Although I was aware of the importance of First Nations relations to the success of businesses in British Columbia, prior to this extraordinary trip, I never had the opportunity to learn about what that relationship entails in such depth. As Patrick Michell – Kanaka Bar Community Liaison – puts it aptly, “relationships with First Nations should be viewed as business opportunities rather than impediments”.

Our excursion began at 9:30am on a fine Tuesday morning. The bus buzzed with continuous chatter and laughter – all the positive signs of an excellent adventure. Even though the bus encountered unexpected mechanical issues en route to our first destination, the bus load of aspiring and innovative leaders of tomorrow made the best out of the situation. In fact, some of the fondest memories were created during this “pit stop” where target practise was improvised with rocks and silly pictures (taken and provided courtesy of the talented Mohammad Nasiri) worth thousands of words were taken.

We arrived at the Nk’Mip Resort just in time for dinner. We were greeted with warm hospitality the moment we set foot in the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre. Mouth watering Indian tacos were on the menu that evening. Before we began, our head host Bob Etienne, introduced us to the tradition of ‘smudge’ – smoke from burning sage leaves were used as a purifier of surrounding energies. As Bob puts it, “water from the tap takes external impurities away whereas sage cleans from the inside out”. This proved to be an eye-opener for most of us and marked the beginning of the cultural learning journey. 

The following days were filled with a fine balance between academic learning, cultural education, and bonding between classmates. Our first official day on the resort began with a presentation by Chris Bower – Director of Operation at Nk’Mip resort – who informed us about the history of the resort as well as the business opportunities and challenges involved with First Nation relations. Following breakfast, the group made its way into the desert attached to the resort for a session of rappelling. Walking perpendicularly down a cliff wall sure got all of us excited. Next on the schedule included a desert walk led by Bob who gave an informative lesson on how First Nations survived and navigated through the often-time unforgiving desert. The day wound down with a tour of the Nk’Mip winery topped off with a taste of delicious wine ranging from Pinot Blanc to Merlot.

The rest of the trip included a surface tour of the New Gold mine, tour of the Kwoiek Creek Hydro Project, and lunch hosted by the Kanaka Bar Indian Band where we had the opportunity to experiment with authentic First Nations cuisine, all of which were pleasantly informative and at times surprising.

That said, this First Nation cross-cultural trip provided the class with invaluable information necessary for doing business in British Columbia. Additionally, after interacting with First Nations and getting their perspective on challenges they have faced provided a high-level take away – one needs to be cognizant and sensitive to the indigenous population. This is true, as we have learned in Cross-Cultural Management, for expatriates on assignment in a location that differs widely in customs. This trip was a good opportunity for me to reflect on what I have learned so far in the program and ponder about delicate relations under a more informed and holistic way. You may wonder whether I would go on this experience again if I had the opportunity to. Heck yea, where do I sign up?!

Chamberlin Chang is a former Account Services representative at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. He is interested in business process improvement, change management, and strategy. Please contact Chamberlin via LinkedIn to learn more and/or discuss employment opportunities. 

“Who’s there?”

“Beedie”

“Beedie who”

“Be dee one who went to the Acumen case competition final.”

All bad jokes aside, I (farthest to the right) recently had the pleasure of preparing and presenting a strategy for Ziqitza health care ltd to a panel of Social Entrepreneurs at the annual Acumen case competition. This competition differs from most in that all cases revolve around a social enterprise, thus adding an added level of challenge to the task.  My team of fellow MBAs Winnie So, Andrew Simard, and I (Mike Vandervelden) placed 2^nd in what the organizer declared “The Closest Finals Yet”. The task was to provide a scalable strategy for Ziqitza to:

“Provide world-class ambulance service for all of India’s population, regardless of socioeconomic status”.

For us it all came down to “HELP”. We knew we had to provide something outside of the case that would be a real game changer, something that would make Ziqitza or 1298 (the emergency number they would use) synonymous with ambulance services.  That’s when we came up with the Acronym “HELP” to teach people when to dial 1298.

So, why bother share a 2^nd place experience you might ask? Well, because the take away from this competition equates to so much more then meets the eye. This competition was unique in the sense that Acumen put on a 4 session course spanning 5 months, in which they gave us tips on how to approach these types of problems. However, these skills go well beyond just case competitions, they are skills that can be applied to real world scenarios. In my mind, case competitions provide real word gut checks as to how we are applying our education.  So although it took a few days for the sting of being so close to victory to dissipate, when I sit back and think about what we achieved, I couldn’t be more thrilled.  One of the judges, an investment and financial innovator known for attacking poor strategy, not only used her Q and A time to praise our unique and innovative strategy, but also sought us out afterwards to inquire about our future aspirations.  This praise alone made up for the bitter defeat, as it provided a real sense of confirmation that we’ve made substantial progress in our MBA journey.

On a more personal level, this experience has done wonders for me in terms of career development. Upon starting the MBA program at BEEDIE, I knew I wanted to get involved in a sector where I could use the mode of business to make an impact in society; I just didn’t know how I was going to do it. I started looking at different options outside of my original goals in hopes of building a circle of experience that I could tie together in hopes of applying it to an honorable initiative one day.  Through a series of cases based on providing healthcare services to citizens in India, I was able to grasp what it takes to provide a sustainable business strategy revolving around philanthropic mission statements: I now believe I can achieve both simultaneously. This experience has not only refocused my objectives and introduced me to the exciting world of Social Enterprise, but I was also able to meet great people already working in this space. It’s opened a whole new world for me.

