Beedie School of Business News

How SFU Business fared in the news for the week ending April 23, 2010.

BC News

• Two SFU profs were quoted in a story on the news-and-commentary website of TheTyee.ca. It wondered why BC Hydro had paid for a Vancouver hotel room for Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom during the 2010 Winter Olympics—then billed his ministry after TheTyee asked about it.
  “The general rule would be that if the minister was performing business on behalf of the Crown corporation, then it would be legitimate for the Crown corporation to pay for the expenses,’” said public policy prof Doug McArthur. “It’s pretty obviously a case where they’ve decided he was not performing legitimate business for the Crown corporation. Otherwise they would have left it as it was.”
  Mark Wexler, ethics prof in SFU Business, was also quoted: “If this is the minister not on official business using a Crown corporation to cover his bills, this is clearly a problem.”

National and World News

• The Hamilton Spectator reported on the case of a disoriented 87-year-old driver who went missing for 16 hours. The paper quoted an SFU gerontology researcher on the issue of restrictions on elderly drivers:
  “Glenyth Caragata, a researcher on senior driving issues at B.C.’s Simon Fraser University, says a driver’s age is the last criteria that should be considered. Ability, including physical and cognitive, is more important. But people with mental issues should be monitored by transportation officials, she said.” SFU Business profs Leyland Pitt and Michael Parent wrote a guest column for the Financial Post section of National Post on how ambush marketing “leaves Olympic sponsors and those of other major sporting events particularly vulnerable—costing them not only their financial investment, but also ultimately their customers.” A study they co-wrote on the subject appeared in the March issue of Business Horizons.
• Marketing prof Lindsay Meredith was in the Globe and Mail, in a story on Canadians’ propensity to use loyalty cards to collect such benefits as Air Miles. “There is a certain Canadian mania. I think it’s the same genes that drive our British Columbian response to search out a litre of gas for exactly .2 of a cent less than the guy down the street.”
  He also noted the benefits to retailers as they gather information about you, your preferences, and your buying triggers. “That information becomes very powerful weaponry.”
• Meredith was also in a story in Conducive Chronicle (an online offshoot of Conducive Magazine) that looked at “Girl Power and the Consumer”. Conducive wrote: “With the introduction of name brand clothing into young girls’ lives, the meaning of girl power saw a dramatic shift. The repercussions Dr. Lindsay Meredith, a marketing professor at Simon Fraser University pointed out were dramatic, ‘kids have their icons and if they identify with their icons, you’re bound to get some emulation.’ Emulation was exactly what marketers wanted.”
• The website of FreeSkier.com reported: “Contrary to popular belief, skiing in Africa is not impossible. Vancouver resident Justin Long (an SFU Business student) will be skiing Africa’s third largest peak (Mt. Stanley) in an expedition named Snow4Innocents to raise awareness of Uganda’s serious child mortality rate and raise funds for the only children’s hospital in the region.”

Tom Lawrence, associate professor in management and organization studies and the Weyerhaeuser Professor of Change Management at SFU Business, is the 2010 recipient of the Greif Research Impact Award.

The Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Southern California has selected Lawrence’s 2004 Academy of Management Journal article, entitled “Institutional entrepreneurship in emerging fields: HIV/AIDS treatment advocacy in Canada,” in recognition of its scholarly impact. Launched in 2007, the annual award recognizes an entrepreneurship article published by the top-tier management and entrepreneurship journals six years ago that received the highest citations (based on the Social Sciences Citations Index) in the five years following publication.

Tom Lawrence’s research focuses on the dynamics of power, change and institutions in organizations and organizational fields. As the Weyerhaeuser Chair in Change Management, his mandate is to develop a long-term research program examining organizational change, with a focus on the social processes that facilitate or block learning and innovation.

He joined SFU Business in 2002 from the University of Victoria. He has also taught as a visiting scholar at a number of universities, including the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, McGill University, Royal Roads University, and the University of British Columbia.

