New York City, March 27, 2012 – Dan McCann, BCom’11, and Amy Bergenwall, BCom’08, MSC’10, scored top honours in the international category of the NYC Next Idea Global Business Plan Competition. This annual competition, sponsored by the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Columbia University’s School of Engineering, encourages innovative business ventures to launch and operate their businesses in New York City.

After narrowing the field of 270 applications down to six finalists, the International Track prize was awarded to Dan and Amy’s new venture Stylsize, a mobile and web app with a convenient solution for out-of-store and online apparel purchases. Their app will enable shoppers to visualize how garments fit and flatter their bodies without the frustrating guesswork associated with today’s online shopping.

The pair will receive $17,500 in cash prizes and six months of free office space in order to help them launch their business in New York City.

Inaugural speaker series event tied to The Monieson Centre’s new research theme ‘The Business of Healthcare’

Kingston, March 15, 2012 – Lessons the healthcare sector can learn from the business world was the topic addressed by Don Drummond, former Chief Economist for TD Bank and Chair of Ontario’s Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services. His presentation on March 15 drew a capacity crowd of students, faculty and staff to the Goodes Hall event.

Having recently made over 100 recommendations on healthcare reform to the provincial government, Mr. Drummond reflected, “I think we need to have an honest assessment of the healthcare system. It dramatically needs an overhaul.”

Citing an aging population and rising healthcare costs that see Canada spending in excess of 30% more per capita than the average Western nation, Mr. Drummond argued in favour of finding new ways to organize the country’s healthcare system. “We are not running the healthcare system efficiently; we are spending more than we need to spend,” he said.

While healthcare spending needs to be better managed, the solution, he emphasized, is not the drastic cuts seen in Ontario in the 1990s. An integrative approach to healthcare that focuses on quality of care, instead of quantity of services performed, is the key to improving the end results of healthcare investment, he said.

The presentation launched The Monieson Centre’s new research theme that explores the ‘Business of Healthcare’. According to Centre Director Dr. Scott Carson, “The Business of Healthcare is related both to the role that management processes can play in healthcare delivery, and what business innovation and discovery can contribute to the quality of patient care.”

Driven by collaboration, the Centre engages researchers from business, health sciences, applied sciences, policy studies and other related disciplines, to create breakthrough knowledge at the intersection of business and public policy. The Business of Healthcare theme continues the Centre’s tradition of linking academics, business leaders and policymakers to develop research-based solutions to real-world questions. The ultimate goal, Dr. Carson noted, is “to link ideas to action,” through dissemination of research in top-tier academic journals and at conferences, as well as by hosting industry-oriented speaker series, summits and events.

The Monieson Centre at Queen’s School of Business was established in November 1998 with generous funding from Melvin R. Goodes (former Chairman and CEO of Warner-Lambert). The Centre is named for Dr. David (Danny) Monieson, an emeritus faculty member renowned for inspirational teaching and leadership at Queen’s School of Business.

The winners: Saumya Baunthiyal, Gleb Nikitashenko, Viraj Gupta and Siddharth Banerjee.

Montreal, March 17, 2012 - A team of four Queen’s MBA students captured first place honours and the $4,000 top prize at a case competition on business and sustainability held as part of the Montreal Sustainability Weekend on March 17. The Weekend, organized by McGill and Concordia Universities and HEC Montreal, attracted 11 teams from Canada, the US and Denmark.

The QSB students successfully presented their case on the entry of Alcoa, the world’s leading producer of primary aluminum, into Saudia Arabia and the social, environmental and economic impacts of such a move.

New research from Queen’s School of Business reveals that nearly 6 out of ten working Canadians are exposed to workplace harassment – and the culprits are often women

KINGSTON, ON, March 21, 2012 – The celebrated series Mad Men, which portrays the 1960s world of advertising, is about to enter into its much anticipated fifth season. And while protagonist Don Draper’s offside behaviour towards women in the office is widely regarded as an approach of days gone by, a recent Leger Marketing poll commissioned by Queen’s School of Business reveals that workplace harassment is still very much a part of the modern day office environment with 57 per cent of working Canadians having experienced or witnessed workplace harassment.