It is not until you fully immerse yourself in your opportunities, that you create the potential to become one of the Few Great Minds – Mike Vandervelden Beedie MBA 

If you would like to know more about my experience feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on Twitter @vandermike2012

I’ve always considered the hour of 4 am to be a time when no one should really be awake. When my kids were young and they woke up during the 4 o’clock hour, I always felt a jolt of outrage – “don’t you know that everyone is supposed to be asleep right now!” That is certainly how I felt when my alarm when off at 4:30 am and I [literally] bolted upright out of bed.  “Oh no!” The day had begun and I had to start getting ready for the Strategy Case competition at the MBA Games 2013, Hamilton, ON.

Other weary case competitors joined at the buffet breakfast, loading up on coffee and carbs…each team would need its strength to face a complex task, a wickedly short timeframe and worse, fierce competition from approximately 20 other MBA schools across Canada. The Strategy Case typically has the reputation of the being the “money team” – the team where a school’s best and brightness attempt to wow panels of judges with their brilliant analytical skills; seamless presentations and most importantly, advice for a company that will allow it to solve whatever problem the case itself describes.

The slightly old-fashioned school bus arrived at the front door of the hotel to drive us to McMaster’s Degroote School of Business’s new building  – from an out of town perspective, we were in the middle of nowhere on a stretch of highway outside Hamilton. One by one each team was provided with a package of materials that we had just 2.5 hours to analyze. As a woman, I was certainly in the minority of participants. Although many teams had more men than women (some were all men), not a single team had more women than men – our team was no different. Our team had 2 of each:  myself, a full-time MBA student was joined by Geordan Hankinson (MBA full-time), Winnie So (MOT MBA part-time) and Lucas Mitchell (a full-time MBA student who had finished the program but not yet graduated). As a group, we work together very effectively, without conflict or anger, arriving at decisions almost without effort. This, we thought, was a winning team. We would surely at least make it to the finals.

The case we analyzed was one that asked a slightly vague “how do we do better?” kind of question. With the 2.5 hour time limit on our minds, by the time we finished reading the case itself, we had to quickly arrive at a direction and run with it. The group settled on a logistics and streamlining approach and set to work on our presentation.

The difference between practice case competitions that might happen within our program and the MBA Games competition was clearly the volume of adrenaline pumping. Each of us paced the halls as we prepared to present, silently mouthing our speeches, perhaps praying or trying anything to calm ourselves down. In the end, the presentation went smoothly – no major slipups or missteps.

Unfortunately, our best efforts were not enough to move us to the next round. Ten out the 20 teams were eliminated in the first round and we were among them. No finals, no glory, no fame. But each of us felt proud to have given our best effort and in the end, that’s all each of can do. If each of us were to asked the question “was it worth getting up at 4:30 am?”, the answer would surely be “absolutely.”

Crowded in a room at the Beedie School of Business in late October, we waited in anticipation for the first meeting with regard to the much celebrated MBA Games. This competition takes place in January over an entire weekend where students from across the country come together to compete in spirit, athletic and academic events. This year, the games were in Hamilton at the DeGroote School of Business. We were all so excited to get started and when the team captains announced the requirements for the spirit events, we all got to work.

You see, so much preparation behind the scenes goes into these games. For my part, I was grouped with Danielle Friesen and Andrew Simard and we became responsible for creating a video entitled “What Makes a Good Leader”. We had no further instructions from the organizing committee so we just ran with it. This video, along with volunteer hours in our community needed to be completed before the start of the games and would count toward our spirit points.

The amount of hours spent thinking about the concept, developing our ideas, organizing filming sessions and editing the content were countless. However, what a great experience! The final result was spectacular and everyone’s hard work paid off as all team members came together during the final day of filming to create what will forever be remembered as the “SFU Balloon Wall”.

We presented the video, as did all other schools, during the opening ceremonies for the MBA Games on Friday January 4^th. It was impressive to see how everyone had interpreted the tagline “What Makes a Good Leader”.  Some schools opted for a more comedic approach while others stuck to a very formal definition of leadership. There was so much cheering and excitement in the room with over 600 students dancing and cheering and just having a good time. The energy was palpable and I knew I had made the right decision in participating in these games.

With all the hard work and dedication that goes into doing this MBA program at Beedie, this felt like the perfect reward. A chance to let loose, meet new people and create friendships that will last a lifetime. So many stories came as a result of this weekend together in Hamilton. Some of which you may have heard, some which may have been censored…hahaha. But one thing is for sure, no one ever regrets participating in the MBA Games!

At the end of the games, during the closing ceremonies, all winners from each category were announced. Unfortunately, our video submission did not make top 3, but we had so much fun creating it that we still felt like winners. What a weekend. What an experience. Now it’s time to get back in the routine and hit the books once more!

Joanna Kipp and Geordan Hankinson, co-presidents of the Net Impact Segal Chapter for the 2013 school year, recently had the great opportunity to travel to Baltimore to participate in the 2012 Net Impact Conference.

I have always been fascinated by the intersection of business with the complex social and environmental issues that confront our cities and countries. The Net Impact Conference brought together many bright minds who are using innovative business models to address some of the most difficult problems confronting our societies.

Joaquin Duato of Johnson & Johnson, and Kurt Kehne of UPS during the Saturday keynote session.

