Beedie School of Business News

Beedie School of Business alumna Salina Siu has been shortlisted for Tourism Australia’s The Best Jobs in the World competition.

Beedie School of Business alumna Salina Siu has been given an opportunity all graduates seek – the chance to land her dream job.

Siu is one of 150 people selected from over 600,000 applicants to advance to the second round of Tourism Australia’s The Best Jobs in the World competition. With six positions available, Siu is the only Canadian to make the 25-person shortlist for the Chief Funster position.

The Chief Funster position is based in Sydney and requires the winner to attend and review all the festivals and events the city has to offer over the course of the six-month assignment. The position comes with a $50,000 (AUS) salary, along with an additional $50,000 (AUS) to cover expenses.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and would be a crazy adventure,” says Siu, who previously served as social media intern in the Beedie School’s marketing department as well as stints with Invoke Media and SAP. “I am so passionate about social media, and to work in this field in such a great environment would be an amazing experience.” Keep reading…

Tags: AIESEC SFU, Alumni, Andrew Petter, BBA, Beedie School of Business, best job in the world, Chief Funster, communications, entrepreneurship, Invoke Media, Marketing, Salina Siu, SAP, sfu, social media, Tourism Australia, YouTube

The following article was published by The Vancouver Courier by Stanley Tromp, contributing writer.

Three students from SFU, Danielle Friesen (far left), Mohammad Nasiri and Joanna Kipp created a web out of yarn outside Marpole Library last week to raise awareness for Marpole Place Neighbourhood House web programs.
Photograph by: Dan Toulgoet , Vancouver Courier

A group of business students has created a social media plan to reduce the isolation of seniors living alone in Marpole.

Last week, the students designed a “web” of coloured yarn in front of Marpole library on Granville Street near 70th Avenue, to symbolize both physical community connections and the Internet’s interconnected web. Passersby wrote their names on papers hung onto the yarn while the students explained to them the purpose of Forever Connected, a plan started by the Marpole Place Neighbourhood House to reduce the isolation of the community’s seniors.

“Many people had heard of the neighbourhood house before and were interested in learning about more ways to get involved,” said the web’s creator, SFU business student Joanna Kipp. “The web looked so great that we ended up leaving it up. Despite the damp weather, it turned out to be a great success and is hopefully the first of many for Marpole Place.”

Kipp’s group members, who are all MBA students at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, include Danielle Friesen, Geordan Hankinson, Negar Hadavi, and Mohammad Nasiri. As part of their marketing and information systems classes, they were asked to design a social media strategy for a local nonprofit. They chose Marpole Place Neighbourhood House.

“We have done a lot of projects during our MBA, but I have to say that this has definitely been the most interesting and exciting one so far,” said Kipp.

Older people generally use social media less than do younger people, and some have no computer at home. “That was our challenge,” Kipp added. “If someone is isolated, they’ll likely not leave their house much, but they will know someone who does, and that person will come down the street, and also uses social media. So you can reach some people you couldn’t otherwise reach.”

She says that in future, seniors could find more companionship through online chat groups and forums. Some think that social media is so fast paced that it’s only suited for a younger generation, but Kipp says no one is too old to learn the online world. Two years ago her parents began texting and now do it all the time. Marpole Place also has computer skills workshops for seniors.

The Forever Connected Club is looking for volunteers over 55 who like people and to become a Forever Connected Volunteer Ambassador. The club provides opportunities for older adults to go on bus trips, be picked up for community meals, join in activities and make new friends. The project is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program. Call Marpole Place at 604-266-5301.

More information can be found at Marpole Place’s new blog at marpoleplacenh.blogspot.ca, its Facebook Marpole Place page and on Twitter at @MarpoleplaceNH.

Tags: marpole, marpole place, MBA, SFU MBA, social media, vancouver courier

The latest ScienceDirect ranking of business, management and accounting research sees Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business leading the field in social media research.

The ranking lists the 25 Hottest Articles in business, management and accounting, and includes two research articles from Beedie School of Business faculty, both of which focus on the topic of social media.

Ranked in the top three three in the list is the article, “Social Media? Get Serious! Understanding the Functional Building Blocks of Social Media”. The research states that understanding social media is becoming an increasing priority for managers, and was authored by the Beedie team of Jan Kietzmann, Ian McCarthy, Kristopher Hermkens and Bruno Silvestre.

Meanwhile, at number 16 in the rankings is the article, “Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing strategy”. The article was authored by Leyland Pitt, Kirk Plangger and Daniel Shapiro from the Beedie School of Business, and Pierre Berthon from Bentley University’s McCallum Graduate School of Management, and reveals how international marketers can harness social media in today’s evolving marketing landscape. Keep reading…

Tags: 25 Hottest Articles, accounting, Beedie School of Business, Bruno Silvestre, business, Business Insider, Daniel Shapiro, engagement, Ian McCarthy, Jan Kietzmann, Kirk Plangger, Klout, Kristopher Hermkens, Leyland Pitt, management, McCallum Graduate School of Management, Pierre Berthon, Research, ScienceDirect, sfu, social media

In March of 2011, in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, Atlanta-based insurance giant Aflac Inc. was forced to confront a marketing fiasco with global implications. The voice of their famous Aflac duck, comedian Gilbert Gottfried, had used his Twitter account to make tasteless jokes about the natural disaster that wiped out entire cities on Japan’s northeast coast.