But what does harassment look like in today’s workplace? Queen’s School of Business professor and expert in organizational behavior, Jana Raver says inappropriate ‘love taps’ and coerced office affairs, like those portrayed on the popular show, aren’t the only acts constituting today’s harassment behaviours; harassment can take a variety of insidious forms that are sometimes difficult to identify.

“While we no longer smoke and drink in the office like the characters from Mad Men, Don Draper’s style of workplace harassment is still alive and well in 2012,” says Dr. Jana Raver, Associate Professor at Queen’s School of Business. “Many offenders rationalize their actions as harmless, but this isn’t a TV show that ends in 60 minutes — it’s real life, and a single incident of harassment can cause long-lasting suffering for the victim.”

She says gender dynamics play a role, but not strictly in the male versus female way that many of us may think.

While men are disproportionately identified as the culprits with half of the harassment inflicted solely by them, according to Jana, today’s office bully might very well be “Dawn Draper.” When women experience harassment (personally or witness to it), they are twice as likely as men to report that it came from another woman (30 per cent vs. 15 per cent of men).

The study also found that women are more likely to reveal they have personally experienced harassment (33 per cent vs. 26 per cent of men).

“Today’s workplace bully can be male or female, but while men tend to bully both women and men equally, female bullies tend to disproportionately choose other female colleagues as targets,” says Raver. “And contrary to stereotypes of bullies preying on the weak for power, most targets of bullying in the office — regardless of gender — tend to be the average and above-average performers.”

Queen’s Commerce students descended on Jinotepe, Nicaragua, during Reading Week in late February to volunteer their services to help renovate a local school. Students restored a water fountain, built a new play area, painted the school’s interior and exterior and created educational murals for the 185 elementary school students at the Carlos José Salinas Elementary School in Jinotepe, outside Managua. While the students paid their own expenses, they also raised funds to bring nearly $400 worth of school supplies and delivered 50 teddy bears collected by students of Bluevale Collegiate Institute in Waterloo, ON.

The 25 students were chosen as part of the Queen’s Commerce Initiative Abroad (Q’CIA), an annual international volunteer initiative that targets a different country in the developing world. This year’s group partnered with Basecamp International Centers, a not-for-profit organization that offers short duration volunteer placements that benefit deserving schools abroad. Q’CIA, established in 2009, operates under the auspices of the Queen’s Commerce Society, the undergraduate student government for Commerce students enrolled in Queen’s School of Business.

KINGSTON, March 9, 2012 – More than 30 experts in the field of innovation will descend on Goodes Hall to speak to more than 200 eager students, alumni, industry members and citizens on March 9 and 10.

Originally the first event of its kind in Canada, the third iteration of this annual student-organized Innovation Summit features thought leaders on innovation and creativity from leading companies, institutions and think tanks from across North America. Speakers will discuss the best way to use innovation to create sustainable competitive advantage.

“The Canadian and world economies are at a crossroads,” says Christina Waters, MBA’12 Co-Chair of the Summit. “Strategies used in the past will not necessarily work in the future. That’s why this year’s Summit focuses on how innovation is a key strategic tool for future personal, corporate, and societal success.”

“Spark” was chosen as the Summit’s theme to address the question, ‘How can individuals ignite the spark of innovation around them?’ By focusing on how to transform ideas into developed business innovations, participants will gain an understanding of how to create those elusive ‘eureka’ moments.

This year’s lineup of speakers includes representatives from 3M, Bombardier, RBC, Xerox, IBM, Exxon, Industry Canada, National Research Council (NRC), PARTEQ and Ontario Centres of Excellence.

Summit participants include business and government leaders, alumni, and students in Business, Law, Engineering and Policy Studies. Visit www.qsbis.com or follow the Summit on Facebook or Twitter@qsbis.