What I enjoyed the most about my experience at the conference was the opportunity to engage with professionals who are profoundly solutions oriented. Net Impact brings together people from a range of backgrounds who have spent a good part of their lives not just identifying and talking about problems that need to be solved, but actually trying to solve them. As attendees at the conference, Joanna and I had the opportunity to hear a wide array of such creative minds in the various workshop and speaker sessions held throughout the weekend.

My favourite of these sessions was one entitled the Five Levers of Social Change facilitated by Aaron Hurst. Aaron is the president and founder of the TapRoot Foundation, an organization that connects business and legal professionals (offering their services pro bono) with small not-for-profits who are serving their communities or protecting the environment in innovative ways. Aaron has written extensively about the most effective ways to move the dial on any particular issue (be it social, environmental or economic) and he has distilled this into what he dubs the Five Levers Framework (for more detail read his excellent series on the Stanford Social Innovation Review).

For his workshop, he brought together business professionals from a variety of organizations and firms who are applying each of the five levers in a unique way. In the mix were Lisa Nitze, managing director at Mission Measurement, whose firm uses data and statistical analysis to help nonprofits better deliver on their missions. Robert Kaplan, Senior Manager of Sustainability at Walmart, spoke to us about the ways that Walmart was using policy tools to reduce carbon emissions from its supply chain. Aaron Schiller spoke to us about the way his organization, Causes.com utilizes disruptive technology to change the way that people raise awareness of global issues, and ultimately impact public perception of a given issue.

Though the five individuals that spoke were all from unrelated organizations and were all actively involved in effecting change through applying one or two specific “change levers”, the workshop did a great job showing us ways that all five of these levers could be applied to effecting lasting change whether the issue is environmental stewardship, education reform, or more effective impact measurement. It was also a unique look at the ways in which non-profits and for-profit businesses can partner to achieve common goals by sharing strategy, and complementing each other’s skillsets. In addition to this workshop, I was able to attend many learning sessions on impact investing, and business ventures in developing markets, all of which I found immensely valuable.

Aside from these excellent workshops, we had the opportunity to meet many other chapter leaders from different schools across North America, and interact with other students each trying to find creative ways to apply the business skillset to solve complex issues. We are both excited to take our experiences and lessons from the conference and share them with our own chapter here at Segal.

Joanna Kipp and Geordan Hankinson, co-presidents of the Net Impact Segal Chapter for the 2013 school year, recently had the great opportunity to travel to Baltimore to participate in the 2012 Net Impact Conference.

When I arrived in Baltimore for the 2012 Net Impact Conference, I didn’t really know what to expect. Sure, I had downloaded the app and decided which sessions to attend – but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience. In the two days I spent attending keynotes, breakout sessions and social events I learned more about how business can be used for positive impact than I ever imagined possible.

I have been thinking a lot about how I can use my own future business career for good for a while now, even before starting the MBA program at SFU. Before the conference, I thought that the key to achieving my career goal of working in environmental sustainability had to start with getting a job with these exact words in the job title. Otherwise, my job wouldn’t allow me to make a difference, right? Wrong. A recurring and eye-opening theme of the Net Impact conference that really hit home with me was the fact that you don’t need to have sustainability in your job title, you can bring it to any job that you do! This concept was particularly impactful coming from two accomplished and inspiring speakers, Kurt Kehne (CFO @ UPS) and Jean Sweeney (Vice President of Environmental, Health, and Safety Operations @ 3M). In addition, Joaquin Duato (Worldwide Chairman @ Johnson & Johnson) said that every company needs champions for sustainability. So even if it is not part of your official responsibilities, you can (and should) incorporate sustainability as an overarching theme in your work.

After hearing this, I have to admit I felt a little relieved. I have really been able to expand the range of options for my post-MBA career, and I’ve begun to think about what I can do to be a champion of sustainability no matter where I end up working.

With this new idea planted in my brain, I attended a number of smaller, more personal sessions over the next 2 days. The conference was great in that it really allowed you to personalize your experience and tailor the sessions you attended to what you were most interested in. I also had the chance to meet with some of the panel speakers and some like-minded students that were in the same position as me with respect to feeling overwhelmed by career choices. It was empowering to connect with these people and hear their thoughts on choosing a career in environmental sustainability.

In the closing keynote session, Net Impact’s President Liz Maw left the audience with a challenge: do you have the courage to lead us – rapidly – into a new world of responsible and sustainable solutions? Will you take a risk and challenge the status quo? After attending the conference, my answer to these questions is a definite “yes”.

Joanna Kipp
Twitter: @thekipp

By: Lydia Liao, MBA Candidate

Engagement Through Social Media

The Impact99 HR Summit, in conjunction with the MIS course in my MBA program at the Beedie School of Business, has helped me understand how I can better use social media to promote an organization’s own personal brand, as well as my own brand image. I learned how to promote myself to my future employers, what questions to consider before launching onto a specific social media platform, and what ideas I need to keep in mind when using these powerful tools.

One of the learning pod sessions at the Summit, Five Pillars of Successful Engagement Strategy, focused on engagement through social media. The session discussed a range of tactics, from listening to those you follow, to discussing, meeting and connecting with your followers, either face to face over coffee, or virtually over Skype. Building, expanding and deepening these relationships has great potential, such as the possibility of helping you land your dream job, or increasing incentives to manage a problem when a mistake occurs.

The final keynote speech, Leading change in a technological workplace, focused on the tools required to bring social media to the workplace. Since there are still many people who are resistant to this, it is important to be flexible. Tools which can help you deal with such a scenario include using coaching questions, such as “what would it look like if we did X”, or “if we did Y, what would we create?”

