Beedie School of Business News

For the second year in a row, SFU’s Beedie School of Business is enjoying some serious Klout on social media.

Tweeting since early 2010, Simon Fraser University’s business school (@SFUBeedie) has been rated as the most influential Canadian business school by a prominent social media metric known as Klout. The metric website measures influence by using data from selected media channels, such as Twitter followers and unique mentions and Facebook comments and likes.

With a Klout score of 46, the Beedie School has edged out business schools at the University of Toronto (44), University of Western Ontario (43), and Concordia University (41).

The Beedie School has used Twitter, Facebook, and other social media as a means to stay connected with the Beedie community—including current students, faculty, staff, alumni, industry and community partners, university partners, and employers. It has used Twitter specifically to follow and learn what they are up to, to disseminate school news and research, and to further communicate with its community.

The school’s social media strategy benefits from a number of influential users from the Beedie community. They include dean Daniel Shapiro (@SFUBeedieDean), Canada’s first business school dean to be on Twitter, who shares business and economic research and opinions via the medium.

Another prominent faculty tweeter is Ian McCarthy (@Toffeemen68), Professor and Canada Research Chair in Technology and Operations Management at SFU. McCarthy, who has over 10,200 Twitter followers, was recently named to OnlineMBA’s international list of the “50 Business Professors You Should Follow on Twitter.”

The school’s burgeoning social media environment also benefits from award-winning faculty research.

New marketing research from marketing professor Leyland Pitt, focused on the relationship between luxury wine branding and social media, has been awarded the Outstanding Paper prize for 2012 by the Emerald Literati Network.

The article, entitled “Luxury wine brand visibility in social media:  An exploratory study” and published in International Journal of Wine Business Research, garnered the top billing as part of the Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2012.

Last fall, the management journal Business Horizons and Elsevier awarded Beedie School researchers Jan Kietzmann, Kristopher Hermkens, Ian McCarthy, and Bruno Silvestre with the Best Article Award for 2011 for their paper, “Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media.”

This past year, the Beedie School also launched the popular undergraduate class Social Media and Business at the SFU Surrey campus – taught by Assistant Professor Kietzmann and instructor Ashish Gurung.

Related articles:

1. Academic award toasts SFU branding research
2. The School of Social Media
3. Students engage community with social media
4. Beedie prof. selected to prestigious Twitter “must follow” list
5. Social media research wins 2011 Best Article Award
6. Vancouver Canucks give MBA social media project warm reception
7. AACSB BizEd Magazine profiles Beedie Mobile: What’s App-enin’ At B-Schools

Tags: Ashish Gurung, Beedie School of Business, Bruno Silvestre, communications, Daniel Shapiro, Facebook, Ian McCarthy, Jan Kietzmann, Klout, Kristopher Hermkens, Leyland Pitt, Research, sfu, SFU Beedie, SFU Surrey, Simon Fraser University, social media, Surrey, Twitter

A course that was launched less than a year ago at SFU’s Beedie School of Business has provided students with unprecedented focus on analyzing and optimizing the value of social media for organizations and businesses. Through community-building projects, undergrad students applied the social media lessons of the course to new and established not-for-profits and social agencies on a wide range of issues, from life-saving transplants to disability in sport.

The course, Social Media & Business, was taught at SFU’s Surrey campus by assistant professor Jan Kietzmann and instructor Ashish Gurung.

Students used Facebook and the Twitter hashtag #BUS450 to engage with each other and their teachers, and to collaborate on assigned projects and readings. Throughout the semester, Kietzmann and Gurung invited industry thoughts leaders, entrepreneurs and businesses to share their insights and expertise in social media. In the classroom, students were joined by She & He consulting, Translink and Yelp. Via Skype, they also connected with University of Ottawa’s Michael Geist, and representatives from Badgeville and Crowdbooster. Outside the classroom, students visited Vancouver’s Invoke and Hootsuite to learn from two very successful global players in the Social Media space.

As a final project, students were tasked with developing a social media campaign for a community client or campus issue.