Lawrence’s award-winning paper can be viewed in its entirety here:
http://thomaslawrence.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/maguire-et-al-2004-institutional-entrepreneurship-in-emerging-fields.pdf

For more information about the Greif Research Impact Award, and previous award winners, visit: http://www.marshall.usc.edu/greif/research/research-impact-award.htm

When Wayne Gretzky lit the Olympic torch at this year’s Winter Games in Vancouver, organizers didn’t take any fashion chances. Canada’s hockey hero was adorned in gear from an Olympics official sponsor, the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Organizers had reason to be diligent with the clothing showcased at the torch lighting — arguably the most impactful and symbolic moment of the Games. Because less than two years earlier, a Summer Olympics sponsor — Adidas — was successfully ambushed by rival athletic footwear and clothing company Li Ning.

Indeed, the threat posed to sporting events sponsors by ambush marketing seems to grow every year — and ambush marketers will no doubt be targeting the next major event on the global sporting calendar, the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

When a firm invests hundreds of millions of dollars in a sponsorship, and many millions more on marketing efforts to exploit that sponsorship, it embarks on a promotional journey that may help establish it as the uncontested brand in its category: Consider Coca-Cola, Visa, and McDonald’s as examples. At the same time, it exposes itself to an array of counter-attacks by competitors who have either chosen not to exploit the sponsorship opportunity, or who have simply not had the resources to do so.

Our recent study showed that the persistent effectiveness of ambush marketers leaves Olympic sponsors and those of other major sporting events particularly vulnerable — costing them not only their financial investment, but also ultimately their customers.

We examined data from the 2008 Beijing Summer Games — which saw Olympic sponsor Adidas ambushed by globally lesser-known Chinese company Li Ning. The Chinese company’s namesake founder, Li Ning, was China’s most decorated Olympian, and it was he who lit the Olympic flame at the 2008 opening ceremony.

Data collected after the closing of the Beijing Games isolated what we call the “Li Ning effect” — being incorrectly identified as an official sponsor as a result of clever ambush marketing.

In the footwear category at least, Li Ning was the clear brand winner of the 2008 Olympics, in spite of the millions Adidas spent to secure a sponsorship.

Amidst the background noise of multiple sponsorships, this highly poignant event stuck in people’s memory such that when they were asked to recall who the official sponsor of athletic footwear was for the Beijing Games, more of our respondents thought it was Li Ning than Adidas.

The return Li Ning received via its minimal investment in sponsorship — lobbying, perhaps? — was almost infinite. And while Adidas undoubtedly enjoyed some benefits from its sponsorship efforts, the company invested heavily to achieve these.

Given this, it needs to be reiterated to would-be sponsors: Don’t naively put yourself in a position to be ambushed. Remember, large sporting events provide optimal venues and occasions for this to happen.

This does not mean that firms should abstain from sponsorship; large global events can provide superlative opportunities for marketing communication. However, walking into sponsorships and blithely ignoring the lessons from the Li Ning affair would be asking for trouble. If you do decide to sponsor a major event, anticipate and behave as though an ambush will happen.

How SFU Business fared in the news for the week ending April 16, 2010.

BC News

• Business in Vancouver carried a full-page story on how Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal business celebrated a leadership exchange program aimed at reconciling decades of mistrust between industry and First Nations. “In partnership with Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Segal Graduate School of Business, the Industry Council for Aboriginal Business (ICAB) placed six corporate executives and aboriginal leaders in each other’s seats for several days last fall to help them understand the issues that affect their respective worlds.”
• Business prof Andrey Pavlov was on CBC-TV and in The Vancouver Sun in stories on rising mortgage rates: “Pavlov said higher rates are the biggest risk to B.C.’s market, but the saving grace will be ‘interest rates are going to go up only if the economy is doing very well. In that case, people will have jobs, incomes will be rising, so people will be able to afford higher interest rates.’”

Education

• Business ethicist Mark Wexler became the focus of a Douglas Todd column in The Vancouver Sun, as Wexler advised universities to connect better with the off-campus community and to become more relevant to it.
  “(A university) must reward its best and brightest for publishing, receiving grant money and contributing to the information commons,” said Wexler. “On the other hand, it must recognize and reward a means of customizing knowledge so its local application is appreciated and integrated into the economy and heartbeat of the town.”
  Wexler spoke at a ceremony at which he received a lifetime achievement award—for helping the public recognize the “importance” of scholarship—from the BC branch of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

Industry Executives and First Nations chiefs switch seats to improve inter‐cultural understanding.

