The inaugural event of the Rotman E-Biz Forum 2000, a new lecture series featuring
Canada's leading e-commerce strategists and firms, will be held on March 27 at
the Rotman School. David Pecaut, head of The Boston Consulting Group's Global
E-commerce practice, will discuss the threats and opportunities created in the
fast moving world of e-commerce. The lecture will be held in the Fleck Atrium
from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. The Rotman E-Biz Forum 2000 lecture series focuses on
the most pressing issues in e-commerce in both the business-to-consumer (B2C)
and business-to-business (B2B) markets. The second lecture will be held on May
1 featuring Nigel Stokes, chair and CEO, DataMirror Corporation. The series will
resume in September after a summer hiatus.
Tickets are $75 per lecture, which
includes a post-event networking reception. Admission is free for current Rotman
students, staff, and faculty. Space is limited. To reserve your ticket, please
RSVP to Jack Thompson, by phone (416) 978-0240, fax (416) 978-1373 or e-mail:
thompson@rotman.utoronto.ca.
A team from the Rotman School
- consisting of Amy Ballon, Sarah Duffy, Katherine Magee and Chris Spafford, with
alternate Julie Denton - won first prize in the Concordia 2000 MBA International
Case Competition held in Montreal in January, beating out 13 other Canadian teams,
9 U.S. teams, and 7 teams from outside of North America. In this fierce competition,
the teams use their analytical and communication skills to present a strategic
plan of action for a challenging business case to a panel of judges, made up of
senior executives. Teams are assessed on creativity, insight and real world applicability
of their solution.
The winning Rotman team had to crack 7 cases in 5 days,
ranging from mining in Colombia, to high-tech business development in China, to
manufacturing in Quebec, to non-profits.
Concordia hosted its first MBA Case
Competition in 1981. Almost twenty years later, the competition has grown into
a prestigious international five-day, 30-team competition, attracting leading
MBA students from around the world.
Rotman
MBAs Shine in National Competition
A team of second-year MBA students, consisting of Mark Kerzner, Paul Koreen, Hashim
Rizvi, Chris Spafford, and led by Adam Sadowski, placed in the top 5 at the first-ever
CIBC Ivey Business Plan Competition, held in March. The team developed a business
plan for a dot-com start-up called "MediaBuyDirect.com" under the guidance of
faculty advisors David Dunne and Becky Reuber. The top 5 Canadian teams will present
their plans to a panel of venture capitalists at the end of March, with the winners
heading to Austin, Texas to compete in the MOOT CorpÓ International Finals.
MBA and MMPA Students Honoured
With Awards
Rotman
MBA and MMPA students were honoured during the annual student awards ceremony
held on March 1 in the Fleck Atrium at the Rotman School. Hosted by Rotman Professor
John Hull, students received awards for academic excellence in their program as
well as entrance scholarships. The event was well-attended by students and their
families; Rotman faculty; and donors including Marcel Desautels, president of
the Canadian Credit Management Foundation (CCMF), whose 1998 remains the largest
single gift for student aid in Rotman School history. As a result of the assistance
of many individuals, corporate and public partners, and foundations such as the
CCMF, the Rotman School is able to provide over 30 different awards to approximately
125 students in the MBA and MMPA programs, with a combined value of more than
$220,000 annually.
Rotman
Finance Professors Win Petro-Canada Young Innovator Awards
Raymond Kan and Kevin Wang, both assistant professors of finance, are the first
winners of the Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award for their research proposal
entitled "The Expected Return On Market Portfolio." The award was established
in 1999 by a $250,000 gift from Petro-Canada, and is designed to provide support
for Rotman faculty at the start of their careers. The winning proposal was selected
from entries submitted to the Rotman School's Research and Centres Committee.
"The quality of the proposals received by the committee is reflective of the strength
of the research conducted at the Rotman School and the quality of our junior faculty
members," says Peter Pauly, associate dean, Research and Academic Resources. "This
award provides crucial funding to Raymond and Kevin and enables them to contribute
more fully to teaching and research at the School. We are extraordinarily grateful
to Petro-Canada for their vision and generosity in establishing these awards."
Learning To Do Business
the European Way
Rotman's
EMBA 16 class got their passports stamped and their eyes opened to a new world
of business opportunities during a recent 10-day International Seminar in Europe.
