Beedie School of Business News

The following article was published by Enactus Canada on May 6.

Simon Fraser University recognized nationally for advancing the lives of new Canadians.

Student team earns 2013 national title for efforts to empower newcomers in Burnaby.

Simon Fraser University has been awarded the 2013 RBC Newcomer Advancement Project Fund Best Project by national charitable organization Enactus Canada and proud supporter RBC Foundation. The awards presentation took place at the 2013 Enactus Canada National Exposition on Monday, May 6th in Toronto.

The RBC Newcomer Advancement Project Fund was designed to accelerate the advancement of newcomers to Canada, creating social and economic opportunities that will strengthen the well-being of communities. The Enactus team from Simon Fraser University was awarded Best Project because they were able to impact the lives of 23 new Canadians through their project, Media Minds.

Media Minds is a digital literacy program which aims to gear ESL students with video editing skills to create a mini self-documentary of their life. The goals of this program are to enhance students’ storytelling abilities and increase their employability through teaching video skills. Keep reading…

Tags: 2013 Enactus Canada National Exposition, Enactus Canada, Enactus SFU, literacy, Media Minds, RBC Foundation, RBC Newcomer Advancement Project Fund Best Project, Simon Fraser University, social innovation

The following article was published by the Globe and Mail on April 30.

Elicia Maine, Academic Director of SFU MOT MBA program

Business education has an important role to play in boosting Canada’s edge in the digital age by combining masters of business administration (MBA) programs with technology management skills, industry experts say.

Released in April, the World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index ranked Canada 12th out of 144 countries, down three spots from the previous year. The point of the index is to illustrate which countries’ economies are well poised to benefit from technology-based industry. Those that ranked higher – such as Finland, the United States and Singapore – were credited with having friendly business environments and top education systems.

Canada has a skilled work force, a high-level education system and a growing economy, like the other high-ranking countries. But business specialists say the country needs to expand its reach in the global technology market, create more business leaders with specific technology management skills and strengthen the bonds between business education and industry in order to move up the ranks.

The study highlights a growing business area in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, says Elicia Maine, academic director at Simon Fraser University’s Management of Technology MBA program, though she views the rankings with some skepticism, because it compares countries with what she calls incomparable economies and education systems.

Her graduates are already tapping the ICT market, she says. “About 50 per cent of our cohort is either in software, ICT, social media or gaming sectors, all things that could broadly be in ICT. And they find great value in the customized MBA program, that can really go in-depth on the strategic issues around commercializing new technologies,” she adds.

Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, Information and communication technology, Management Technology, Masters, MBA, MOT MBA, SFU Beedie, Simon Fraser University

Saltworks Technologies co-founders Joshua Zoshi, left, and Ben Sparrow are making waste water usable.

By Remy Scalza.

That the planet’s supply of freshwater is dwindling is little surprise.  Just where it’s going, however, is eye opening.  It takes roughly 1,500 liters of water to make a pair of jeans, as much as 5,700 liters to grow and process the ingredients needed for a fast-food combo meal and about 120,000 liters to make a car – enough water to fill half an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

“If you consider the volume of wastewater generated by industrial and agricultural activity, it’s absolutely massive,” says Joshua Zoshi, president of Vancouver-based Saltworks. “We’re trying to do something about that.” Zoshi, together with fellow Beedie School of Business alum Ben Sparrow, founded Saltworks in 2008 in hopes of harnessing next-gen desalination technologies to produce and conserve freshwater.

Just four years later, the pair find themselves working with some of North America’s largest oil and mining companies, not to mention NASA, on reducing mankind’s water footprint. “Every morning, you get out of bed and know you have the opportunity to change the world,” Zoshi says. “That passion is my business.”

For the moment, Saltworks is headquartered in a former fish-processing plant on Vancouver’s industrial port, tucked between the waterfront and a sea of shipping containers.  “We had to power-wash the walls to get rid of the smell,” Zoshi jokes, leading the way onto a busy workshop floor cluttered with prototypes, pumps, plastic tubing and pressure gauges. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, Ben Sparrow, desalination, entrepreneurship, Ideas@Beedie, innovaiton, Joshua Zoshi, Management of Technology MBA, MOT MBA, NASA, New Ventures BC, Research, Saltworks, Simon Fraser University, sustainability, waste water, water

Dr. Nancy McKinstry

The 2013 SFU Nancy McKinstry Awards for Leadership in Diversity is issuing a call for nominations for the Corporate Diversity Award. The award recognizes a company that excels in the area of diversity, with nominations open to all companies with operations in British Columbia.

The winner of the Corporate Diversity Award will be announced at the awards breakfast on September 25, 2013. Nominations and finalists will be confidentially held and resubmitted with future nominations for a period of two years.

This year, applications are encouraged from small to medium-sized companies who have set themselves apart with their own unique diversity programs. These applications may qualify for an Exemplary Initiative Diversity Award. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, diversity, diversity awards, Nancy McKinstry, Nancy McKinstry Awards for Leadership in Diversity, Segal Graduate School of Business, Simon Fraser University

Beedie School of Business professor Jeremy Hall’s research applies complexity theory to sustainable supply chains.

A 2010 share listing which raised $72.8 billion confirmed oil and gas giant Petrobras as the fourth largest company in the world. However, research from the Beedie School of Business argues that Petrobras’ route to becoming the global giant it is today has not necessarily involved the organization following textbook management advice when it comes to sustainable supply chains.

The research argues that companies should include sustainable development considerations in supply chains as a means of improving social and environmental impacts of production systems, in addition to the financial impact. This may involve investment in areas which traditional thinking would suggest might not be profitable for the organization.

The study, “Understanding why firms should invest in sustainable supply chains: a complexity approach” was authored by Beedie School of Business professors Jeremy Hall, Stelvia Matos and Bruno Silvestre, and published in the International Journal of Production Research.