Both of the keynote speakers at the Summit discussed how HR professionals can bring social media initiatives to their CEOs by utilizing language that a CEO would use. One theory suggested using statistics to illustrate how the social media initiatives proposed would translate into savings on both money and time, and what results would be achieved through implementation of these initiatives.

Cheryl Cran, President of Synthesis at Work Inc., and keynote speaker at the Impact99 HR Summit, discussing how HR professionals can bring social media initiatives to CEOs.

Ultimately, the Summit demonstrated why social media is here to stay, and that we must learn to be flexible and adapt to its presence, as well as use it in alignment with our business strategies. In the end, if you do not have a social media presence to promote your own company’s brand image and values, you risk allowing others to say it on your behalf and lose the advantage of being able to control what is being said about you.

Part 1: Social Media takeaways at the Impact99 HR Summit 2012
Part 2: Utilizing social media to instil a sense of trust in your business
Part 3: Engagement through social media 

By: Lydia Liao, MBA Candidate

Utilizing social media to instil a sense of trust in your business

One of the key takeaways for me from the Impact99 HR SUmmit is that when engaging with the online community via social media, it is crucial to be authentic and transparent in order to garner trust for your brand and your organization. Even if you make a mistake, be honest about it, and that vulnerability will gain and retain consumer trust and become a powerful part of your human brand.

On the topic of trust, the opening keynote speech stated an interesting fact: when external customers seek information about a company, they seek out people like themselves and employees of the company. This is because consumers trust these two groups to give an honest testimony of the organization more than the CEOs of the organization. This stresses another idea which the keynote raised, which is to empower your employees to use social media on the organization’s behalf.

In the MIS course in my MBA program, we learned that to effectively execute a firm’s social media strategy, it is essential to establish social media policies for directors, executives, managers, and employees. The opening keynote speech agreed with this theory and said firms need to train and educate employees on what the company’s brand image is, and what effect and impact employees’ words have on this image. Educating employees to understand what the company’s brand values are would help them understand what the community expects and wants from the firm’s social media platforms.

The Summit also provided me with a great piece of advice for management in terms of what content they ought to post: set up themes that your employees can post under that have relevant content for your clients, industry and company. By doing so, managers are able to trust that their employees will post content that they approve of. The presenters at Impact99 also stressed that the policies established should include roles and responsibilities, accountability, transparency, accuracy and lawfulness, a theory which complemented much of what I had already been taught in my MIS course at the Beedie School of Business.

Part 1: Social Media takeaways at the Impact99 HR Summit 2012
Part 2: Utilizing social media to instil a sense of trust in your business
Part 3: Engagement through social media 

By: Lydia Liao, MBA Candidate

Social Media takeaways at the Impact99 HR Summit 2012

In October, the Beedie School of Business hosted the Impact99 HR Summit 2012, a gathering of 99 leaders from the Human Resources sector. Each attendee was seeking to learn how to utilize social media in their organizations to engage and create deeper relationships with their employees and customers, and to enhance the firm’s own personal brand through their redefined relationship with their employees.

The itinerary was packed full of presentations: two keynote speakers; a CEO-HR Think Tank session with three CEOS critiquing five thought leaders’ presentations; a HR Panel; and a dozen learning pods.  For me, the best parts of the summit were the keynote presentations by Michael Brito, Senior Vice President of social media and public relations firm Edleman, which focused on social business for complex organizations, and Cheryl Cran, President of Synthesis at Work Inc., who spoke about leading change in a technological workplace.

The summit reiterated what I have learned about social media in my BUS 709 Managing Information Systems (MIS) class in my MBA program. Today, a good portion of the population is using at least one form of social media platform, which presents businesses with a tremendous opportunity to engage with this online community and to promote their organizational brands.

In MIS, we have learned that social media is being used in various business functions, including marketing, customer service, internal communications and talent recruitment. To fully engage those in the online community with your brand and organization, you need to listen, adapt, and structure your content to be relevant and respectful to your audience.

One of the Summit’s pod sessions emphasized this point, with the presenter explaining that in order to know what content is relevant to your audience, you must ask yourself whether it is worth your stakeholder’s time to read the message and whether or not it is satisfying the needs of your audience. At the Beedie School of Business, for example, many of the stakeholders are students, so posting up networking events or career panels the school is hosting would satisfy their need to find opportunities to engage with the business community.

Part 1: Social Media takeaways at the Impact99 HR Summit 2012
Part 2: Utilizing social media to instil a sense of trust in your business
Part 3: Engagement through social media 

Day 1 – May 3rd, 2012

This year our team was led by MBA student Javier Glatt, with three MSc. Finance students: Stephanie Shi, Steven Sivorot, and me (Ben Huang). This was the first John Molson School of Business (JMSB) Van Berkom case competition, so we thought it would be a great way to test the waters.

Because Javier was already in Montreal for a trip with some MBAs and EMBAs, Stephanie, Steven, and I met him there. By the time we arrived at the hotel, it was already 1:30 AM. That did not stop us from trying some of Montreal’s midnight snacks, though! Steven had some pizzas from around the corner and I had some Timmy’s with a donut that I’ve never seen in BC before. Then it was bedtime; the next day was going to be a long one!

Day 2 – May 4th, 2012

Because we were all jetlagged, we decided to sleep in. It was a great time for brunch by the time we got up. We went to a breakfast chain “Cora’s” and it did not disappoint. On our way back, we walked by a stunning coffee shop called “Olivier Potier Artisan En Gourmandise” that later became our favorite place in Montreal. The pastries and espresso at this beautifully designed coffee shop just blew us away. I strongly recommend this place. After breakfast, the team sat down to finalize our overall strategy and review our models to get ready for the competition.