"We traveled to four countries and five cities, where the students met with officials
from three of the finest business schools in Europe as well as business leaders
from a variety of sectors" says Don Brean, Associate Professor of Finance and
Business Economics, who led the expedition. The whirlwind tour touched down
in Cologne, Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris and Prague. The objective for the 34 students
was to learn the fundamentals behind Europe's fast-changing economy, and in the
process gain an understanding of two major factors affecting business conditions
on the continent: the ongoing consolidation of European corporations, and the
impending expansion of the European Union.
Instructors from three top business
schools; École Superieure de Commerce in Paris, Universitasseminar der Wirtschaft
in Cologne, and the Prague International Business School, led classes and case
studies throughout the trip. The students met with international business experts,
including three Canadian ambassadors, top officials of leading corporations, ranging
from Deutsche Bank to Canada's Alcan and TrizecHahn, as well as owners/operators
of mid-sized global businesses based in Europe.
To get a hands-on business
perspective, while in Prague each EMBA study team met with a specific Czech company.
These site visits gave students a taste of international trade - either establishing
first contact with a potential foreign supplier, or discovering ways of increasing
business through an existing partner. "That exercise was one of the most remarkable
learning experiences I've ever been involved in," says Professor Brean. "It was
a way for our students to see how small the world really is."
EMBA
Dinner Honours Dr. William Waters
The overhead display in the Fleck Atrium described the guest of honour as "our
teacher, mentor and friend," a phrase that aptly describes Dr. William Waters,
the first academic director of the Executive MBA program at the Rotman School
of Management. More than 150 EMBA graduates - each of whom had been taught by
Dr. Waters at one time - gathered to show their appreciation for the professor
emeritus at a special alumni dinner in February. Dr. Waters is co-founder and
chairman of both Financial Models Company Inc. and Morningstar Canada (formerly
Portfolio Analytics Limited). He graduated with an arts degree and MBA from U
of T, then studied economics and finance at the University of Chicago, where he
received his Ph.D. He has taught business students at U of T for 35 years and
has been a major benefactor to the University and the Rotman School.
Throughout
the evening, EMBA alumni and Rotman faculty told anecdotes about Dr. Waters' intense
yet unorthodox teaching style. Among them was John Wilson (EMBA 15), president
of Irwin Seating Company Ltd., a co-sponsor (along with Dr. Waters) of the dinner
and networking event. He recalled how, during the first day of the EMBA program,
his fears about returning to school after a 30 year absence were erased by Dr.
Waters' words: "John, don't worry. You'll be fine. You've made it this far."
The event also marked the unveiling of the William Waters Award, a special fund
providing financial assistance to Rotman students who would otherwise be unable
to complete their studies at the School. In honour of the invaluable contributions
Dr. Waters has made to the Rotman School and to the Executive MBA program, this
annual event has been re-named the William Waters EMBA Alumni Dinner.
EMBA
Brochure Wins IABC Award
The Executive MBA Information Booklet and Application Package created for the
2000 program year has won an Ovation Award of Excellence from the Toronto Chapter
of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). The Rotman
School's communications and marketing department won the award in the Publications
category. Other Ovation Award winners included Canada Trust, CIBC and Bell Canada.
IABC is a worldwide organization that aims to increase the effectiveness of all
forms of communications in the business world.
In late March, Kate Eccles also
received an award of merit in the Publications category from the Canadian Public
Relations Society for her work on U of T's fundraising publications.
Unilever
Speakers Talk About Reinventing Business
The businesses of dress shirts and television provided the unlikely topics at
the last event of the year in the Unilever Speaker Series held at the Rotman School
on March 16th. Leon Goren, president of Just White Shirts and Black Socks, and
Jay Switzer, BCom'79, executive vice president, programming, at ChumCity, talked
about their companies' unique and innovative approaches to business. Goren
has guided the Canadian-based retail operation from its humble beginnings in a
garage to its current incarnation as a successful e-business by concentrating
on selling basic men's wear to a niche group of customers who do not like to shop.
Switzer says when CITY-TV first started, the station deliberately broke the
rules of television. It's an approach that has paid off as the single channel
has grown into a multi-media powerhouse with a string of television stations and
cable channels that sells its programming and expertise around the world.
