Archive for March, 2011
The Haskayne 24 Hour Case Competition by Kathleen Williams
Posted by: SFU Beedie in MBA Experience, Student Life on March 30th, 2011
On Thursday March 10, a team of four from the Beedie Graduate School of Business headed to Calgary for the Haskayne 24 Hour Case Competition. It promised to be a great weekend and one we had been preparing for since returning to class after the winter break.
Connie, Kelvin, Tim and I applied to be members of the team representing Beedie in January. We each made a case for our specific skill sets in a short 250-word application. My ‘core competencies’ were in having subbed in on the MBA Games Case Competition Team and my ability to work fantastically on very little sleep (providing caffeinated beverages were readily available).
Before the competition we met up several times to develop a team dynamic, and to run practice simulations – including one 8-hour case practice session using the case from the 2010 Haskayne competition. However, without having completed a true 24-hour simulation we had no idea what we were truly facing when we arrived in Calgary.
Thursday, March 10
We arrived in Calgary on Thursday afternoon, and were picked up by a town car sent by Haskayne and headed to the Hyatt Regency to check in, meet with the organizers and get ready for the opening ceremonies that evening. We were instructed to maintain anonymity and were assigned the name Team Hyatt.
The opening ceremonies were hosted at the University of Calgary, with an opening keynote address by Clive Beddoe, CEO of WestJet. We mingled with some of the other teams – meeting fellow MBA candidates from schools including University of Saskatchewan, UBC, Dalhousie, McMaster and University of Calgary. The organizing committee drew for case briefing and presentation pools, and Team Hyatt was selected for the 8:30 AM briefing time at the University. With the time change from Vancouver to Calgary that meant a very early Friday morning departure from the hotel.
Job finding in the financial industry; challenges and resolutions. By Sara Moghaddamjoo (Edited By Lauren Looi)
Posted by: Sara Moghaddamjoo in Student Life on March 25th, 2011
As part of the upcoming Business Career Expo on March 25, we are running special commentaries from our graduate business students on the hunt for the best jobs in the worlds of management, finance and beyond. The Business Career Expo, which is co-hosted by the Beedie School of Business, is the largest business-themed student career expo in British Columbia. We think you’ll find their unique perspectives both helpful and inspiring – given the particular challenges of looking for work in the current economic environment.
It is now half way through our one year Master of Financial Risk Management (MFRM) program and many students have started thinking more seriously about securing a job immediately after graduation – while a number of current students have already started celebrating their secured job positions for after the program.
Finding a job can often get frustrating, specially during the ongoing economic recovery, but SFU’s graduate business school has made the students’ job searching process a lot more convenient by having a very strong and active Career Management Centre.
The involvement with this centre is almost as important as learning the courses for many students, if not more important. Professional career managers at Beedie School of Business guide students with their job search and prepare them for the real world business environment with mock interviews, various workshops and many resume review sessions. With the help of the career management I was able to prepare and qualify for my first finance internship.
Information Interviews – You gotta do it! by Michelle Au
Posted by: michelle_au in Student Life on March 24th, 2011
As part of the upcoming Business Career Expo on March 25, we are running special commentaries from our graduate business students on the hunt for the best jobs in the worlds of management, finance and beyond. The Business Career Expo, which is co-hosted by the Beedie School of Business, is the largest business-themed student career expo in British Columbia. We think you’ll find their unique perspectives both helpful and inspiring – given the particular challenges of looking for work in the current economic environment.
As uncomfortable as you may feel talking to a stranger, it’s something you “just gotta do.” When I entered the MBA program, all I knew about what I wanted to do after graduation was that I did not want to go back to my old job. I am still figuring out what I want to do, and this is where information interviews come in.
So how do you get an information interview? I got one through the human resources office of a company I was interested in. I had attended several information sessions, but they never sent someone from the department I was interested in. I approached the HR representative, and asked for a referral to someone who was in the department I wanted to work in. My other informational interview came through a referral from a classmate.
Student-Managed $10 Million Fund Soars, by Lauren Looi, edited by Derek Wong
Posted by: Lauren Looi in Student Life on March 15th, 2011
On February 24, 2011 finance professionals and students alike gathered in the foyer of the Segal Graduate School campus in downtown Vancouver. As they walked into the building, they were greeted with welcome packages before being ushered into the presentation room. Not only was it a chance to attend SIAS’ fourth quarter presentation, but also the opportunity to mingle with industry colleagues, past alumni, and future graduates.