Among the highlights:

- The student project entitled “Don’t Be a Douchebag” used Twitter and Facebook to accrue over 100 registrations for the BC Transplant Society, with the aim of providing potentially life-saving transplants for British Columbians. The campaign’s social media messaging was endorsed and retweeted by the likes of musicians Jann Arden and Bif Naked, television personality Chris Gailus, and NHL hockey legends Doug Gilmour and Brendan Morrisson.

- Students with the #SIFEHungerArmy campaign raised over $500 for the Surrey Food Bank, and garnered over 1,000 blog page views to raise awareness of the food bank’s impact and needs in the community.

- A social media campaign addressing disability in winter sport, “Adaptive Sliding Canada”, was embraced by winter sports athletes and fans across Canada and is helping to build momentum for the inclusion of new sports in future Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

- A group of students going by the moniker “Jersey Score” – through fundraising tweet-ups and other social media activities – raised over $1500 for sporting gear and apparel for soccer-playing youth in Manamani, South Africa.

- The students from the project “Chic Campus” engaged via social media with fashion events and fundraisers across the Simon Fraser University campus to highlight the role of fashion in the university context.

- A group of students from the project called “SimonFSays” parlayed user-generated social media content into the capturing of student and community sentiment at Simon Fraser University in the digital sphere.

Social Media & Business, launched last fall, was offered for the second time this past spring, and has quickly emerged as a favourite offering among Simon Fraser University students, especially those who are increasingly compelled by the intersection of social media tactics with overarching business strategy and societal change.

“Our students worked very hard and, among the many difficult deliverables they had, they impressed me the most with their social media campaigns,” said Kietzmann. “They truly engaged communities – local, national and international, and to that end I am very proud of what they accomplished.”

The Beedie School continues to enjoy recognition for taking a leadership role in the promotion of social media for entrepreneurs, managers and organizations.

Last December, Kietzmann won a noteworthy research award from the journal Business Horizons (along with co-authors Kristopher Hermkens, Ian McCarthy, and Bruno Silvestre.) His paper “Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media,” won the business journal’s Best Article Award for 2011, in great part for its industry impact and recognition.

And the innovation-focused tweets of SFU MBA professor Ian McCarthy have earned him a spot on OnlineMBA’s international list of “50 Business Professors You Should Follow on Twitter.”

Tags: Adaptive Sliding Canada, Ashish Gurung, BC Transplant Society, Chic Campus, Crowdbooster, Facebook, Hootesuite, invoke, Jan Kietzmann, Jersey Score, LinkedIn, SFU Surrey, SIFE, social media, Surrey Food Bank, TransLink, Twitter, Winter Paralympic Games, Yelp

It has been an extraordinary year for the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University – and the accomplishments of the school at SFU Surrey have helped to drive that success. As 2011 draws to a close, Beedie is celebrating such student accomplishments as SFU Student of the Year, the Surrey Green City Award, and selection to one of Canada’s most prestigious leadership programs for entrepreneurs.

Highlights include:

-Surrey BBA student Jessica Fan has been selected to the Next 36, a prestigious entrepreneurial leadership program that seeks out the country’s most promising and entrepreneurial undergraduates and challenges them to create their own ventures.

-This past fall, the SFU Surrey campus hosted a signature Beedie event: SFU Dragons’ Den. Jim Treliving and Bruce Croxon, members of the popular business television program Dragons’ Den, visited students as part of the special evening devoted to entrepreneurship and innovation. At the conclusion of the event, Treliving enthused on Twitter about SFU’s “fantastic students”, while Croxon’s impression from these young entrepreneurs, also tweeted, was that “Canada is in good hands.”

-Beedie BBA student Lauren Watkin, along with SFU communications student Sonam Swarup and Beedie alumnus Ashish Gurung received Surrey’s Green City award for their creative environmental efforts as members of the SFU Surrey-based Students in Free Enterprise club and their Banner Bags program. To date more than 800 banners no longer used by cities or community organizations have been turned into colourful reusable bags, produced by students in high school sewing classes led by the SIFE students.