By Joel McKay

Aboriginal and business leaders gathered in downtown Vancouver recently to celebrate a leadership exchange program aimed at reconciling decades of mistrust between industry and First Nations.

In partnership with Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Segal Graduate School of Business, the Industry Council for Aboriginal Business (ICAB) placed six corporate executives and Aboriginal leaders in each other’s seats for several days last fall to help them understand the issues that affect their respective worlds. The participants were:

• Chief Kim Baird of the Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN), who switched places with Ian Anderson, President of Kinder Morgan Canada (NYSE:KMP);
• Chief Willie Charlie, Chehalis First Nation, who switched with Donald McInnes, Vice ‐ Chairman and CEO Plutonic Power (TSX:PCC); and
• Chief Harold Aljam, Coldwater Indian Band, who switched places with Graeme Barrit, president of Coast Hotels and Resorts.

B.C. Lt.‐Gov. Steven Point spoke at the event. He talked about the decades of suspicion between businesses and Aboriginals that have crippled communication and left both sides isolated.

“You can take an elephant when it’s wild and you need a huge chain to keep it down. Within a few years just a thread around the ankle will hold that elephant in check, because they’ve learned through hard experience that they’re confined, so experience has been our teacher,” explained Point. “The relationship between Aboriginal people and the rest of the country has been marked by mistrust … we don’t know who to trust.”

The program was the first of its kind in Canada, but ICAB President Marlane Christensen said it was successful and won’t be the last. Point said the exchange was a sign of progress.

“The steps that you’ve taken … are long overdue,” said Point. “You’re building bridges and you’re creating better understanding and, Lord knows, we need more of that.”

Anderson and Baird agreed to answer questions about their experiences for BIV.

Ian Anderson, President, Kinder Morgan Canada

“…we must be prepared to take risks, engage and park our pre‐existing biases at the door.”

List the top three most surprising things about your leadership exchange experience. Why were they surprising?
Probably the most surprising part of the experience was how quickly and easily Kim and I got to know each other and were able to talk openly about our views. Another very positive surprise was the wealth of opportunity the TFN has and the laser focus they have with respect to translating those commercial and industrial opportunities into real and meaningful education, employment and social value for the community. A third element of surprise for me was how easily both Kim’s community and my company embraced the exchange.

What did you learn from the exchange that you could apply to your business?
The need and benefit that will come from developing a deeper and more meaningful understanding of a First Nations community that I am in business or commercial discussions with.

Was the exchange challenging?
The most challenging aspect of the exchange was the coordination of calendars and setting of agendas. SFU helped us with how to think about and approach our exchange, but it was largely, and in hindsight appropriately, left for us to design our unique exchange experiences.

Was six days long enough to help you understand the complexity of issues that face your counterpart?
I don’t think there’s ever enough time to work and understand the Aboriginal to non‐Aboriginal business issues and dynamics. I think these six days provided an important step forward to help my industry and me understand how to better prepare and approach business opportunities in the future.

Would you change the time frame were you to do it again?
I think that the timing for the program was probably about right. To find more time would be difficult, and less time would hamper the learning.

Why is a program like this important?
I have always maintained that it will take decades of progress and change to undo generations of mistrust and fear that has dominated Aboriginal to non‐Aboriginal business relations. This exchange was a small but important step forward in that progression. In that regard, every forward step is good. As Kim so rightfully told me, “we can’t let perfection be the enemy of the good.” We must be prepared to take risks, engage and park our pre‐existing biases at the door. These relations aren’t going away, and they aren’t going to be entirely defined by the same business‐to‐business approaches we’re accustomed to.

Chief Kim Baird, Tsawwassen First Nation

“…it was the experience of a lifetime that I really benefited from.”

List the top three most surprising things about your leadership exchange experience. Why were they surprising?
I was surprised at how diverse all six participants’ leadership styles were. I was surprised at how like‐minded my partner Ian and I were in relation to Aboriginal relations. I expected to have to “educate” Ian about Aboriginal issues, but he already has a great understanding.

I was worried that because we have similar views on these issues our exchange would not be meaningful, but I was pleasantly surprised about the depth of discussion we were able to have about regulatory processes, environment and engagement.

What did you learn from the exchange that you could apply to your community or business?
I’m able to apply better knowledge about how decisions are made in businesses, which will hopefully help identify the alignment of interests when dealing with business in the future.

