture. "It's hard to negotiate a joint
venture if you don't have one voice
internally," he said, citing many
examples of companies that needed to
work on their own internal consensus
before negotiating the joint venture.
Another
key was deciding on shared measures of
success, Prof. Beamish said, so the two
companies are pulling in the same
direction. And it's not enough to simply
agree on "profitability" as a measure of
success. There needs to be a lot of
communication about what that
specifically means. A foreign company
teaming up with a local company to build
a market may be content with importing
their product and technology into that
local market, but the local partner may
also likely be looking at exporting
opportunities now that they have a
foreign partner with deep pockets.
Similarly, a local partner may expect
the latest and greatest technology, but
the foreign partner may be looking for a
place to extract more value from mature
and older technology.
The two
also discussed the tough job of the
joint venture general manager. He has
two bosses – the two companies – and
also a responsibility to do what's best
for the joint venture, which is often
not what the two companies are looking
for.
Innanen
talked about the general managers at the
joint venture in Cuba. They often had to
say no to internal demands and
eventually someone would invariably run
out of patience with their negative
responses and they would need to be
replaced.
Innanen
said having a long view and the patience
to see that through is one of the best
virtues. Speaking of his brewery venture
in Cuba, Interbrew (which owns Labatt)
"has been around since 1366. They are
the definition of a long-term investor." |
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February 17,
2009 |
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Ivey Women Entrepreneurs Connect |
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"You are a powerful source of new ideas,
perspectives and insight," said Carol
Stephenson to a group of 70 women
attending the first Ivey Women
Entrepreneurs Connect event in Toronto.
"We owe you
a debt of gratitude," for the $18
billion that women entrepreneurs
contribute annually to the Canadian
economy, she continued, but in order for
that to increase, women entrepreneurs
need to overcome some growth hurdles.
Connecting and networking are two small
ways to deal with some of the many
challenges – a thread that was picked up
by the three panelists, all in very
different industries, but all successful
at carving their own path.
Arlene
Dickinson, CEO of Venture Communications
and perhaps best known for her role on
CBC Television's Dragons' Den, talked
about the importance of networking. She
said it's all about your own interaction
and putting yourself out there.
Mary Aitken, President of Verity, a
women's club in downtown Toronto where
the event was held, said women fail to
network enough. She said it's important
to take the time to get out there.
The
third panelist was Tara Longo (HBA '01),
co-president of The Healthy Butcher, an
organic food retailer with three
locations in Toronto. She talked about
the biggest challenge that she didn't
expect when becoming an entrepreneur –
that of staffing. "I didn't expect it to
be as big an issue…the two biggest
challenges are financial and staffing."
All the
women on the panel – and several in the
audience – had stories about the
difficulties of securing financing.
After
launching one successful Healthy Butcher
store, Longo said she and her partner
then began to look for financing to
expand. "We started looking for
financing about two years ago," she
said, but with just one store they were
too small for the banks to consider
financing them – and the financers
questioned whether that success could be
repeated. In the end, they funded the
second and third locations completely on
their own. Her story about the
difficulty of raising money was echoed
by Dickinson who said that as recently
as 10 years ago, there wasn't a lot of
money for female entrepreneurs. And
while she's successful now, she said it
took years to get debt free.
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Arlene Dickinson shares advice
on starting your own business at
the Ivey Women Entrepreneurs
Connect event in Toronto.
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Dickinson's
biggest suggestion for the audience was
to look to the Canadian Small Business
Financing Program which has a mandate to
fund small business through banks and
credit unions. In the event of a
default, the program will reimburse 85%
of the lender's losses.
While many
challenges were discussed during the
event, there was tangible excitement
about starting a new venture and being
your own boss. With Beth Wilson,
Canadian Managing Partner at KPMG acting
as moderator, the panelists shared their
insights with respect to engaging an
Advisory Board, the pros and cons of
accessing VC and angel investors, and
seeking guidance through mentorship.
The
discussion about mentoring brought the
evening's conversation full circle to
connecting. "Mentors are everywhere. I
spoke with women tonight and found
mentorship. You find mentorship the same
way you find opportunity," said
Dickinson. |
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February 10,
2009 |
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Ivey students discuss superpowers of
marketing |
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Ivey HBA students really got into the
action for a case on Marvel Comics.
Students in Matt Thomson's Marketing
Management class donned superheroes
costumes so they could have a little fun
in a class on February 10 on how Marvel
Comics managed its product lines.