-The student-founded venture called “Aspire” took the top prize at SFU’s Opportunity Fest, a Beedie School of Business entrepreneurship competition held at SFU’s Surrey campus in the spring. Judges from the wider business community, including academics and prominent industry leaders, named Aspire’s project as the best among more than 50 student projects at the marketplace-style exhibition. The venture leverages the characteristics of autism as a competitive advantage in the software testing industry, creating a suitable and nurturing work environment for those with ASD.

-Five projects by Beedie students from SFU Surrey — all social ventures aimed at creating positive change, including the aforementioned Aspire — were chosen from 10 finalists to win Ashoka Canada’s prestigious Be a Changemaker Challenge on November 23 at UBC Robson Square. The Beedie students are from instructor Shawn Smith’s Business 492 class in social entrepreneurship and innovation, which teaches the fundamentals of creating socially impactful ventures while coaching students through the process.

-This fall, Beedie Assistant Professor Jan Kietzmann and instructor Ashish Gurung led a unique class in social media for business at SFU Surrey. The class immersed students in cutting-edge social media practices and theory and connected students with industry-leading social media technology firms such as Hootsuite. Appropriately, the class also claimed its own Twitter hashtag (#bus495) – where students could communicate with eachother and the extended social media community about the class.

-Prof. Kietzmann, who carries out teaching and research from the Surrey campus, also won a noteworthy research award from the journal Business Horizons (along with co-authors Kristopher Hermkens, Ian McCarthy, and Bruno Silvestre.) His paper “Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media,” won the business journal’s Best Article Award for 2011, in great part for its industry impact and recognition.

-The December issue of BizEd Magazine, the leading voice of business education published by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), has recognized Beedie students for developing the Beedie iPhone app, which they began working on in the SFU Surrey class Foundations of Innovation (also taught by Kietzmann).

-Another Beedie undergraduate at Surrey, Matias Marquez, has won the honour of being SFU’s 2011 Student Entrepreneur of the Year, as selected by an annual competition in November hosted by Students in Free Enterprise. His company, Buyatab.com, is a “software-as-a-service” digital gift card processing technology that becomes embedded onto its customers’ websites.

-In December, as part of a class project, senior Beedie students helped support the United Way by participating in the annual Surrey Market on the Mezzanine which featured the work of local crafters, artisans and students along with a book sale, silent auction and baked goods.

In addition, first-year Beedie BusOne program students hosted an afternoon Christmas Market on the Mezzanine at the Surrey campus. This holiday-themed marketplace featured the exclusive works of BusOne students and included baked goods, candy apples, hot chocolate, bubble tea, photo booths, crafts and more. All proceeds from this holiday-themed market, which this year was an impressive $3,800, went to the United Way.

Tags: AACSB, Ashish Gurung, Ashoka Canada, Banner Bags, BizEd Magazine, Bruce Croxon, Business 495, BusOne, Buyatab.com, Dragon's Den, Jan Kietzmann, Jessica Fang, Jim Treliving, Lauren Watkin, Market on the Mezzanine, Matias Marquiz, Opportunity Fest, SFU Student Entrepreneur of the Year, SFU Surrey, Shawn Smith, SIFE, social innovation, Sonam Swarup, Students in Free Enterprise, The Next 36

The following was originally published on Invoke’s blog and authored by Justine Yu.

Ashish Gurung teaches an undergraduate social media course at SFU Beedie School of Business. He is also involved with a bunch of other stuff ‚ some startups, some consulting and lots of non-profits. Find him@ashishgurung and http://www.ashishgurung.ca

Tell us a bit about the social media course you created. What motivated you to create an entire course about social media at SFU’s Beedie School of Business?

Jan Kietzmann, a SFU professor, had the idea to bring social media to the business school. We noticed students were entering the work force with little or no formal education in social media. So, we paired up to teach this course. This is the first course dedicated to social media at the SFU Beedie School of Business. It just makes sense — students need to be educated about social media, especially from a business-driven context. It’s a natural and needed extension to our undergraduate program. Plus our class reached the waiting list within a few days of registration.

Why do you think it’s important for students to learn about and familiarize themselves with social media?