Was the exchange challenging? Why or why not?
The exchange was challenging because I really committed to participating to my fullest, which takes energy that I am always challenged to find. Spending time with a stranger in such immersion into a new environment is also challenging. These opportunities are exciting, but involve some personal risk taking.

Was six days long enough to help you understand the complexity of issues that face your counterpart?
It seemed to be enough time for a good immersion.

Would you change the time frame were you to do it again?
I think this time allowed for the immersion, but was manageable even though our respective schedules were so busy. I don’t know that having it shorter would have provided the same benefits, yet having it longer would have provided for more information without an ability to digest it. I think it was OK.

Why is a program like this important?
In B.C., our economy is in trouble due to unresolved rights and title issues, and we need all parties who have something to contribute to this resolution engaged and active in discussions. Although there may be times when industry and First Nations objectives never align, there should be a strong foundation of communication to ensure that everyone’s interests are understood. Ultimately, this program made me much more optimistic about the future with respect to reconciliation and alignment of interests between First Nations and the business community. My engagement with Ian taught me that business leaders can be extremely creative and understanding and do have an interest in meeting in the middle and finding common ground.

Republished with the permission of Business in Vancouver.

Rekha Krishnan, Assistant Professor of International Business at SFU Business, has been selected to receive the 2009 Verity Award for excellence in research in the management field.

Her award-winning paper, co-authored with Alex Eapen, is entitled “Conform or Rebel: When Does Keeping to the Rules Enhance Firm Performance?” It was published in the June 2009 issue of Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences (CJAS).

The Verity International Award for Overall Outstanding Paper in Management is given in recognition of the most outstanding paper in the field of management, published in CJAS in the year it is granted.

The award was established in 2006, in conjunction with Verity International Limited. Research considered for this award comes from disciplines traditionally considered within the field of management – including human resources management, organizational behaviour, strategic management and international business.

Rekha Krishnan joined the Faculty of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University in September 2005 from the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands. She focuses on international alliance performance and is particularly interested in the softer, relational issues which can affect alliance performance.

Originally from India, she is also a poet and has been published in Indian English language newspapers. Additionally, she writes business cases for non-academic business media in India.

A team of SFU undergraduate business students won the BC Clean Ventures competition last month at UBC. The competition is the first and only event of its kind in Canada, at which participants solve real-world clean-technology issues by developing green-business venture ideas, presenting them to teams of investors and negotiating financing. The SFU Business team of finance and accounting students—Jamie MacDonald, Kevin Nguyen, Jeremy Poon and Kevin Wang—beat out 34 other teams comprised of 132 students to take top prize in the venture capitalist category.

Emergency-response software tools, sustainable transportation programs, portable power devices—the range of business ideas ran the gamut as Management of Technology MBA students pulled out all the stops this semester to take their business ideas from inception to market introduction. Among their ventures:

Quake Aware: An earthquake-preparedness website and iPhone application developed by Richmond students who recognize the earthquake disaster risks facing their community, which sits at or under sea level. Their product was inspired by the story of a US filmmaker who used his iPhone to stay alive while under the rubble of the recent Haiti earthquake.

SEED: A low-cost portable power product that bundles rechargeable batteries with a charging device. Because the batteries are manufactured in partnership with an offshore supplier, SEED would be able to compete with larger competitors.

fitnessfreak: A website that keeps busy professionals up-to-date on the trendiest sports information and fitness venues in town.

FreeVoice: A Surrey-based concept that gives people who cannot afford a telephone a phone number for the purpose of job searches. These students specifically want to address unemployment in their home community of Surrey.

ONTeam: An easy-to-use electronic application that helps parents and coaches prepare team rosters and player lists for youth sports.

SmallwURLd: Inspired by Web 2.0, social media and online gaming, this site strives to give communities a snapshot of “what’s cool” online. The social media venture shows that individuals within a digital community have even more in common that they might have thought.

UBike (UniverCity Bike Share program): An SFU bike sharing program that would serve the 2,500 UniverCity residents living adjacent to the Burnaby campus. The program aims to promote health and active living, and would take advantage of the many greenways, paths and cycleways on the university campus.

IT Planning: An information technology consulting service with a specialized assessment software tool for identifying and quantifying the technology and telephony needs of not-for-profit organizations on the North Shore.