"I just
wanted them to relax a little," said
Thomson, Assistant Professor, Marketing.
"I thought it might generate interest in
the class and help get the creative
juices going."
Students
who dressed up for the occasion received
a bonus mark for participation.
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Superhero HBAs: (back row) David
Sklash (Batman), Itai Wallach
(Robin), Jamal Jomaa
(Spiderman), Oren Borovitch
(Joker) (front row) Desiree
Brassard (Cat Woman), Lauren
Tajfel (Wonder Woman), Nicole
Marcus (Spiderman), Britt Zaffir
(Superman)
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January 23,
2009 |
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Researchers gather at Ivey to unlock
consumer behaviour |
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Since successful marketing campaigns
typically tap into characteristics of
human behaviour, research into what
makes people tick is critical.
More
than 65 researchers gathered at the
Richard Ivey School of Business on
January 23 to share their latest studies
of consumer behaviour at the 2009
Consumer Behaviour Winter Research Camp.
The
event drew researchers from business
schools in southern Ontario and southern
Michigan, including the Ross School of
Business, and provided insight into
human behaviour, such as how people
assess their skills, choose their food
portions or pick their dates when
Internet dating.
Jill Lei
of the University of Ontario Institute
of Technology in Oshawa presented
research on portion-size options. Lei
and colleague Tripat Gill are studying
how increasing the number of
portion-size options – such as adding an
extra large size option to the lineup of
small, medium and large options– impacts
food consumption.
They
found that when an extra large
portion-size option was added, consumers
choose larger sizes. This happened
whether the food offered was healthy
(salad) or unhealthy (chicken nuggets).
In fact, health-conscious consumers were
even more likely to choose the larger
portions, they said.
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Tripat Gill, Jill Lei and June
Cotte at the 2009 Consumer
Behavior Winter Research Camp |
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"Our super-sized environment makes
people believe more is better. When more
and more large options are added to a
menu, people feel there is a reason for
that and they feel more comfortable
ordering them," said Lei. "Since there
is even a greater effect on
health-conscious consumers, the benefit
of eating healthy may be nullified and
health-conscious consumers may have a
false sense of security."
Lei noted
that the findings are important for
policy-makers trying to reduce the
incidences of obesity.
"Studies
have shown that when people eat from a
large package, they tend to overeat, but
now we know that overconsumption occurs
not only by increasing the portion size
of existing options, but also by adding
new larger portion-size options," said
Lei. "If portion size is controlled,
perhaps people won't overeat."
June
Cotte, Associate Professor of Marketing
and the George and Mary Turnbull Fellow
at Ivey Business School, organized the
research camp so that researchers could
connect and share ideas. Faculty from
Ivey Business School, Ross, Schulich
School of Business, Rotman School of
Management and Queen's School of
Business joined Lei and Gill in
presenting their current research.
"There's
a wealth of great research about
consumer behaviour so I thought it was
important to bring researchers together
to share their research and ideas and
receive feedback from participants,"
said Cotte. "Research in the area of
consumer buying decisions has the
potential to change quickly, so keeping
abreast of these changes is critical."
This is
the second Consumer Behaviour Camp at
Ivey. The first camp Cotte organized
with Andy Gershoff from the Ross School,
was held two years ago. |
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January 22,
2009 |
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Writer helps Ivey students tap into
creativity |
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The screen showed a billboard with an
exciting image of the V2 Vertical
Velocity rollercoaster from Six Flags,
but the billboard's caption was blank.
The
challenge? The students had to come up
with 10 creative headlines in 10
minutes. And if that's not
pressure enough, the judge was an
award-winning copywriter.
The
exercise was part of a lesson on
creativity when Lisa Charlebois, a
senior copywriter with Ogilvy New York,
spoke with HBA students in Matt
Thomson's Advertising and Promotions
class on January 22.
Charlebois stressed the importance of
creativity in any field.
"Having
the ability to come up with smart
solutions to problems is always going to
be in demand," she said.
However,
she pointed out that creative thinking
in advertising is particularly vital to
help companies differentiate their
products and services from their
competitors.
"People
can have a product that's not really
different but if it's marketed
creatively, it can really stand out,"
she said. The challenge is how to stand
out in a sea of sameness."