Commerce
Students Help Out at Tax Time
Nineteen fourth-year Commerce students volunteered their time and expertise to
prepare tax returns for clients of the Hong Fook Mental Health Association on
February 26. The association provides services for mentally-challenged and low-income
individuals. Joan Kitunen, senior lecturer in accounting, coordinated the effort,
and says the students who participated found the experience to be very rewarding.
Rotman Tax Expert Speaks
at IIB Roundtable
Rotman
Professor Jack Mintz is the featured speaker at the March 22 Roundtable Discussion
sponsored by the Institute for International Business and the C.D. Howe Institute.
Prof. Mintz, who is also president and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute, speaks
on "Creating a Competitive Edge: The Costs of Doing Business in Canada." The event
is by invitation only. For more information please contact Liza Tham at (416)
978-2451 or Vivien Choy at (416) 971-2982
International
Business Week Returns to Rotman
A team of energetic first-year MBA students led by Belinda Dusbaba presented a
series of sessions for their fellow students during International Business Week
at the Rotman School from March 13 to 17. The students were greatly supported
by the staff of the MBA program and Peter Pauly, associate dean, research and
academic resources. Daily sessions for MBA students addressed issues including
ethics in international business, building global brands, and international mergers
and acquisitions. Featured speakers included Rotman faculty members Tim Rowley,
Don Brean, and Peter Pauly.
Founder
of Toronto Internet Start-Up Shares Secrets of Success
The trials and tribulations of running a successful Internet start-up was the
topic at the March 9 Citibank Speaker Series lecture. Martin Serbinis, co-founder
and chief technical officer of The DocSpace Company, spoke on the challenges the
Toronto-based company faced. The company, a leading provider of Web-based services
for secure file delivery, storage and collaboration, had to overcome financing
difficulties and challengers from competitors. In November 1999, The DocSpace
Company was sold to Critical Path Inc., a global provider of business-to-business
Internet messaging and collaboration solutions. Rotman alumnus, Ian Locke, MBA'91,
president and COO, The DocSpace Company, also attended the event. The evening
was co-sponsored by the Citibank Speaker Series and the Rotman MBA Finance Association.
MBA Students Lend a Hand
to Non-Profit Organizations
A class of Rotman MBA students have shown that there is more to their degrees
than high finance and big paycheques. The 27 students spent the Fall 1999 semester
enhancing their leadership skills by consulting for community organizations located
in downtown Toronto as part of the "Social Entrepreneurship and Consulting in
a Community Context" course, a second year elective in the MBA program. Teams
of three to four students were placed with eight non-profit and community organizations
who gave each team a consulting assignment to complete based on problems confronting
the organization.
"The class gives students the chance to have an impact on
real organizations and people," explains course instructor Lorne Kenney. "I told
them in the first class that the organizations will receive them warmly and will
very likely act on their suggestions. If they were wrong in what they recommend,
there would be serious consequences for the organizations and the people they
serve."
Participating organizations included Stop 103; AIDS Committee of Toronto;
Russian Orthodox Immigrant Services of Canada; Regeneration House; St. Christopher's
House; Breast Cancer Research & Education Fund/International Institute of Concern
for Public Health; 761 Community Development Corporation; and Earlscourt Child
and Family Centre.
"The course demonstrated to students that real life problems
do not have text book solutions. It forced them to think integratively across
the functional areas to solve the problems facing the organizations," says Peter
Pauly, Associate Dean, Research and Academic Resources.
The results have proven
so successful that several students have been asked to join the Boards of Directors
of the organizations they worked with. According to course instructor Kenney,
other students are considering pursuing careers in the non-profit sector or plan
to devote more time to volunteer activities as a result of their experiences.
"The course was one of the most rewarding and challenging I've ever taken,"
says Andrea Savage, MBA'00, who worked with Stop 103, an anti-poverty agency operating
in the Lansdowne and Davenport Road area. "I've learned a tremendous amount about
the non-profit sector and the challenges of initiating change with a severely
restricted budget. My involvement with Stop 103 has encouraged me to continue
my involvement in the non-profit sector as a volunteer."