MOT Networking by Design: A team focused on delivering networking opportunities to students in the MOT MBA program—through events featuring panelists and speakers from leading local technology-focused companies, as well as start-ups and entrepreneurs.

The Management of Technology MBA is a focused MBA program that serves two sectors, technology and biotechnology. By design, the program blends current academic theory with practical application. Core courses, taken by all students, include cases and examples from both sectors, while specialized courses stream students into their specific area of interest. Students acquire the business expertise to effectively manage products, people and organizations as they transition from scientific or technological roles into managerial positions or, as managers, enhance their understanding of the unique demands of those sectors.

For more information, visit: http://business.sfu.ca/mot/general/

Schools from across North America, Europe and Asia converged upon SFU Business from March 31 to April 3 for CaseIT 2010, an annual international undergraduate case competition with a strong MIS focus designed to find the best and brightest in case analysis..

Hosted at Simon Fraser University, the CaseIt event is entirely student-run, and takes up to a year to plan. Students work diligently over three semesters to secure corporate sponsorship, invite visiting schools, and manage event logistics.

This year’s winners of the prestigious competition were:
1st Place – Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi (Milan, Italy)
2nd Place – Indiana University Kelley School of Business (Bloomington, USA)
3rd Place – National University of Singapore (Singapore)
Finalist – Simon Fraser University

Since CaseIT’s inception in 2004, it has offered students with an opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge they obtained from the classroom to real-life business scenarios through strategic IT analysis and presentation.

CaseIT aims to provide a forum for future business leaders to interact with other students, university faculty, and industry professionals who share a common passion for Management Information Systems (MIS). The program is part of the Management Information Systems Association (MISA) at Simon Fraser University, a student organization that focuses on the professional and social development of students studying MIS.

For more information about the CaseIt MIS Case Competition, visit: http://caseit.org/

An SFU professor who has devoted his career to helping others deal with thorny ethical dilemmas, a UBC professor who developed an innovative therapy to assist people with schizophrenia, and a UNBC professor who is a tireless educator, researcher, and advocate for improving health outcomes of Aboriginal peoples receive this year’s CUFA BC Distinguished Academics Awards.

SFU’s Professor Mark N. Wexler received the Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award for his 30 years of applying his scholarly work on business ethics to practical problems in business, government health care, and other fields, and for engaging the broader community in a dialogue about ethics.

UBC’s Dr. Todd Woodward is the inaugural recipient of the Early in Career Award-Sponsored by Scotiabank for applying his research on brain functioning in people with schizophrenia to create a new therapy to help those with the disease to control their symptoms.

UNBC’s Dr. Margo Greenwood hass been named Academic of the Year for publication of the groundbreaking report “Aboriginal Health: Leaving No Child Behind” — prepared for UNICEF by the National Collaborating Centre on Aboriginal Health (NCCAH), which is led by Dr. Greenwood.

These awards are presented annually by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA BC) to recognize faculty members at BC’s public universities who use their research and scholarly work to make contributions to the wider community.

“Dr. Woodward, Dr. Greenwood, and Professor Wexler are outstanding examples of faculty members at BC universities who use their research to benefit the wider community,” said Dr. Paul Bowles, President of CUFA BC. “Dr. Woodward’s efforts to make his research relevant to the lives of people with schizophrenia is amazing for someone so early in their career,” Bowles continued. “Dr. Greenwood’s report is just one of the many contributions she has made in an effort to get governments to understand and address the needs of Aboriginal communities. Dr. Wexler’s practical, hands-on approach to ethical reasoning, combined with a solid academic foundation, fuels the demand for his expertise as a consultant, advisor, and speaker.”

The CUFA BC Distinguished Academics Awards are in their sixteenth year and receive generous support from Scotiabank, Pacific Blue Cross, CBC Radio One, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the University of Victoria, the University of Northern British Columbia, and Royal Roads University.

CUFA BC represents 4,500 university professors, instructors, academic librarians and other academic staff at the province’s five doctoral universities – SFU (Burnaby, Vancouver and Surrey campuses), UBC (Vancouver and Kelowna campuses), UNBC (Prince George, Terrace, Fort St. John and Quesnel campuses), UVic and Royal Roads University.