Charlebois explained how to create a
five-step brief – a plan for the
advertising campaign –to help get to the
big idea. The key elements of a brief
are the following:
1)
Define the business challenge: What is
your goal? (Example: sell your product,
improve brand perception, change
thinking) How will you do it? (Ex. Web
site, print ad)
2) Identify the consumer target: Who do
you want to sell your product to? If you
have a broad target audience, is there a
"sweet spot" – a perfect consumer?
3) Search for some consumer insight:
What do you think consumers want from
your product? What are their needs or
desires? How can you speak their
language?
4) Develop a unique selling proposition:
What makes your product stand out from
the crowd? What makes it fantastic?
(Example: fewer calories, different
colour, less expensive) Think of
something that will add shock value to
make your product stand out
5) Determine a way to measure the
desired result: How do you measure the
campaign's success? (Example: an
increase in sales, increased brand
awareness)
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Lisa Charlebois, a senior
copywriter with Ogilvy New York |
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She also shared tips, such as "think
different" and "feed your brain", to
help with brainstorming ideas.
"Be
curious, be inquisitive. Start consuming
things you wouldn't normally consume –
things that perhaps the target consumer
would consume," she said. "Try to think
of things differently. Change the way
you approach things. Try to understand
the consumers' needs."
Charlebois also provided examples from
her work as a copywriter and related the
highlights of her career.
"I get
to change my voice and change my
thinking to tackle different problems,"
she said. "I have to think like my
clients think. Understand their needs
and turn it into something creative."
Charlebois worked at a variety of
advertising companies in Toronto, such
as BBDO and Ogilvy.
She
joined Ogilvy New York in 2007 and has
worked on accounts for companies such as
Wrigley, Frito Lay, Cisco, IBM, The
Royal Bank of Canada and American
Express as well as on the global
rebranding for Yahoo! She is now the
senior copywriter on the Six Flags
account and has won numerous
international awards throughout her
career.
"I'm
thrilled to have such a world-class
creative mind visit my class. The
students love her," said Thomson,
Assistant Professor, Marketing. "I
wanted my students to see that
creativity is imperative for success in
business. But that's not the whole
story. As Lisa said, reaching out and
connecting with consumers can be done
with fun, shocking or low-key
techniques, but none of it matters if
you don't account for your strategic
goals. Imaginations reinforce business
savvy." |
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January 22,
2009 |
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New
accreditation helps Ivey students gain
prestigious CMA designation |
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Undergraduate students at the Richard
Ivey School of Business now have easier
access into a prestigious certified
management accountant (CMA) program
geared to enhance career options.
The
Society of Management Accountants of
Canada (CMA Canada) announced on January
21 that it will allow Ivey Business
School students to bypass the entrance
exam into its Strategic Leadership
Program, a two-year program that's done
concurrent with full-time employment and
leads to a CMA designation.
CMA
Canada accredits university programs
which adequately develop the skills
needed for entrance to the strategic
leadership program and allows students
from those universities to forego the
entrance exam. Ivey is among an
exclusive group of schools across Canada
to have an undergraduate accounting
program accredited by CMA Canada.
The
accreditation is an extension of a
partnership between CMA Canada and Ivey
in 2007 to support case writing and
courses that cover academic topics
required for CMA designation.
According to CMA Canada, Ivey was
selected for the accreditation because
its programs equip students with
critical skills in management
accounting, financial accounting,
financial management and taxation,
strategic management and risk management
and governance.
"This
speaks to the confidence that CMA Canada
places in students who attend Ivey,"
said Carol Stephenson, Dean, Ivey School
of Business, at a ceremony at the School
on January 22 to announce the
accreditation. "We should be proud of
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Dean Carol Stephenson (L) with
Merv Hillier (back centre) and
Steve Vieweg (far right)
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Steve Vieweg, President and CEO, CMA
Canada, cited three strengths at Ivey
that made it worthy of accreditation:
innovation in the HBA program, excellent
faculty and exceptional course design
and delivery.
"You
(Ivey students) underscore what the
business community really needs. It's a
competitive world out there and your
credentials will help you," he told
students attending the ceremony.
Merv
Hillier, President and CEO, CMA Ontario,
pointed out that a CMA designation is a
good background for consulting work and
stressed that the global economic crisis
could bring greater demand for
consultants because more companies may
need restructuring.
"Business
leaders need to have vision and think
holistically. It's not just about making
sure the numbers add up," he said.
