Beedie School of Business News

The following article was published by the Financial Post on March 27, 2012 as part of their MBA issue.

BY DENISE DEVEAU, FINANCIAL POST

As a long-time entrepreneur, Ward Black is a firm believer that international exposure is a good thing in an MBA program.

“It’s just a bad decision not to have international experience on your resumé,” he says. “The fact is you will either be working with a company operating overseas or competing against them. So when I decided to go back to do an MBA, I wanted as much international exposure as possible.”

Mr. Black is in the International Strategy & Global Operations MBA program at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. Part of his studies included a recent 12-day field trip to Turkey and Dubai.

“It was all focused around the notion of how business is done in these countries and how that fits into a Canadian perspective,” he explains.

International studies have been a big part of Executive MBA and full-time MBA programs for a number of years. But it’s clear given the economic trends that things have changed in terms of focus and direction. Keep reading…

The Teaching and Learning Center is sponsoring Ann E. Austin, a leading US scholar on organizational change in higher education and faculty development to speak at SFU on Monday, April 16. The presentation will take place at the Halpern Centre on Burnaby Campus, but will also be webcast and archived for those who wish to participate at Surrey and Segal.

This presentation is relevant to Beedie faculty because Austin’s research and frameworks could inform the School’s forward-looking efforts and strategy towards using assurance of learning data to prompt ongoing curriculum review, proposing and planning new programs, and integrating new requirements or instructional approaches into existing programs.

To find out more and to register to attend this session, click here.

Dr. Carolyn Egri, a professor of management and organization studies at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, has been announced as the recipient of the David L. Bradford Outstanding Educator Award for 2012 from the Organizational Behaviour Teaching Society for Management Educators (OBTS).

The OBTS aims to enhance the quality and promote the importance of teaching and learning across the management disciplines with a focus on the dynamics within and at the interface of individuals, groups and organizations and cultures.

The award, named after David L. Bradford, the founder of OBTS, recognizes an individual or group demonstrating lifetime achievement with a focus on teaching and learning excellence, who impacts the field as a whole, with their innovations and ideas extending to a wide audience. Egri will be presented with the award at the Organizational Behaviour Teaching Conference, to be held in June 2012 at Brock University.

Egri has taught in the EMBA program for over two decades, and is a past winner of SFU’s TD Canada Trust Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest teaching honour of its kind at the Beedie School. The Bradford award comes after Egri was recently named the Beedie School of Business’s inaugural William J.A. Rowe EMBA Alumni Professor.

In addition to teaching leadership at the EMBA level as well as sustainability and research methodologies classes in the Segal Graduate School, Egri has also contributed substantially to OBTS, having been a member since 1988, and serving on the Board of Directors from 1995-1998.

Egri is currently an Associate Editor for Academy of Management Learning & Education, and is a past Chair of the Organizations and the Natural Environment Division of the Academy of Management. She serves on a variety of academic journal editorial boards and has over 68 publications and 110 conference presentations on international management, corporate environmental and social responsibility, leadership, organizational change, and management education to her name.

Tags: Brock University, Carolyn Egri, David L. Bradford, EMBA, Executive MBA, OBTS, Organizational Behaviour Teaching Society for Management Educators, Segal Graduate School, William J.A. Rowe EMBA Professorship

SFU MBA alumna Wahiba Chair was featured in a recent CNN article discussing reality television shows on Arab television after winning the first season of the Arab docu-reality television show Stars of Science.

Stars of Science is the first Arab television program to create a worldwide competition where contestants competed for the commercial launch of a product of their own design. It features 16 young innovators in technology, design, and engineering, vying for $600,000 in cash prizes to launch their product.

Chair and her team won the show, described as cross between Big Brother and The Apprentice, for their product, CarrotLines, a mobile application that helps people shopping in supermarkets to identify food products that meet their nutritional needs.

Chair spent 10 weeks as one of 16 finalists on the show, working in a televised lab with assistance from mentors and experts to develop her business idea into a marketable product. She developed her product prototype and business plan during her MBA program at the Beedie School of Business before using it in her application to Stars of Science.

Originally from Algeria, Chair was one of 5,600 applicants of Arab origin to enter the competition and one of only two females to make it into the final 16. After winning its launch, CarrotLines has since been listed in the top 10 Health and Fitness Apps on the Canadian iTunes store.

The CNN article examines the increasing popularity of reality TV shows in the Arab world and the impact these shows are having on younger generations.

For more information on CarrotLines, visit http://carrotlines.wordpress.com/

www.wahibachair.com/

www.starsofscience.com

Tags: entrepreneur, innovation, MBA, reality TV, Stars of Science, Wahiba Chair

The following article was published by the Financial Post on March 27, 2012 as part of their MBA issue.

BY REBECCA WALBERG, FINANCIAL POST

Most business students realize the future holds more options than Bay Street and the FP500. While multinational corporations and the business world elite get the most attention, the scope and importance of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make them vitally important to the domestic economy, the export sector, and current and future business executives.

Industry Canada says 1.1 million small businesses employing 100 or fewer staff are operating in Canada, not including self-employment. That represents 98% of all Canadian companies. Small businesses also account for 42% of GDP and a quarter of all exports.

Entering the international market is important for SMEs, and the potential benefits in terms of growth and profit are tremendous. The potential risks of expanding are significant, too, as Canadian businesses face a wider range of competitors and may operate at a disadvantage when expanding into a new country. Doing business internationally has implications for almost every aspect of a firm’s operations, and that’s increasingly reflected in MBA course material.