Registration for the competition started at 7:00 PM. With us were teams from Ontario and Quebec. Everyone looked confident and professional, and couldn’t wait for the competition the next day. After being greeted by the organizer, there was a small reception with wine and cheese. We decided to head back to the hotel early to do a final push of preparation. After reviewing my valuation models a few times, the team decided to go to bed early for the 7:00 AM event the next day.

Day 3 – May 5th, 2012

We got ready around 6:00 AM and made our way to the event with excitement. After breakfast, the teams were introduced to the target company and were given information about the company and its philosophy of how Van Berkom and Associates chooses its investment (poor Steven had memorized all this information the day before).

Due to the way the event was organized, we had to sit aside and were not allowed to talk about the company for 1.5 hours before we could start our case preparation. Those were probably the longest 1.5 hours I’d ever gone through in my entire life. Hopefully they will change this in future competitions.

Finally, it was our turn to start. Three hours was all we had to make a strong statement to prove that we could compete with the big schools from the East. With chills going down our spines, we read the annual reports, press releases, and other related information given. 30 minutes went by fast. We quickly discussed what we found, painted a general picture, and went to work on our presentation.

Javier worked on the business models and strategies, Stephanie on the financial analysis, and I on the stock evaluation. Steven assisted everyone on each part of the presentation.

30 minutes left… Time was against us. We all tried our best to put the presentation together into one file.

20 minutes left… We realized that the sensitivity analysis was missing!! Off Steven and I went…

10 minutes left… Wait! We hadn’t practiced yet?!

5 minutes… “Okay, let’s do each of our parts of the presentation on our own…”

Then someone walked into our room and announced that our time was up. We did not get to practice the entire thing but, in all honesty, it did not affect my confidence because I knew we were all great presenters.

We did not have more time to think about the case or the presentation. We made our way to the presentation room, shook the judges’ hands, and started our presentation. As I had expected, the presentation went smoothly. It flowed well and the judges seemed impressed. After our 20-minute presentation was a 10-minute Q&A session, which I thought we did relatively well in. There is always room for improvement, but from my experience with case competitions, I knew we did great.

Not surprisingly, we all came out of the room with confident smiles. Each of us was surprised by how well it went, and we were proud of what we were able to accomplish in just three hours. There was an hour break before they announced the finalists. We were so confident that we were going to make it to the next round that we started to prepare for our next presentation.

That hour felt very long as well.

Finally, we heard the news. We found out we did not make it. At the moment, my first thought was, “Wow, the schools from the East are that good?”

The judges later had a private discussion with us and explained the reasons why we were not chosen for the final. It was a tough pill to swallow, but I took the comments rather well.

Since we did not make it to the finals, we had the opportunity to sit in and watch the first finalist’s presentation. However, we soon found that it was tough because we felt that we could have done better. One of my teammates decided to not watch the two other presentations, but I decided to stay because I believed the final two would be better.

I was not disappointed. The final two teams were neck-and-neck and it was hard to determine who the winner would be. Both teams had flaws in their valuation models, but mistakes were expected given the timeframe.

After the competition were the reception dinner and networking session. Both went really well. I stayed behind for networking while my team went back to the hotel. By the time I got back, everyone was already in bed.

Day 4 – May 6th, 2012

Sadly, it was time to pack up. After sleeping in for a bit, we had a short breakfast and were off to the airport. We did not get a chance to tour the city very much due to the scheduling of our flights and the various events. It turned out that our flight was delayed for almost two hours. We wished we had known earlier so that we could have at least toured Montreal for two hours!

The overall experience was wonderful, though. The competition really brought our ability to handle time constraints to another level, and we all gained some knowledge on how professionals treat small-cap stocks. We would like to thank all the cohorts and the instructor who supported us and trained us. Hopefully next year’s team will bring it to the next level for our university.

Day One:

Zero to 4049 km, we made it to Dayton, Ohio!!!

Day Two:

The Redefining Investment Strategy Education Forum is an investment conference where we had the opportunity to pick-the-brains of fantastic industry panelists with topics ranging from “The Economy” to “Domestic (US) Markets” to “Alternative Investments”.

Jon was fortunate to have the opportunity to be on stage as a student panelist for the panel about “International & Emerging Markets”.  He met and talked to the industry panelists, who came from Bank of America, UBS, JP Morgan and Vontobel. After a quick “photo op” he sat on stage with the industry panel and asked a question to the panelist.  It was an awesome experience to sit in front of over a thousand students and industry leaders and get some expert opinions on one of the issues our Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS) team was discussing with respect to the money we manage on behalf of the SFU Endowment Fund.

Keynote addresses were also given from David Darst of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Robert Doll from BlackRock, and Ben Mezrich, author of The Accidental Billionaires (made into the 2010 drama “The Social Network”).

That was a long day, but each speaker provided a different and interesting perspective on the economy and in particular their specialization in the economy.

It’s like the saying goes, “if you ask five economists their opinion, you will get six answers.”

Day Three:

This was a great day for SFU and everyone involved with SIAS.

First thing in the morning at 8:00 am we gave a 15-minute presentation to a panel of three portfolio managers/industry specialists.  We discussed the structure of SIAS, our investment process and strategy, and recent performance.  They were thoroughly impressed!