The online backlash against Gottfried’s social media outburst – and ultimately Aflac – was swift and forceful in the United States, but the repercussions were even greater in Japan, where the company insures one in four households.

To the company’s credit, a well-crafted public relations and social media response – along with the swift firing of Gottfried – quelled what could have been an overseas marketing (and financial) disaster – one that was triggered by poor comedic taste and the power of social media. Keep reading…

Tags: Aflac Inc., Beedie School of Business, Business Horizons, creative consumers, Daniel Shapiro, digital media, Facebook, Gilbert Gottfried, global marketing, globalization, Google, GREE, international marketing, Kirk Plangger, Leyland Pitt, LinkedIn, marketing strategy, mixi, Pierre Berthon, Research, sfu, social media, Twitter, Web 2.0

Ryan Holmes (left), founder and CEO of HootSuite Media, being interviewed by CKNW host Bill Good (right).

Ryan Holmes, founder and CEO of social media management system HootSuite, sat in front of a live audience at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business on September 27 to share his experience as head of one of Canada’s largest tech start-ups.

The event was part of the Beedie School of Business’ partnership with prominent Vancouver radio station CKNW, which sees SFU’s downtown Vancouver campus play host to “The Chief Executives”, a series of live radio interviews conducted by CKNW host Bill Good, profiling some of the country’s top executives.

Eschewing typical CEO attire in favour of trainers, jeans and t-shirt, Holmes cut a relaxed figure as he joked with members of the audience and host Good throughout the interview. Keen to engage with the audience, Holmes at one point asked for a show of hands to survey the number of HootSuite users present in the room, prompting Good to joke that Holmes was taking over his show. Keep reading…

Tags: Apple, Beedie School of Business, Bill Gates, Bill Good, CKNW, entrepreneurship, Facebook, hootsuite, innovation, Invoke Media, Marketing, Ryan Holmes, Simon Fraser University, social media, start-ups, technology, The Chief Executives, Twitter

The app was developed in-class by SFU undergrads (from left to right) Charlene Adomako, Randy Tarampi, Justin Lee, Joshua Horacsek and Kyle Krystalowich.

In 2010’s hit film The Social Network, a young Mark Zuckerberg knows he has just launched something special when – out of the blue – a fellow Harvard student asks him to “Facebook me.”

Simon Fraser University’s Justin Lee, a fourth-year accounting student in the Beedie School of Business who helped develop the pioneering new Beedie iPhone app, hasn’t quite experienced his Zuckerberg moment – at least not yet. “People have messaged me and said, ‘Good job,’” Lee says, “but it’s not like you walk around campus and everybody’s using it.”

Lee’s modesty belies the weight of his team’s achievement. Originally conceived in an innovative course combination that involved students from Bus 338, an undergraduate class on business innovation, and CMPT 275, an undergraduate course on Software Engineering, the SFU Beedie mobile app was eventually developed by students who laboured for the better part of a year on the project, developing, refining and beta-testing features. The result: a one-stop communication portal for the Beedie community, merging Facebook, Twitter and other social media with school news, customized transit information, campus maps and a unique Q&A forum for students. “The app integrates it all into one medium,” Lee explains. “It’s got all the services students need.” Keep reading…

Tags: app, Beedie iPhone app, Bus 338, business innovation, communications, Facebook, innovation, iPhone, Jan Kietzmann, Justin Lee, Mark Zuckerberg, SFU Beedie Mobile, SFU Beedie mobile app, social media, Software Engineering, technology, The Social Network, Twitter

Ian McCarthy, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Technology & Operations Management at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, has been named on Business Insider’s prestigious list “54 Smart Thinkers Everyone Should Follow on Twitter”.

The Business Insider website provides commentary and analysis on the top business news stories from around the web. The list identifies the most influential thought leaders in the world currently active on Twitter who are respected in their fields and have developed a following for their insightful commentary on the platform.

In being selected for the list McCarthy joins esteemed names such as Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, editor-in-chief of the Huffington post, Arianna Huffington and renowned physician and public speaker Deepak Chopra.

“It is a tremendous honor being named on this list alongside such prominent figures,” says McCarthy. “I started tweeting and blogging while writing an award-winning research paper with colleagues. The paper focused on understanding and exploiting the functionalities of different social media, and it has since proven to be an effective launching pad for my social media presence.”  Keep reading…

Tags: Arianna Huffington, Beedie School of Business, Business Insider, commentary, Daniel Shapiro, Deepak Chopra, Duke University, Everton FC, Harvard Business School, Ian McCarthy, innovation, management education, New York University, operations, Research, Richard Branson, social media, technology, Twitter

The Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University has launched Ideas@Beedie, a digital magazine showcasing the business school’s academic research, industry impact and engagement with the community.