They argue that firms focusing on individual sustainable development elements are unlikely to find satisfactory solutions to their sustainable supply chain problems, and should be investing in multiple initiatives, even if it does not seem apparent that this investment would be of any benefit. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, biodiesel, biofuels, biotechnology, Brazil, Bruno Silvestre, complexity theory, Ideas@Beedie, International Journal of Production Research, Jeremy Hall, Monsanto, oil and gas, Petrobras, Research, Simon Fraser University, Stelvia Matos, supply chains, sustainability, sustainable supply chains

The Beedie School of Business BBICC team. From left to right: Lindsay van Leeuwen, Justin Ling, Isabel Gomez-Garcia, Matt Martell and Peyman Abedi-Rad.

Students from the Beedie School of Business have enjoyed success at two prestigious international business case competitions, each capturing a top three finish in their respective competitions.

The teams competed at the Belgrade Business International Case Competition (BBICC), hosted by the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and the Royal Roads University International Undergraduate Case Competition (RRUIUCC), hosted by the University of Victoria. Each Beedie School of Business team earned bronze in their competition.

The BBICC team, coached by Beedie alumnus Matt Martell, consisted of undergraduates Isabel Gomez-Garcia, Lindsay van Leeuwen, Justin Ling, and Peyman Rad. The students won their place on the podium after competing against 12 teams from around the world, including New Zealand, the UK, Singapore, Denmark and the US. Keep reading…

Tags: BBICC, Beedie School of Business, Belgrade Business International Case Competition, case competitions, international case competition, Royal Roads University International Undergraduate Case Competition, RRUIUCC, Simon Fraser University

An innovative process to create pallets from recycled car tires, an online community for people with disabilities, and locally sourced prepackaged meals were just some of the innovative business ventures showcased by Beedie undergraduates at the 2013 Opportunity Fest.

The annual marketplace-style showcase of student creativity was held on March 26 at SFU’s Surrey campus. The event allowed participating students to demonstrate their business creativity by tackling perceived challenges through entrepreneurship and innovation.

For the past few years, guest judges from industry, academia, and the wider community have evaluated the participating teams’ endeavors and awarded prizes to students enrolled in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation concentration. Opportunity Fest 2013 welcomed judges from a wide variety of organizations, including Make, Global Agents for Change, BC Technology Industry Association, the City of Surrey, Central City Brewing, Ayoudo, Vancity, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Indel Therapeutics, and TD Commercial Banking.   Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, Casey Dorin, entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, innovation, Innovation Office, interdisciplinary collaboration, Opportunity Fest, SFU Surrey, Simon Fraser University, Student Entrepreneur of the Year

The Beedie School of Business RISE team. From left to right: Raymond Chan, Ehsan Seyedin, Gary Gu and Allen Liu.

For the second consecutive year, MSc in Finance students from Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business have won a major award at the prestigious RISE (Redefining Investment Strategy Education) investment competition hosted at the University of Dayton in Ohio – the world’s largest competition of its kind.

The Beedie students won first place in the Balanced Investment Style category for their work on the Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS) fund, the student-run investment fund which sees Beedie students managing $11.8 million of the university’s endowment portfolio.

Ehsan Seyedin, Raymond Chan, Gary Gu, and Allen Liu attended RISE to represent the SIAS fund and present the entire team’s work on the risk-adjusted return of the portfolio from December 2012 to January 2013.

The SIAS fund was judged to have the best risk adjusted return in its category, underscoring the quality of mentorship and teaching from which the current cohort has benefited, along with the hard work they have put into the fund. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, compliance, endowment portfolio, experiential learning, investment, Kathleen Hays, MSc in Finance, Redefining Investment Strategy Education, RISE, risk management, SIAS, Simon Fraser University, Steve Liesman, Student Investment Advisory Service, University of Dayton

The Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business has been selected to BC Business Magazine’s list of British Columbia’s most innovative companies.

Launched in 2012, the EMBA program is the first graduate business degree of its kind in Canada.

“B.C.’s aboriginal business community has a big stake in the province’s economic future,” notes BC Business Magazine in its April 2013 issue in referring to SFU’s newest EMBA cohort. “The program (has) attracted business leaders, administrators and senior officials as students, including Squamish Nation Chief Ian Campbell, and former mayor of West Vancouver, Pam Goldsmith-Jones.

BC Business Magazine’s annual list recognizes the top 20 organizations in the province that have used an innovative idea to build a company and redefine an industry. Keep reading…

Tags: Aboriginal busi­ness opportunities, Andrew Petter, award, BC Business, BC Business Magazine, Beedie School of Business, Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership, First Nations, Ian Campbell, innovation, Pam Goldsmith-Jones, Simon Fraser University

Mike Waites, CEO of Finning being interviewed at the Beedie School of Business by CKNW host Bill Good.

The head of the world’s largest Caterpillar dealer and a global provider of industrial equipment took centre-stage at the CKNW CEO Series held on March 27 at Simon Fraser University’s Segal Graduate School in downtown Vancouver.

Mike Waites, who was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Finning International in May of 2008, engaged in a wide-ranging discussion about international business and Canada’s economic prospects with CKNW host Bill Good in front a large audience of Beedie students, alumni and faculty as well as business leaders.

For over 80 years, Finning has provided parts and service for equipment and engines to customers in mining, construction, power systems, forestry and other industrial markets. 

The Vancouver-based company employs over 15,000 people world-wide with operations in Europe, South America and North America. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie Schoo of Business, Bill Good, CKNW, CKNW News Talk 980, Finning International, innovation, investment, Leadership, management, Mike Waites, Segal Graduate School, Simon Fraser University, The Chief Executive, Vanity Fair