ARB 7 Summer Edition 2011 (V1) by Arbitrage Magazine

Lust

GOING DEEP INSIDE THE ADULT ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

HIGH ALL OVER THE WORLD

Greed Sloth

Pride

Gluttony

HOW MUCH ARE THEY REALLY WORTH?

VIDEO GAMES: THE SOUL EATER?

TAKING IT TO THE GROUND WITH MIXED MARTIAL ARTS GOSSIP GIRL INDUSTRY, PULLING YOUR STRINGS

JULY 2011

Wrath

Envy

DUSTING THE CRACKS IN THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY

ECONOMICS

Vice

editor’s note

To the Arbitrage Community, Congratulations, curious reader—you are about to read the newest issue of Canada’s largest, student-driven business magazine! Thanks to the dedication of our staff, contributors and readers like you, we have grown from a small crew of a dozen students to the sprawling organization we are today. With an ever-growing team of passionate students, the arb continues to gather momentum for future expansion. With more exciting ideas and provocative visuals than ever before, this issue is among our best works yet! What does Economics of Vice really mean? It is the vast and controversial part of our economy that silhouettes a darker side of society. We explore each of the seven biblical sins, and its role in the contemporary business world. From pornography to cosmetic surgery, this issue looks beyond just the dollar signs and protests. Are we benefiting from these industries? How far will they go in the not-so-distant future? Read on, take a step back, and see the intricate machinations of the bigger picture. But wait, there’s more! The arb has always encouraged the spirit of entrepreneurship, and this issue brings you exclusive interviews with two of the most successful young entrepreneurs in the nation: Lauren Friese, founder of TalentEgg; and Daniel Debow, founder of Rypple. If you’re thinking of starting your own business, take a moment to scan through their thoughts and absorb the experiences of these seasoned young leaders. Arbitrage Magazine is always looking out for your best interests: helping you prepare for your career, keeping you up to date with current events, giving you exposure to fresh ideas, and pleasing your senses with beautiful designs. Sit down, open your mind, and prepare yourself for the arb’s seventh issue!

Kevin Kang Editor-in-Chief Arbitrage Magazine email kevin.k@arbitragemagazine.com linkedin http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-qingyuan-kang/17/729/418

founder & ceo board of directors

David Alexander Samita Vasudeva Garin Kilpatrick Michael Manirakiza

magazine production team editor-in-chief co-senior online editor online editor

section editor staff writer

contributing writer

Kevin Kang Saif Quershi Luis Fernando Arce William Elliot Shaub Elizabeth Varvaro Teng (Tony) Ge Vahida Badat Shindusan Parameswaran Alfred Yim Victoria Chau Gurpreet Purewal Jennifer Jang Liam Scott Zack Larmand Abinash Murali Narayanan Exequiel Octavio Bertaina Maymuna Abdi Chet F. Chung Steve Richter Aditi Sethi Lisa Sookraj Shaun L. Turriff Jorge Thielen Prachi Kamble Anna Marszalek Corinne Ton That Arina Kharlamova Magdalene Arthur Betty Yan Amanda Childs Samadrita Guin Troy Redick Varun Sharma

ARBITRAGE SUPPORT STAFF director hr assistant hr director hr coordinator

marketer

communications rep stakeholder outreach rep web developer sales manager

Rabeea Wajeeha Alejandro Lara Natalie Sekiritsky Evonna Ladipaolo Rebecca Tang Stefany Ting Tung Yeung Catherine Chen Claudia Carvajal Marcia Rivera Navarrete Alexandra Connerty Yousuf Mohammad Vahida Badat Victoria Wong Jaspreet Singh

art director assistant art director staff designer

Ryan Trinidad Alex Vong Yessi Arifin Luis Ernesto Rojas Gonzalez Akil Worrell Jennifer Lee Laura Gonsalves Katie L. Serensits Angela Song Christine Sherry Monserrat Rivera Joseph Kong Richard Pereira Richard Bramer Andrew West Tim Walker Corinne Chesher Nadine Kim Eman Faiz Laura Prosser Eleanor Ma Christopher Eric Olson Selina McGinnis In Young Lee Ryan James Terry Bowie Shum

COVER CREDITS model photographer makeup & hair artist stylist

Eriel† Photomotor Natalia Zurawska‡ Kim Blair

† ‡

www.wix.com/modeleriel/index www.colourchameleon.com

Table Of

Features

WRATH

Taking it to the Ground with Mixed Martial Arts

LUST

Going Deep Inside the Adult Entertainment Industry

GREED

How Much Are They Really Worth?

GLUTTONY High All Over the World

PRIDE

Dusting the Cracks in the Beauty Industry

ENVY

Gossip Girl Industry is Pulling Your Strings

SLOTH The Video Game Industry

ArbitrageMagazine.ca April 2011

6. 20. 33. 44. 50. 58. 66.

Table Of

FINANCE & ECONOMICS

16 What is Investment Banking?

17 In Post-Mubarak

Egypt, Economy Continues to Slide

18 Food for your 2011

Portfolio

CULTURE

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

47 Linking In & Synching

38 The Technological

Up to Stay Ahead

Cycle and recycle: The Bixi Method

Living with STDs

Race

40 Why a Farmer needs a Cellphone

41 Sun Power, Vision Control and Spiffy Shades?

62 Bill 156, Restricting for 42 Have You Joined the the sake of restricting

64 Legal Prostitutes BIZ START UP

STUDENT CO.

30 Star Startups

76 Exclusive Interview

32 Networking Tips for

Young Entrepreneurs

with Lauren Friese

79 CAREER SPOTLIGHT:

Breaking Into Finance with Manulife Financial

82 Exclusive Interview

ArbitrageMagazine.ca April 2011

with Daniel Debow

iPad Bandwagon Yet

TRENDS Pride, greed, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth—since ancient times, these seven deadly sins were seen as the quickest path to damnation and an eternity of torment in hell. The sins formed a moral boundary that people feared not cross, if they wished to live a virtuous life. However, if you take a look around you, you will see that society has not only crossed these boundaries, but decidedly built the deadly sins into the fundamental mechanics of our world. From the multi-billion dollar adult entertainment industry to the greed inherent in corporate overcompensation, the following pieces explore each of the seven deadly sins and how they have become incorporated into our economy. Where are these “sin industries” going? How will this impact the future of our economy and world as we know it? Read on and you may be surprised by the economics of vice.

Click to learn more and join us

Wrath: Taking it to the Ground with Mixed Martial Arts Understanding the history and revival of mixed martial arts in today’s sporting world

Lust: Going Deep Inside the Adult Entertainment Industry An industry which seemed recession-proof does not appear so now

Greed: How Much are They Really Worth? Corporate bonuses gone overboard and the legislation that aims to stop it

Gluttony: High All Over the World Drug use has become a global concern over the past several years

Pride: Dusting the Cracks in the Beauty Industry We know sex sells....but does insecurity?

Envy Rumor Has It, the Gossip Industry is Pulling Your Strings.

Sloth: The Video Game Industry A benefit or concern in the future?

Trends

By: Victoria Chau

TAKING IT TO THE GROUND WITH

Mixed Martial arts

UNDERSTANDING THE HISTORY AND REVIVAL OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS in today's sporting world 6

ArbitrageMagazine.ca April 2011

Trends

By: Victoria Chau

elf-discipline, c o n f i d e n c e , determination, and technique are four words that are associated with all sports. Add into that mixture ground-and-pound, no-holdsbarred, submission, tap out, sleeper hold and taking-it-tothe-floor, and we’re talking about the increasingly popular sport of mixed martial arts, better known by its acronym MMA. MMA has seen a reemergence through an exploding fan base that truly started in the beginning of the 1990s, but can claim roots back to Ancient Greece. Despite being an extremely old sport, it has been the topic of heated debates. Its critics claim that it is simply too dangerous and promotes a

“desensitization to violence.” MMA advocates and practitioners refute this claim. They invite critics to better educate themselves about the sport to see that it is all about controlling the environment that MMA is practiced in. But before we get into the bashing and praise that MMA has received over the last decade, let’s rewind and see where it all started.

Rewind: 648 B.C.E. in Ancient Greece

n 648 B.C.E., the Ancient Greeks decided to introduce what they called the sport of Pankration. Pankration is the combination of two words: pan meaning ‘all’, and kratos meaning ‘powers’— so put together, the sport was ‘all powers’. This meant that Pankration was a mixture of boxing and wrestling that had only two rules: no eye gouging and no biting. To make it more interesting, the Greeks had

the fights take place in a ring that was usually 12 to 14 feet across to encourage close-quarter combat. These bouts would end only when one participant was knocked unconscious or ‘submitted’ by raising his hand. Naturally, a referee was involved. Sounding familiar yet? Those that participated in the sports were called Pankratiasts and were often the heroes of

Greek myths and legends. Even Hercules himself was said to have been a Pankratiast. Alas, with the rise of the Roman Empire also came the decline of Pankration, which was shoved aside for other combat sports. In the West, wrestling and boxing eventually became the more popular of combat sports and in the East (more specifically East Asia) the traditional martial arts flourished.

Rewind: 1925 in Brazil

o bridge the gap between 648 B.C.E. and today, we have to take another trip and take a look at what was happening in Brazil at the turn of the 20th century. More specifically, we’re honing in on the Legendary Gracie family of Brazil, who can be accredited with the modernday re-emergence of MMA. Gastão Gracie, a political figure in Brazil at this time, met with Mitsuyo Maeda, a Japanese Martial Arts Champion. April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends

By: Victoria Chau

The two struck a deal of sorts, which included political support. Since Japan wanted to create a colony in Brazil, Maeda ended up teaching the oldest of Gastão Gracie’s sons, Carlos Gracie, traditional martial arts. Carlos in turn taught his three younger brothers (Helio, Jorge and Gastão Jr.) what he learned. As by this time Mitsuyo Maeda had already left, the four Gracie brothers were not bound by the rigid rules of traditional Japanese martial arts and instead adapted the art to better fit their needs and increase its practicality. In 1925, Carlos and Helio opened a jiu-jitsu academy in Rio de Janeiro. To increase interest and gain public attention, the two brothers issued what has come to be known as the

“Gracie Challenge” by taking out an ad in the local newspaper that included a picture of Carlos (who was the smaller of the two brothers), information on the academy, and stated

“If you want a broken arm or rib, contact Carlos Gracie at this number.” The ad served its purpose. Martial arts enthusiasts and champions flocked to the Gracie jiu-jitsu academy to participate in the challenge. The sons of Carlos and Helio also began to participate in what became known as ‘vale tudo’ matches, which is Portuguese for ‘anything goes’ or ‘no rules’. Popularity increased to the point where they began to be held in soccer stadiums in Brazil to appease all the spectators.

Modern Day MMA in North America

hat really brings us to modern day MMA fighting began in 1980 when Helio’s oldest son, Rorion, came to the United States to teach what is now known as Brazilian (or Gracie) jiu-

ArbitrageMagazine.ca April 2011

jitsu in California. Once again, Rorion issued the Gracie Challenge, but brought it to another level by offering $100,000 to anyone who could defeat him or his brothers in a vale tudo match. These Gracie Challenge matches increased the popularity of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and fighting with, more or less, no rules. Rorion eventually decided to create an organization that would bring this type of fighting all over the United States. To fulfill this desire, Rorion Gracie met with Art Davie (a salesman who became interested in MMA from underground fights he saw in Thailand), who managed to set up a meeting for the two of them with the president of Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG), Bob Meyrowitz. SEG was a company that specialized in providing live pay-perview sporting events. Thus, in 1993, the Ultimate Fighting Championship was created.

AN OCTAGON IS BORN

he UFC’s first event was held in 1993 and offered viewers a no-holds-barred (NHB) style of fighting with very few rules. Unlike today’s UFC, the first few UFC fights had no weight classes, time limits, rounds, or even mandatory safety equipment. It was literally a free-for-all. The only rules were no eye gouging, biting or fish hooks in fights that could end only through a referee stepping in, a knockout or a submission by tapping out.

The first UFC event sold 86,000 pay-per-view purchases. By the third UFC event, the figures were up to 300,000 purchases. By the fourth and fifth fights, a time limit was introduced as well as judges. It is also around this time that Senator McCain in the United States introduced UFC onto his own political platform and became adamant about banning it because of the way UFC was being introduced to the country: as a noholds-barred anything-can-happen fight… including death. This caused UFC to jump from state to state as states began banning it. It was practically driven underground. UFC didn’t make a revival until the franchise was purchased by Zuffa, a Las Vegas based media and casino management company. The president of the company at the time? None other than UFC’s beloved Dana White. Dana White wanted to return UFC to its former popularity. He made it his mission to bring it into the mainstream sports arena by turning UFC into a

“good, clean sport with actual rules.” In 2001, UFC returned, breaking all their past live ticket sales and the pay-per-view purchase records. This new and improved UFC included time limits, rounds, weight classes, 31 fouls and eight ways to win. The highly successful revamped UFC went on to introduce a reality TV show called ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, where competitors of the first seasons were trained by Randy Couture or Chuck Liddell in MMA and fought one another to be crowned the Ultimate Fighter. The winner would also win a contract in the UFC, jumpstarting their professional MMA career. Today, UFC is the most highly recognized and popular of all MMA organizations. There are smaller competitors, such as Affliction and Strike Force, that also organize MMA competitions and events, and are also responsible for the increasing fan base and practitioners of MMA.

Trends

By: Victoria Chau

Strike Force was purchased by Zuffa on March 12, 2011.

THE 411 ON MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

MA may have started out its UFC debut as a no-holds-barred, bareknuckled fist fight much like what we saw in the movie Fight Club; but today’s MMA has come a long way from its primitive ancestors. Today’s MMA includes rules and regulations in tournamentstyle events. Even the athletes are much different from those seen a decade or two ago as they continue to increase their repertoire of skills and techniques. Since the very definition of MMA came from an all-inclusive range of martial arts, the athletes who compete in MMA today use styles that include boxing, wrestling, taekwondo, muay thai, judo, jiu-jitsu, and much more. In the beginning, Brazilian jiujitsu emerged as the premier style because it allowed smaller fighters to get an upper hand on their larger competitors, but it soon became a necessity in training for MMA. Later on, MMA athletes began to cross-train with ground work, submissions and submission defence, allowing them to use this combination of techniques to win matches against those fighters that were great at submitting their opponents. Next was the introduction of ground-andpound by MMA fighters who had wrestling backgrounds, and were great at taking their opponents down and controlling them there.

All in all, MMA has managed to continuously evolve and force its participants to enhance their skill set every time they step into the arena and face off against a new opponent.

The Political Aspect of MMA

ow that we understand the sport of MMA, the way it’s fought, its origins, and how it has evolved to become the MMA that we are familiar with, let’s take a look at what’s been going on in the news about MMA. Negative media connotations that are regularly associated with MMA have plagued MMA and its organizations, such as the UFC. Critics have called MMA ‘human cockfighting’. It is often featured on the news with pictures of bloodied fighters and cages without the proper context accompanying the images. Given Senator McCain dedication in banning MMA events from the US, today the sport is only legal in 46 of the 50 states. In Canada it was recently legalized in Ontario, making Ontario the sixth province where MMA events can be held. Even so, the allowance of MMA events in Ontario—most notably UFC 129, which took place April 30th at the Rogers Centre in Toronto—led to an emergence of debates over the safety of the sport and the moral ramifications of allowing MMA events.

Portrayal of MMA in the Media

ews about MMA has reported that there are ‘fight clubs’ occurring all across Canada. In these ‘fight clubs’, participants meet at a specified location (parks, school yards, alongside remote highways) to participate in one-onone brawls, drawing parallels with the movie Fight Club. To further the issue, these participants are recording themselves, and then posting it on Internet. This creates additional problems since some of the participants are still minors. Martial arts instructor Joel Posluns of Vancouver, who has practiced aikido for almost four decades, points the finger (like many others) at the UFC, blaming it for

“sensationalizing aggression, pervert[ing] traditional martial arts, and glorif[ying] violence... [where] the entire emphasis is on beating the other guy into a pulp.” David Purdy, Roger’s Vice President and General Manager of Video Services, disagrees. He notes that

“there’s a perception of MMA and UFC as appealing to an uneducated crowd, but the reality is that it spans the entire spectrum of our April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends

By: Victoria Chau

customer base…There’s a code of honour in the sport; it’s about honour and courage.” This sentiment is supported by Neil Forester, who has been practicing martial arts for nearly twenty years and is one of the owners of Grant Brothers MMA and Boxing Gym in North York, Ontario. When asked about the violence that the media perpetuates about MMA and whether or not it is an issue, he responds,

“Not really. As time passes and the general public learns more about the sport and sees its many positive sides, these arguments become less and less relevant.” Neil also reminds us that the ‘fight clubs’ that are springing up all over the place have been around for years and started back when the hype was surrounding WWE Wrestling, He states,

“That’s going to happen whether there is MMA or not.” For Master C.H.W. Mignon, Head Instructor and co-owner of Doggpound MMA in Brampton, Ontario, it’s about understanding the sport. He has been practicing martial arts for 30 years and has held several titles including Canadian Kick Boxing Champion and National Karate Champion. He emphasizes that MMA is completely different from

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April 2011

“going to a bar and drinking and getting punched out because you’re intoxicated,”

UFC 129 Weighing in at 40 million

which seems to be the reputation that MMA has been given by the media. Instead, MMA is about training and having the self-discipline to work towards an end goal in a controlled environment where rules do exist and are implemented. The main consensus amongst the advocates of MMA has been simple: rather than assuming that the sport is all about violence, take the time to educate yourself about MMA, learn about it, and maybe even try it because MMA is all about selfdiscipline and determination, just like any other sport. Violence is not the purpose of MMA – that is only the part that is being built up in the media.

he UFC itself has jumped from a $2 million valuation a decade ago to some $1.5 billion today with pay-perview revenues increasing from $170,000 to $200 million. Obviously, in terms of the bottom-line, the UFC is doing something right. For the local economies that host UFC events, reports have rung in with benefits in the millions of dollars. One of the largest UFC events was UFC 111, which was held in New Jersey and generated $4 million in live-gate revenues (ticket sales of 17,000). Compare this with the recent UFC 129 event in Toronto that saw ticket sales of 55,000, and which sold out almost immediately. UFC 129 has been the most successful event in UFC history. This provided $11 million of live-gate sales, which gave Ontario $1.5 million in revenue from ticket sale taxes alone. This is huge for a one-day event. Don’t forget, Ontario’s Athletic Commission also received five per cent of gross ticket sales (some $550,000) from UFC 129. UFC President Dana White predicted an economic impact of $40 million for Toronto from UFC 129, stemming from not only ticket sales, but local tourism benefits such as hotels and other lodgings that out-of-towners need to acquire to catch the fight; food and beverages; entertainment; merchandise sales; and so forth. While there have been many sceptics of such a large number predicted from one event, the figures

Crunching The MMA Numbers

he reason for all the media attention given to MMA lately has been largely due to the legalization of MMA events in many Canadian provinces and US states. One of the greatest impacts of sanctioning MMA events has been the economic benefits that the hosting local city gets to reap. To illustrate the impact of economic benefits, it’s easiest to use UFC events as they are the largest and have the most widely available statistics.