During the first quarter of 2011, the SIAS fund broke new ground by reaching an asset value of $10.8 million for the first time. Feeling the rush of reaching new highs in the current environment, we were excited to deliver news of a 9.9% return for the final three months of 2010. Alex Conconi opened up the event with a brief overview of the year’s events including the financial impact of Greek’s downgraded debt, the explosion of BP’s Deep Horizon oil rig, and the rise of Read the rest of this entry »
MBAs make a meal out of multiculturalism by Taralyn Day
Posted by: tday in MBA Experience on March 10th, 2011
As part of the MBA curriculum, we recently completed a six-week course in cross cultural management taught by Dr. Anne Marie Francesco. The course focused on strategies and frameworks used in analyzing different cultures and how we can incorporate them in to our own management toolkit.
To celebrate the last day of class, we took part in an international potluck-style lunch and contributed a dish or drink from a culture represented within our respective class groups. We also prepared short presentations to give everyone a glimpse inside the culture we chose to highlight.
It was a great way to showcase the diversity represented within our cohort and the food was incredible! We sampled traditional dishes from Iran and India to China and Indonesia and saw presentations from many others including Russia, Italy, Greece, Australia and the Netherlands. Read the rest of this entry »
SFU victory at Global Investment Research Challenge translates into date with Warren Buffett, by Derek Wong
Posted by: Lauren Looi in Student Life on March 8th, 2011
March 5, 2011 – Four Seasons Hotel, Downtown Vancouver
After months of research, five teams — from UVic, TRU, SFU, UBC, and UBC-Okanagan — finally had a chance to present their masterpiece. The competition began in October 2010 based on Westport Innovations, a company that not all had heard of, in an industry with a limited history. For the SFU team, represented by Alex Conconi, Lauren Looi, Robb Ponti, Chris Tse, and Jin Yan, five months of company and industry research, financial statement analysis, risk analysis, and financial modeling boiled down to a 10 minute presentation in front of a panel of three judges at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Vancouver.
Having several months to prepare, each team presented with utmost eloquence and definitude. But no amount of practice was able to prepare the teams for the brutally tough questions from the judges. Following the presentation, each team was subjected to a 10 minute Q&A. Every little detail was questioned and the judges showed no mercy in grilling participants. Audience members cringed and watched in silent anguish as they watched the teams struggle with the interrogation. However, something unexpected happened when it was time for SFU’s Q&A session… they stumped the judges. Whereas every other team was questioned until the allotted time expired, SFU satisfied the judges’ appetite for completeness.
Taking you to the front row: SIAS 2010 Performance Overview (By Meadow Wu, edited by Lauren Looi)
Posted by: Meadow Wu in Student Life on March 4th, 2011
Starting at $7 million in 2003, the SIAS Fund has grown to over $10 million after years of hard work by SFU’s GAWM and MFRM students. On February 21st 2011, the fund hit a record high with over $10.80 million under management, which ranks itself as the largest student managed fund in Canada and one of the largest in North America. As a MFRM candidate and an analyst in the SIAS Fund’s Compliance and Performance team, I would like to share with you some key data that highlights the fund performance in 2010.
The Fund experienced a total return of 9.89%, the largest growth since 2003. The Canadian Equity portfolio gained 18.50% and contributed to almost half of the Fund’s total return. Our holdings were the major contributors to Canadian Equity’s performance and reflected the teams exceptional stock selection. Global Equity experienced large volatility during the year, which is representative of the turmoil across the globe (Haiti earthquake, the BP Deep-water Horizon oil spill and Iceland’s volcanic eruption), ended the year with a 5.00% return. Key strategies included investing in companies emphasizing overseas growth in Asian and the Emerging markets in the first quarter and investing in the U.S. at year-end. The Fixed Income Team took a conservative investment approach due to continually compressing yield curves. Their key strategy has been to invest in bonds that would immunize the portfolio against interest rate changes.
To manage our risk, we adopted the Value-at-Risk (VaR) model developed by previous cohort. The model was used to calculate the potential losses that the portfolio would expect to lose. A major advantage of understanding risk, is realizing how much risk we are taking on for the return that we expect to realize. We aim to minimize the risk and maximize return at optimal levels. The Risk Metrics team are key in understanding.
The Compliance and Performance team strive towards improving performance evaluation for the Fund. They have implemented a new model for one portfolio that has significantly improved attribution accuracy and are currently implementing this method to evaluate the performance of the Fund as a whole.
I look forward to sharing more of my exciting and valuable experiences over the next few months. For more information, please visit our website at http://beedie.sfu.ca/sias/. You are more than welcome to leave a comment or question, I am happy to respond or answer any that you have.