As a result of the risk-adjusted performance of the SIAS Fund for 2011, during the networking reception, SIAS was awarded First Place for the Balanced Portfolio category among all participating student managed funds.  We were thrilled, and very proud of our SIAS team members, both past and present, who helped select investments that generated good risk adjusted returns for our client.

In between the events were workshops and smaller panel groups where we got the chance to learn more about specific areas of finance such as equity analysis, technical analysis, wealth management, hedge funds, and proprietary trading. These break-out sessions were intimate and detailed very specific day-to-day activities that gave us many new ideas to think about.

Day Four:

4049 km to 8098 km, we’re home!

This was a constant learning experience from workshops, panels, presentations, networking and just the experience of doing something different.  Even though it was a huge time commitment during the busiest time in the semester, it was well worth the time and effort.  The ideas and perspectives we took from the event could prove invaluable going forward with our careers.

At the end of the day, it was a long trip with sleepless nights and early mornings, but if we went back in time, we would do it again.

Bill Dennis
Jared Wolk
Mehdi Saedi
Jon Lo

The Beedie team members were:
Lucas Mitchell, Javier Glatt, Rob Graham, Rachelle Hay
Brian Peterson, Tom Malcolm, Erica Hakonson, Chris Russell

Preparation
“Don’t just go to compete, go there to win!” These enthusiastic words of advice came from Neil Abramson, our Emerging Markets Professor at SFU. I smiled in response, and wondered how we could really make it happen.

Balancing our usual mountain of assignments, group projects and presentations with competition preparation was no mean feat. Practice began in the months leading up to the competition and the teams began to gel as we sacrificed our Saturdays for the cause. With the support of SFU staff members and students from past MBA cohorts, we began a training regime. We carried out case simulation after case simulation, and by incorporating feedback from judges we tightened our strategy as time went on.

Thursday 8^th March, 2012
The flight to Calgary passed quickly and we were soon greeted by surprisingly warm weather upon arrival. After settling in, we made our way to the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business to attend the opening reception, where we were treated to keynote speeches by Patrick Lor, CEO Fotolia, and Gary Kovacs, CEO Mozilla Corporation. Through personal photographs and witty anecdotes, these CEOs shared insights from their trials and experiences over the years. As the evening progressed we took advantage of the chance to network with our fellow competitors from across Canada, chatting over cheese plates and samosas. As the night wrapped-up we reconvened in our teams to confirm our game plan for following day. A full night’s sleep before the approaching storm was in order, so we all bade each other farewell for the evening.

Friday 9^th March, 2012
Bright and early, we made our way to the Haskayne School of Business, eager to receive our team envelope which would reveal the identity of the case company and contain the full competition case. Upon arrival we were escorted to our individual team rooms. Team names had been assigned to hide the identities and university origins of the teams. The name “Team Fook” was allotted to Brian Peterson, Tom Malcolm, Erica Hakonson and Chris Russell, while “Team Molson Coors” was assigned to Lucas Mitchell, Javier Glatt, Rob Graham and Rachelle Hay.

When the envelope was ripped open we were met with a 43-page case, authored by Chuck Warnica, Oil & Gas Associate at CIBC Commercial Banking. The case focused on DIRTT Environmental Solutions, recently named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies and recipient of the Best Managed Award (sponsored by Deloitte, CIBC, National Post, and Queen’s School of Business). Based on DIRTT’s exceptional track record of explosive growth and exceptional financial performance, teams were to build a comprehensive and sustainable growth strategy for the company, carrying them forward for the next two, five and ten years, including a liquidity event in the medium term.

Like horses on a racetrack we took off and ploughed through the case, examining financial records, performance indicators and competitor profiles. As the hours crept by, the walls of our private team room became covered from end to end in flip chart pages detailing our analysis and ideas. Over time, we hacked away at our computers, building the deck and creating graphs, models and pro formas to assess and support our recommendations.

That afternoon each team was allowed 20 minutes with a Certified Accountant. We squeezed in as many questions as we possibly could, but before we knew it the 20 minutes had flown by and we were racing to incorporate the CGA’s feedback into our strategy.

Saturday 10^th March, 2012
The work continued long into the wee hours of Saturday morning, but with the help of coffee, Doritos, and committed teammates, we encouraged each other to push through until we were satisfied with the caliber of our work. We had set our standards high and we were determined to give the competing schools a run for their money. After a few more grueling hours, we agreed to call it a night and headed back to our hotel rooms for a brief catnap before suiting up for the morning presentations.

Later that morning, with the team wearing matching suits and loaded with even more caffeine, we made our way back to the competition where the teams pitched their strategies to the panel of judges. This was immediately followed by an antagonizing Q&A session where team members addressed a barrage of criticisms and queries from the executive panel members.

By lunch time the four team finalists had been announced – with two of the four teams consisting of Team Fook and Team Molson Coors! Overcome with a mélange of excitement and exhaustion, we quickly ate lunch before being escorted to private preparation team rooms. The finalists were given one hour to tweak their presentations before presenting to a new panel of judges which consisted of leading Calgary businessmen, including Miles Nixon, DIRTT’s very own CFO and VP Finance. Each team was then drilled relentlessly in the Q&A session that followed.

The competition results were not revealed until the formal awards dinner that evening, with Team Molson Coors and Team Fook from SFU’s Beedie School of Business placing second and fourth respectively. The DeGroote team from McMaster University placed third, with a team from the Haskayne School of Business the overall winners.