The magazine is available as both an app for Apple’s iPad, as well as in digital magazine format on the Beedie School of Business website.

The theme of the inaugural summer issue is social media – a growing area of focus for business researchers. Beedie professors have garnered numerous awards for social media research in recent months, and the school is home to a number of faculty and students who are using social media to engage with academics, businesses and the wider community.

Future issues of Ideas@Beedie will delve into themes such as international business, sustainability, entrepreneurship and business technology.

“Our goal is to highlight the breadth and depth of our business ideas to our readers,” said Daniel Shapiro, Dean of SFU’s Beedie School of Business. “With Ideas@Beedie, we hope to convey some of this scholarly activity in ways that are both relevant and insightful.”

Among the research topics explored in the first issue of the magazine are the advent of so-called mutated advertising in the Web 2.0 environment; the engagement of consumers using social media tools; and the growing usage of sustainability-geared apps for smartphone devices. The publication also explores management lessons to be learned from Vancouver’s infamous Stanley Cup rioting in 2011.

The e-magazine also features extensive profiles of Ryan Beedie and Joe Segal, both of whom have played extraordinary roles in the growth of the Beedie School of Business.

The launch of Ideas@Beedie comes on top of an extraordinary 18 month period for the Beedie School of Business. In February of 2011, the school received a record-setting $22 million gift from alumnus Ryan Beedie and his father Keith. Since then, it has launched a number of ambitious initiatives, including the Americas MBA for Executives, with partners in Brazil, Mexico and the United States; an Executive MBA for Aboriginal Business and Leadership, the first program of its kind; Canada’s largest undergraduate student-managed investment fund; and a high-technology entrepreneurship incubator.

This past spring, the school received endorsement from two prestigious accreditation bodies: the European Foundation for Management Development (EQUIS) and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

In addition, the school has vaulted into the world’s upper echelon of research business schools – placing among the top 75 for business research, and the world’s top 25 for management-specific research.

The iPad app can be downloaded at the Apple iTunes store, at http://itunes.apple.com/az/app/ideas-beedie/id532907167?mt=8

The magazine can also be viewed on the web with most browsers at: http://beedie.sfu.ca/ideas

Tags: AACSB, Apple, apps, BBA, Brazil, Daniel Shapiro, EMBA, engagement, EQUIS, Ideas@Beedie, innovation, iPad, Joe Segal, Keith Beedie, management, MBA, Mexico, Research, Ryan Beedie, smartphones, social media, sustainability, United States

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

New marketing research from SFU 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.

Pitt, a professor of marketing at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, co-authored the paper with Mignon Reynecke, a PhD student at the Lulea University of Technology in Sweden, and Pierre Berthon of Bentley University in Boston. The article was chosen following consultation amongst the journal’s editorial team, made up of eminent academics and industry leaders. According to Emerald Group Publishing, it was selected as “one of the most impressive pieces of work the team has seen throughout 2011.”

In the paper, Pitt and his colleagues set out to address the visibility of luxury wine brands in the social media environment, in particular the Bordeaux first growth brands. They explained that the Bordeaux wines were used because, given their retail price, reputation and rarity, they “epitomize not only luxury wine brands, but also luxury brands in general… they are the kinds of brands that legends are made of.”

They gathered social media data on the five Bordeaux first growths from the website How Sociable, comparing overall visibility scores and  visibilities in 32 different forms of social media. Ultimately, they focused on the brands’ visibility and intersection with “the most important and most relevant social media” such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning and Digg.

Perhaps surprisingly, they found that that some of the luxury brands considered did not, at the time the data were gathered, have a clearly defined social media strategy.

That lack of focus in the social media environment may not last for long, however. According to the researchers, there are opportunities moving forward for luxury wine brand managers to use social media as a tool in their marketing strategies. They note that some threats may exist to these brands should they take a laissez faire approach to social media, particularly given the rise of social media’s influence and credibility among consumers.

“Social media are now as influential, if not more so than, conventional media,” they said. “This has a massive impact on brands.”

To this end, luxury marketers in the wine space will need to give serious consideration to every social media tool at their disposal.

“Astute wine brand managers will define the social media that they care most about,” say the researchers. “Brands can take directions in social media that would have been unlikely if not impossible just five years ago. Brand managers will not fully be able to control the destinies of these brands, but at least they should still be part of, and ideally, direct the conversations that occur around their brands.”

In addition to the Outstanding Paper Award, the article was also selected as the best paper of the year in International Journal of Wine Business Research.

Further information about the research can be viewed at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1912147

For more information about the Emerald Literati Network’s Awards for Excellence, visit www.emeraldinsight.com/literati

Tags: Bentley University, Bordeaux, branding, Digg, Emerald Group Publishing, Emerald Literati Network, Facebook, How Sociable, International Journal of Wine Business Research, Leyland Pitt, LinkedIn, Literati Network Awards for Excellence, Lulea University of Technology, luxury marketing, Marketing, Mignon Reynecki, Ning, Pierre Berthon, social media, Twitter, wine, wine research, YouTube