It’s important for our students to not only learn about current trends in social media, but to understand social media as a whole – from learning about behavioural economics, to virality and building communities. We’re bringing the gap between the classroom and industry. We’re skyping in awesome startups like Summify and Launchrock, and the students get a chance to meet leaders from Invoke, HootSuite and EA. It’s a great balance between theory and practical applications. Students will be leaving our class with a greater understanding of social media and its impact on both society and businesses.

Why do you think it’s important to incorporate social media in universities and lecture halls?

I think it’s very important to incorporate social media in our classrooms. I know many instructors who still don’t believe in the power of social media and refuse to integrate it in their classrooms. It’s how the students communicate with each other — it’s how they hear the news. There’s a high probability that students are browsing Facebook while in class. It’s important to now use these tools to enhance the learning experience.

Invoke: Where do you see the future of social media in the classroom?

Our class uses a Facebook group and Twitter chat (#bus495) to communicate with each other and it’s awesome. Students are posting articles, comments and having discussions everyday on our Facebook group and Twitter chat. I’m surprised by how much the students have embraced it — they’re communicating with each other, getting to know each other and are having intelligent conversations over these channels. As the instructors, we’re using Facebook to post online notes, presentations and class updates. I’m hoping to see more classrooms embrace social media. The goal is to create a culture in the classroom where students are learning from each other and from the instructors. I believe we’ll start to see educators adopt web apps that encourage a social learning environment.

What are your top five industry sites that you check out on a regular basis?

Hacker News,  Summify, 
Hootsuite , Social Media Examiner and TechCrunch.

Read more at Invoke’s blog: http://www.invokemedia.com/blog/

Tags: Ashish Gurung, Beedie, BUS495, business, communication, education, Facebook, hootsuite, invoke, practical skills, sfu, social learning, social media, Twitter, undergraduate

They’ve saved more than 1,500 pounds of nylon from landfills and in the process, taught hundreds of teens how simple sewing could help the environment. Now a student team from Simon Fraser University is being honored with a Top 3 Green City Award from the City of Surrey for their creative environmental efforts.

Their Banner Bags project was chosen in the community group category (one of three categories) at the Surrey 2011 City Awards, held at the new City Centre Library Oct. 25.

The student project was created three years ago by a team from Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), based at SFU Surrey. Students Lauren Watkin, project manager, Sonam Swarup, director of community development, and Beedie alumnus Ashish Gurung, project advisor accepted the award from Mayor Dianne Watts.

To date more than 800 banners no longer used by cities or community organizations have been turned into colourful reusable bags, produced by students in high school sewing classes led by the SIFE students.

Watkin, a Beedie School of Business undergraduate, explains: “Our efforts have made an impact. Over the past three years we have involved more than 1,000 students, saved 1,500 pounds of nylon from entering landfills and saved companies and cities approximately $6,000 in disposal and storage fees.”

Students estimated that amount of nylon in landfills could have resulted in more than 30,000 pounds of CO2 emissions.

Swarup, a communication student, was earlier named project manager at the Association of Canadian Entrepreneurs (ACE) annual national competition.

The Banner Bags program has run in more than 30 schools in the Lower Mainland and beyond, including classes in Ottawa and Vernon. Students are continuing workshops this fall and organizing a showcase for next semester.

The Green City Awards recognize leaders in environmental stewardship and celebrates the outstanding contributions of individuals, non-profit groups or community groups and businesses who go beyond expectations to enhance Surrey’s natural environment, while also educating and engaging others and creating an awareness about issues of concern.

Tags: Ashish Gurung, Banner Bags, Dianne Watts, Lauren Watkin, SFU Surrey, SIFE, Sonam Swarup, Students in Free Enterprise

by Jevta Lukic As Twitter and Facebook increasingly become topics of conversation in many company boardrooms, undergraduate business students at SFU’s Beedie School of Business are also focusing on social networking in a management context. This fall, they will enjoy a unique course offering that explores the intersection of social media and business strategy. Entitled Business 495: Social Media & Business, the course strives to develop students’ understanding of how social media is used by individuals, communities, and organizations to engage with one another and develop innovative business models. Keep reading…

Tags: Ashish Gurung, BBA, Facebook, Jan Kietzmann, management information systems, social media, Twitter