Tim Ray

Toronto, ON — A special edition of CBC’s hit TV series Dragon’s Den featured a deal by MBA’11 alum Tim Ray’s FoodScrooge group-buying website. The Feb. 29 episode highlighted some of the shows “most memorable entrepreneurs” and updated viewers on how their new ventures have fared. Tim’s deal with Dragons Arlene Dickinson and Bruce Croxon saw the pair invest $125,000 for a 35% stake in the company. Scant weeks later, Foodscrooge was purchased by industry leader WagJag, “the quickest exit in Dragon’s Den’s history,” according to host Dianne Buckner.

Read all about Tim’s venture, and those of his fellow alums Michele Romanow, MBA’08 (Buytopia.ca), and Derek Szeto, BCom’05 (RedFlagDeals), in the feature story ‘Group-buying Power’ in QSB Magazine’s current issue.

Calling all alumni with new ventures: Add your company to the interactive list of new ventures accompanying the magazine story.

RBC judges Avi Pollock, VP Innovation (far left) and Morteza Mahjour, Chief Information & Operations Officer (far right), flank Dream Builders team members Francesca Burdett-Coutts, Gleb Nikitashenko, Jonah Guo and Soumen Saha.

Toronto, ON — Three of the five finalist teams invited to attend RBC’s Next Great Innovator Challenge Gala on Feb. 23 in Toronto were comprised of Queen’s full-time MBA students. This is the first time in the Challenge’s six-year history that a QSB team has made it to the finals. QSB’s Dream Builders team nabbed second place honours and a $10K prize, while the Goodes Hall Warriors and ToRC teams each received a $5K prize. Finalists also scored interviews with RBC and media training to assist them in handling media enquiries.

KINGSTON, ON, March 1, 2012—HSBC Bank Canada has established the HSBC Women in Business Leadership Award at Queen’s School of Business. The award, worth $10,000 per year for two years, is granted to a third-year female student based on academic achievement and leadership potential. Four Queen’s students will receive the award over the next five years.

Third-year Queen’s Commerce student Cathy Huizi Wang was selected as the 2012 recipient for her outstanding academic record and leadership roles with Queen’s University Investment Counsel (QUIC), a student-led investment fund managing a real money portfolio, and Students for Free Enterprise (SIFE), an entrepreneurial student group that empowers people in need to improve the quality of their life. Cathy is also a case competition winner and a teaching and research assistant.

“This scholarship is a tremendous opportunity for emerging female leaders at Queen’s School of Business,” said Shannon Goodspeed, Executive Director of the Commerce program. “We are thankful for HSBC’s investment in the most vital educational building block—our students—and for their support for women in business.”

According to a recent Catalyst Census, women made up 47.3% of the Canadian workforce, but held only 17.7% of senior officer positions at Financial Post 500 companies; and more than 30% of companies in the study had no women senior officers.

“HSBC believes that education is a fundamental building block for communities,” said Lindsay Gordon, President and Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Bank Canada.  “Our success is built on our ability to attract and develop a diverse range of talent, and we are delighted that the HSBC Women in Business Leadership Awards will recognize future business leaders, encouraging them to achieve their full potential and forge a path towards becoming some of Canada’s top executives.”

HSBC Bank Canada’s $80,000 donation will fund the award over a five year period. Students can also apply to be considered for HSBC Bank Canada summer internship positions, as well as management trainee programs upon graduation. The award is renewable in fourth year provided the student maintains a GPA of 3.7 and continued leadership activity. The award has also been established at seven other universities across Canada.

“This award has given me financial security and the confidence to pursue my career in the finance industry,” said Cathy Huizi Wang. “I am very thankful to HSBC and Queen’s School of Business for recognizing me with this award, which provides women with the support and mentorship needed to succeed in their careers.”

About Queen’s School of Business

Queen’s School of Business is one of the world’s premier business schools – renowned for exceptional programs, outstanding faculty and research, and the quality of its graduates. Canadian executives regard Queen’s as Canada’s most innovative business school, offering students academic excellence and a superior overall experience. Queen’s School of Business – where Canada’s first Commerce program was launched in 1919 – is located at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. The School also delivers programs at locations across Canada, as well in the U.S. and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region.

For more information:

Amber Wallace
Queen’s School of Business
awallace@business.queensu.ca / 613.533.3151