Air Canada cuts Calgary-Saskatchewan service in profit-motivated move
Air Canada is discontinuing direct flights between Calgary, and Saskatchewan’s two largest cities. The move will leave travellers from Regina and Saskatoon with fewer options, but is a savvy business move, according to Prof. Karl Moore. It is part of the air carrier’s effort to focus on its major hubs in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
Eco-fashion brand Ecova tells the stories behind its green initiatives
Positive storytelling can encourage consumers to make better, more eco-conscious choices. That’s the vision the Stephanie Beaulieu (MBA’22) shared with Karl Moore in an article for Forbes.com. Beaulieu founded the eco-fashion company Ecova to make change in the fashion industry.
Green energy not yet mature enough to solve Europe’s energy crisis
Europe’s energy crisis has highlighted the gap between the green energy production that we want, and the fossil fuel energy infrastructure that we actually have. When Russia cuts off the flow of natural gas to Europe, there simply is not enough green energy to compensate, said Eric Reguly of The Globe and Mail in an interview with Prof. Karl Moore for Les Affaires.
Air Canada is again named best North American airline, but competition is limited
U.S.-based magazine Global Traveler has named Air Canada the best airline in North America for the fourth year in a row, but this honour is a relative one, according to Prof. Karl Moore. According to Moore, it shows just how bad some of the other airlines in North America are.
Onex CEO Gerry Schwartz brought New York City thinking to Bay Street
Gerry Schwartz founded Onex Corporation in 1984, and after nearly four decades at the helm, he grew the company in to one of Canada’s largest private equity and venture capital firms. Now, Schwartz is stepping down as Onex’s CEO.
Understaffed airlines are less able to recover from delays
The return of mass air travel has encountered some turbulence, to say the least. Lengthy delays and lost luggage are ubiquitous, even as air travellers often pay a premium for flights. At least 240 WestJet flights were recently cancelled as a result of a system outage caused by a computer problem at a data centre, and when delays like this occur, airlines are less able to cope with them than they were in pre-COVID times. They are understaffed, and overwhelmed.
Quantum tech is closer to commercialization, but few have the knowhow to commercialize it
Quantum technology has largely been confined to the lab, but it is moving ever closer to the world of business, writes Karl Moore in Forbes.com. With $35.5 billion in government and business investment globally, technologies like quantum computers have the potential to transform multiple sectors of the economy.
Médecins Sans Frontières brought business innovations to charitable giving
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) introduced a new business model for charitable giving. “We were the first ones to create the regular donation model," said Dr. Joanne Liu (MDCM'91, IMHL'14, DSc'16), an emergency physician, a professor at the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University, and the 13th President of MSF (2013-2019). “One of our first fundraising campaigns was 1 euro per day,” Liu said in an interview with Prof.
Business leaders now operate at the intersection of business operations and global trends
Politics has pervaded the world of business, writes Prof. Karl Moore in Forbes.com. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are both changing corporate practices.
Chef Rich Francis revives Indigenous culinary traditions
Rich Francis, owner of Seventh Fire Hospitality Group in Six Nations in Ontario and Alberta, never set out to be a chef, but leveraged his time on Top Chef Canada to launch a prominent culinary career. Francis focuses on the precolonial culinary traditions of Indigenous peoples, but there are limits on what he’s able to do. “Most of my work is in First Nations communities,” Francis told Prof.
Montreal EdTech company Paper aims to address educational inequities
When a parent pays a tutor directly, they are helping their own child succeed. But not every parent can afford to do that, and Montreal-based EdTech company Paper has a vision to address this inequity. The academic support platform, a finalist in the 2014 Dobson Cup, sells its services directly to school boards, so that all students in a district are able to access them.
The Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone pitches Canadian businesses on the advantages of the UAE
Dubai and Abu Dhabi are household names in the west, but there are five other emirates in the United Arab Emirates vying to establish themselves on the world stage. One of the fastest growing is Ras Al Khaimah. It’s home to RAKEZ—the Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone, a major business and industrial hub, which claims to be home to over 15,000 companies in over 50 sectors.
War in Ukraine exposed how far green energy is from meeting electricity needs
The war in Ukraine jeopardizes the European Commission’s bid to become climate neutral by 2050, according to Eric Reguly, the European Bureau Chief for The Globe and Mail. “This crisis in Europe exposed the shortcomings of renewable energy,” said Reguly in an interview with Prof. Karl Moore for Forbes.com. “There just was not enough of it around to make up for the gas shortfall when Vladimir Putin turned off the taps.
Strengthening communications networks will require many thousands of satellites
About 11,000 satellites have been launched since the Sputnik went in to orbit in the 1950s, but less than a third of them are currently active. The coming years will see a proliferation, with an estimated 70,000 satellites going in to orbit – largely to bolster communications networks, writes Desautels Prof. Karl Moore in an article for Forbes.com.
Solfium app makes it easier to understand the costs and benefits of installing solar panels
Solar energy has a great deal of potential – but the areas where it is produced are not always the same places the energy is needed most. That’s a barrier to widespread adoption, and Canadian-Mexican startup Solfium wants to accelerate solar’s adoption by making it easier to understand the economics of installing solar panels. The company’s mobile application is a one-stop shop for a quick estimate of the benefits and costs associated with installing solar energy.
