Dr. Stephen Gaetz, professor and associate dean of research and field development in the Faculty of Education at York University, recently wrote a report about homelessness. He spoke about that report, titled The Real Cost of Homelessness: Can We Save Money by Doing the Right Thing?, during a stop in Uxbridge hosted by North House Transitional Housing, reported the Uxbridge Times Journal March 8. Read full story.
Speaking in sculpture
If you need someone who can make sheet steel look like draped fabric, carve a poplar console for your ailing ’87 Monte Carlo sedan or build a life-sized human figure of taxidermied ducklings, York visual arts Professor Brandon Vickerd is your man. It sounds like a niche skill set, but he’s built a career on it….Vickerd has lived all over Canada. He went to school at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design and University of Victoria. He worked in Calgary. He spent a summer completing an artist’s residency in the Yukon. A job with York University’s fine arts faculty was what led him to Toronto, reported the Hamilton Spectator March 9. Read full story.
Canada must focus on exporting to Asia, never mind the U.S.
Last Wednesday a headland report, titled Seizing the Continent: Opportunities for a North American Gateway was released by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APFC). The two authors were George Stalk of the Boston Consulting Group and Charles McMillan of the Schulich School of Business. Together, they provided a map for Canada to magnify its role as a conduit to Asia and strengthen its historic link between European markets and the booming Pacific Rim, reported the Winnipeg Sun March 10. Read full story.
Canadian TV commercials break through in the States
It’s easy to create a great commercial when you have a million-dollar budget. But it’s a different game when you have just $5,000. And thus Jenny Munford saw an opportunity to shake up the TV advertising business….Munford’s experience is a great example of what can happen when you challenge the status quo, said Schulich School of Business marketing Professor Robert Kozinets in Business Without Borders March 7. “All too many Canadian companies are still entrenched in their home market and doing things in ways that were developed in another era.” Read full story.
Should Canada adopt Switzerland’s limits on corporate pay?
The Coalition on Good Governance brilliantly led the debate in Canada by engaging with companies around giving shareholders a “say on pay”. Hard data also helped to focus our attention….Current corporate thinking no longer isolates executive packages to solely the compensation committee but also to the risk-management or risk-assessment committees. Richard LeBlanc of York University, for example, published an influential paper which called for salaries based on senior managers’ levels of value creation and the linkage of pay to performance, reported The Globe and Mail March 11. Read full story.
Young entrepreneurs pitch green plans at UTM
Business-savvy students presented their plans for environmentally conscious ventures Saturday at the sixth annual Show Me the Green conference at University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM). Participants from 19 Ontario universities had seven weeks to prepare their sustainable ideas, which were presented in front of panel of judges from the business community….Students from York University placed second, bringing home $2,000 in prize money, reported Mississauga News March 10. Read full story.
Paul Polman: Rebuilding capitalism from the basics
Paul Polman, the chief executive officer of consumer products giant Unilever NV is tilting at the tenets of modern capitalism – by ending quarterly earnings reporting, trimming hedge funds from the investor base and treating thousands of small tea farmers with the same regard as shareholders….He was in Toronto recently to give the Thomas J. Bata Lecture on Responsible Capitalism hosted by York University, reported The Globe and Mail March 10. Read full story.