Trends

By: Victoria Chau

do support the studies that were done in the beginning of 2001, which showed the huge potential economic impact that a UFC event would have if held in New York (one of the states that still ban MMA events). Also, the UFC Fan Expo, which was a huge success, occurred on the same weekend in Toronto as UFC 129. It helped draw even more fans to the city, increasing the economic benefits of what became a weekend-long event. Local Ontario MMA training centres and gyms such as North York’s Grant Brothers and Brampton’s Doggpound reported increased membership and interest even in the time leading up to UFC 129.

MMA Knocks Out the Financial Crisis

ince MMA has been a relatively new sport, becoming mainstream only in the last five to ten years, it was interesting to see that the local MMA training centres have been doing well regardless of

the financial crisis that hit so many other businesses. These training centres and gyms dedicated to MMA have been rising in popularity as the MMA fan-base continues to grow. Of course, there are some that are merely hopping onto the MMA bandwagon and trying to take advantage of this new sport, but those places for the most part don’t stick around for very long. The true training centres and gyms are finding themselves with an increasing number of memberships. Many now face the need to hire more instructors to provide their members with expert trainers from around the world dedicated to helping their students achieve the discipline needed to practice MMA seriously. The industry of MMA training centres is also evolving to meet the membership demands that range from young children to adults both male and female interested in learning MMA. Both Grant Brothers and Doggpound reported no declines during the economic recession and instead reported increases in memberships, which they attribute to MMA being part of their members’ lifestyle and interest. In fact, during this time, Doggpound saw such an increase in members that it needed to actually hire more trainers and instructors to meets its demands. And, although there have been more centres popping up because of MMA’s increasing popularity, Grant Brothers’ Neil Forester and Doggpound`s Master Mignon both say competition hasn’t been a problem for either of their gyms. They point to the fact that it’s all about the training that can be provided and the quality of the centres.

MMA, HERE TO STAY

ndeed, MMA has become a staple item in the diet of many Canadians who are huge fans of MMA events. These growing number of fans make sure to go out and catch the fights at a local restaurant or bar, or stay-in and order it on pay-per-view with friends. In fact, MMA is one of the only sports that is seeing a rapidly increasing fan base, whereas other major sporting leagues like the NFL, MLB and NBA have been seeing stable or even declining fan bases in recent years. It is estimated that Canada’s MMA fan base is some 6 million people (18%), and Canadian interest in the sport actually exceeds that of the US. A true testament of how popular and mainstream MMA is becoming is the availability of MMA clothing lines, such as Affliction in select Bloomingdale stores in the US; and MMA gear and accessories, brands such as Everlast and Elite, in WalMart stores both in Canada and the US. Undoubtedly, we’ll be seeing more and more MMA events and its related sponsors, as MMA continues to grow in popularity and draw in audiences from not only every demographic group but around the world as well. Even today MMA has its fingers in pretty much every pocket of the globe, with MMA events taking place in North America, South America, East Asia, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East. For local economies, it’s important to educate locals on MMA, and on what the sport involves, to get past the media portrayal of what is truly not a bloodthirsty, free-for-all violent sport, because there are serious economic benefits to MMA events that should be considered. Overall it looks like Mixed Martial Arts has made its revival and it’s here to stay, so we might as well learn a thing or two and either step into the octagon ourselves or pull up a seat and catch the fight.

April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Biz Start Up

stats/facts

about mma

SOURCES: www.martialarts.groupsite.com www.ca.sports.yahoo.com www.themmazone.net www.flickr.com

The UFC was bought for just $ 2 million in January of 2001.

UFC fighter Tank Abbott was knocked out exactly 43 seconds into both his fights against Buentello and Kimbo Slice.

The UFC has been broadcast in over 170 countries worldwide.

In the US, there are over 30,000 martial arts schools, around 13,000 of those are in California.

64 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

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Biz Start Up

6 8

85% of martial arts students are under the age of 13 years old.

Georges St. Pierrre has the highest successful takedown percentage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at 81.5% â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in the history of the UFC.

In an average UFC fight, 45% of takedowns are successful.

The average ticket price for tickets for UFC 81 was $340 each.

There are over 600 martial arts tournaments in America each year alone.

UFC 15 was the first event where headbutting, groin strikes and hair pulling were illegal.

In 2006, the UFC scored pay-per-view revenues of $ 223 million, much more than boxing and wrestling.

April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

FINANCE & ECONOMICS Every day, the world of finance and economics pumps out enough information to drown any unsuspecting student. This section helps distil some of the relevant topics of today to give you an idea of whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening in the world. From Egyptâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy post-Mubarak to investment banking as a career, there is plenty to learn in this fascinating field.

Click to learn more and join us

What is Investment Banking? The inside scoop on one of the most prestigious careers in finance

In Post-Mubarak Egypt, Economy Continues to Slide

Food for Your 2011 Portfolio Commodity stocks are hot for the new year

Finance & Economics By: Jennifer Jang

What is Investment Banking? The inside scoop on one of the most prestigious careers in finance

It demands a lot of hours, financial modelling, as well as mental and physical horsepower. Investment Banking is divided into many sectors, such as Mergers & Acquisitions, Foreign Exchange, Sales & Trading, each with its own perks and downs. However, the wellknown perks for anyone in investment banking are generally prestige and high income. Needless to say, you have to be very good at what you do to keep your job. An iBanker’s pay can increase very significantly depending on his bonuses (added on top of the base salary which is capped at around $250,000).

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July 2011

As you might expect, bonuses depend on performance. Since performance in turn largely depends on the amount of work you put in, the ‘work-life balance’ is an unobtainable luxury for most iBankers. iBankers are always busy – there is no such thing as a “slow season”. In busy times, they get less than four hours of sleep, if at all. As the saying goes, “Money never sleeps”. But not everyone in investment banking has to be a night owl. Some sectors, like Sales and Trading, offer better hours in the sense that you get off work by dinnertime, so that you can spend time with friends and family. Other than the prestige and the wealth, iBankers like the fact that they get to work with people that are smart, driven and results-oriented. Ironically, that is also a large source of stress: since everyone is smart and ambitious, the competition is absolutely fierce. As you might have guessed, iBanking is one of the hardest industries to break into. They require

at least a B+ GPA (an “A” GPA is recommended, however), superb analytical and mathematical skills, as well as interpersonal skills. On top of that, you have to be very selfmotivated and passionate about finance. At job interviews, you will be “grilled” on whether 1) you are smart enough to do the job and 2) you are passionate enough about finance to endure in the fast-paced, stressful and demanding work environment. Let’s say that you do pass the interview and land the job. You are then an “Analyst”, which basically means a trainee. For most people, this is the stage where they realise whether they are made for iBanking or not. Those who have proven their worth as an analyst are promoted to an “Associate” after three years. If you can prove your worth as an associate, you can expect to get promoted to “Vice President” after three years. You might think, “Wow, Vice President! I’ve made it”, but there are many VPs in an investment bank. Excellent VPs are promoted to “Directors”, and only the best

Source: nobadtrips.com

efore we get to the overview of a career in the investment banking (often called iBanking) industry, let’s first define what it is. According to Investopedia, investment banking is the “banking related to the creation of capital for other companies”. To “create capital” basically means to issue new debt or equity securities, also known as underwriting. Investment banks advise issuing corporations on the type of security, what features the security should have, its placement, and then follow through by selling the newly issued securities to the suppliers of capital (investors) found in the market. You can find iBanking jobs at bulge bracket firms, such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, UBS and Morgan Stanley. You will also find iBanking divisions in major banks: TD, CIBC, BMO, RBC, Scotia and National Bank. There are also independent investment banks, like Canaccord Genuity and Raymond James. “Creating capital” is not an easy task.

Finance & Economics By: Andi Kusuri

Food for Your 2011 Portfolio Commodity stocks are hot for the new year

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July 2011

most valuable brand in the world. But we at the ARB like to look at some notso-well-known companies, or at least ones the average person may not recognize. Remember, a successful company may not be a smart investment if its stock price already takes into account its success! AGRIUM INC. (AGU) industry: Agricultural Chemicals My first pick is a Canadian one: Agrium Inc. As the largest North American farm products retailer, it posted a net income of $171 million, compared to a net loss of $1 million the previous year. Agrium is also the leading global wholesale producer and marketer of all three major agricultural nutrients and specialty fertilizers in North America. Its growth strategy is solid: acquisitions, incremental expansion of existing operations and through the development, commercialization and marketing of new products and international opportunities. What makes Agrium particularly good this year is the rise of food inflation in developing nations. The general trend of all developing economies is shifting from agriculture to different sectors, which means that exports of agricultural produce is going to grow significantly.

So far in 2011, Agrium has not disappointed, recording net earnings of $160 million or $1.02 per share in the first quarter of 2011, which surpassed expectations and estimates. «Crop nutrient demand was strong in North America and globally, providing underlying support to crop nutrient prices,» the company said in a statement.

«What makes Agrium particularly good this year is the rise of food inflation in developing nations.» Now, while the company does not offer a dividend, it has recorded significantly higher sales and net income than the industry average, making Agrium a solid pick in 2011. APACHE CORP. (APA) (Industry: Independent Oil & Gas) Say what you will, but commodities continue to surge in price. Despite a recent temporary downturn in prices, commodities have started to rise again across the board. As such, I couldn’t come up with three stocks without including an oil/energy stock in some form or another. Apache Corporation is an energy company that explores for, develops and produces natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids in six countries. Apache recorded a net income above Wall Street’s expectations for the first quarter. Compared to its $705 million in earnings in the first quarter of 2010, net income rose to $1.13 billion in the same quarter in 2011. Farris, CEO and Chairman of the Board, had this to say earlier this year: “Apache is beginning the year with a solid, strong performance. Despite a number of challenges,

Source: sodahead.com

ith the economy clearly showing signs of recovery, 2011 should be a year that everyone should think about investing. Over the last twelve months, markets have clearly shown signs of stability and recovery, so fear and irrationality should be put aside in 2011. With the first quarter of the year already behind us, the top stocks we picked at the beginning of the year continue to impress. Sure, you could opt to invest in well-recognized brands, such as Apple, which as of May 9th, has topped Google as the

Finance & Economics By: Andi Kusuri

our diversified portfolio of assets delivered exceptional earnings and operating results. Liquids production increased 57,000 barrels to 358,000 barrels per day, which enabled Apache to achieve stand-out earnings and cash flow as a leading beneficiary of rising oil prices.”

«With the price of oil still rising, Apache’s stock can only benefit.» In March 2011, one of Apache’s subsidiaries, Apache Deepwater, agreed to join Marine Well Containment Company, a partnership company committed to handle deep-water operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The stock is already trading at 11.2 times its estimated 2011 earnings. With the price of oil still rising,

Apache’s stock can only benefit. ZALICUS INC. (ZLCS) (Industry: Biotechnology) Few people have heard of Zalicus, yet many investors see Zalicus as the best stock of 2011 overall. So far, it has a staggering 54% return year-todate.

«Few people have heard of Zalicus, yet many investors see Zalicus as the best stock of 2011 overall.» Simply looking at the accounting numbers for Zalicus would be misleading, because it is heavily invested in projects. The leading biotech company lost 13 cents per share in the first quarter of 2011, whereas analysts expected a $2.1 million and a 12 cent loss.

But we should really look at the prospects of the company, and the updates made by its management. Zalicus has one product on the market, Exalgo for chronic pain, marketed by a subsidiary of Covidien. Covidien have reported “good sales of our new Exalgo” product. Analysts expect sales to increase to $100 million in 2012, $200 million in 2013 and level off around $300 million in 2014. In fact, Exalgo alone is apparently worth $1.50 a share. In addition, many of Zalicus’ other projects, albeit in early phases, have been successful in clinical trials. Given where the company is headed, the stock is a bargain at the moment. It’s hard to bet against Zalicus considering that investors have called it a low-risk development-stage biotechnology stock. Who knew development-stage biotech stocks could be low-risk? July 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends By: Tony Ge, Online Editor

Source: nobadtrips.com

Going Deep Inside the Adult Entertainment Industry 20 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

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Trends

Source: nobadtrips.com

By: Tony Ge, Online Editor

n the modern day and age, adult entertainment is no longer just a touchy subject that is tabooed by society. It is everywhere. And whether you like it or not, it is here to stay. You can get it whenever and wherever you want, on your computer, at your local adult video store, or from your cable provider. It is effectively a vital part of our mainstream media! Porn is within a mouse-click away. It is no less accessible than your local evening news, or a Justin Bieber music video. How many people indulge in pornography? It might be easier to count those who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t.

Statistics from respectable research firms show that 70% male aged between 18 to 24 watch porn in a typical month. And I suspect this is a conservative estimate.

Nowadays, anyone with a camcorder can become an aspiring porn producer. In 2009, the University of Montreal attempted to conduct a research to compare psychological views of men who have never watched porn with regular porn users. They soon

gave up because they could not find anyone matching the first category. What about women? The lure of porn appears to be less effective against females. Women account for only one third of all porn viewers. In other words, for every female porn user, there are two male ones. Overall, about 40 million people in the U.S. watch porn regularly; about 14% of their total population. And being their cousins in the north, we should expect similar statistics here in Canada. This is impressive, considering that only 25% of the public regularly tune into Fox News; Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most watched news April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends TonyTony By: Ge, Ge, Online Online Editor Editor

channel.

Some other fun facts on porn include: Every second, there are 28,258 internet users watching porn 2.5 billion emails per day are pornographic 25% of all search engine requests are porn related, which translates to 68 million a day 35% of all internet downloads are pornographic The most popular day of the week for watching porn is on Sunday (God save us all)

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“[more] people are browsing around on free chat, and nobody’s paying to go private.”

How Big is it? Now that we’ve demonstrated how horny American’s are, let’s move on to the next question: exactly how big is the adult entertainment industry? In a nut-shell: pretty darn big. Conservative estimates value the worldwide porn industry at approximately $4.9 billion dollars, with $2.8 billion attributable to America alone. These are annual figures, meaning that’s how much they earn per year. With so much dough surrounding porn, one can always count on the well-oiled cogs of the free market economy to fully exploit people’s hormones. And exploit they did. Nowadays, anyone with a camcorder can become an aspiring porn producer. A large number of porn sites on the internet are actually operated by sole proprietors, many of whom star in their own films. Consequently, the adult entertainment industry is largely scattered and very

competitive. There are however, several widely renowned trademarks in the industry: Vivid Entertainment and Bang Bros from the U.S., Marc Dorcel from France, and Brazzers, which is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. All the companies listed above are multi-million dollar operations, but since none of them are public corporations, the exact figures are unknown.

One can’t very well pay for porn when there are mouths to feed and rent to pay. Like all industries, porn studios are also taking advantage of the technological marvel known as the internet. In fact, porn is one of the first things people used the internet for, starting from the late 80s – even before the conception of the worldwide-web. So, in a way, the porn industry is the forefather of what is known today as e-commerce. The reason the internet is so popular within the industry is that websites are cheap to operate; the marginal cost per sale is exceptionally low, since the web-hosting cost is largely fixed. Moreover, internet also provides a sense of (perceived) anonymity; people tend to be deterred

Trends By: Tony Ge, Online Editor

by the thought of going to a store and purchasing a naughty film in person. Because the internet is practically made for the distribution of porn, there are a total of 24,644,172 pornographic websites worldwide. That’s 12% of all websites on the internet. It is no surprise that the internet is now the leading channel of distribution for porn. Although the internet has been instrumental in the success of the porn industry, it is a double-edged sword. The industry that was long thought to be recession proof has faltered in the recent economic crisis, and the internet is mostly to blame.

There are a total of 24,644,172 pornographic websites worldwide. That’s 12% of all websites on the internet.

Source: nobadtrips.com

“Porn Tubes” Since the conception of YouTube, many cunning businessmen realized two things about it: 1) It is indeed a brilliant business model and 2) there is no porn on it. And so, websites dubbed “porn tubes” are born. Sites such as YouPorn, RedTube, PornHub, XVideo, and Megaporn Video sprang up one after the other. All of them offer a video sharing platform which allows people to upload and stream good-quality porn for free, provided you have a good internet connection. (A high-speed internet connection is absolutely essential, because watching laggy porn simply won’t do.) This was all fine and dandy when the economy was doing well. Porn studios embraced these video sharing platforms, and even uploaded their own samples to advertise

themselves; the porn tubes received much more traffic than their own company websites. The relationship was mutually beneficial. After the economy collapsed and people started losing their jobs, porn, however, became the first thing people cut from their budget. This is because the porn tubes provide a decent alternative at no charge whatso-ever. Although the video quality on the free porn tubes might not be HD 1080p, people are willing to settle for it during times of economic hardship. One can’t very well pay for porn when there are mouths to feed and rent to pay. To put this in economic terms, the free porn tubes rendered the adult entertainment industry more incomeelastic; the sales in the industry are more sensitive to changes in people’s income and therefore, the condition of the economy.

The Porno Industry Going Limp?

cyclical changes of the economy. How hard did the recession hit the porn industry? In a nut-shell: pretty darn hard. All porn studios experienced substantial declines in revenue between 30-50% since 2008, with some dropping as much as 80%. The effects of the recession aren’t just felt in the film sector, but also within other erotic services, such as live sex chats. One girl with the alias WetGirlCuming from LiveJasmin.com disclosed that, “[more] people are browsing around on free chat, and nobody’s paying to go private.” Gone are the good ol’ days where people are willing to shell out $30 to $40 for a DVD. The intrusion of the free porn tubes has shrunk the industry, perhaps even permanently. Will it bounce back up? Or will it stay flaccid? It is anyone’s guess as to where pornography is headed in the future.

The porn industry is no longer recession proof, but rather follows the April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends

Source: nobadtrips.com

By: Tony Ge, Online Editor

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Trends

Source: nobadtrips.com

By: Tony Ge, Online Editor

April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends TextOnline By: Tony to comeâ&#x20AC;Ś Ge, Online Editor Tony Ge, Editor

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BIZ START UP A spark of inspiration can grant an entrepreneur the potential to shape the world. This sections hopes to provide you the tools to fan the spark and let it ignite into a full-fledged venture. This issue features exclusive interviews with two of Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top young entrepreneurs: Lauren Friese from TalentEgg and Daniel Debow from Rypple. Read on and arm yourself with their sagely wisdom so that you can also one day make your own mark on the world as a business leader!

Click to learn more and join us

Star Startups Four of last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best new online businesses and what made them great

Networking Tips for Young Entrepreneurs Subheading here

Biz Start Up By: Amy Ward

Star Startups

Four of last year’s best new online businesses and what made them great

hoever said dotcom businesses were last century’s bubble need only to look at 2010 to see there is still lots of money to come from taking it online. The biggest playing-field-changers of the year were online businesses that rewired the way we thought about coupons, geography, and the almighty bandwidth. Here are some of the breakthrough players and what they can teach you for your own business success. GROUPON The daily deal that spawned many imitators, Chicago-based Groupon launched in 2008 but expanded its local group-buying offers to several cities in Canada in 2010. Legions of competitors followed, with LivingSocial, WagJag, RedFlagDeals and the upcoming Google Offers emailing daily deals to Canadians. The promise of a crowd of new customers in exchange for a deep discount – most daily deals sell for about 50% of retail price, and the deal marketer keeps as much as half – may have small businesses redefining how they invest their marketing dollars. Groupon had an estimated annual revenue of $460 million in 2010 and resisted a $6 billion buyout offer from Google, but TechCrunch.com recently reported that the company’s earnings, based on published deal sales information, seemed to be declining in 2011, likely due to increased competition. Can it be replicated? It already has been, many times over. But increased competition, an improving economy, and coupon malaise from consumers and retailers alike may question future growth

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potential for daily-deal sites. Savvy adaptations: Build an ultra-local coupon site for students at your university, create a daily-deal amalgamator site that gives easy access to all the deals in one area, or apply the group-buying principles to your own business and give customers a deal when they recommend 3 friends. FOURSQUARE The growing number of people carrying smartphones and iPads practically begs for new tools to celebrate our constant GPS-trackability. Enter Foursquare, the location-based mobile social network that lets you locate your friends or fight a virtual turf war over the mayorship of your favourite coffee shop. In the last year, Foursquare’s membership grew from about 500,000 to over 8 million in April 2011. Can it be replicated? Not exactly, but Facebook has made a move to popularize location tracking within its own services. However, it still cannot compare to Foursquare’s full range of badges and perks for mayors. Foursquare stands alone in its ability to ally to location-based businesses, to encourage customer loyalty and promote local deals. Savvy adaptations: Design your own GPS-location app for a specialized niche like dating, ride-sharing, or connecting with study groups. ETSY If eBay didn’t prove the profitability of online garage sales, craft marketplace site Etsy’s $300 million in annual sales of handmade goods should give new

Biz Start Up By: Amy Ward

respect to the craftsman’s sales niche. The site allows individuals to sell handmade or vintage items, and lets buyers search for locally produced goods. Etsy was launched in 2005, but became profitable in 2010, after the return of founder Rob Kalin as CEO. The recession-era respect for do-ityourself makers contributes to Etsy’s success, on a site where consumers can stumble across unique items ranging from fisherman pants to vodka bottle ashtrays.

competitor to start up given the name recognition and political battles Netflix has waged to get rights to its current catalogue. Savvy adaptations: Create your own videos on FunnyOrDie or Youtube, or discover some talented friends you can help promote – you never know who might be scouting for great new content to stream.

Can it be replicated? You could always sell handmade goods on eBay, Craigslist, or at local bazaars, but a new online marketplace would need to specialize in something like food or custom clothing in order to compete.

NETFLIX Already a media powerhouse in the U.S., Netflix launched its online video-streaming service in Canada in September 2010. So far the selection of movies and TV shows is limited compared with the local video store or even the American version of the site, but for $7.99 customers can stream as many videos as their internet bandwidth packages will allow. Netflix currently has 20 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. Can it be replicated? Some illegal video-streaming sites tap into the appetite for international TV shows that are unavailable in Canada, but it would be difficult for a legitimate April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Source: www.indiegamemag.com/

Savvy adaptations: Sell your own crafts on Etsy, organize a local handmade goods sale, or build your own online marketplace for niche goods.

Biz Start Up By: William Shaub

BIZ START UP Networking Tips for Young Entrepreneurs

ocially connecting with colleagues, management, clients and employees is an essential component in finding success in the business world in the 21st century. Fortunately, establishing a connection among these various groups isn't difficult, but requires a certain mentality, focus and strategy. To organize some important aspects of networking for the young entrepreneur, I compiled a list. Not only will following these steps make your networking strategy more effective and balanced, but provide you with an important sense of feeling 'always connected' to those who matter most.

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1. Communicate by email, not instant messaging, as your primary method of communication. By choosing email when in a conversation with an important contact, such as a dissatisfied employee or frustrated boss, you’re giving yourself a chance to gather your thoughts and work out issues. There’s no reason to put yourself under the time constraints of SMS or IM in professional situations. As a young entrepreneur, you often need to tread carefully and makes sure you don’t lose anyone from your contact base. With email, you can take the time to prepare professional responses that convey clarity in message and tone.

2. Treat LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter as individual social networks, as opposed to posting the same message on each. Many people don’t have identical friends (followers) for all of their separate social networking platforms, which means you need to cater to each separate audience. While your followers on Twitter may be particularly receptive to links and mentions, your MySpace and Facebook friends may not be, and respond more to a certain tone or character. Treating your networks as separate platforms from which to proclaim a message is essential in communication effectively. 3. Quality blogging means frequent quality posting. As a student entrepreneur, I highly recommend linking or attaching your personal (or professional) blog to your website. Not only does this provide your contacts with a more descriptive side of you, it gives them one more reason to check back in to your website. Of course, this implies that your blogging is high quality and informative, so blog as frequently as possible and have a friend proofread your work from time to time. 4. Don’t be afraid to build relationships and partnerships with those you come across online. A crucial part of networking is establishing contacts and maintaining those contacts. Your most recent follower on LinkedIn might just have a high-viewership website, and may allow you to guest blog, consequently providing your website with more traffic. As the saying goes: you have to be a friend to have a friend. This could not be more true than in the field of entrepreneurial networking.

Trends By: Zack Larmand, Staff Writer

How Much Are They Really Worth?

Corporate bonuses gone overboard and the legislation that aims to stop it

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$31.5 million. Having received over $850 million dollars over the past decade, some would argue, eliminates most disputes that certain executives are still getting paid far too much. The “say-on-pay” element of the new Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is meant to promote financial viability. The shareholders are allowed to vote

against high pay for executives. This vote nonetheless acts as a pressure point to influencing the board of directors, which makes any and all final decisions regarding executive pay. The “say-on-pay” vote may not give shareholders a direct hand in lowering executive compensation but the pressure it will create is likely to be influential. Section953(b)oftheDodd-FrankWall StreetReformandConsumerProtection Act requires companies to disclose the CEO to Worker pay for their average employee. Aiming to address workplace inequality, this law will help workers know where they stand within their organization. In the eyes of shareholders this law makes it much easier to detect the so-called run-away CEO. As of January 1, 2011 Google raised the wages for its executives. Four executives will receive a significant

30-percent increase in their respective base salaries, bringing their new annual base salaries to $650,000. Both Patrick Pichette and Nikesh Arora will each receive an additional $20 million in options; Alan Eustace will receive $10 million; and Jonathan Rosenberg will receive $5 million. Justifying such high wages is very hard to do. Google is a company looking for high calibre and innovative performance. Total compensation equates to total rewards and in most cases more sought-after rewardsattract more scarce skills. Google requires dynamic leadership. But dynamic leadership is a scarce skill, so when leaders demonstrate strong performance perhaps their rewards are deserved. Nevertheless, pay disparity contributes to an ever growing gap between the rich and the poor. Therefore, laws meant to add transparency and voice may help distinguish CEO’s who are deserving of their high pay from those who are not.

Source: Selina McGinnis

daptable and dynamic leadership can propel organizations past the barriers of government legislation and market forces. Nonetheless, some are of the opinion that leading executives are more deserving of their high pay than others. Google reshaped the way we look at the internet, and their outstanding cast of well paid executives suggests that perhaps there is some justice in their excessive wages and bonuses. A Federal statute signed by President Obama in 2010, dubbed the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is meant to promote financial stability. Within this act there is a ’say-on-pay’ vote in which case shareholders can vote against high pay for executives as well as section 953(b), which aims to add transparency to pay disparities. But really, what is the price tag on such dynamic executive leadership? The American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations or AFL-CIO – produced an executive pay watch for 2011 that features a list of the 100 highest paid CEO’s. The bottom of this list has Robert J. Coury of Mylan Inc. with total compensation of $16,481,387 for 2009. The top is championed by Gregory B. Maffei of Liberty Media Corp. with a stunning $87,493,565 earned in the same year. Viacom Inc’s Phillippe P. Dauman is listed at almost $85 million, just over Ray. R. Irani of Occidental Petroleum Corp who earned over $75 million in 2010. TotalCompensationrecognizesmore than just base salary. In fact, according to AFL-CIO, the Chairman and CEO of Occidental Petroleum Ray R. Irani has a 2010 base salary of just fewer than $1.2 million dollars. Most of his total compensation is received from an over $40 million dollar stock award and a non-equity incentive plan worth over

Biz Start Up

INTERESTING STATS ABOUT

CORPORATE BONU$E$

SOURCES: www.voanews.com articles.cnn.com www.theglobeandmail.com www.google.com www.guardian.co.uk www.tulsaworld.com inthearena.blogs.cnn.com

ONE “We want our money back, and we want our money back now,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, said Thursday after the House voted 328-93 to impose big taxes on bonuses paid out to executives at bailed-out firms.

Bonuses at the country’s six largest banks will reach a record $8.3-billion for fiscal 2009, an increase of 18 per cent from last year and about 4-per-cent higher than in 2007.

Citigroup - only weeks after the beleaguered firm averted collapse with a $45bn (£31bn) federal bail-out, the company lent one of its four business jets to Sanford “Sandy” Weill, its 75-year-old former chief executive, to celebrate New Year with his family in Mexico.

“Wall Street has $1 billion, $2 billion in bonuses, the city had a deficit. Wall Street has $15 billion to $20 billion, New York City had a $2 billion, $3 billion surplus, and it’s because that money gets spent.

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Biz Start Up

President Obama admonished corporate America on Thursday after the New York comptroller reported that Wall Street bankers received $18.4 billion in bonuses in 2008.

Citigroup Inc.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CEO, who took a $1 salary after the company needed a bailout to weather the financial crisis, has been awarded a multi-year bonus package that could be worth nearly $23.4 million if a series of performance goals are met.

In 2003, the APFA gave up $340 million a year and the TWU gave up $620 million a year in wages and benefits to help AMR avert a bankruptcy filing.

AIG received about $170 billion in government funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program approved by Congress late last year to deal with the U.S. financial meltdown.

The Wall Street Journal reports that chief executives of 350 major U.S.companies got big rewards in 2010. Their salaries, along with bonuses, stocks, and stock options, jumped 11 percent.

In announcing the Wall Street bonuses Wednesday, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said the $18.4 billion represented a stark dip from 2007â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bonuses, which totaled $32.9 billion.

July 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Progress is the fuel of tomorrow. With the future charging at us at an ever-accelerating pace, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clear that science will mark the landscape of our world. From the explosion of cell phones in third world countries to the latest gadgets, this section explores the themes of contemporary technology and their impact on the way we live and interact.

Click to learn more and join us

The Technological Race Product cycles that are leaving us all behind

Why a Farmer Needs a Cellphone The role of mobile phones in developing countries

Sun Power, Vision Control and Spiffy Shades? Technological breakthroughs to look forward to in the coming years

Have You Joined the iPad Bandwagon Yet? Understanding our fascination with the iPad and looking into its future use in our daily lives

Science & Technology By: Prachi Kamble

The Technological Race Product Cycles That Are Leaving Us All Behind

uying a technological gadget is a whole new experience today as opposed to what it was a few years ago. Technology appears to update itself by the hour. Innovations arrive daily by the dozen. A 1.0 goes to a 2.0 within months and a whole new series dethrones its predecessors within another. I go into a phone store to check out smartphones. I get tempted by their incredible functionalities. These phones are so capable that I already see them as viable substitutes for desktops and laptops. The current versions of these, very true to their name, smartphones have achieved incredible feats. Video chats, high quality picture taking, internet browsing, and video streaming on a phone would have seemed impossible a year ago, yet here it all is. And not only that, it is getting better by the minute in ways we cannot even predict anymore. As I browse through the array of the

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silicon brilliance of these smartphones, I cannot help but address a nagging fear: the minute I commit to one of these phones, a better version will be out in a matter of months. By then, I will be so hooked on the features of the phone I choose that I will find it absolutely impossible to keep on living without its newer version. The cycle will continue as long as the phone company will keep piling up new versions in its product pipeline and I will have, by then, successfully developed a technological habit, so to speak. I will be left needing the next version like my next fix. Profits for the phone companies will keep rolling in, while I will be â&#x20AC;&#x153;right nowâ&#x20AC;? and satiated until the next new hot thing makes a premature appearance, of course. With this alarmingly rapid rate of technological advent, the period between new versions grows smaller. So small that we are left with no time to enjoy the current versions that we

do possess. Technology, with its blinkand-miss pace, is making sure we always stay one step behind. We will always chase new models and yet be guaranteed to never catch up. Is this the inevitable face of the future or is this just a lesson from which we will learn to take a breather from the torrent of constant upgrades? Perhaps phone companies need to slow down and internally test out their products for a longer period of time, so that they can come up with a product that stands the test of time. Well, at least, the test of a little while. Surely a year or two of calm in the market is not too much to ask for? As a customer I have too often felt the disgruntlement that comes when gadget manufacturers thwart the loyalty of previous customers. Having bought a Playstation 2 only to be left behind by the Playstation 3 within months, I felt slightly betrayed. This betrayal no doubt takes away from customer satisfaction when you begin

Science & Technology By: Prachi Kamble

to feel duped into being a yesterday customer. It could rightly be classified as trickery, but I digress on a wave of the bitter feeling that comes with being left behind. As I look into the vibrant face of an iPhone 4, I see the reflection of my furrowed eyebrow that is already anticipating the iPhone 5 and how out of date it is bound to make me feel in the very near future. The product cycles of the major gadgetry in the market are intriguing.

The cunningly marketed iPhones were updated six times from 2007 to 2011. The iPod classic was updated six times as well, from 2001 to 2007. The iPod Mini made a fleeting mark from 2004 to 2005, whereas the Nano stuck around from 2005 to 2010 with a total of six updates. Not to forget Apple’s relative lightweights: the iPod touch

(two updates in four years) and the iPod Shuffle (four updates in five years). Apple’s fierce competitor, RIM, followed a similar pattern with its Blackberrys. Between 2008 and 2009 a Bold, a Curve, a Tour, a Storm and another Curve were introduced. Between 2009 and 2011, most of these were quickly updated, some up to three times (like the Bold), while new models like the Pearl 3G and the Torch were also simultaneously released. Game consoles were not far behind this whirlwind of innovation. The Xbox saw releases and updates a staggering nine times between 2005 to 2010. The Playstation, in comparison, remained fairly stable with three major updates in fifteen years with the addition of a few aesthetic redesigns. What does one do with so many options? Customers buy phones and mp3 players with a readiness to see them become obsolete in a matter of months. Gamers worry about not being

able to play games manufactured in the future as games become less and less backwards compatible. Again, the greater frequency of updates means it becomes less possible to get your money’s worth off of the model you ultimately decide to buy. Will customers become tired of the circus of constant updates or will they rebel and take a backseat to allow the dust to settle on products that are true and large innovations in their own right? Upgrades, of course, mean things are getting better. Faster, thinner, smaller, prettier. But what good are these updates when they leave you too confused to appreciate their genius? Maybe it really is time to have the madness of upgrades be contained in labs a while longer so that only the cream of technology is allowed to escape and wow the market- a wow that takes its time and sticks around for a while, like, a good, steady friend.

July 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Science & Technology By: Zack Larmand

Why a Farmer needs a cellphone

he popularity of mobile devices stems largely from their global reach. An estimated 4 billion people access a world of knowledge and information through the internet in their cell-phones. This number is four times larger than what personal computers are able to offer. Interestingly, two-thirds of these avid cell-phone users reside in developing nations; and according to the World Bank, in Africa the subscription numbers are growing rapidly, perhaps because of the technology’s ability to significantly impact areas of health, education, and agriculture in the developing world. As the developing world intensely lacks central infrastructure such as landlines and internet work-stations, some would argue that the region has a distinct need for mobile phones, it is able to act as a replacement for things that the first world takes for granted. Mobile phones are essential for the development of the third world. The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta uses the Sudanese billionaire Mo Ibrahim as an example. Ibrahim’s former company, Celtel, brought mobile phones to Africa. Auletta states how invaluable mobile phones have proven to be in Liberia, a country entirely without landline service. In such context, mobile phones have the ability to provide opportunities in areas that need it most, and which were lacking it in the past. The World Bank equates the phenomena of mobile banking – or “m-banking” – and its past success to the new potential mobile devices have for educating the developing world. This potential is based purely on how many people use mobile

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devices. For instance, the relatively new recent ability to do online banking on cell-phones has proven to be as successful as it is useful. The World Bank envisions educational processes in developing countries rising with the same success. An example of the mobile phones’ innovative ability to educate is seen in the Scientific Animations without Borders initiative. A team from the University of Illinois is developing a two-minute educational animation video viewable on mobile phones. The project, called the “Sustainable Development Virtual Knowledge Interface”, wants to help lowliterate and low-income learners to understand basic concepts and have access to relevant information. Following the same lines of “m-banking” – and now “m-education” - is the new initiative of “m-health”, which is already making its mark in Africa. The Alternative Press reports that a lack of landlines and hospital beds is combated by a rich mobile phone network. Africa’s Aid, MDNet or Mobile Doctor’s Network, is comprised of 2200 doctors from Ghana and all of Liberia’s 143 doctors. It allows physicians to text and call each other for free. In Kenya, other beneficial use for mobile phones has been witnessed. Isaiah Esipisu, for example, has encountered a mobile phone application called M-Farm. The application, developed by three female students in Nairobi’s Strathmore University, is meant to help combat climate-driven price uncertainty in agriculture. Esipisu watches Kenyan farmer

William Muriuki as he uses his phone to physically identify places with high demand. He literally texts the word “price” followed by “cabbage” and the place name, “Embu”, and sends it to 3535. Almost immediately he receives a reply stating “Cabbage Ext Bag 126Kg selling at Ksh400 in Embu as of 2011-04-01.” Substituting different locations and products, the farmer Muriuki is able to confidently identify optimal markets for his product. Health, education, and agriculture are very important examples of the needs present in the developing world. The mobile phone is proving to be an incredible tool for preparing to meet the demands of these needs. As technology progresses and human networks continue to grow, the mobile phone will prove to be one of the most important tools for connecting the developing world to meaningful opportunities and privileges.

Source: www.flickr.com

The Role of Mobile Phones in Developing Countries

Science & Technology By: Troy Redick

Sun Power, Vision Control & Spiffy Technological breakthroughs to look forward to in the coming

n April 2011, Google announced some amazing new features. Two of the most mind-boggling are the Google Motion and the hiring of autocompleters. Anyone familiar with video gaming knows that kinetic energy and body tracking technology have been integrated successfully into systems, like the Wii and Xbox Kinect. Well, Google Motion is a similar take on this theme, whereby users can “control Gmail using body language... Gmail will enable your webcam when you sign in and automatically recognize any one of the detected movements via a spatial tracking algorithm”. Yes, for those of us who find using our fingers and a keyboard too onerous, we can now navigate our inbox via interpretive dance. As if that wasn’t game-changing enough, the magnanimous geniuses over at Google have hired an extensive team of autocompleters – peoplepleasers tasked to finish typing our search criteria for us [1] if our fingers are too slow. This is made possible by the autocompletion staff’s emphatic nature and prescience forewarning them of our data-finding needs, combined with Google’s blindingly fast worldwide network. Oh, and if you were wondering, these breakthroughs were announced on April first, 2011. For those of us whose synapses fire a little slower than the norm, that is April Fool’s Day. However, if you fell for these hoaxes, don’t be too ashamed. With the pace of technological advancement these

days, similar futuristicseeming technologies are already in both development and practice worldwide. I am by nobody’s standard a gadget guru, but here are a few new releases that I found particularly cool. Does your shiny new iPhone 4 require more charging time in a day than you get in a night`s sleep? Then you’ll love Apple’s patent in development for a solar celled iPhone. Not only can you charge your phone anywhere you can manage to find sunlight, but Apple has managed to theorize a super efficient solar cell that applies beneath the touch screen surface, as well as on the bottom of the new, transparent bottom face of the phone – doubling the rate of energy intake. This means your iPhone will now be ready for another 2-hour long-lunch of Angry Birds before you finish your 11 AM nap at the office. While the folks at Google aimed to make it easier for those of us with ADD to sift through our hundreds of emails by making it fun, interactive and require less physical labour, some scientists over at Tobii-Lenovo have collaborated to make responding to all those Facebook threads as easy as watching another episode of Epic Meal Time. With this team’s new Envision eye control, PC users can literally control their computer with nothing more than eye movements. “It is as if the computer understands you; just glance at an icon or

gadget and more information will be presented; You can zoom pictures or maps and automatically center on the area you are looking at; The computer can auto-dim and brighten the screen when it recognises your eyes to increase battery time”. Now those of us who want to be slovenly can enjoy a good browse through Lolcats without lifting a finger, and those of us with the aforementioned ADD can have fun trying to play Call of Duty with the killing power of our eye lasers – just don’t blink. This last one probably won’t find much use among the Arbitrage’s readership, but it is just too cool to pass up the chance of sharing: Robocop sunglasses. No, cyborgchique isn’t coming back into fashion. Developed for use by Brazilian law enforcement during the 2014 World Cup, these new sunglasses allow police to scan up to 400 faces in a crowd and compare them to criminal databases. Yes, now the five-oh can check you out and pick you up faster than Johnny Drama. And on that gratuitous note, I bid you good fortunes in 2011 – sadly, I was unable to find data about a time-machine being constructed to somehow avert the coming cataclysm of 2012. July 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Biz Start Up Technology By: Andi Kusuri, Managing Editor

Have You Joined the iPad Bandwagon Yet?

Understanding Our Fascination with the iPad & Looking into Its Future Use in Our Daily Lives

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reviews have led to a two-percent dip in RIM’s share price upon the release of the Playbook. Why has the iPad been so successful? Well, it undoubtedly has its limitations. The iPad is relatively heavy when compared to devices such as the Kindle. It lacks a built-in camera, there is no flash support, and it lacks a SD Card slot and USB ports. The latter is particularly troublesome because it requires a user to constantly sync their iPad when editing and updating documents. Apple could also still add significantly more memory to increase system performance. Released earlier this year, iPad 2, aside from being noticeable lighter, did offer some improvements such as increased system performance

and a built-in camera, yet it still failed to address the key problems people have with the iPad in general. Even so, what was once criticized as being simply an experimentation and side-project for Jobs and Apple has proven to be a resounding success: the iPad is here to stay, at least in the near future. It’s not hard to see why many people are obsessed with the iPad. It has an easy interface, which is characteristic of many of Apple’s products; uncomplicated operations, relatively light weight; and long battery life. Sure, there are many competitors who offer—if not, in some facets, superior—products. But, at the end of the day, people want a simple experience, and Apple is known for providing just that.

Source: nobadtrips.com

he tablet market came to life in 2010 with the release of the iPad. A presumptuous statement? Perhaps, but it is difficult for anyone to dispute the fact that the iPad has become the face of the tablet market. Apple sold approximately 3 million units within 80 days of the release of the first iPad. The iPad 2 has also been successful, despite limited modifications from its predecessor. Apple’s iOS accounted for 83.9% of worldwide sales of media tablets in 2010, and it is expected to continue to dominate the table market through 2015, owning over 50% of the market for the next three years. The recent launch of the Blackberry Playbook failed to slow down Apple’s momentum. The less-than-stellar

April 2011

Biz Technology Start Up By: Andi Kusuri, Managing Editor

Technological advances have experienced exponential growth, but perhaps what has been lacking is a focus on customer needs. While innovation and technological ingenuity has been important to Apple’s success, so has its ability to design its products from the perspective of the customer, not just from the perspective of the technological experts which it employs. And it seems to be paying off.

Source: nobadtrips.com

Also, the iPad is blurring the line between smart-phones and laptops, as well as directly challenging netbooks. Mikako Kitagawa, a Gartner analyst, points out that hype around media tablets has led consumers to take a wait-and-see approach to computer purchases. The iPad may not yet be at the point of replacing netbooks entirely, but it is arguably closer than most would expect. Critics have questioned the purpose of the iPad, and defining its niche whilst considering the functions of laptops and smart-phones has indeed been difficult. Is it just a larger iPod Touch? To some it may be, but that’s not the point. The truth is that, much like other technological ingenuities such as the iPhone, or the original Walkman; the iPad has created a need, and is on its way to becoming a household item. We all have basic care needs, but the role of technology is to serve latent needs, those needs that we may not realize we have. Think to yourself: Was a smart-phone seen as necessary fifteen years ago? Yet, within the last few years, smart-phones have seen exponential growth in sales and will inevitably dominate the mobile phone market. And, contrary to what some critics believe, the iPad does have

several uses. More importantly, it has potential. In fact, what the iPad really offers is versatility. It goes much further than simply allowing users to surf the web, check their emails, read a book, or play a game; indeed, it caters to various different users. First of all, the multitude of apps available to users through Apple’s infamous AppStore gives the iPad an instant appeal.

Is it just a larger iPod Touch? To some it may be, but that’s not the point. The truth is that, much like other technological ingenuities such as the iPhone, or the original Walkman; the iPad has created a need, and is on its way to becoming a household item.

also benefit from the iPad with the increasing emphasis on electronic medical records. The iPad is a very portable means for physicians to access patient records and medical history, view medical imaging data or test results, and update patient health information. The argument here is not that the iPad is perfect, or that it is unequivocally the best product on the market. But, by that same token, we must appreciate what it is, what it can do, and the vast potential that it has. Oh, and we must not forget: the iPad has the “cool” factor that comes with the Apple brand.

As e-textbooks increase in popularity, the iPad offers a userfriendly and engaging method of learning. Couple this with self-directed learning services like Apple’s iTunes U and various other online learning and discussion resources, and the iPad has the potential to become an indispensable learning tool. The iPad also offers advantages to educators, who can integrate it into the classroom through educational games, videos and interactive quizzes. The business world also has much to gain. More than 50% of US employees admit they have better technology at home than at work. The inclusion of the iPad in a work environment could serve many different purposes, anywhere from connecting with other employees to making presentations. And, interestingly, health care can April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends

Source: nobadtrips.com

BY: Fernando Arce

KICKER: Drug use has become a global concern over the past several years

ighting a joint, popping a pill or snorting a line can no longer be viewed as something personal. For a while, the use of drugs became something entwined with the “hippie” culture, and an entire generation grew up believing they could buy peace of mind for $2 dollars a hit. It simply was part of the culture. But drug use is no longer the same. For the most part, it is viewed negatively. But more importantly, the global consequences of drug use have reached such staggering heights that it has become hard to ignore it. The drug trade business has officially reached a global dimension and it amasses more than $400 billion a year. More alarmingly,

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marijuana is no longer the drug that crosses all boundaries: the three main transnational drugs to circulate the markets are heroin, cocaine, and amphetamine-like substances, according to a UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime Report. The implications of such facts are many and each more worrisome than the other. For starters, there are obvious health effects linked with the use of drugs. In 22 European countries, according to the UN’s report, 35%100% of drug-related deaths are the result of opiates – not to mention the other diseases associated with drug use, such as Hepatitis B, C, and HIV, among the most prominent ones. Then there are deeper, societal implications, stemming from the

fact that drug-use is becoming increasingly more socially acceptable. For instance, the fact that it is, as many claim, a market itself, means that power, too, can be accumulated. For example, the heroin market in Europe has become so profitable that it is equivalent to the “combined GDP of the former Yugoslavia, Albania and Kosovo/Serbia” at 20 billion U.S. dollars. As the UN report suggests, this phenomenon “represents a threat to state authority, economic development and rule of law” around the world. There are many factors that facilitate the circulation of drugs around the world, most of them being part of the neo-liberal economic trends of market liberalization and globalization.

Trends

Source: nobadtrips.com

BY: Fernando Arce

GLUTTONY HIGH ALL OVER THE WORLD

For example, the International Association of Ports and Harbours expects that container traffic will double by 2012, compared with 1999 figures. This means around 220 million sea containers will be traveling the oceans with around 90% of the world`s merchandise. Included in many of these containers, which are impossible to fully monitor given their magnitude, will certainly be loads and

loads of pills, powders, uppers and downers. Though many advocate for more international cooperation amongst regulatory bodies and governments as the “pillar of global counter-narcotics strategy”, one must carefully assess whether the globally waged “war on drugs” has had any effect. Indeed, many are of the opinion that the prohibitionist policies “simply haven’t worked”, and have instead cost tax payers an immense amount of money. In the US, the bill for the war on drugs has run past the $13 billion mark.

echoing suggestions around the world, they state that it is imperative to “reduce demand for drugs in the main consumer countries.... [by] differentiat[ing] among illicit substances according to the harm they inflict on people’s health, and the harm drugs cause to the social fabric.” Fear mongering and demonizing drugs have not worked so far; perhaps, we should begin to listen to alternative views. If we do, it may begin to put a stop to what many are calling the “criminalization of politics and the politicization of crime.”

Instead, what some are proposing, like three journalists in the Wall Street Journal, is to first “shatter the taboos that inhibit public debate about drugs in our societies”. Then, April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends

DRUG TRAFFICKING

5 Interesting Statistics About International Drug Trafficking

After a crackdown by U.S. and Mexican authorities in the first decade of the 21st century (part of tightened borders security in the wake of the September 11th attacks), border violence inside Mexico surged, with the Mexican goverment estimating that...

THE PROBABLY GLOBAL FIGURE FOR THE TOTAL ILLICIT DRUG INDUSTRY WOULD BE APPROXIMATELY

of the killings are drug-related.

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Business By: Troy Redick, Staff Writer

linking In & Synching Up to Stay Ahead

ith the recent buzz in business circles about the valuation of Twitter, now is as good a time as any to explore the value of the prominent social media sites. Being private companies, however, there is no way to explicitly valuate companies like Twitter, though this company has been estimated at 4.8-10 billion dollars. And though the dollar value of these media outlets is certainly high, such individual services and platforms offer value not only to investors, but also usage value to professionals, advertisers and the general public. The network for professionals, LinkedIn, is among the most popular social media sites out there. It is widely used as a recruitment tool by Human Resource specialists, a prospecting avenue by various salespersons, and as a general networking system for professionals. Personally, I have recently spent a significant amount of time building my LinkedIn profile, applications and a network of connections to make use of all three of these major functions. LinkedIn allows members to upload data onto the site that’s usually found on a resume, including work experience, relevant skills and education. Furthermore, it includes a recommendation function, allowing users to vouch for others they have worked with in some capacity, in effect serving as a builtin reference system. This set-up is convenient for recruiters, allowing them to search by keywords and quickly find qualified candidates, and providing them the option to contact candidates directly through LinkedIn with offers for interviews. Building a good LinkedIn profile can be quite rewarding in this regard: I myself have been sent employment offers by several prominent financial services firms for various positions. One of the most important aspects of a good LinkedIn profile, if you are using it as part of a passive job search strategy, is to be very specific and descriptive when outlining your

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specialties. For example, when searching for a position as a financial planner, I make sure to highlight my experience managing a client contact system, using financial planning and analytical software, sales experience and people skills. As I am in the process of launching my own financial planning practice this spring, I have also been tooling my LinkedIn profile with the hope of attracting a clientele. As I am only on the cusp of being licensed and my practice has not yet started, I cannot speak from first-hand experience. However, several advisors I know through work and school have made extensive use of LinkedIn as part of a co-ordinated online marketing approach and have seen good results in finding qualified prospects.

‘‘While I cannot speculate what ownership of LinkedIn would be worth, I do know that its use value to me and to other people in the finance or business world is immense.’’ Having joined several LinkedIn groups and other online communities dedicated to online marketing for financial planners and other financial services providers, and spoken oneon-one with a few practitioners, I have started using LinkedIn as the hub of what will hopefully be a recognizable online presence with broad reach. By adding the Tweets feature to my LinkedIn profile, I have been able to synchronize my LinkedIn status with my separate Twitter account, as well as linked my central profile to a Slideshare (to post my educational and advertising power-point presentations online), a WordPress blog and a Youtube account. I plan to soon create a Facebook page for my business as well. Aside from attracting job offers or prospective clients, LinkedIn provides networking connections to all sorts of business people and professionals. Like Facebook,

LinkedIn has groups that members can join to have discussions with and make referrals to others in the same or related industries. And like Twitter, members can ‘follow’ companies on LinkedIn to see official posts and job opportunities at these firms. Finally, members can connect with other members and make use of the internal mail feature to send private messages, make recommendations for their connections, and be introduced to other users that are mutually connected. In this way, through second and third degree connections, it is possible to quickly build a large network. As a financial planner, useful connections include members of the big banks and insurance companies, wealth management firms, tax lawyers and accountants, mortgage brokers and real estate agents, and other professionals. In addition to being prospective clients, professionals such as these can add value to your business by providing mutual prospect referrals, and by offering their services to your clients and vice versa. While I cannot speculate what ownership of LinkedIn would be worth, I do know that its use value to me and to other people in the finance or business world is immense. It not only has many features that I make use of, but it is easy to integrate as the center of a web of online platforms and build a presence for my business online. Even this may have a tangible worth eventually, measurable in revenues from clients generated by online marketing initiatives and from referrals of connections met through social media. Whatever this may be worth in dollars, I am certain that an indepth working knowledge of online (specifically social) media will be a large part of any up-and-coming business planning for aggressive growth. Hopefully in a few months I will be able to report a personal success story with some financial figures.

Source: nobadtrips.com

The value of social media for professional uses

CULTURE This section tackles the issues we face in our local communities and daily lives. Between the proliferation of social media and the legalization of prostitution, the modern culture of our generation is faced with unique issues never before experienced by our parents. Read on to see how the nature of our social framework is changing, and whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in store for us when we inherit the world.

Click to learn more and join us

Linking In & Synching Up to Stay Ahead The value of social media for professional uses

Cycle and Recycle: The Bixi Method A Montreal-based company capitalizes from renting bicycles

Living with STDs The State of STDs in Canada

Bill 156: Restricting For the Sake of Restricting Why the manga and anime industry may deteriorate as a result of the ruling

Legal Prostitutes

Trends By: Luis Fernando Arce

We know sex sells....but does insecurity?

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Trends By: Sushil Tailor

hough for Christians (and I suppose for other religions too), vanity is one of the seven deadliest sins, most of us willingly give in to it on a daily basis; and we do it without being despicable sinners headed straight to the deepest pits of hell (at least not in regards to our vanity). We take great pride in our appearance - some more than others - and our fashion is always kept up-to-date with the latest trends, lest we be forgotten in the world of the antiquated. And really, we all are ‘guilty’ of this, if you can actually be guilty of such a thing. In the morning, as I groom myself in front of the bathroom mirror, I scrutinize my reflection, making sure there are no stray hairs poking up or dry and crusted tears around my eyes. I shave the patches of facial hair on my otherwise smooth face, and I put on a heavenly-smelling after-shave; then I walk to my room and slather on some cologne, making sure to get a little on my neck and my shirt, so as to make my dollars count. I then walk back and look in the mirror again, make sure I am up to “my” satisfaction, and I walk out... Ironically, as I drive to my job (or to school or whatever the case may be), I continue insisting that I am not vain. Most of us do this on a daily basis, and whether we want to admit it or not we are all tapping into an all-toohuman trait called vanity. And in our society, vanity has become such a common trait that people have found a way to capitalize on our fabricated need to look good.

ONE MAN’S REALITY IS AN ECONOMIC SYSTEM’S PROFITS The Vanity Industry, also known as the Beauty Industry, is perhaps at its most popular and profitable level since ‘capitalism’, ‘industry’ and

‘profits’ entered our vernacular. And I don’t really have to research that fact, or give you figures to convince you of that. At this day and age, it seems almost like a self-evident truth; something that no one would try to prove wrong given the current global social conditions. I mean, comparing our day to say, the Medieval Ages, or even the Renaissance, it is probably much easier for a modern-day tourist strolling the streets of any major metropolitan city in the world to find hair and beauty salons, health-spas and other such places than it is for him/her to find a free-clinic; whereas, in the Medieval Ages, I presume a health-clinic (or the closest thing to it – perhaps a hut with a practicing veterinarian, if that) was way easier to find, as opposed to a place where the women could get their nails polished, trimmed and painted. Today, the importance of looking good in a modern, First World city is practically tantamount to the other basic needs of the human. In any home, you are bound to find food, clothes, medicine, sometimes enlightening reading material, and a milieu of creams, powders and, in the most extreme cases, even syringes and chemicals all aimed at helping its user look and feel younger and, therefore, better. Once again, I think this is a self-evident truth. In Canada alone, reports estimate that individuals spend around the same yearly amount on cosmetics and other ‘beautifying’ products as they do on home appliances. In Japan and France, the same article nearly doubles the figure. Darren Praznik, president and CEO of the Canadian Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Association (CCTFA), an organization that works with government regulators to “ensure the development and effective representation of industry positions on all regulatory matters”, told me that the beauty industry is roughly a $7.8 to $8 billion industry. This figure

accounts for about four to five percent of the retail and wholesale industry in Canada, which itself accounts for 13% of our GDP. With approximately 3,700 cosmetics companies in Canada, there are over 20,000 kinds of cosmetic products available for sale. Further, the number of beauty parlours in the country is around the 1.5 million mark, plenty of places to cool off and exfoliate! An article, appropriately titled “Pampering doesn’t take a break during Economic Downturns” by Candy Williams, cites London-based Economist Magazine when it states that globally the beauty industry rakes in an estimated $160 billion a year in profits. Moreover, Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that “worldwide, skin care brings in $24 billion; makeup, $18 billion; hair care, $38 billion; and perfume, $15 billion” a year, representing almost a 7% annual growth. This fortune also seems to be oozing from beautifying services, such as health-spas and Botox clinics, a trend rapidly gaining in popularity. An article analyzing some of the beauty industry’s trends found that “medical spa services performed by a licensed physician, physician’s assistant or registered nurse will increase through 2010 as baby boomers age and demand for such procedures increases [particularly] in younger women.” Moreover, the article estimates that by 2018 the “demand for hairstylists and cosmetologists will increase by 20%; skin care specialists by 38%”. Praznik, moreover, asserts that it is a “very competitive industry” given the large selection of companies and products available, and as result the industry is generally fairly steady. He also agrees that there seems to be a kind of phenomenon, where even during bad times, be them economic like the financial crisis or social, like the 9/11 events, people “will buy personal care products to make themselves feel better”. In times of August 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends By: Luis Fernando Arce

financial crises, budgets may tighten and there may be a “shift” in regards to the products people buy, but generally speaking, he continues, the industry is fairly steady, and as the economy turns it will certainly see a “healthy growth”. Of course the ‘self-pampering’ phenomenon may also be perpetuated by the fact that, especially during hard economic times, “companies... devote a fair amount of effort to get their brands in front of the consumer,” he told me. In any event, the 8 or so billion dollars a year that the industry contributes to the Canadian GDP is only in sales. In addition to that, it must be considered, Praznik told me, that there are “probably several thousands of jobs associated with the manufacturing of products in Canada, and often those products are exported ...to North America if not internationally”, creating yet more jobs in the exporting world. And as with fashion, new trends constantly emerge in this area; and the Free Market has found a way to very successfully tap into the profits to be made.

NEW TRENDS AND NEW MARKETS SATURATING BOTH ENDS Companies selling beautifying products and services have found that the ‘beauty’ industry is capable of evolving and creating new trends. They have discovered, in other words, that it is self-generating. As with clothes and fashion, new trends emerge in the beauty industry that makes its predecessors seem obsolete, antiquated and ‘unmodern’. And in true capitalist spirit, entrepreneurs and companies alike have pounced on the chance to sell their products (or their innovations) to

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a new, untapped market. Take for example the popularity that ‘going green’ has amassed. Almost every sector of the economy has found a way to tap into this trend and make a profit from it (whether the intentions are altruistic or not is not the subject of this article, though in itself the matter deserves attention). And the beauty industry has not fallen behind. A company named Montagne Jeunesse, for instance, offers consumers affordable “moments of self-indulgence” in a way that concurs with what the company claims is its ethos: “Embracing Life on Earth”. Their face-masques are made with real crushed fruit juice and flower extracts. Moreover, the company, which is also one of the founders of Cosmetics Industry Coalition for Animal Welfare (CICAW), has claimed that none of their products are ever tested on animals and that they are 100% vegetarian and approved by the Vegetarian Society. But the fact that products are labelled ‘all-natural’, according to Praznik, can be somewhat misleading. Namely, there is an assumed “implication...that [they] are safer... But the ‘natural’ [only] refers to the sourcing of the molecule, not what the molecule does”. The molecules can be sourced naturally, like from a plant or mineral, or produced synthetically in a laboratory; and though the molecule produced naturally may not be hazardous, it can be used to produce an ingredient that is. On the other hand, “just because [something] is derived from a natural source, it doesn’t make them necessarily safe given their hazardous properties or your exposure to them,” like lead, for example, which is produced naturally, but extremely hazardous to our health. “You have to look at actual ingredients and [ask] is there a hazardous property to that ingredient and what my exposure is going to be to it to know whether or not it is

safe,” said Praznik. “There has been a lot of discussion about natural and what is organic and synthetic....but that doesn’t necessarily determine whether a product is healthy or safe for you.” Another trend, perhaps one of the most profitable ones, has been dubbed the rise of the ‘Frugalista’, a “consumer composite of beauty aficionados looking for affordable beauty products and care.” As we saw above, the beauty industry is a resilient industry. Despite the financial crisis we saw from 2007 – 2010, the industry as a whole still saw a 7% increase. Salon and spa owners around the world have noticed that despite a tight financial situation, loyal customers see the treatment they “receive [as] essential to their well-being”. This is the cause for the rise of the ‘Frugalistas’, who helped skin care products realize a 3% growth in 2009, while in the same year “premium beauty products sales declined by 1%”. The Frugalista, in turn, has given rise to a new trend that Trish Crawford from The Star calls ‘The Lipstick Revolution’, which consists in more and more stores across Canada opting to include a rather large section dedicated to cosmetics and other such products in their stores, which as she notes, has spiked sales. By introducing the ‘everyday woman’ to beauty products considered ‘high-end’, but with a price tag considering the consumer, the industry has seen an average of around 10% growth of total sales (2007). It does this by injecting products that are over-saturated with celebrity endorsements and advertisements into local markets that are frequented by the ‘everyday woman’ such as Zellers, Wal-Mart and, among its most noticeable success stories, Shoppers DrugMart, which has 141 in-store beauty boutiques around the country and with 40 more on the way. Included in these stores are tons

Trends By: Sushil Tailor

of products aimed at helping people (women, particularly) look younger. As Julyne Derrick, beauty guide for www.about.com puts it, there is a rise in the amount of products aimed at offering women a “simpler, less costly option to look younger” because marketers know that insecurity is good business. Making Botox injections or “microdermabrasion products, Retinoids...antioxidants and peels” available at local malls or drug-stores has definitely driven up the interest and usage of such services, to the point where women are “getting [injections] in the mall of all places”. There is, however, a concern echoed by Praznik which speaks to the problem of counterfeiting beauty products. Though consumers may find more beauty products in regular stores at affordable prices, they must be aware that counterfeit products are out there, “dumped in retail establishments” all over the country. “Many major international trade members will tell you that their products are regularly counterfeited,” said Praznik. Adding that consumers can usually tell it is counterfeited “because they’re being offered that product at a ridiculously low price”. But, he says, it is highly unlikely that you’ll find these products in regular, well-known stores. They are most likely to be found where “people are selling at a significantly lower price... such as flea markets and discount stores,” for example. Perhaps the most alarming of trends is the increasingly tolerant view towards teens and pre-teens using make-up and other cosmetics. Sephora, for instance, makes tons of money by targeting teens and preteens, according to Julyne. As with the trend of including the ‘every-day woman’ into the Vanity Market, entrepreneurs have also found a way to let ‘plus-sized’ women know that they, too, are beautiful. For instance, the Ottawa-based Ben Barry Agency occupies itself with

persuading its clients (among them L’Oreal, The Bay, and Univeler) to invest in products aimed at women other than “wafer-like” models. In other instances, Ben Barry himself has organized small ‘fashion shows’ in malls featuring minorities as the main talent. Thus, the industry has found a way to tap the market from both ends at the same time: on one end, an aging and increasingly vain population consumes products and services that are aimed at halting or hopefully even reversing the aging process; while on the other end, an entirely new market is found in easily-influenced adolescents that crave the need to at the very least look older if feeling older is not yet possible, and minorities that simply crave the need to adapt and to fit in a new country. However, though the industry may drive profits up, there are social and health-related bumps and blemishes that, like unwanted acne on the teenager’s face, leave a nasty mark on an otherwise smooth industry.

SOCIETAL ZITS AND HEALTH BLEMISHES Society: ‘It’s A Hollywood Thing!’ While some argue that it is simply the accessibility to beauty and cosmetic products and procedures that is titillating and inviting to women, others argue that it is our society’s deep infatuation with celebrities and the ‘beautiful people’ that is the main engine behind such interests. As noted above, Julyne Derrick is of the opinion that insecurity is big business, and that companies know to target this through a barrage of celebrity endorsed advertising. To paraphrase her, while in the 1980s and 1990s the super-model was the main spokes-person for ‘beauty’, today it is the movie or music celebrity that endorses the tubs of

anti-aging cream and water proof make-up, among a myriad of other things, which they themselves “don’t wear that much of, but make tons of money...advertising...”. We live in a world where celebrities and Hollywood stars hold almost as much importance (and definitely more prestige) than do presidents and political figureheads! Is it any wonder, then, that women and even men now follow their every word and buy every product they tell us is ‘the best’? In fact, our infatuation with celebrities and everything that comes with them, including beauty tips and even fashion lines, has grown so large that capitalists are manufacturing ways, as was shown above, to include regular people in a world they otherwise can only aspire to reach. Thus, shopping-mall fashion-shows, where the talent are young kids from different ethnic minorities or plussized women, have become not only acceptable, but desirable. But questions arise in the minds of some people. For instance, amidst rhetoric of being equals under the eyes of god and the law, politicians as well as civilians have criticized our obsession with “unattainable degrees of beauty” that are only possible in Hollywood and the like. Interest groups have surfaced speaking about the social effects that this obsession has on young people, particularly women. News of teenagers self-inducing vomiting after meals because they want to be ‘thin’ has become almost common parlance; others speak of the ‘prosti-tots’ phenomenon, where girls as young as 9 or 10 are demanding their parents to buy them skimpy outfits they saw celebrities like Britney Spears (in her time) or Fergie wear. Praznik suggests that there exists a “code of advertising ethics” that sort of regulates how young they can begin to target people. It is his opinion, furthermore, that “there have August 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends By: Luis Fernando Arce

been fair efforts in the last while to ensure that people are not being targeted in a manner that wouldn’t be appropriate in advertising.” Yet it is evident that people of all ages, especially the youth, are more aware of the latest fashion trends, products and brand-names than of whom their Member of Parliament is. Praznik himself tells me that his teenage step-daughter can “tell you all the brand name stores she wants to go for a t-shirt or sweater”. However, he insists that this “speaks...to a larger social issue of education of our young people and in our schools”, but that with “advertising standards like the Advertising Standards Council of Canada...and [with] what we teach our children about values and sense of propriety” at home, they may lead a balanced life. He did not seem to think that advertising and the high-status of celebrities were largely to blame for the acute awareness of everything to do with fashion, and the general ignorance or apathy towards societal issues and politics evident in our society, particularly among the youth.

HEALTHY LOOKS AND TOXIC INGREDIENTS There also exists a more worrisome and concrete issue related to our Health. Herizons Magazine – a Winnipeg-based non-for-profit publication focused on the Canadian Women’s Movement, from health and the environment to politics and legal cases established since 1979 – has published an article examining the health risks associated with the chemical ingredients that go into cosmetics. Reportedly, men are not entirely free from these alleged risks. According to the article, the Canadian Hotlist of restricted and banned chemicals was expanded in 2003 “from less than 100 to almost 500” chemicals after reviewing some in the European Union hotlist.

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Praznik agrees with the figure, more or less (he put it “just over 600”), but as far as the rest of the article goes, he expresses disagreement or at least scepticism. One reason for the difference in the number of ingredients in the hot list, explained Praznik, is because in Canada they name the compounds, while in the EU they name each individual ingredient that goes into a compound. For instance, the article mentions that hydroquinone, a chemical deemed a carcinogen in the European Union, is used in many skin whiteners and hair straightening products in certain parts of the world where it is not banned. Though not used in cosmetics in Canada, it is used in certain drugs. Moreover, the article also mentions that studies have found that black women under 40 have a higher breast-cancer incidence compared to white women of the same age group. The studies also show that it is the former group that is more exposed to these products, even from childhood in some cases. However, Praznik says that these studies are not entirely founded, and that many lack coherent scientific research. He asserts that “some of these groups... come out and say there is a hazard...and [that] therefore there is a risk. [But] they don’t look at the exposure level; they don’t look at route of exposure, etc.”, referring to the formula for risk that he produced for me, namely: Risk = Hazard x Exposure. Speaking specifically about hydroquinone, he told me that it is found even in blackberries and other types of fruit and red wine. Therefore, though our harmful exposure to it is mostly from foods, Health Canada has deemed that the amounts will be so small that it will not do us harm. He did not refer to the drug side. Praznik also suggests that even if hydroquinone was used in cosmetics we would not be exposed to it “sufficiently to do [us] harm”. He reassures me that “for any particular

ingredient of personal care product, there is a potential hazard to it; [but] the question is how are we exposed to it and how much?” He then said what Health Canada looks for in exposure is the amount and the route of exposure. “For something to do harm to me, I have to ingest it and get it in my bloodstream. If I’m putting it on my skin which is hugely impervious - if it was easy to penetrate the skin the pharmaceutical industry would have been using that for years to get drugs in the system”. He then said that “if the exposure comes through ingesting it or getting it in our bloods-stream and were putting a small amount of it on our skin...there is no risk”. But the article in Herizons Magazine suggests that our skin, particularly women’s, who have “greater percentage of fat” than men, does absorb chemicals that are “fatsoluble more easily”. Breast tissue, the article says, “is one such site where chemicals can accumulate.” Parabens and phthalates are two such chemicals. The first is used to preserve antiperspirants and creams; the second one is also commonly found in personal care products, like soaps and perfumes. The article also cites that scientists “suspect the absorption of cosmetics through the skin could explain why young women in one study had 20 times the level of phthalates in their body compared to young men”. The chemicals have been found to be harmful, to different degrees. The former has been found to possibly be linked to the development of breast cancer, but does suggest that more research is needed. The latter has been found to be linked to liver malfunction, low testosterone levels and low sperm counts (yikes!). The article also says that studies have also found that “the accumulation of chemicals found in personal care products may affect men and women’s offspring”. It sources a study done by the University of Rochester

Trends By: Sushil Tailor

which found that the “development of the genitals of boys whose mothers had high levels of phthalates in their bodies was less complete compared to those exposed to lower levels”. The article also criticizes Health Canada for not demanding that products undergo independent testing, and that instead it only requires an ingredient list to be produced. It also criticizes the fact that governments have historically exempted cosmetics from listing their ingredients on their packaging, unlike food manufacturers. Praznik, on the other hand, tells me that “what we’ve seen from some in the environmental community and women’s organizations...is that they have said that if there is a hazard we shouldn’t do anything with it... so in other words if something has potential to do harm we should just avoid it”. In response to the criticism about Health Canada and the lack of independent testing, he asserts that “ingredients-testers test their products [and that] manufacturers do certain amount of testing as well. Health Canada looks at studies that are related to these ingredients that are done all around the world and at what other jurisdictions do as well... that’s why there are things they prohibit and restrict”. He furthermore states, as a former provincial minister of Health in Manitoba, that Health Canada never ignores any independent studies, and that “if there is a risk with any ingredient that is new and substantiated, it will be addressed.... In this industry,” he continues, “if using the ingredient that the evidence says there is a problem with, it will drop that ingredient very quickly”. Health Canada, he also said, “works very closely with regulators in Europe and the United States and in Japan as well. They are always talking to regulators and they are always looking at scientific information”. His own criticism is

that many of the environmental and women’s groups “take stuff that is not really scientific and simply repackage it,” and because there is nothing new in them Health Canada and regulators dismiss them. Often times, he adds, the people “who do these studies or claim to do these studies...don’t go and give it to Health Canada, and they have a press conference instead.” “Heath Canada,” he assures me, “works for the Canadian public...so they are the Honest Brokers,” unlike NGOs who have to raise money and have a cause or agenda, and industry which, although, as he says, never wants to cause harm to consumers, people still can criticize them and say that they are only trying to sell a product. “These are the people who are the Honest Brokers; these are the people without self interests, other than the protection of consumers....if they look at this and say there isn’t a problem, I think consumers can take comfort in that.” Still, Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep has created “fact sheets that identify which chemicals and which companies to avoid. [And] Revlon, Estée Lauder, Avon, L’Oreal and Johnson & Johnson are ranked in the group’s top 20 of concern. Chanel cosmetics are not tested on animals, but the group gives them the number two rating of brands to avoid, citing a lack of safety data available for the ingredients used.” Moreover, according to Environmental Working Group’s report, “hair colour, nail polish and nail treatments contain some of the most toxic chemicals.” Notably, the article goes on to say, “OPI’s natural nail strengtheners...contain toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl-phthalate— three of the top ingredients of concern.”

CONCLUSIONS: THE ‘WELLNESS FACTOR’ IS BIG

Despite concerns raised about the ingredients used in cosmetics, a major drive behind people’s love affair with cosmetics and beauty products seems to be the ‘wellness factor’. Indeed, Praznik states that for a variety of reasons people have always done “things with their appearance that ultimately made them feel better”. But it is important, he stresses, that there be a balance in our pursuits of vanity. Wanting to look more youthful is alright, according to him, but if this desire totally dominated his life, this would become an extreme and therefore a problem. Writing for the Tribune-Review, Candy Williams cites three different women – one a professor, another a representative for US Steel Corporation, and the last a commercial brokerage and project coordinator for Colliers Penn – all of whom report the importance in pampering themselves for both their well being and for them to better perform at their job. Parse, the professor, says that “it’s more important now to take care of yourself. People want to feel good about themselves. It promotes a very optimistic attitude about life.” The US Steel Corp. representative claimed that “salon professionals have taught her how to look her best by following a personal beauty regime.” And finally Bishop, the coordinator for Colliers Penn, stated that it is important to take care of herself so she can be «good to the people around [her], people that count. With that reasoning in mind,” she continues, “I don’t feel guilty for pampering myself. In fact, I ask myself, ‘Why aren’t I doing more of this?” But perhaps these attitudes reflect a deeper issue; a kind of blurring of the balance that Praznik and Williams spoke of. For instance, Parse, who travels the world giving lectures and has therefore become a sort of role-model, as she herself puts it, is of the opinion that is important to look good while giving August 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends By: Luis Fernando Arce

her lectures, particularly as she is a role-model. But would her message be cluttered because she was not wearing foundation? Is the message that to be heard, one must look good? Bishop’s comments echo something similar: that the only way to relax, perform well at our jobs or “be good to those that count” we must first be pampered in a beauty salon. Praznik is a bit more optimistic in his views. He told me that his father, now close to 80 years old, “likes to get new clothes every now and then,” and he wears a fragrance to his bingo games that cause all the ladies to comment on how good he smells. This says Praznik has put a spring in his step; it makes him feel great and when he gets home he revels in it. In this view, Praznik believes that it is possible to maintain a balanced interest in looking good. Moreover, he opines that it is because we are now living much longer and are more healthy – virtually a new territory as we are now able to age more than before and see longer stages of life – “people are also looking for that in their appearance,” and as a result more anti-aging creams and products have entered the market. Finally, when I asked him if he thought the beauty industry was worth maintaining rather than downplaying its importance in society, he answered that “consumers define that every-day with their purchases.” That if they “didn’t feel they were getting the value in the products they were buying they [simply] wouldn’t buy them.” And he certainly did not believe that it is not a barrage of advertising that makes consumers consume as much as they do. Even in earliest times, he said, “before modern mass advertising, people used cosmetics of their day. In every culture they adorn themselves.” According to him, advertising is a consequence of the competition between the options out there. “If there were no advertising,

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people would still be buying those products; the advertising simply tells you what options I can buy. But it’s the competition between the options” that ignites advertising, and that is the purpose of it – simply to let us know our choices. Perhaps this is true. Perhaps advertising does only communicate to us the choices out there, and it does not have any influence over our behaviour or buying-impulse. Nevertheless, it is evident that ‘beauty’ has become practically tantamount to all other basic needs. Indeed, as mentioned above, people are finding that they need to look good to perform better at their jobs; to be more approachable; and in some cases, even to be heard. It doesn’t seem like people will stop buying cosmetics and other beauty products in our lifetime. If anything, it seems as if this is actually going to increase. In any event, it is important for people to have accessible information about such a prevalent industry, and that, as Praznik said, they lead a balanced life where pampering and wanting to recapture their youth does not become an obsession that leads them to get Botox shots as they shop for groceries or clothes.

Biz Start Culture Trends Up By: Jorge Armand

CYCLE AND RECYCLE: THE BIXI METHOD A Montreal-based company capitalizes from renting bicycles

t’s May and spring is absolutely here; trees sprout with birds that sing to a patient sun. At this time of the year, the city turns greener. People walk the metropolis in comfort. Hormones peak to eye-candy overdoses. The cityscape around us is always in change. Paths and transportation methods adapt likewise. But what I’m really talking about here is the bicycling. The giant iron platforms you see around every corner hold the most revolutionary public transportation system history has ever seen: the public bicycle. Named the 19th best invention of 2008 by Times Magazine, Bixi is a self-service bicycle-rental system launched in Montreal, Quebec in the spring of 2009. Four months after the introduction of Bixi, CBC News reported how Bixi marked its onemillionth ride. With subscription fees of $5 a day, $40 a month, or $95 a year, you will never take a bike in the metro again (Toronto prices). Bixi bikes are designed in Quebec, made of 100% recyclable aluminum,

and their parking stations run on solar energy. Cycling contributes to cleaner air and has a beneficial impact on your overall health. The Bixi website says how every hour of biking burns 500 - 700 calories and by cycling you take in 40% fewer pollutants than by riding inside a car. Bixi is currently available in four Canadian cities, London, Melbourne and nine cities in the United States. As a business, Bixi has proved to be a terrific success. The public bike system company predicted a net income of $1.07 billion for the financial year ending January 31, 2011. But to the surprise of the company, the prediction was surpassed by more than 40%. According to the Bixi website, the company achieved net revenue of $1.515 billion. A notorious addition to Montreal’s Bixi bikes is advertisements on the rear wheel of bicycles. Because of the hypermobility of bikes, the advertisement campaign will prove to be a very successful strategy. The companies advertised are their sponsors: Telus, Desjardins and Rio Tinto Alcan.

Despite the cleverness of rearwheel advertisements, the aesthetic appeal of bikes is compromised. Bixi user, Daniel Ophaug says, “Most people won’t care about the advertisements, it’s still a convenient choice to make. But you never know, there are many self-conscious people out there that could be turned off by the new design.” In fact, a new Facebook group called “Ad Free Bixis” has more than 1,000 members fussing about the addition of advertisements to Bixi bicycles. Another issue advertisements bring is that bikes are now an easier target for graffiti, especially because much of today’s graffiti attempts against large corporations. A public bicycle system, like Bixi, is a great Canadian initiative that benefits the health of users, alleviates traffic, and reduces air pollution. When you ride a public bicycle you get to places faster, you stay fit, and you will never have to worry about getting your bike stolen, a common occurrence in big cities.

July 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends By: Ellen Stevens

Rumor Has It: The gossip industry is pulling your strings.

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ossip didn’t just ruin high school for you, it’s now ruining your generation.

Let’s start with identifying what the gossip industry is, what it does, and who benefits. As it turns out the gossip industry is a sophisticated mechanism used to control, make money, and gain power. Figures. And who loses the most? YOU! The Gossipee. It begins with biology. We all have a natural attraction to fame. It’s in our blood. The media use this knowledge to feed us the belief that one day, we too can be famous. They start us off at a young age so we don’t question this concept and it appears as a natural desire and an attainable goal. Author Agnes Nairin who wrote Consumer Kids, says that kids spend 2x more time in front of a screen than in school. Kids who spend 5 hours a day on TV are 2x as likely to pick fame over intelligence as opposed to kids who only watch 1 hour a day. The media keep us hooked by creating reality TV shows and feeding us success stories of real average Joes. Ellis Cashmore, Culture Media & Sports, Staffordshire University says “Britain’s Got Talent and other young children reality shows are a global business. There is a huge market for kid shows. The more the media supplies the more the target wants it.” All these things are great contributors to making sure we continue to chase the dream. This constant attempt to obtain the unattainable is a clear characteristic of addiction. Professor Mark Griffiths, Addiction & Gambling Studies, Nottingham Trent University, “The earlier you start, the earlier you’re prone to more serious addiction, a gambler almost always constantly wins.” To summarize, the media have us curled around their fingers by getting us addicted to fame (all aspects of it) from an early age. The other gift biology has given us are our hard wired urges. We want to be close to leaders, and we naturally

Trends By: Ellen Stevens

want to copy them. Is there an idol you fancy? Think about how much you know about this person, and how you can’t help but find things about them to be interesting. This is because we have a hard-wired need to gather social information about them.

people’s experiences. The demand for negative news is higher because one is more interested in how to avoid danger to become more successful than we already are,” Charlotte De Backer, Media and Communication, University de Leices.

Professor Robin Dunbar, Evolutionary Anthropology, Oxford University, “Our brains are hardwired to make us social. Very few people can lean to litigate social isolation for varied periods of time.” What’s even scarier is that we create parasocial relationships with these people. Chris Roject, Society and Culture, Brunel University, “A parasocial relationship is defined as a relationship you establish based on what you know about a person.”

This demand for negative information is needed in order to sort out through our own personal conflicts. What does this mean? Well, that we have an irresistible need for information about people we think we know, and need to know about.

The closest that we have to this is Jesus. The younger this type of relationship begins the stronger the feelings. People now pretend that there is a two-way connection with them and the stars they are watching.

This is possible because TV makes images look extremely real and our brains interpret these images as real. We therefore, develop relationships with imaginary people who are essentially ourselves. And it’s profitable because we buy stuff. We also naturally want to congregate around our idols so we can reflect in their glory. An experiment was done about basking in reflected glory. It was called the Rasputin test. Students were asked to write an essay after reading a short passage about Rasputin. Those who had Rasputin’s birthday altered to match theirs were more likely to say that Rasputin was a misunderstood man in history (Star Suckers Documentary). Another interesting biological tendency is that while we crave social information about our leaders, we have a tendency to seek negative information over positive. “Gossip is useful in helping you figure out your own social situations. Through other

Our addiction to fame and our constant need to know what’s going on with celebrities creates a very demanding market. Insert the gossip industry. The problem with this constant need is that news (either important or negative) just doesn’t happen fast enough to satisfy this market. Nick Davies, author of Flat Earth News says that everything is expected to be done quickly and a reporter’s most important asset is time. Most reporters don’t go out of their way to check facts; the media are in the process of making money not telling the truth. Today, journalists are starting to accept information from citizens, and press releases as valid information for stories. In Britain there is a set-up which lets citizens trade celeb gossip stories for cash. In the documentary, Star Suckers, the film crew easily manage to get false information published in the tabloids. There are also companies which specialize in working with celebs to create fake news. There is a company called Neon Management, its owner Dave Reed is one of the key players in fake news creation. The media create news using illegal techniques as well. Young girls will sell their stories about sexual encounters with celebs. Sometimes people are hired by magazines to hang out with stars and get dirty information about them. (So says Amy Emma Bussey). There even exist people like Max Clifford who protect celebs and have to pull massive stunts to get them out of trouble. So what’s April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends By: Ellen Stevens

the damage? Well, media is available 24/7 and people gobble up fake news like candy. Yet another example of creating demands in order to profit from its fulfillment. To make matters worse, celebrities have started getting into politics. What does addiction to fake news, and celebrities in government equal? Total loss in validity of information and a total distraction from serious issues. Celebrities who get into politics usually support charities from all over the world. Generally they have good intentions, but not always the right level of success. Unfortunately the media usually make up stories of success (even if in reality the effort never meets its goals). What does this get them? A front seat to young

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people all around the world. This results in a huge profit for the media because they have total control over the information. The other day I read the following passage in The Dumbest Generation, a book about the loss of intelligence within our culture. “It isn’t enough to say that these young people are uninterested in world realities. They are actively cut off from them. Or a better way to put it is to say that they are encased in more immediate realities that shut out conditions beyond- friends, work, clothes, cars, pop music, sitcoms, Facebook. Each day the information they receive and the interactions they have must be so local or superficial that the facts of government, foreign and domestic affairs, the historical past, and the

fine arts never slip through.” This is my conclusion: The gossip industry is a large contributor to ‘dumbifying’ our generation in order to distract our intelligence long enough to not only sell stuff to us, but also bypass very important information that can affect us in very negative ways. We are so consumed with popular irrelevance and gossip that we aren’t focused on the things which impact us the most. Dr. Philip Grahm, Emeritus Professor, Child Psychology, Institute of Child Health, “Children believe that life is about appearance and material things. That is the value system that is being sold.”

Biz Start Culture Trends Up By: Pawan Shamdasani

LIVING WITH STDs The State of STDs in Canada

ow does the average Canadian spend their leisure time? Do they surf the internet, watch a hockey match, watch the NBA, or have good old passionate sex? Yes, you guessed right. They have sex and lots of it! According to the 2007/2008 global Durex survey, 59 per cent of Canadians have sex at least once a week. However, Canadians should not be proud of this fact, after all, as a society they must be aware that the rate of STDs has risen dramatically over the past few years in Canada. A STD, also known as a Sexually Transmitted Disease, is an illness caused by human sexual behavior, such as intercourse, oral sex or anal sex. Common examples of STDs include: Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Genital Herpes, HIV and AIDs. Chlamydia and Gonorrhea are the most commonly reported STDs in Canada. In particular, the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN) have reported STD rates to be “alarmingly” high. In the past several years, young adults have experienced an increase in STD instances, despite waiting longer to have sex and possessing fewer partners. Statistics by SIECCAN reveal that teen pregnancy is at an all-time low, but common STDs are on the rise. One explanation for this trend is that as teenagers get older and are more committed in their relationships, they substitute condoms for oral contraceptives, as suggested by Alexander McKay, research coordinator for SIECCAN. In Toronto, the increase in STD transmission is evident. Studies done in 2002 suggest that globalization, immigration, and cuts in education and social programs are contributing factors

«The pattern is serial monogamy.

Two people in the beginning will use condoms, then start looking at each other very favourably,” said McKay. “Because there are no symptoms, they think they don’t need condoms and switch to the birth control pill.» towards soaring STD rates. In 2008, 612 Torontonians were diagnosed as HIV-positive in comparison to 575 in 2007. 54.5 per cent of all Ontario's positive HIV test reports were based in Toronto in 2008. Gay, bisexual men, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) continue to form the largest group of new HIV infections in Toronto. In 2008, they accounted for 56 per cent of all new HIV diagnoses, while immigrants from countries with high rates of HIV infection accounted for 20 per cent. STD rates have also been reported to surge among seniors in a recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Many people over the age of 50 are using more erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, fuelling the problem even further. The study showed that men who used erectile dysfunction medication were twice as likely to contract a STD, such as HIV.

«Older people are doing it, having sex, and because they don't receive the education and knowledge, while they may not get pregnant, they're certainly opening themselves up to sexually transmitted infections,» said Derry Warren, executive director of SIDA/AIDS Moncton. «And that's starting to be reflected in the data that's being collected, not just in Canada, but the U.K. and in the United States.» said Warren. It can be certainly stated that there is a growing problem of STD contraction, especially amongst young adults, the gay community and senior citizens in Canada. Warren suggests that seniors need to become better educated on sex by delivering more information on safe sex practices through counseling sessions. This solution could also be targeted towards young adults and the gay community. Yet, the challenge will be to attract these different groups towards attending and joining the sessions. At the same time, the economic costs of STDs are rampant, having a huge toll on the Canadian health care system each year. Such costs for health care and related expenditures do not begin to approximate the costs in lost income and productivity associated with STDs.

Source: http://www.toronto.ca/health/cdc/communicable_disease_surveillance/statistics_and_reports/annual_ reports/pdf/2008/2008_sti_annual_report.pdf

July 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Biz Start Up Culture Trends By: Alfred Yim

Bill 156: Restricting For the Sake of Restricting Why the manga and anime industry may deteriorate as a result of the ruling

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Conservative governor ...or evil overlord? a relation between animated/drawn media and actual crimes); however, the bill’s vague wording unduly affects legitimate artistic expression. For instance, take a look at some of the stipulations introduced by this bill: 1. Sexual or pseudo sexual acts that would be illegal in real life 2. Sexual or pseudo sexual acts between close relatives whose marriage would be illegal*, where such depictions and or presentations unjustifiably glorify or exaggerate the activity. Take special note of the second points about marriage. On that point, Dan Kanemitsu, a prominent translator of numerous anime projects, notes that illegal marriages cover everything from homosexual

marriage to marriage between inlaws, adoptees and, of course, blood relatives. The kicker here is the phrase ‘unjustifiably glorify or exaggerate’ adds a great deal of subjectivity – which is something that should be avoided if jobs and industry growth is at stake. For instance, this ambiguous wording would be counterproductive if the Tokyo Metropolitan government considers anime as a whole to be inherently outrageous; it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine vast swathes of legitimate works being potentially flagged for harming fictional underaged individuals. Even depictions of such relationships for comedic or social commentary purposes would be potentially deemed ‘adults only’. And that would be a major problem, as an 18+ label (slapped on media meant for a demographic,

Source: nobadtrips.com

n December 16, 2010, Tokyo passed a bill which, essentially, made life more difficult for players in the manga and anime industry. This new bill makes it so that fictional depictions of pseudo sexual acts and overt acts, which would be illegal in real life, would be subject to penalties. These penalties come in a 3 step process consisting of: a 6 strike system, public humiliation by governor Ishihara himself, and finally a guaranteed nose dive in sales prospects as retailers and advertisers scramble away. To a typical North American or anyone who only has limited knowledge of the medium, they would see this as a reasonable step forward. What could possibly be wrong about keeping cartoons completely PG? After all, Japan holds the dubious distinction of the only first world country where possession of child pornography is not illegal – though production of it is. Reducing the exposure of inappropriate material to minors is certainly a small step forward to tackling real life problems. Protecting children is certainly a laudable goal (assuming that there is

Biz Start Culture Trends Up

Source: nobadtrips.com

...and we’ll hate him, because he can take it which typically spans from young teens all the way to adults) would severely restrict the revenue streams of producers and publishers. Just the fear of the hammer coming down causes worry for publishers, which could lead to either the abandonment of projects or the not so lucrative alternative of accepting an adult categorization as a poor man’s consolation prize. The industry’s reaction to the bill came in the form of 10 of the biggest publishers boycotting the Tokyo Anime Fair, which has attracted upwards of 130,000 visitors and 59 international publishing companies in past events. To add insult to injury, the publishing companies hosted a rival convention the very same weekend the TAF was running. The backlash against the bill has not only taken on a hue of irony, but

of humor as well. As an act of protest to the bill, comes a highly informative manga created by Dan Kanemitsu. In this manga, appropriately titled ‘An Idiot’s Guide to Tokyo’s Harmful Books Regulation ’, Kanemitsu lampoons Ishihara by placing him in common anime situations to make sense of the governor’s rationale for attacking the art form. This is made all the more bizarre as the man once wrote hardcore rape novels which are still on shelves today and easily purchased by children. In one scenario, Ishihara is shown to be a towering muscular villain – one, who is just kind enough to censor his deluded fantasy obsessed subjects for their own good – in hopes the younger generation will display the same flagrant machismo his generation had. Again, while there is nothing wrong

with ‘thinking of the children’ and keeping hardcore material out of their hands, the bill’s standards curiously don’t apply to real life depictions of the very same acts. Seinfeld-like levels of irony aside, leaving manga and animation producers/artists with no firm definition to stand on in terms of what can be made and depicted is akin to launching a rocket at rickshaw (assuming that all you wanted to do was stop the thing).

July 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Biz Start Up Culture Trends

Source: nobadtrips.com

By: Amy Ward

all us the Great Wild North. In recent years, Canadian or Ontario courts have gotten more permissive about gay marriage, marijuana (at least temporarily), and public female toplessness. Last September, the Ontario Superior Court added prostitution to the list. Not that sex work is officially illegal in this country. The Canadian criminal code does not prohibit the exchange of money for sex, but criminalizes the public communication of services. Bans on pimping, streetwalking, and operating a brothel attempt to silence the industry, but the law has less to

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say about services negotiated in private, for example, by an escort service. Ontario Superior Court Justice Susan Himel declared those three laws unconstitutional last fall in a court case brought by Terri-Jean Bedford, Valerie Scott, and Amy Lebovitch. The applicants, who are members of Sex Professionals of Canada, argued that the current laws interfered with the freedom of sex workers and prevented them from protecting themselves. Alan Young, the lawyer representing the sex workers, explained the need for legal reform as a critical safety issue, especially after

as many as 50 prostitutes and drug users were believed to have been killed by Robert Pickton in British Columbia. “A lot of this case happened because of something called Grandma’s House in Vancouver that was set up in the Downtown Lower Eastside while Pickton was picking up his victims,” Young told reporters. “A group of sex workers set up a coop called Grandma’s House, where they could ply their trade safely, and the police shut it down as a bawdy house.” expand the country’s sex industry. He emphasized that new legislation would be designed to create a safety net for sex workers,

Biz Start Culture Trends Up By: Amy Ward

not to expand the country’s sex industry. Prostitutes, the majority of whom are female, face violence when working in remote areas or clients’ homes. They also lack the ability to pre-screen clients as they could when working from a common facility such as a brothel. Meanwhile, street prostitution creates a nuisance for the neighbourhood, creating noise, traffic, and increasing the risk of children coming across discarded condoms or needles. In 1985, the Fraser Committee reviewed the state of prostitution in Canada and found that sex work was sometimes an economic necessity for women, and that the Canadian public opposed further criminalization but wanted to reduce the public nuisance of street prostitution. Justice Himel’s ruling therefore recognized

that the world’s oldest profession is in no danger of obsolescence, and that the best the law can do is protect the safety of one the most vulnerable populations. The federal and provincial governments quickly appealed the decision, which if upheld, could set a precedent for other provinces to decriminalize prostitution. The Ontario Court of Appeals will revisit the case in June, with the Crown arguing that the current laws protect the dignity of women and children. With the federal Conservative party’s focus on family values, some believe Stephen Harper may move to criminalize all forms of prostitution. Plaintiff Terri-Jean Bedford, who currently works as a dominatrix, told reporters, “[Harper’s] silence means that he does not know what to do, and is not concerned about the violence against women.” “Right now, the way the laws stand, the women work for the pimps. The pimps don’t work for the women,” Bedford said. “If the laws are changed, then the men will work for the women. They will collect their pay cheque at the end of the week, if anything at all, and they will have to file their taxes. The only people who benefit from this law right now are tax evaders and organized crime.” With a struggling economy and in a province that recently attained “have-not” status, some might argue that decriminalizing and regulating the sex industry would enlarge the government’s tax income. The state of Nevada, which allows prostitution on a county-bycounty basis, is estimated to take in $10 million annually from brothels in licensing fees, property taxes, and liquor licenses. That figure could be more impressive when you consider that the state does not charge individual income tax. Industry regulation requires sex workers to be tested weekly for gonorrhoea and chlamydia, and monthly for HIV and syphilis. Critics say that prostitution is psychologically damaging to sex workers, some of whom are sold into the profession by human traffickers. While researching her book, Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connection, psychologist Melissa Farley found that many women in the legal brothels in Nevada exhibited symptoms of trauma, institutionalization, and intense emotional stress. Farley noted that decriminalization of prostitution in the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia led to increased levels of human trafficking in the region. There are dangers associated with decriminalizing prostitution, just as there are dangers associated with criminalizing behaviour to which a particular group feels morally opposed. But the Sex Professionals of Canada wisely refer on their website to the United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights, which says that no one should aim to protect one group’s rights by destroying the rights of another. People will always engage in human trafficking and prostitution in Canada regardless of our legal stance. The best we can offer is to protect those most vulnerable groups when they do.

July 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends By: Shindu Parameswaran

The Video Game Industry

A benefit or concern in the future?

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http://www.woodon.com/

Trends By: Shindu Parameswaran

hen most people imagine a serious “gamer”, it’s hard not to think of overweight teenagers with bags under their eyes from staring at a screen all night. This stereotype seems exaggerated, but how much truth is there to it? The video gaming generation grew up with their parents complaining about these games being addictive, violent, and damaging to their children. Some even say that gaming creates a disconnect between the virtual world and the real world. While it is true that there have been cases of obesity, illnesses, and even deaths due to excessive gaming, exactly how damaging is this industry? Would society be better without it?

The Birth of a Generation Can you imagine a world without your beloved FarmVille or Halo? In 2009, the video game business was estimated to be worth more than $60 billion. But where did this multi-billion industry originate? It dates back to 1966 where Ralph Baer, a New Hampshire engineer who was employed by a military electronics contractor, sprang up with the idea in his living room. As he was watching TV, he started thinking about what you could do with a television besides watch shows such as Bonanza and “My Three Sons?” He began to write a few-page report on the matter – ultimately resulting in the beginning of the industry. On the other hand, many people may argue that the true foundation of the industry was in California by a couple of young entrepreneurs – Nolan Bushnell, the founder of the company, and Al Alcorn, an engineer – launching Atari Incorporated. The two bought a black-and-white TV from a local drug store, created the first video game machine – naming it Pong – and installing the machine in a local bar. Within the first week, the game caught on with customers and the two entrepreneurs realized they had a winner on their hands. Yet, debatably, the blockbuster that may have made the video

game industry prominent globally happened half way across the world – in Japan. Although the previous video games had come from deep and immense thinking, the Pac -Man idea came about over a routine lunch. The team working on the Pac-Man project went out for pizza. The leader of the team had noticed that one slice was missing from the pizza. “He looked down and there was Pac-Man staring at him.” Arguably, Japan had started the fascination for video games. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Nintendo, another Japanese video game corporation, controlled 90 percent of the video game market. Their control over the industry increased once they introduced the Gameboy, a handheld video game. Nintendo derived its innovative idea for its Gameboy after the fall of the Soviet Union. The fall of the USSR allowed Nintendo to get their first glimpse at the popular game, Tetris – initiating the establishment of Nintendo’s Gameboy device. However, by the mid-1990s, Sony, a Japanese global electronic conglomerate, decided to infiltrate the video game industry by introducing the PlayStation. A few years after Sony had entered the trade and were about to introduce

its second console, Microsoft also decided to enter the fray with its Xbox console. The two global corporations observed the profits of Nintendo and potential of the industry and, over the years, have gradually eroded Nintendo’s grip of the industry. The video game industry is persistently progressing in various ways: innovative methods to improve gameplay (i.e. through motion tracking or controls) and enhanced graphics. This enhancement in graphics have been witnessed through characters in video games resembling their real-life individuals (i.e. basketball stars, like Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, are duplicated in games, such as NBA 2K11). The improvement in gameplay has been seen through the Nintendo’s fifth console, the Wii, which has motion detectable controllers. Seeing the success that Nintendo has gained through the Wii, Microsoft and Sony have tried to replicate the success of Nintendo by recently releasing their own motionsensing game controllers through the Kinect and Move, respectively. Counting the Loot Although the video game industry may be progressing in the right direct April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends

in terms of the technical aspects, yet, what about the growth of the industry in financial terms? According to a study done by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), global video game revenues has increased gradually from $21.88 billion in 2002 to $41.90 billion in 2007. Forecasts done by PwC predict that the industry will continue to grow with revenues possibly hitting $68.4 billion in 2012. This is in alignment with previous forecasts, which expect that the gaming industry will outshine other entertainment areas, like music and movies, in terms of growth. It is expected that console games will make up majority of the sales for the gaming sector, with sales expected to increase from $24.9 billion in 2007 to $34.7 billion in 2012 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; growth of 6.9 percent. The Internet is also expected to play a role in the following years with online games anticipated to generate revenues of $14.4 billion in 2012, in contrast to the $6.6 billion produced in 2007. Even though the gaming sector is thriving for the most part, there are some gaming markets that are predicted to decline in the future. One such division is the PC gaming market. Although some industry experts deny the forecasted decline for the market, according to the study, the PC gaming market is projected to decline to $3.6 billion in 2012 from the $3.8 billion revenues generated in 2007. This is due to the decreasing amount of quality games being released, which interest PC gamers. On the other hand, the increased number of in-game advertising, which generated $1 billion in profits in 2007, will be expected to swell in the coming years. With Microsoft acquiring the video game advertising company, Massive, and Sony teaming up with a similar company in IGA Worldwide, it is expected that other companies will also look to reap profits from advertising within games. It is expected that in-game advertising will reap profits of $2.3 billion in 2012. Much of what has been discussed thus far has revolved around video games for consoles and PCs; but what about the app market for video

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http://www.onlineeducation.net/

By: Shindu Parameswaran

Trends By: Shindu Parameswaran

http://www.onlineeducation.net/videogame

games? In recent years, this market has created blockbusters, such as Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. Is this a sign for the future of the video game application market or a shortperiod spurt? The study expects that this “oft-ignored” market to enjoy the best growth in the gaming industry. It is expected that the mobile gaming market to expand by 19 percent by 2012 with sales increasing from $5.6 billion to $13.5 billion from 2007 to 2012. Moreover, the study suggests that Canada will benefit greatly from this outburst, as the Canadian mobile gaming market is anticipated to collect $346 million in 2012. The Parties that Profit In an interview with the Arbitrage, Jennifer Jenson –- an Associate Professor of Pedagogy and Technology in the Faculty of Education at York University and President of the Canadian Game Studies Association – reiterates the fact that the video game industry is evolving: “I think the game industry is growing, in part, because they are attracting a larger audience (not just men and boys) and also, perhaps in part, because there has been a move to different kinds of games (movement based games on the Wii, music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band) and even games on other devices, especially in North America like the iPhone and Android phones.” Based on above-mentioned, the gaming industry as a whole seems to be thriving and will continue to flourish in the future. But who is benefiting from this industry’s growth? One group that is clearly prospering from the booming industry is video game companies – console makers, such as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, and video game developers, such as THQ and Activision. Even companies that act as middlemen benefit greatly. These “middleware companies” are “a major player when it comes to supplying the tools that do all the little things – those finer details that make games come alive.” As mentioned earlier, Canada appears to benefiting greatly from the flourishing gaming industry as there

are many innovative organizations that are part of the video game developing process, but also the fact that there is great deal of demand for video games – specifically apps on the iPhone and Android phones – in Canada. With increasingly more Canadian companies playing a role in the gaming sector, the government has taken actions to encourage more activity among Canadian companies. In late 2009, THQ, a video game publisher, declared it would construct a studio in Montreal which will employ 400 employees, owing to the subsidies and financial support provided by the provincial government in Quebec. Similarly, the Ontario government provided $263 million in subsidies, over a ten-year period, to Ubisoft in trade for building a studio in Toronto. In doing so, the Canadian gaming industry has become the third biggest in the world, overtaking the United Kingdom. Who Loses Out? Based on the abovementioned, it appears that everyone seems to be benefiting from the gaming industry and no group looks as if they are

losing out. Not so. As mentioned earlier, the Ontario and Quebec governments granted significant subsidies to large video game developers to encourage them to develop the Canadian gaming sector. However, in the eyes of the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, this is illegal. The state aid offered by these Canadian governments does not abide WTO principles. This has put other countries at a disadvantage, which has evoked a complaint from the U.K. to the European Commission to investigate such illegal practises. What about the Gamer Chicks? Similarly, it seems that one party which seems to be ignored by the video game industry is women. Although almost 40 percent of gamers in Canada and the U.S. are women, the number of games that are targeted towards women is very minimal. One reason for this is that men dominate the field, specifically leading the development of games. This explains why the majority of games, such as Call of Duty or Grant Theft Auto, are catered towards or appeal to males.

April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Trends

Since there are very little women in the gaming workforce, the culture and ideas to appeal to this group is ignored. Jenson emphasizes the role that the government plays in the growth of the gaming sector as well as women being underrepresented in gaming industry: “The gaming industry is benefiting from the growth, as are the governments who invested in growing the industry. Who is losing out? Those who are not part of the industry – it certainly under-employs women, for example.” The Truth About Addictions There are certain groups, such as video game developers and women, which could be clearly labelled as beneficiaries or losers from the gaming industry. Yet, which group do video game players, who make the industry profitable, fall into? Are they benefiting from the games they play or losing out with the many hours they spend playing games, like Halo or World of Warcraft? You have probably heard of “that guy” who played StarCraft until his death. It is estimated that 9 percent of children are truly addicted to video games; so, what are the reasons for gamers to get addicted to video games? According to Hilarie Cash, a counsellor psychotherapist and co-founder of Internet/Computer Addiction Services, video game addicts transfer their romantic and sexual desires into a game because they are not in a relationship. In other cases, video games provide a

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way – similar to drugs – to run away from personal and social problems. Children and adolescents are not the only ones that are using video games to escape their problems – adults are too. There have been cases of college students flunking or quitting school and transferring this anxiety by playing video games. Many people believe that video game addicts and drug addicts have nothing in common. However, according to Cash, this is not true. Research is showing that both, drugs and video games, raise the level of dopamine and trigger the satisfaction points in the brain. Studies have proven that addictions to video games are detrimental. On the other hand, others argue that the social aspects of video games make many video games addicting. Many of the video game addicts may be turning to video games to fulfill their social needs as they may not be particularly accepted in the real world. The boredom and loneliness are two specific characteristics which cause many game addicts to get hooked to video games. So do video game developers create games to be addictive?

According to various video game developers, it is their ultimate objective to create games that are addictive. It is how they measure the success of the game. Parents would argue that video

games are corrupting their children. You may have heard parents complaining that their children are spending 30 to 40 hours a week playing video games and not completing their homework or not getting enough exercise. In addition, parents and certain experts complain about the violence in some of these addicting games, Call of Duty or Kill Zone. However, recent developments in the video game industry has helped to somewhat solve the second problem. The Nintendo Wii, Microsoft’s Kinect, and Playstation Move have allowed some motionsensing activities in video games and thus, allowing to incorporate some sort of physical exercise as well. According to recent study done by Dr. Cheryl Olson, a researcher and author of a recent book on a video game culture, states that numerous adolescents, who play violent video games, can simply differentiate the virtual realm of video games and reality. They understand that it is fun to play, but also know the consequences of what will happen if done in real life. In addition, Olson found that violent video games help in the improvement of visual-spatial skills – the ability to mentally manipulate two-dimensional and three-dimensional figures. In addition, it helps teenagers in establishing a “social status” and help deal with terrible days at school. With the video game industry expected to grow substantially in the coming years, it will be expected that these issues and various other issues will appear as well. There will still be video game addicts in the future, but there will be more solutions in deterring addicts to participating in other activities. In addition, with the gaming industry playing a greater role in the economy of Canada and other nations, it is expected that there will be greater emphasis on the sector. Will the benefits of the video game industry outweigh the costs or consequences in the future? Only time will tell.

Source: nobadtrips.com

By: Shindu Parameswaran

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STUDENT RESOURCES Where do you want to be in 20 years? We all want success, whether it be a large pay cheque, early retirement, prestige, or simply the ideal career. But how do we get there? The complex world of business is filled with risks and rewards. Taking the right step on your career path may lead you to your dream job, but taking the wrong step may result in a major setback. As a student, the ARB strongly encourages you to explore your options and keep an open mind. Arm yourself with the insights found in the following articles, and get informed about some of the most important choices you will ever have to make.

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Exclusive Interview with Lauren Friese The founder of TalentEgg, the Canadian career resource website for students and recent graduates, speaks about her experiences

Career Spotlight: Breaking Into Finance with Manulife Financial An exclusive interview with Lindsay Watson, Campus Program Consultant at Manulife

Exclusive Interview with Daniel Debow A Canadian entrepreneur speaks about his climb to wealth and success

Student Co. By: Arina Kharlamova

Exclusive interview with Lauren Friese Founder of TalentEgg, Canadian career resource for students & graduates, speaks about her experiences

ounder of TalentEgg, Lauren Friese, is soul food for the young-averse and viciously territorial business world. She managed to turn her misplaced school-based perseverance into a successfully executed business that will shape the Canadian youth job market for years to come. A business student might scoff at the idea of the altruistic business practice, but all good businesses come from wanting to improve something that is malfunctioning. In Lauren’s case, it was Canada’s school-to-work transition – something uncontrolled, unfocused, and previously unresearched, and yet vital to so many young Canadians. Students are fed trite ideals about university degrees that lead to jobs that lead to “real” lives ad nausea. But the world has shifted to a different axis during the lifetime of Generation Y, and our Manifest Destiny now lies in a matrix-based direction (which is to say, stuck in limbo where there are no directions), as can be seen by all of the morose and foreboding articles seen in the papers about the “unmotivated” Gen Y-ers that move back in with their parents after post-secondary. Posters for colleges and trade schools claim that their graduates have high employment rates; while, those with the previously treasured and sought after university degrees are walking into fast food joints one after another. Statistics Canada states that between the summers of 2008-09, there were 40,000 fewer students with jobs – which means that there are fewer chances to get proper experience for future jobs. In fact, TalentEgg just hatched a new project called StudentVoice, which is a battle against Gen Y unemployment that hopes to educate employers on hiring youth. Pieces

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that appear on the site all hit the same sour note, “I graduated with this degree thinking it would qualify me to do something, but it didn’t.” This, in its grand schematic, is the culmination of Lauren’s personal journey from student to employer: she didn’t know what to do (and there were no jobs) so she went to grad school instead. Lauren’s journey focuses on the important things Lauren learned on her way to becoming a young entrepreneur: creativity, perseverance, and execution (not the painful type). Tell me a little about yourself. I started TalentEgg three years ago based on my own experience transitioning from school to work and experiencing difficulty. I studied Economics at Queen’s, which is an arts degree, and when I finished that I was like, “Oh, what do you do next?” I was surprised, because as a kid you’re told to go get your degree, go get your diploma, and you’ll find a job. That’s kind of the natural progression of things, and I was surprised to find out at that time that that’s not the reality. I think a lot of students experience that kind of shock in 4th year, which is why you all of a sudden get so many students wanting to be lawyers or teachers. So I ended up applying to grad school, went to the London School of Economics and studied Economic History, and when I finished that it was a lot easier to find a job. One of the main reasons [it was so easy] was because they had great online resources that really understood what you were looking for as a student. I used one of those resources called milkround.com, got a great job in London, and a year later just decided to move back to Canada and see if I could do the same thing here.

Can you break down what TalentEgg offers students? TalentEgg – our bread and butter – is information about careers, companies, and the jobs that they offer. A huge percentage of students that come to the site are looking for information about specific companies and career opportunities in those companies. We also compliment that with a ton of editorial resources – almost 1,000 articles on everything from how to write a resume to how to use LinkedIn for your career to how to ask your professor for a reference letter. The idea there is that we want students to be able to see a great job at IBM and be like, “Ok, now how do I get this job?” The other major thing about our resources is that they’re all mostly written in first-person - advice from someone who’s just been through it themselves. You got the seed idea for TalentEgg, and then how did you start putting all the puzzle pieces together? I still lived in the UK, and I knew that students in Canada needed something like milkround.com, but I didn’t know if there was a business there. In the research for our business plan while I was still living in the UK, I started to cold-call employers and potential clients and essentially said, “This is what I’m doing, can you tell me a little bit about your process, what your main points are and do you think this could work? If you were designing your dream online tool for reaching students, what would you include?” The guidance I got in those calls helped me to understand what employers wanted and what they would pay for, which is super important when you’re starting a business. When you started, did you have

Student Co. By: Arina Kharlamova

to look around for entrepreneur grants or funding? I was really naïve at the beginning. I thought I could start the whole company for $5,000, and for the most part I did. We launched the company for between $5,000-7,000 – just what it cost to make the website, essentially, and a computer. It’s funny, because I didn’t even have my own laptop at the time – which is crazy because now not only do I have a laptop, I have a blackberry, and an iPad and everything: I’m super connected. For bringing on my first paid staff, I went to the Canadian Youth Business Foundation. I went there at first just wanting the mentorship, because they pair you with a mentor and give you a loan. And part of it is that you HAVE to take a loan, so I just took the minimum amount – $5,000 – and very quickly took the other ten, and paid that back really quickly as well. So you would encourage new entrepreneurs to … ? Finding communities is the major thing. People always ask me if I have advisors or mentors, and now I do have an advisor but for a long time I didn’t have an advisor in the traditional sense. What I had was a network of people that if I had a question about advertising or HR or marketing or media – I had someone in my network that I knew that I could ask those questions of.

Source: TalentEgg

How quickly did it grow from you? I’m always asked “How big is your company? How many people do you have?” as if that’s like a sign of success. I’m proud of how much we can accomplish with such a small team. And for me when I add someone new, I almost feel like it takes away April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Student Co. By: Arina Kharlamova

our credibility of everything we accomplished. I take pride in being able to be big with having little. What have you learned in the past 3 years? When I started TalentEgg and all through school, I thought that my strength was in numbers and math, and I was going to end up doing something around being an analyst. But I realized through TalentEgg that anything that involved numbers or administrative work in any way are the things I put off the most, unless I get to play with Excel, and then I’m excited. What I’ve learned is what my strengths are and what my weaknesses are. It turns out that I’m actually jack-of-all-trades, masterof-none. Now as the founder of the company, I’ve got all these people around me that can fill in the slots and I can focus on the things that I’m actually good at, which is building the brand and PR and marketing. What’s the coolest thing you’ve gotten to do as founder of TalentEgg? Probably the press stuff. I wanted to be an actress when I was young, but I think the reason is because I like attention and I like achievements. Getting to go on TV and do all the press stuff for me is really fun, I love it. That’s probably the most fun. The Canadian media scene is so fun to navigate because I’ll pitch something that seems to me to be such a big deal and it’s actually so achievable in this country and there’s so much opportunity. We have a column in Metro now, we write for The Globe and Mail – I just think it’s amazing, I’m so happy about it.

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How do you feel about being a young entrepreneur? I’ve been graduated from my first degree for 6 years, so I feel like I’m getting old - that’s the number one thing. The other thing is that being a young entrepreneur is the best job in the world. I wake up on Monday mornings and I’m like “Wicked!” because there are 5 full business days ahead of me. And as we get to today (Wednesday), I get so upset because there’s only a few days left of business time. Do you find it easy to balance personal with business? That’s funny because I’ve been expecting an email for about a week and it hadn’t come. Then for some reason today I had to log in to my hotmail account: log in, turns out they’d emailed me there. It really dawned on me that there’s really no separation. My work email is my personal email: I don’t have any other email address. It’s completely work-life integration, not work-life balance for me. I’m totally ok with that, and I think that that’s potentially the future of work for many people. Some people may think it’s unhealthy – I think it’s pretty healthy, as long as you have friends outside work and you have things outside of work, that’s good.

morning and have that not be an issue. As an employer, you need to make that decision. As a student, you should be asking those questions, if those things are make or break for you. What are the most important strengths that you’ve discovered in yourself? Persistence. Even before TalentEgg I wanted to be an actress, and I have some crazy stories about the number of auditions I went to and the crazy stunts I pulled to get an agent. Ability to persist past rejection as well. I’m also super goal-oriented so I’m never ever, EVER happy with what I have. Which is, for my personal life, a very difficult thing, but for work I think it’s good. Even in the actress situation I used to always tell myself: “Once I get an agent, I’ll be happy; once I get my first audition I’ll be happy; once I get my first commercial I’ll be happy” and nothing ever made me happy. They were all achievements, I got excited, and then I was like, “Okay – what’s next?” And with the company, there’s been a joke with some of the people that have been here a while that I always say “Oh, we’re at our tipping point, we’re at our tipping point!” and I say that all the time. It’s because no matter what we achieve I think there’s something bigger coming.

Do you think it’s a good thing for students to be prepared to enter this new business environment?

That’s a good thing to have. Do you think that it’s important to approach things with creativity as well?

Yeah, and I don’t think it’s bad as long as there’s flexibility on both ends. If that means I’m going to be answering emails and doing work and thinking about work at midnight, that also means I can go to a doctor’s appointment and not be in the entire

I think that one of the best things for me is that I don’t have any business background. I tried to use that to my advantage: not having a specific way of marketing things, not having a specific way of doing anything, really. But I don’t know that that’s as critical.

Student Co. By: Arina Kharlamova

You guys talk a lot about on TalentEgg about how you don’t necessarily need a GPA or a certain degree to get a job – it’s all about soft skills. I think what’s important that a lot of students are realizing is you can’t just get a job with a degree anymore, you need to market yourself. Approach things in a way that – for sales, marketing, PR – everything we touch here including how we speak to students on the site: think about the way you’d want to be spoken to. Think what would have worked on you. Do you think that works in every industry, every start-up? No. Let’s say you’re selling books and you want to call Indigo to carry your book. There’s definitely a way to do it, but think about what they would want to hear from you. It’s just a rule of sales, I guess. I think the most important business skill that they don’t teach you in business school is sales. Which is everything that you do in life: it’s all about convincing someone to do something. Even in HR and recruitment, you’re convincing someone to come work for you. In any sort of persuasive conversation; right now I’m convincing you I’m an entrepreneur. It’s all sales.

Source: TalentEgg

What about advice for new entrepreneurs? Being young and straight out of school is probably THE best time in your life to start a career as an entrepreneur. The reason being is that your opportunity cost is much lower than midway through your career when you have a mortgage and a family and even if not, you’re 10

years in a career, where you’re giving up more of a salary than you would as a recent grad. It’s the least risky time to start a company. For that reason, but also because there are so many people that are willing to help young entrepreneurs. There are tons of resources out there for young entrepreneurs, support, money and all that great stuff. Being a young entrepreneur is the best job in the world. I wake up on Monday mornings and I’m like “Wicked!” because there are 5 full business days ahead of me. Depends on who you ask, but experiences that you get from being an entrepreneur make you extremely hirable to another company. Or I’ve also heard people say not hirable because no one wants someone who’s an entrepreneur in their company. Let’s say you try it and you’re not a great entrepreneur but you’re an amazing marketer – you’ll probably get to get a cool job after that. And on that note, for a student, one of the best places to get experience is with a small company or an entrepreneurial company, because everybody on my team does more than just what their job description says.

idea. They talk too much about their idea and not enough about execution. The other thing is building businesses that don’t have revenue models – it’s a huge pet peeve of mine. I can’t even count the number of people that have come up to me after this and said “Good job on TalentEgg, I had that idea too. Lucky you that you got there first.” No. Not lucky me. It’s not my own idea, I just saw something that worked in another country, brought it here and I’m the first one and the best one who did it. And if there’s someone else that can do it better than me, than they probably would have already. If you can’t execute, then you’re nothing. Ideas are easy, execution is hard. Ideas are 1% of what it takes to be an entrepreneur. So what’s the rest? Just doing it. Hustling and getting it done. Any other advice? Tell everyone, get feedback, and just do it better than everyone else. And if you can’t do it better than everyone else, give the idea to someone else, because either way you’re going to get crushed.

So what’s the biggest mistake that you think young entrepreneurs make when starting their business? I think they get too caught up in their April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Biz Start Up By: Varun Sharma

Exclusive interview with daniel debow

with a brand that helps you segue into the business world. “There’s no way I would have the opportunity to do some of the summer jobs I did or the job that became the first job I took after business school, which was helping to start Workbrain.” So what is Workbrain? Well if you’ve ever worked behind the scenes at a Walmart or AMC then you must’ve signed in your shift by swiping your card through a machine that clocks you in and clocks you out.

Debow claims that he isn’t some born-businessman “with a lemonade stand when they’re 14, and a hundred

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grand walking out of high school.” Instead he says that he “just fell into it.” Before beginning his adventures as an entrepreneur, Debow worked as an Investment Banker at Goldman Sachs and as an intern at a very prestigious law firm. But a set path to success and a lot of money isn’t exciting enough for Debow, who claims he enjoys the randomness that comes hand in hand with being an entrepreneur. Although “there’s tons of risk that can be very stressful and nerve-racking,” says Debow “it’s very exciting and interesting.” It seems only natural that our music-lover and Eric Clapton fan would use business as a forum to express his creativity. Unlike our most revered entrepreneurs, Debow has a whole lot of formal education under his belt – featuring an LLM in Law, Science & Technology from Stanford to a JD/MBA from University of Toronto. Although Debow admits, “it can be a detriment quite frankly,” he also says that it can be a host of opportunities to develop personal and business relationships coupled

Workbrain’s founder David Ossip happened to be Debow’s old babysitter and asked him to help him write the business plan when he was doing his MBA. What Daniel thought “would be a great way to keep [him] self occupied” took off into a series of different roles comprising of Director of Operations, VP Marketing and VP Corporate Development, exponentially increasing Debow’s breadth of experience. Debow believes that it wasn’t his ‘skillset’ that helped him succeed across a range of different roles, but moreover his ability to be a creative problem-solver. Debow says, “I guess I was figuring out stuff and my CEO didn’t have to worry about it, it would just be like alright I’ll make it happen.” Which is why Debow complains, “I don’t need extra people to tell me that we have problems,” what he does need is someone to identify the problem and then go solve it – “the people you want to hire all day long.” Interestingly enough, one of Debow’s biggest successes at Workbrain was firing people. While

Source: nobadtrips.com

tressed out with the tough job market? Daniel Debow isn’t; a 37-year-old startup entrepreneur in Toronto can’t even think about having a regular job. He’s very busy working away at Rypple, his latest project that looks to revolutionize the way traditional feedback processes in companies are done. I had a chance to interview the man himself to explore the life of a successful entrepreneur. As Debow grew up in Toronto, he took the initiative to do things a little different than most of us. A big fan of music himself and an avid bass player, he started by organizing rock concerts for students at his high school. He claims that his choice to continuously remain involved in extra curricular activities, coupled with inspiration from his entrepreneurial grandfather and brother gave him the opportunities and ambition to reach his success.

This fundamentally simple idea helps companies save millions in wages and was sold to Infor for an astounding $227 million dollars.

Biz Start Up By: Varun Sharma

A Canadian entrepreneur

Source: nobadtrips.com

speaks about his climb to wealth and success we all cringe at the sound of Trump’s “You’re Fired!”, Debow claims that it was one of the most important things for him to learn in his career. “Its better for the organization, especially startup, to find people in the right spot, sometimes people come in and they’re not the right fit. So I did some of those difficult things early on, which helps out at the core of our business.” Another notable success for Debow was leading the sale of Workbrain for a very tidy sum. Although negotiating a merger is inherently complicated, the hardest part of it all was balancing “the fact that you’re trying to sell the company while you’re trying to run the company.” This problem ranges beyond the perils of multi-tasking and requires exceptional management in its purest form, as the situation becomes “demoralizing for the people internally and figuring out how to get that right balance in employees is hard”. The successful sale of Workbrain, marked the beginning of a new venture by the name of Rypple. CoFounders and CEO’s Debow and friend David Stein saw the market trending towards evolving and simplifying employee feedback and took it head on, afraid of ending up in “regular jobs”. Do you remember the last time you heard someone complain about the dreaded performance reviews or the lack of feedback at work? Rypple aims to change the way feedback is done by introducing traditional performance review systems to social media. For employees, this combination of social and public feedback is the optimal combination of receiving feedback and increasing reputation to advance in their career. For employers, this results in more informed and thus, happy workers, a transparent process to reward and retain high April 2011 ArbitrageMag-

performance employees and identify the bad apples. So Rypple came about “to make social goals, social feedback, social coaching… in a very lightweight fun environment.” Rypple is also a dynamically different product with an untraditional team featuring game designers.

While keeping in mind that Rypple is just barely 3 years old, it is already hosting customers among the likes of Mozilla and Accenture.

success of Workbrain much is expected from his current project Rypple. Debow started his entrepreneurial career by organizing rock concerts for students in high school and ended up organizing and leading multi-million dollar negotiations. For all of us who aspire to become the next success story - Debow’s advice? Take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously.

Referring to the significance of securing Mozilla, Debow says, “It’s really important early on to work with visionary customers who embrace your idea and who can help you learn what the market demands.” After winning HR Executive’s Top 10 products of 2010, what is the next step for Rypple? Three simple words sum Debow’s game plan, “Scale it up”. Daniel Debow continues to be one of the most successful C a n a d i a n entrepreneurs of our time and after t h e

azine.ca

Biz Start Up By: Kevin Kang, Editor-in-Chief

Breaking into finance with manulife financial

Exclusive interview with Linday Watson, Campus Program Consultant at Manulife

nterested in a career in finance and investments? If so, then hopefully you’ve already done your research about the different companies and banks that you may wish to work for. To aid you in your research, this issue’s Career Spotlight features an Arbitrage-exclusive interview with Lindsay Watson, Campus Program Consultant at Manulife Financial, one of the world’s largest life insurance and financial services companies. The following interview will provide you with the information you need to know about breaking into the company. Filled with networking tips and insider information about the positions available to students, this interview is your guide to what your career could potentially look like.

What kinds of full-time opportunities are there within Manulife for graduating undergrad students? It really depends on what you’re looking to do. For example, if you want to get your CFA, our Investment program would offer you a chance to rotate between four different areas of that division, which will allow you to really get a full picture of front, middle and back office investment functions and decide which is best suited to you. Since we offer a variety of programs, there really are limitless opportunities for the right candidate if you talk to any employee of Manulife who’s been with the company for longer than five years, chances are they’ve held more than two positions within the organization. We offer global experience, assignments across divisions, and training opportunities. And if you like travel,

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we have operations in 22 countries and territories!

Are there summer internship/coop opportunities for students who are still in school? Yes, we hire around 80 co-op students per term into various programs, including the Actuarial coop program, the Information Systems co-op program, the Accounting & Finance co-op program, the Credit Analyst internship, and the Financial Risk Management Internship.

Can you tell us about the Investment Division Rotational Program? The Investment Division Rotational Program has four rotations which are approximately 6 months each. Each rotation will give you a different experience: you could be doing more analysis on one rotation, and on the portfolio management side supporting that function in another. After you complete the rotations you would have gotten experience in those areas and you would have met people you could network with. The HR consultant for the investment division will help match you up with the positions you’re a fit for and interested in. We’ve had 100% success rate in placing candidates once they’ve completed the program!

How much do marks really matter when applying for the Investment Program? Marks are definitely important, but they’re not everything. We like to see well-rounded candidates with great leadership experience as well as candidates with good grades. You of course have to show that you

can pass tests and do well in your program, but if you spend all of your time studying then you might miss out on other opportunities to grow personally and professionally.

What advice do you have for students when writing their resumes? Tailor it to the job, the industry, or the program that you’re applying to. If you’re applying to a financial services company like Manulife, highlight any relevant experience you have, or interests you have, in that industry. Any volunteer activities or extracurriculars you have are important to include – it’s good to show that you have a life outside of the classroom. Most companies look for candidates with the potential to excel longterm, so anything that points to this should be on there. And of course if you’re looking at getting a certain designation, anything that shows your commitment to it would be good.

What are some other ways for students to stand out against the crowd of applicants? We look for candidates who are “Type M” – those who stand above the rest, who seek challenges, are looking to increase their knowledge base, and have true leadership potential. In other words, those who are driven, passionate and smart. By demonstrating these characteristics through your passion for what you do or the industry, and by your ability to learn and develop, this will set you above the crowd. Some students want to break into

Biz Start Up By: Kevin Kang, Editor-in-Chief

finance but do not have a businessrelated degree. Is it still possible to break in? It is possible, but it’s definitely recommended that you have a business-related degree so that you have the fundamental skills required for a finance-focused and analytical role. There are many opportunities outside of those finance-specific roles at Manulife, as we have a corporate communications, HR, marketing, sales, underwriting, operations, etc. The best thing to do is to check our website and look at the various opportunities available.

Networking is vital, but where can we go to find Manulife representatives to network with? Manulife representatives like myself attend many of the business-related events we are invited to. For example, we go to conferences for finance and accounting because it has to do with the program and it’s a good chance for us to promote Manulife. Often, we’ll be on campus as a team doing mock interviews, a lunch-and-learn, or a networking skills presentation for students.

Also, be creative and look at LinkedIn. You can find Manulife employees in lots of online groups and associations, and reaching out to them online could potentially help you make a connection. Manulife is also a meritocracy – we believe in rewarding someone based on merit and not just based on the number of years they may be in a particular role.

What should I talk about when networking at an information session? When I ask Manulife representatives what they find memorable when

talking to students, the response is usually “when students ask a question that shows that you’ve at least gone beywond the “about us” portion of our website. Try to ask intelligent questions that show that you follow investments and know what Manulife is doing beyond the history of the company and what people generally read. Usually this takes a 15 minute Google search, but it goes a long way. If you’re not comfortable with that, then you can simply ask them about their careers. “How did you get into Manulife?” or “If you were in my shoes right now, what advice would you give me?” are good conversation starters. These questions make it a bit personal

Manulife Financial is one of the largest insurance companies in the world, with 24,000 employees and operations in 22 countries. Whether you’re interested in investments, banking, accounting, or other areas of finance, starting your career in a well-reputed company like Manulife will undoubtedly give you the environment and experience you seek.

Photography by: Kevin Kang

If there’s a finance/accounting networking event at a business school, we’ll try to go. We also try to bring alumni from the school or program who are working at Manulife when we go to these events. And of course, we’re usually on campus doing the fall information sessions as well. Beyond that, it’s really up to the students. If you have an event you’d like us to attend, or if there’s a student group you would like Manulife to be a part of, just let us know. If the budget is in line and the function is relevant to our business, we’re always happy to participate. We are always looking for ways to be involved on campus beyond fall recruitment.

Lindsay Watson has an honours Bachelor of English degree from the University of Toronto, and began her career after graduation at an executive recruitment firm. She’s currently the Campus Program Consultant at Manulife, responsible for positioning the company as an Employer of Choice on campus by managing seven new graduate programs and ensuring that they attract and retain the top students from schools across Canada.

April 2011 ArbitrageMagazine.ca

Biz Start Up By: Kevin Kang, Editor-in-Chief

in a professional way, recruiters don’t often get or expect them. It’ll make you more memorable as opposed to simply asking what we look for in a candidate.

What designations have the most value within the field? I think all of the finance and accounting designations are equally valuable, it really just depends on what your area of interests and career goals are. If you want to get into investments, then a CFA would be most relevant. For those students interested in pursuing their CMA or CGA designation, then we offer a program for those roles as well which will provide them with training and development opportunities toward a career in finance and accounting. And we are also a CA Training Office, so there is the opportunity to obtain the CA designation through a rotational program outside of the traditional CA firm route.

What kind of culture does Manulife have? