FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY 1999           $1.25 Million gift to Rotman School for Centre for Finance and Student Awards      U of T alumnus Mark S. Bonham, B.Comm’82, has donated $1 million to establish the Bonham Centre for Finance Studies at the Rotman School of Management. Strategic Value Corporation, the company he founded, is adding a further $250,000 to the gift to support national fellowships for Rotman MBA students. When matched by the university, these additional funds create a permanent $500,000 endowment for student aid.  ``The Rotman School has a tradition of excellence in the finance field, and continues to attract some of Canada's best financial minds,'' says Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School. ``Now, thanks to one of U of T's most distinguished alumni, these exceptional faculty will have the chance to push the limits of their potential in a new centre of excellence. By incorporating leading-edge research directly into our innovative MBA curriculum and executive programs, the centre will enhance the school's vision of international distinction in management education. We are extraordinarily grateful to Mr. Bonham and Strategic Value Corporation for this pivotal gift.''  The centre will support leading-edge research in a variety of key finance areas. In addition, it will develop innovative new finance case studies to enhance the Rotman School curriculum in both MBA and executive programs.  Professor John Hull, recognized internationally for his finance research and innovative teaching, is the centre director.  ``The Bonham Centre for Finance will provide a point of intersection for the very best minds in the finance field to come together,'' says Hull. ``In addition to research activities, faculty and students will work collaboratively with industry to identify and track trends in such key finance areas as fund management, investment banking, derivatives and risk management.''  After graduating from U of T in 1982 and the London School of Economics in 1986, Mark S. Bonham co-founded BPI Financial Corporation, going on to found Strategic Value Corporation in 1995. Strategic Value Corporation, through its wholly owned operating subsidiaries Bonham & Co. Inc. (a registered securities dealer and portfolio management company) and Strategic Value Funds Management Inc., sponsors and manages the Strategic Value Series of Mutual Funds which has approximately $2.1 billion invested in over 200,000 unitholder accounts in 16 public mutual funds and one private fund. Strategic Value Corporation has offices in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, and is listed for trading on the Montreal exchange under the symbol SVA. The company's shareholders include employees and Investec Group Limited.   ``I have been very fortunate in my career and I attribute much of my success to the early training and education I received at U of T,'' says Bonham. ``All of us in the corporate sector have a responsibility to give back, helping the next generation prepare for the challenges of the new millennium. Increasing global competition means we all need to ensure that business education in Canada remains amongst the best in the world. The need for MBA graduates who can think in innovative ways has never been greater.''  The Rotman School currently offers more finance courses than any other business school in Canada in three areas: fund management; investment banking and corporate finance; and financial engineering. Over the past six years, the Rotman School has also developed derivatives and risk management training programs for traders of derivatives.            Rotman School Celebrates Newcourt Gift     On January 26th, friends and alumni of the Rotman School of Management joined senior officials from Newcourt and the University of Toronto, to celebrate Newcourt’s gift that establishes the Newcourt Chair in Structured Finance.  The evening began with introductory remarks about the School from Dean Roger Martin. Professor Laurence Booth, Finance area co-ordinator highlighted the importance of industry-academia partnerships.  Sanji Gunawardena, MBA’99, president of the MBA students’ Finance Association, told guests how the Newcourt Chair in Structured Finance will enhance the learning environment for students at the Rotman School.  U of T’s Chancellor, Hal Jackman presented David Banks, chairman of Newcourt, with an atlas of Canada, signed by all the guests in attendance, and a glass plaque commemorating the gift.  Mr. Banks spoke of the need for corporations to support higher education and the future workforce. The evening ended with U of T President J. Robert S. Prichard thanking Newcourt for its generosity and foresight in endowing this chair and enhancing the education of MBA students for generations to come.  The Rotman School of Management has now raised $31 million toward its goal of building a $40 million endowment to support academic chairs, programs and laboratories, and graduate student fellowships.           New Assistant Dean, Marketing and Communications Appointed     Kate Eccles will be joining the Rotman School on March 1 as the assistant dean, marketing and communications, Dean Roger Martin announced in an e-mail message to the School earlier this month. Currently Eccles is the manager for Campaign communications at the University of Toronto where she played a key overall role in the strategic direction, planning and implementation of the “Great Minds for a Great Future” communication initiative. She has previously worked at the B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver and MacLaren:Lintas Advertising in Toronto. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto.  Jim Milway will continue to serve as interim dean until the end of the month.            News from the BIC     Starting this month, the Business Information Centre will be producing a monthly newsletter containing news on such topics as new books and periodicals, new CD-ROM products and new resources available through UTLink. It will also include tips for better search strategies, reviews of interesting and useful Web sites called WebWatch, and issues of interest to business faculty and students from the business world.  “We will also be sending an enhanced newsletter electronically to all faculty and staff,” reports BIC manager Sean Forbes.           Case Competition a Success     The 5th Rotman School Management Consulting Association Case Competition was held on Feb.5 with 30 first year MBA students participating. The team of Sally Dufresne, MBA’00, Sherri Effa, MBA’00 and Bobby Lavoie, MBA’00, defeated all other challengers to win the event. The competition was supported and judged by the following consulting firms: The Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte and Touche, Andersen Consulting, KPMG, Ernst & Young, McKinsey, Mitchell Madison, Mercer Management Consulting, The Monitor Company.  Students can look forward to another competition in the fall.            MBA Business Conference at the Rotman School     The annual MBA Business Conference will be held on Feb. 26 but it won’t be at its usual downtown Toronto location. Organizers have decided to bring the annual student-run event back to the Rotman School. Highlights of the event will include a panel discussion on risk management and speakers from the area information and knowledge management.  Watch your mailbox or Embanet for more details and ticket information.           Date Set for 4th Annual Women in Management Conference     The fourth annual Women in Management Conference will be held at the Rotman School on Mar. 12.  The event features a panel of high profile women in senior corporate jobs  and is supported by Andersen Consulting. Look for more details in the next issue of the Rotman Reader.           Student Awards Ceremony Scheduled     The 1998-99 MBA Student Awards Ceremony will be held on March 1 in the Fleck Atrium at the Rotman School at 5 pm. A wine and cheese reception will follow the ceremony.           Commerce Formal     This year’s Commerce Formal will be held in the Vanity Fair Ballroom of the King Edward Hotel on Saturday, Mar. 13. Tickets are on sale through the Commerce Students Association until Mar. 4. Tickets are $55 for CSA members and $60 for non-members. Table reservations can be made at the CSA office.           Marketing Area Workshops     The spring schedule for marketing area workshops has just been announced. Workshops are scheduled for Fridays from 10:30 am – 12 pm and take place in the  Rotman School unless otherwise noted.  February 26  Room 151  John Zhang  Columbia University  "Dominant Retailer and Channel Coordination"  March 5  Room 145  Peter Lenk  Univerisity of Michigan  Topic TBA  March 12  Room 500  Drazen Prelec  MIT  "How to Score Wine-Tasters if You Know Nothing About Wine" March 19  10 am – 12 pm  Room 151  Jin Gyo Kim  University of Toronto  “A Bayesian Dynamic Logit Model with Household Specific Time-Varying Parameters  Edward Yau  University of Toronto  “Investigating Promotion Reponse Heterogeneity: A Hierarchical Approach  March 26  Room 151  Greg Allenby  Ohio State University  "Overcoming Scale Usage Heterogeneity: A Hierarchical Approach"  April 9  Room 151  Pradeep Chintagunta  University of Chicago  Topic TBA           Faculty News     Anil Verma, professor of industrial relations, will give two talks this month to European audiences. On Feb. 17 he will address the International Labour Organization in Geneva on “The Future of Work and Employment.” On Feb. 20, Prof. Verma will speak to the Association for German-Canadian Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on “Canadian Labour in a Global Economy.”  Congratulations to Kai Lamertz who successfully defended his PhD thesis on January 29. His thesis entitled, "Social Network Structure and Social Exchange of Help in Work Groups". The thesis committee consisted of Prof. Verma, Martin Evans, professor of organizational behaviour, and Professor Bonnie Erickson of Sociology. Hugh Gunz, associate professor of organizational behaviour, was the internal examiner and Stephan Motowidlo of the University of Florida, the external examiner. Currently Lamertz  is an assistant professor at Concordia University.  In January, Becky Reuber, associate professor of strategic management, presented a paper entitled "A Comparison of Multiple Perspectives on Rapid Growth Firms" at the Annual Conference of the United States Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship, in San Diego.  On Feb. 6, Prof. Reuber participated in a meeting of  the Executive of the Academy of Management's Entrepreneurship Division in Boulder, Colorado that discussed doctoral education and planning, as chair of the International Committee.  Yue Li, assistant professor of accounting, has a paper accepted for publication in Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance.  The paper is entitled "An Empirical Examination of Factors Affecting Environmental Accounting Standard Adoption and the Impact on Corporate Valuation," co-authored with Bruce McConomy.  