“International business is becoming an increasingly important part of almost every course we teach,” says Walid Hejazi, associate professor of international business at the Rotman School of Management. While electives in international business are still available, the implications of global business are now integrated into classes on human resources, marketing, productions and finance. “Canadian companies are more likely to do business internationally than ever before, so managers need to grasp the implications of that, be it organizational behaviour, strategy or managing projects across international borders.” Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, Eric Gedajlovic, Financial Post, MBA, sfu

The following article was published by the Financial Post on March 27, 2012 as part of their MBA issue.

BY MARY TERESA BITTI, FINANCIAL POST

Jocelyn Ball knew she wanted to get her MBA sooner rather than later in order to give herself more control over her career. She also knew that she wanted to be able to hit the ground running after graduating.

That’s why shortly after earning her undergraduate degree she joined the first cohort of Dalhousie University’s Corporate Residency MBA, the only corporate residency program in Canada and one of only two in North America.

“There aren’t a lot of MBA programs where you get a full eight months to intern with a company and really immerse yourself in the culture and put management, presentation and conflict resolution skills into practice.”

And that’s exactly why Dalhousie University radically changed its MBA program. “About four years ago, we decided that the traditional 17, 18, 19 courses that make up an MBA wasn’t enough,” says Scott Comber, director of Dalhousie’s full-time MBA program. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, EMBA, EMBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership, Financial Post, Mark Selman, MBA

A team of students from the full-time MBA program at the Beedie School of Business was the big winner at the recent Vancouver for Acumen Fund Case Challenge.

The winning team consisted of SFU MBA students Pragya Grewal, Shahneel Pirzada and Arjun Maruthi, whose presentation focused on Vision Springs, a company which provides low-cost, high-quality reading glasses to low-income communities in India.

The competition required teams to submit responses to a case based on a company from Acumen Fund’s investment portfolio. The cases are based on social enterprise, the provision of public health goods, and the role of the government.

Out of a total of 26 teams competing at the event, five teams made it to the finals, where SFU provided both the winning team and the runner-up. The runner-up team consisted of SFU MBA students Sreejit Narayanan, Vishesh Sawhany and Alice Longhurst. Keep reading…

Tags: Acumen, MBA, Vancouver for Acumen Fund, Vision Springs

The Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University is launching a new social venture accelerator program, the SFU Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator (SEA), designed specifically for entrepreneurial students with social impact ideas or an interest in helping teams launch social ventures.

Sponsored by Vancity, the SEA will help students move ideas from concept to reality, and aims to develop entrepreneurs that will help address tomorrow’s social, environmental, and economic challenges.

Designed for students looking to go beyond the classroom and learn what it takes to launch a social venture, students may enter as individuals or teams with an idea in place, or join a team in the class. They will work to generate a feasible business model, meet with clients to discuss project details, and gain an understanding of social impact.

The SEA will be led by Shawn Smith, a lecturer in innovation and entrepreneurship at the Beedie School of Business. “The Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator acts as a bridge between the classroom and the real world for students that want to know what it takes to build and launch ventures that balance social impact and financial sustainability,” says Smith. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie, entrepreneurship, SEA, sfu, Shawn Smith, Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator, social venture, Social Venture Accelerator, Vancity

MBA students from SFU’s Beedie School of Business made up two of the four teams who placed at the recent Haskayne 24 Hour Case Competition.

This year’s competition was held at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary from March 8-11 and featured 16 teams from MBA programs at universities from across the nation. The two SFU teams finished second and fourth, taking home prizes of $3,000 and $1,000 respectively.

The Haskayne 24 Hour Case Competition is a three-day event that challenges students from leading MBA programs across Canada to use their creative and analytical skills to assess real problems and deliver real solutions. Teams are given 24 hours to prepare a previously unseen case before presenting to a panel of judges.

The unique competition brings together the pressure of business decision-making with the students’ developing skills in teamwork, analysis, communication and critical thinking. Student teams work around the clock to find solutions to real-life problems, before presenting their ideas to a panel of judges, made up of senior business executives from the Calgary area. Teams are judged on creativity, insight, substance and plausibility of implementation. Keep reading…

Tags: DIRTT Environmental Solutions, Haskayne, Haskayne 24 Hour Case Competition, MBA, sfu

A company formed by two graduates of the Beedie School of Business Management of Technology MBA program has been awarded a contract to deliver a pilot water recovery unit to NASA.

Saltworks Technologies will develop the unit to test the water recovery systems and processes at NASA Ames Research Center, with the intent for future use on board the International Space Station. Saltworks won the contract after a recent public tender for solutions held by NASA and will now deliver the unit, which is a proof of concept pilot unit.

Founded by MOT MBA graduates Ben Sparrow and Joshua Zoshi, Saltworks develops and delivers solutions for solving complex water treatment challenges. The company’s product portfolio includes several platforms, including reverse osmosis, ion exchange, and evaporation technologies.

“The NASA project is an example of how Saltworks’ innovative technology could be used in diverse applications, both on – and off – the planet,” said Zoshi, Saltworks’ President.

Saltworks’ technology, described by the Economist Magazine as “ingenious”, utilizes an innovative solar process for desalinating seawater. The process can reduce electricity requirements by up to 80% and has the potential to cut the cost of desalinated water in half. The company’s solution is expected to allow the desalination sector to build projects that provide sustainable water for agriculture, industry and municipal use worldwide, and is scalable to large applications.

For more information, visit www.saltworkstech.com/press_20120316.php

Tags: Beedie School of Business, Ben Sparrow, Joshua Zoshi, Management of Technology MBA, MBA, NASA, Saltworks