All in all, it had been a gruelling but rewarding weekend, putting our MBA learning to the test. At this stage, it was only fitting that we make a toast to our achievements and to the Beedie School of Business. The celebratory sound of clinking glasses brought the evening to a close.

We would like to extend our gratitude to the SFU staff, faculty and past cohort members that assisted us along the way and helped to make our success possible. We are especially grateful to Jeff Nehajowich for his unwavering support.

Team Molson Coors (2nd place):

Team Fooks (4th place):

Writing this post I am in the fifth month of my internship with Ecotrust Canada. Ecotrust is a federal charity that self-identifies as an ENGO and an enterprising nonprofit, working towards a conservation economy for BC. The objective of this posting is to explain, based on my personal experience, the importance of using your network to secure an internship. As some of you may have heard, it is not about finding “a” job (internship) but rather “the” job. I believe I’ve succeeded in achieving the latter of the two.

Coming into Vancouver from Athens one thing I didn’t take into consideration was population. Having in mind populated cities of North America and, let’s be honest, my reference point of Hollywood films, I thought Vancouver would be much larger. I simply didn’t check in advance to discover that Vancouver and the Lower Mainland has a population of just over two million people! Coming from Athens, with a population in excess of five million, I can only say that Vancouver seemed very small and slow paced.

Networking is always an important aspect of community building, but within a business community centered around only two million people, it becomes crucial. I have, since arriving, made a serious effort to attend events, tweet, connect through LinkedIn and slowly but steadily build both my presence and my network here.

Simply… do it!

During the first couple of weeks of the MBA, I was elected as Co-President of SFU Net Impact Beedie Chapter, a student run chapter with its own mandate: “Our mission as emerging business leaders is to make a positive environmental, social and economic impact in the Vancouver community by advocating responsible and sustainable business practices.” In recognition of my commitment I was given a complimentary seat at a table sponsored by SFU at the 5th Annual Spring Gala and Young Agents Awards. At the event I had the pleasure to meet Brenda Kuecks, President of Ecotrust Canada when both of us arrived early and had casual time to time to talk and learn about each other’s background.

After keeping track of this relationship and calling to ask Brenda to be one of our speakers for the 20/30 Speaker Series hosted by Net Impact, I asked for an information interview. I was honored to have such an insightful meeting (jargon term: info interview), learning not only about Ecotrust Canada and its work but also much about the non – profit sector more generally. Being a student can open a lot of “doors”. Used strategically, these doors can lead you to people willing to provide good guidance.

Be knowledgeable of your environment

During the conversation, I introduced a funding opportunity that exists for students-researchers in Canadian Universities through the Mitacs organization, and specifically the Mitacs Accelerate Project that sponsors research based internships. It is an important funding opportunity that may help some of you garner financial support to put your experience and knowledge to the test in the workforce.

Long story short

It worked! Since October of 2011 I have been a member of Ecotrust Canada working as a Project Analyst in Economic Development. The project is titled “Business planning for social enterprises” and it has been a great experience. Not only am I getting to put into practice what I have learned during the MBA program, but at the same time I am receiving great guidance and insights to further improve my work.

Gold nuggets:

1. Connect: Be careful and be sure to personalize everything (especially LinkedIn invitations)
2. Be sure to utilize your title: Being a graduate student opens a lot of doors
3. Build your online presence and network

Also build your offline presence and network (sometimes it will bring you into a different set of
relationships)

Acknowledgements

I am grateful and would like to thank Brenda Kuecks, President of Ecotrust Canada for offering me this opportunity, Oba Harding, Director of Business Development, Mitacs for providing his valuable help in securing a smooth and successful application, Jeremy Stone, Economic Development Project Manager of Ecotrust Canada for his close guidance and resourceful feedback on my work and of course all the staff at the organization that welcomed me at their “home”.

I would also like to mention the faculty, staff and fellow MBA candidates for their support and active presence during this important step of my life. They have all enriched my experience and have been really valuable to me in many different ways.

About George Chatzivasileiou

George is an MBA Candidate working at the nonprofit organization Ecotrust Canada as an Economic Development Project Analyst. This is an intern position co-sponsored by Mitacs Accelerate Program and of course Ecotrust Canada. George holds a BS in Shipping, Trade and Transport. He enjoys learning, thus you are most likely to see him at events with topics about economy, sustainability, social entrepreneurship and of course shipping. He is also blogging at g-controversial.blogspot.com.

On January 6^th 2012, an excited and energetic team of MBA students from the Beedie School of Business (SFU) landed in Edmonton for the 2012 MBA Games.  The expectation of a frozen city dissipated as a warm Edmonton welcomed MBA students from across the country. Large Greyhound buses lined up at the airport uploading groups of the nation’s next great business minds and leaders. Although most participants were sleep deprived, one could clearly witness the adrenaline beating through everyone’s veins.

The MBA Games is an annual Canada-wide competition that brings together MBA students from across the country. The MBA Games originated at Queen’s University in 1988 and continued there until 1997. Since then, the MBA Games have been hosted at various schools. As a ritual, the MBA Games are held in the city of the reigning champion.

Sunshine peaked through the clouds as buses dropped off herds of colour and clothing coordinated – representing different schools – groups of MBAs at the Westin Hotel in downtown Edmonton. The city seemed to have livened up with the newly arrived guests. The sounds of exciting cheers and laughter became great additions to the city of Edmonton for the weekend of January 6^th to 8^th. Let the MBA Games begin!