Sandy Borins, professor of strategic management,  attended the Global Form on Reinventing Government, hosted by Vice-President Gore, in Washington on Jan. 14-15 and participated in a panel discussion on post-bureaucratic government. Prof. Borins is spending this term as a visiting professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley.  Taxation in Modern China, edited by Professor Donald Brean, has been published by Routledge of New York and London. Richard Newfarmer, lead economist at the World Bank describes Brean’s volume, as offering “a comprehensive and penetrating look at the problems this huge country is facing in constructing a sound basis for a new, market-supporting public sector. It is unique in both its breadth and depth, and it is a ‘must-read’ for those wishing to understand the enormity and complexity of China’s transition.”  Professor Brean has also been awarded a research grant from the Stikeman Fiscal Institute to investigate international tax arbitrage and the cost of capital of multinational enterprise. He will appear this month before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry to submit a brief on impediments to the flow of finance to small and medium sized industry. Prof. Brean has been invited to deliver a series of lectures on “Information Technology and Economic Development” at the University of Ulm, Germany.           Newsmakers      An article in the current issue of Canadian Business Economics by Jack Mintz, Arthur Andersen Professor of Taxation, received notice in the Globe and Mail on Feb. 9. Prof. Mintz, who chaired the federal government’s technical committee on taxation last years, says Finance Minister Paul Martin is wrong to delay business tax reform until he changes personal income tax rates. “This strategy for substantial change to the tax system is a poor choice,” says Mintz. Business tax reform could add as much as $20 billion a year to Canada’s gross domestic product.  Ramy Elitzur, associate professor of accounting, was quote in a article in the Feb. 15 edition of Business Week regarding the problems facing auditors at Livent. “When management conspirs, it’s very, very difficult for auditors to detect fraud,” says Prof. Elitzur.  Len Brooks, professor of accounting and business ethics, was quoted in a Jan. 28 article in the Wall Street Journal regarding a recent report that women comprised only 6 per cent of directors of Canada’s largest companies. He was also quoted on the same day in the Financial Post concerning a new trend for companies to hold their annual meetings on the Internet. Prof. Brooks said that the Internet is good for augmenting meetings but it should not replace them.  “My sense is that it would give management more control over proceedings than what they might have if it were face to face.”  Gary Latham, Secretary of State Professor of Organizational Effectiveness, was quoted in the Toronto Star on Jan. 30 regarding the new generation of leaders that will likely take over leadership roles at Canada’s big banks.  The new challenges facing banks means that they are looking less for people who know the nuts and bolts of every job and more for people who can look beyond.  After speaking to a group of Rotman MBA students, Alan Webber, founding editor of Fast Company, was profiled in the Feb. 1 Globe and Mail. The companies featured in the magazine, he said, are chosen because they are doing something different in a certain area. “We are clearly a publication that focuses on best thinking and best practices.” On Jan.25, Richard Leblanc, part-time instructor in the MBA program, was interviewed by CBC Radio's "Metro Morning."  He discussed the governance shortcomings of the International Olympic Committee in light of the bribery and corruption scandal.  The next day he also gave interviews to five CBC affiliates from Vancouver to Toronto to discuss President Clinton's impeachment trial and calls for IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch to resign as head of the IOC. On Jan.28 he was interviewed by Canadian Business magazine concerning Magna International Inc.'s movement away from its core business of auto parts into entertainment and the proposition that Magna's Board of Directors lacked sufficient independence to oversee such a transition led by dominant shareholder Frank Stronach.  Leblanc, who is currently researching the Magna board as part of his doctoral dissertation, made the case that, of the 11 board members, 5 appear to be "related" under the TSE guidelines, and further, that to allege that Magna's board lacked sufficient oversight may be a premature conclusion that appears to date to be unsubstantiated by empirical evidence.  On Jan.29 Leblanc was asked to comment on allegations by African IOC members that they were being used as scapegoats in the current IOC scandal.  He discussed a ranking by Berlin-based Transparency International of countries and their "corruption perception indices" and discussed the corruption allegations that have also surfaced to date in other non-African countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, Spain and the United States.           Staff Changes     Liza Tham is the new assistant at the Institute for International Business.  She joins the Rotman School after graduating from the University of Toronto.  Agnes Pawelkiewicz is our new staff member in the Business Information Centre.  Agnes has been working in the BIC on a casual basis for the past year, but now assumes a full-time position.  Agnes has worked at the University of Toronto since 1992.

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