"Unlike most areas
of study, the take-aways I received from this course cannot be learned from a
book," adds Michael Paszti who consulted for Earlscourt Child and Family Centre.
The course has been offered as a second year elective in the MBA program for
three years. It originated under the leadership of the late Max Clarkson, former
Rotman Dean and Professor and founder of the University of Toronto's Clarkson
Centre for Business Ethics.
Faculty
News
Jack Mintz, Arthur
Andersen Professor of Taxation, presented a paper on "Will the corporate income
tax wither" at the first World Tax Conference held in Tampa Bay from February
26 to March 6. The Canadian Tax Foundation and six other international institutes
sponsored the conference. He also presented a paper on "Reforming the tax cut
agenda" at the Canadian Tax Foundation policy conference in Ottawa on February
3-4. On February 23, Prof. Mintz presented a survey paper on "Growth and Taxes"
at the economic growth program of the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research.
The group is led by noted academics Prof. Pierre Fortin of UQAM and Prof. Elhanen
Helpman of Tel Aviv University. Andrew Mitchell, Patricia Ellison Professor
of Marketing, presented a paper entitled "The Effect of Brand and Attitude Accessibility
on Memory Based Choice" at the Haas School of Business, University of California,
Berkeley on February 3.
Sridhar Moorthy, Manny Rotman Professor of Marketing,
also presented a paper at the Haas School, "Advertising and Quality for Services,"
co-authored with Ignatius Hostmann, on February 17.
Finance professor Tom McMurdy
has been busy lately. Of note, he presented a paper, "A semi-Markov approach to
modeling volatility dynamics" at the Limburg Institute of Financial Economics
& Journal of Empirical Finance Conference on Risk Management held in Albufeira,
Portugal in November 1999. He also gave an invited presentation on "Measuring
and Forecasting FAX Volatility Dynamics" at the 1st annual CIRANO-MITACS Finance
Day held at the Universite de Montreal, on January 21.
Rotman
in the News
Rotman faculty
were kept busy during February and March commenting on a wide range of business
and economic issues. One of the media highlights was the extensive coverage received
by the MBA Business Conference held on January 31. Over 10 newspaper articles,
3 news web site stories and 2 television interviews were generated by the conference
in recent weeks. Due to space limitations, we can't list all the coverage but
here are a few highlights. Roger Martin offered up suggestions for Federal
Finance Minister Paul Martin's upcoming budget in a commentary in the February
28 Canadian issue of Time. He argues that any tax cuts or increases in spending
must be targeted to stimulate more work and investment and strengthen the economy.
Martin wasn't the only Rotman faculty member making suggestions to the Finance
Minister. In a paper for the C.D. Howe Institute, Jack Mintz and Tom Wilson urged
the Finance Minister to cut the capital gains tax. Mintz said that this would
add some zip to the Canadian economy by boosting the growing high-tech and IT
sectors. The paper received coverage in the February 18 edition of the Toronto
Star and the February 18 and 19 editions of the National Post. The full paper
can be obtained from the C.D. Howe Institute's website at www.cdhowe.org.
Jack
Mintz was also featured in a special pre-budget report in the February 19 issue
of the National Post. He took part in a roundtable discussion with Jeffrey Rubin
from CIBC World Markets; John Richards from Simon Fraser University; and Tom Courchene
of Queen's University. "We need to look at a much bigger picture, at the kind
of a tax system we need as we enter this new decade where competitiveness is going
to be a much more important factor," says Mintz who also commented on the budget
on CBC Radio on February 28th.
Roger Martin followed-up his pre-budget commentaries
by giving four television interviews on Budget Day. He was interviewed for CBC
Newsworld Business News and gave three separate interviews to CTV on February
28th. He also commented on the federal budget and several upcoming provincial
government budgets on ROBTv on March 20.
Len Brooks was quoted in the February
19 edition of the Calgary Herald regarding the investments by Canadian oil and
gas companies in war-torn and dangerous countries around the world. "If I was
the CEO of an oil and gas company, I would say the costs have just gone up to
go into these countries. Companies that go into questionable ethical situations
will be watched more closely and expected to do more than just provide money and
jobs," says Prof. Brooks.
