Last year was one of economic uncertainty – and a challenging year for many small businesses. Despite this, small business owners demonstrated remarkable resilience, ingenuity and leadership, and looked for ways to turn obstacles into new opportunities, writes Don Ludlow (MBA’01) in CanadianSME Business Magazine.

Classified as: MBA Alumni, Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Published on: 10 Jan 2024

Last year, after months of hard work and 'brandstorming', two McGill Desautels teams took the podium at the 31st annual L'Oréal Brandstorm competition, competing against top teams from across Canada! Madison Laxer and her fellow Master of Management in Retailing (MMR) teammates, Aditi Bali and Supreet Kaur, took third place. Madison reflects on her experience participating in the case competition and how it even led to an internship.

Classified as: Master of Management in Retailing (MMR), Bachelor of Commerce (BCom), Case Competitions and Challenges
Published on: 9 Jan 2024

This winter, the sustainability efforts of 13 University offices were recognized by the rigorous Sustainable Workplace Certification program hosted by the McGill Office of Sustainability, with nearly half coming from McGill Desautels. The Academic Affairs Office earned a Gold-level certification, while the Dean’s Office and Infrastructure Team earned Silver, and the EMBA McGill-HEC program, Human Resources Team, PhD in Management Office, and Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship were recognized with Bronze awards.

Classified as: Desautels Faculty of Management, Sustainability, Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI)
Published on: 21 Dec 2023

Buy now, pay later technology offers loans to consumers to pay for purchases in instalments over time. A soft credit check verifies eligibility, and can extend credit to users who might not otherwise have access to credit products. These loans claim to improve the financial inclusion of lower-income young people, but should be approached with caution, writes Vivek Astvansh in The Conversation.

Classified as: Desautels Faculty of Management, Vivek Astvansh
Published on: 21 Dec 2023

Christmas is just around the corner, and even with inflation slowing down, gift prices are higher than ever. Canada’s Consumer Price Index is at an all-time high of nearly 160 points, Associate Professor Vivek Astvansh tells CTV News Montreal. “Consumers are feeling the pinch, and while they want to buy stuff, they are resisting purchases,” says Astvansh. Holiday spending will still be higher than it was last year, but not because people are actually buying more gifts. “The prices of everything have gone up.

Classified as: Desautels Faculty of Management, Vivek Astvansh
Published on: 21 Dec 2023

When you think of a shopping centre Santa Claus, a specific body type comes to mind: a bearded, rosy-cheeked, older, white man. In fact, many work in fields where their bodies are intentionally governed by organizational systems intent on shaping them into an idealized image of a worker, argues Assistant Professor of Strategy and Organization Rohini Jalan. While all bodies are encouraged to undergo body work to conform, this affects different body types disproportionately.

Classified as: Rohini Jalan, Strategy and Organization (T)
Published on: 20 Dec 2023

Funding for universities is not a zero-sum game, writes John Cleghorn Professor of Management Henry Mintzberg in a LaPresse op-ed. And the Quebec government’s plan to increase tuition for out-of-province students risks undermining the very source of funding it hopes to leverage. If students at anglophone universities are charged higher fees, and that money is used to fund francophone universities, it will discourage many out-of-province students from coming to Quebec in the first place.

Classified as: Desautels Faculty of Management, Henry Mintzberg
Published on: 18 Dec 2023

Tipping has gotten out of control in Canada. Not only are restaurants’ automated payment systems prompting patrons for tips of up to 30%, there are even some tip prompts at self-serve kiosks. More than half of Canadians say they’d prefer a no-tip, service-included model that ensures higher base wages for employees. For now, shoppers should be reminded that tipping is discretionary, says Associate Professor Vivek Astvansh in an article for The Conversation.

Classified as: Desautels Faculty of Management, Vivek Astvansh, Marketing (T)
Published on: 14 Dec 2023

Family-controlled businesses demonstrate exceptional long-term performance. Since 2005, such businesses have significantly outperformed the S&P/TSX Composite. Family-controlled businesses earned an annualized return of 8.3%, compared to 7% for their publicly-traded counterparts, according to the National Bank of Canada’s Family Advantage 2023-24 Report.

Classified as: Karl Moore, Desautels Faculty of Management
Published on: 14 Dec 2023

Navigating decision-making complexities is no easy feat, but Henry Mintzberg, John Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at McGill University, and Frances Westley, J.W. McConnell Chair in social innovation at the University of Waterloo, have crafted insightful methods to ease this process.

Classified as: Desautels Faculty of Management, Henry Mintzberg
Published on: 14 Dec 2023

Canadian pension funds have outperformed their counterparts elsewhere, and a recent study co-authored by Associate Professor of Finance Sebastien Betermier examines how they’ve accomplished this. The study analyzes four deals – in the agricultural, railway transportation, real estate development, and financial services– that diversified their holdings and enabled their success.

Classified as: Sebastien Betermier
Published on: 12 Dec 2023

More than 3 million Canadians will be facing mortgage renewal in the next 18 months – and with interest rates still at their highest level in years, many will face payments that are 30-40% higher. “Inflation has been off the charts for the past couple years, and when the Bank of Canada raises interest rates, it is to bring inflation down,” explains Sebastien Betermier, Associate Professor of Finance.

Classified as: Sebastien Betermier
Published on: 12 Dec 2023

Congratulations to Michael Richardson (GCPA'18, 2018 CFE Honour Roll and Gold Medal in Quebec) on receiving the Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting (GCPA)Teaching Award for Guest Lecturers for the second time!

This award recognizes excellence in teaching by guest GCPA lecturers. Excellent teaching can be demonstrated through a well-designed course, engaging in-class activities and materials, use of innovative teaching strategies, and a commitment to improving one's courses through feedback.

Classified as: Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting (GCPA), BCom Alumni
Published on: 8 Dec 2023

Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting (GCPA) Tian Cheng Huang (BCom’22, GCPA‘23) and Kyra Swift (BCom UOttawa’21, GCPA’23) have been named to the Honour Roll of the Common Final Exam (CFE) for their outstanding results.

Classified as: Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting (GCPA), BCom Alumni
Published on: 8 Dec 2023

It has been a challenging few years for supply chains. After pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, many retailers increased their inventory for the 2022 holiday season. After all, demand was still booming at the time. But demand has come down off its peak, and that presents an entirely different problem for retailers in 2023. Some major retailers have reduced inventory so as to not be left with products they can’t sell.

Classified as: Desautels Faculty of Management, Vivek Astvansh
Published on: 8 Dec 2023

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