"Getting my CMA designation helped me to
understand the holistics of an
organization and have a foundation of
the numbers."
Four
Ivey alumni who have received their CMA
designation – Chris Madan (MBA '05),
Rossana Haro (MBA '07), Katherine Cheung
(MBA '07) and Brianne Bell (HBA '05) –
also told students about the benefits of
the designation.
"I got
my CMA designation because I thought it
could move me into something I wanted
right away," said Madan, who now works
with CIBC in the wealth management area.
"At work, they see me as the inside man
who understands the numbers and the
strategy."
Bell,
who currently works as a Controller with
Labatt Breweries of Canada and would
like to move into a different area with
her company, said the CMA designation
gives her the flexibility to do so.
"You can
work in finance but it doesn't
pigeonhole you into that," she said. |
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January 21,
2009 |
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Sharing lessons from micro-business
project in Africa |
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Two HBA students at the Richard Ivey
School of Business are taking lessons
learned from an enterprise project in
Africa and incorporating them into a
business case on strategies for
micro-businesses.
The
case, being prepared by Jessica Kelly
and Osama Siddiqui along with Ivey
professors Oana Branzei and David Sharp,
should be ready by April and will be
used in course material.
It is
based on Kelly and Siddiqui's experience
in Mwanza, Tanzania from May to August
helping a women's cooperative, the
Tukwamuane Women's Group, with their
business selling probiotic-based yogurt.
The
students worked in Tanzania as interns
with Western Heads East, a group
launched by Housing and Ancillary
Services at The University of Western
Ontario to respond to the HIV/AIDS
crisis in Africa.
They
shared their experiences as interns at
an information session called A Night
with the Interns on January 21 at
Delaware Hall on Western's campus.
Western
Heads East supports a health program in
Tanzania based on using probiotic-based
yogurt to help stave off HIV infections.
The program was prompted by research
from Western professor Dr. Gregor Reid
and Sharateh Hekmat, a nutrition
professor at Brescia University College,
which shows probiotics may help reduce
infection in women and lower mortality
and morbidity due to diarrhea in
children and patients with AIDS.
A main component of the program is the
distribution of probiotic-based yogurt
through a yogurt kitchen run by the
Tukwamuane Women's Group, with financial
support from Western Heads East.
Kelly
and Siddiqui were brought in to help the
Tukwamuane Women's Group to prepare a
sustainable business plan.
They
helped to develop strategies for dealing
with some of their business challenges,
such as provided suggestions for
packaging so that customers can store
their yogurt for a short period, rather
than consuming it immediately, and
identifying new distribution outlets.
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HBA
students Osama Siddiqui and
Jessica Kelly
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They also created arrangements where the
women get post-paid annual sponsorship
from Western Heads East, after they show
records of yogurt sales, to encourage
the women to keep proper business
records and provide better
accountability.
Since
the group has also received funding to
purchase land for raising cattle and
building a larger yogurt kitchen, the
students helped with plans to use the
new facility for production and turn the
current kitchen into a retail outlet.
Although
many of the projects are ongoing and
will be continued by other interns, much
of the groundwork for creating a
sustainable business has been laid.
Siddiqui
said the project opened his eyes to the
power of enterprise to empower people in
their communities.
"These
women have become really respected in
the community," he said. "The yogurt
kitchen has become more than just a
business, it's a popular meeting place
as well."
Kelly
said she gained valuable insight into
the value of micro-businesses.
"When I
first arrived, I was introduced to a man
who operated a popcorn machine. He asked
me what I was studying at school. When I
said 'business', he pointed to his
popcorn machine and asked, ‘business
like this?'," she said.
Kelly
said her first inclination was to laugh
out loud but she later realized that his
business was significant.
"I later
realized that I was wrong. I began to
see the value in micro-businesses like
his popcorn machine to the community. I
realized I was there to learn as much as
I was there to teach," she said.
"I think
it's fantastic that our students were
able to contribute to the community in
Mwanza and get first-hand experience in
moving a small enterprise toward
business sustainability and financial
accountability," said Sharp, Associate
Professor and Faculty Director of HBA
International Opportunities. "This case
will be a valuable learning tool for all
of our business students."
For more
on Western Heads East, visit
www.westernheadseast.ca
Jessica Kelly's blog can be read at
http://www.jessicastalesoftanzania.blogspot.com/
Osama Siddiqui's blog is at
http://ostanzania.blogspot.com/
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