Eric Kirzner commented on a wide range of investment
issues in the days leading up to the February 29 RRSP contribution deadline. He
was featured in several stories in the Toronto Star's "Smart Money" section on
February 22, and a Canadian Press story distributed across Canada during the week
of February 21. He also commented on index participation funds in the Star on
February 22 and was quoted in the Toronto Sun on February 17.
The Rotman School
received coverage in the National Post's special section on "The Educators" on
February 23. Robert Person, an EMBA student, talked about his reasons for choosing
a traditional classroom-based format for his degree over on-line delivery. Jim
Fisher was also quoted for the article.
Fisher, Rotman's associate dean, executive
programs, was a guest on February 24 on "The Bottom Line with Michael Vaughan"
on ROBTv. He engaged Dr. Don Nightingale, director of the Queen's EMBA program,
in a lively discussion on Executive MBA programs.
Higher oil prices will not
lead to an outbreak of inflationary fires in Canada this year, say several Canadian
economists including Peter Dungan in a February 23 Southam News wire story. "Last
time around, governments didn't know how to handle (high inflation caused by high
oil prices.) This time central banks aren't going to permit it." The article was
published in the Calgary Herald and Ottawa Citizen.
The $7.5 million donation
by eBay's Jeffrey Skoll to the University of Toronto (including the Rotman School)
was mentioned in an article in the February 21 issue of US News and World Report
on the increasing numbers of alumni under 40 years old making donations to universities.
Read the entire article at www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/000221/donor.htm
Soaring
stock prices for high tech companies have brought warnings that the bubble could
soon burst. Ramy Elitzur echoed these concerns in a March 8 interview on CBC's
The National. Laurence Booth, in an article distributed by Southam News on March
15 agreed with the warning by market regulators that too many people were using
borrowed money to buy high-risk stocks. Elitzur was the "Economist of the Day"
on ROBTv on March 9 and commented to CBC Radio on February 23rd regarding Alcatel
SA's purchase of Newbridge Networks.
Laurence Booth remarked in a March 7 Canadian
Press story that was widely distributed across the country, on the technical problems
plaguing the TSE. "It's a public relations disaster," said Booth of a mid-afternoon
trading halt.
Upcoming
Events Tuesday April
4, 2000
Executive MBA Information Forum
6:00 - 8:30 pm
If you
know of someone who might be interested in attending, ask them to call or e-mail:
emba@rotman.utoronto.ca or call (416) 978-6586.
Thursday, April 6
Institute for International Business Roundtable
"The Shell Case: Tax, Legal
and Financial Dimensions"
Speakers: Don Brean and Eric Kirzner, Rotman School
4:00 - 6:00 pm
Attendance is by invitation only. For more information,
call Liza Tham at (416) 978-2451.
Wednesday, April 26, 2000
Institute
for International Business Roundtable
"The World Economic Outlook"
Speaker:
Peter Pauly, professor of business and business economics, Rotman School
4:00
- 6:00 pm
Attendance is by invitation only. For more information, call Liza
Tham at (416) 978-2451.
Saturday, April 29, 2000
School's Out Bash
Featuring The Binders and Surprise Musical Guests
An Evening of Blues
and Rock and Roll for all Rotman School Students, Faculty and Staff
8:30 pm
- 12:30 am, Fleck Atrium
Entertainment: "The Binders", a Bay Street band
who performed at Baystock '99.
Cost: open bar for first two hours/cash bar
for last two hours/students, faculty and staff encouraged to bring their significant
others
Saturday, May 27, 2000
Hong Kong Alumni Event
Management
Seminar, Reception and Dinner
Speakers: Roger Martin, Dean, Rotman School;
Jon Dellandrea,
Vice-President and Chief Development Officer, University of
Toronto
Topic: "Competing in the New Economy" (to be confirmed)
By invitation
only. For more information contact the alumni office at (416) 978-0240.
Thursday,
June 22, 2000
Calgary Alumni Event
Launch of the Rotman School's Alberta
Alumni Gift Campaign
Speaker: John Oesch, Assistant Professor of Organizational
Behaviour
Topic: "Integrative Potential in Negotiations and Relationships"
Time and Place: TBA
For more information, contact the alumni office at (416)
978-0240.
For a comprehensive listing of Rotman School events, please visit
our web site at: www.rotman.utoronto.ca/news/events.