The MBA Games involved academic, spirit, and athletic events, and opportunities to network with future leaders. SFU MBA students showcased a great deal of cohesiveness and team support throughout the games.

“BEEDIE BEEDIE BEEDIE, S-F-U, BEEDIE, SIMON, BEEDIE, FRASER, BEEDIE BEEDIE BEEDIE, S-F-U!” As the team cheered loudly at each sporting event, they displayed significant signs of confidence and pride.

As intimidating as the games were, the team worked together as one. It was apparent that not only did SFU bring its competitiveness, but also its value in friendliness. SFU students easily struck conversation with fellows from the opposite team, commenting and praising each other’s efforts.

“The games were a fantastic experience!  Our team did the Beedie School of Business proud with strong showings in the academic, spirit, and athletic events.  Most importantly, we worked really well together as a team and showed hundreds of students from business schools across the country that the Beedie MBA is a world class program” said Lucas Mitchell, Team Captain for SFU at the games.

Colin Stansfield, a SFU MBA candidate and representative, reflected with a smile on his face, “It was a spectacular showing on the part of our academic teams.  We knew it would be challenging to compete against students from other schools where they run two-year programs, but the diversity inherent in our program – the wide variety of experience that we bring with us to Beedie – stood us in good stead.  Our teams achieved remarkable results and I could not be prouder of the hard work put in by our academic competitors.”

Each night, social events offered opportunities for students to mingle with others under a more relaxed environment. Dancing and celebrating a day’s hard work, participants enjoyed each other’s company and what the nightlife the city had to offer.

More than 500 people representing 19 schools across Canada competed in the games. Days began as early as 8am and schedules were jam packed with activities! Spirit teams travelled around the city of Edmonton using a 2-day transit pass given to everyone by the Games committee. Academic events were mentally challenging, as teams were given tight time constraints to package the best solution for the business problems presented. Sporting events were exciting; participants and supporters in these events made loud echoes in the University of Alberta. Faces of hope, smiles of joy, and eyes of anticipation, every participant was engaged in the spirit of the games.

“We were amazed at the amount of skill at the sporting events. Not only did every team have talented athletes, but they were quality people as well. There were some amazing games and we were happy to have given some of the top teams a run for their money. I’ve never been prouder of any other team!” spoke Brian Peterson, an achieved athlete representing SFU.

On the last day, every MBA candidate listened intently to the keynote speaker Court Carruthers eloquently express his interpretation of the theme of this year’s MBA Games – innovation and the future of technology. As the MBA games came to an end after many hours of conquering challenges and utilizing great minds to solve real business problems, the winning team led the crowd to the dance floor after dinner with one last celebration before concluding MBA Games 2012 in Edmonton.

In retrospect, the games wouldn’t have been so amazing without the support of the members on the team. For the team from SFU, many students had lost their voice cheering on their teammates throughout the games. This experience will definitely last a lifetime. As many friendships were solidified, new buds of networks sparked throughout the trip. The city of Edmonton has made a great contribution as the backdrop for the amazing things that happened on this weekend.

To view SFU’s LipDubbed Youtube Video for the MBA Games intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE4oXz193UQ&feature=related

My name is Rachel Li. I am an international student from China and I’m now a candidate in the Master of Financial Risk Management (MFRM) program at SFU.

The MFRM program is an excellent program from which I have learned a lot of new and useful material.  I came to SFU in August last year. I have learned a lot in this program about not only finance, but programming and statistics as well. The subjects taught outside of finance were completely new to me. With the help of the Career Management Centre, I’ve learned that a multitude of employers in financial industry are looking for potential employees who know about more than just finance. Since the financial crisis in 2008, financial institutes have attached more importance to financial risk management. Thanks to this program, I’m now on my way to having a more diverse level of knowledge. I believe my decision to enroll in the MFRM program was a wise choice.

Besides the courses offered, this program also provides a lot of real-world experience. In the student-run endowment fund, SIAS, I’m a fixed income analyst. In the first semester, I was mainly focused on the analysis of the whole fixed income portfolio against the benchmark. I was fortunate enough to meet two professionals in fixed income to learn about how a fixed income portfolio is managed. This semester, I’ve shifted my concentration to the credit risk analysis of bonds. This is also quite new for me, so I’ve been reading some books about it. My teammate and I have made a template of credit risk analysis based on credit rating agencies and financial ratio analysis. I look forward to learning more about this as I take the course offered later in this program on Credit Risk.

Before joining the SFU’s MFRM program, I attained a Bachelor of Finance from Shandong Financial University. I was awarded the “National Scholarship” and graduated as an “Excellent Graduate Student”. I also passed the CFA level I exam in the fourth year of university, and am now a CFA level II candidate. In this process, I have learned a lot about finance and now I’m trying to put what I have learned into practice in SIAS.

Vancouver is really a wonderful place to live in. The weather here is always cool; neither too hot nor too cold. There are many scenic spots to visit; I have been to Stanley Park, Cypress Mountain, Central Park and a lot of other beautiful places. Throughout my stay in Vancouver, I have gotten more of an idea about western culture such as food, lifestyle and how to be open to people from different cultures.

As an international student who first arrived in Canada five months ago, I still need time to adapt to the environment. Language is one of the biggest difficulties I’ve faced. However, throughout the first term my English has improved a lot. This improvement has come from communicating with people around me as much as possible.

The following months will be much more fulfilling and intense. However, I’m confident that I can manage my time very well to balance the social & academic activities and the participation of SIAS.

Rachel Mingying Li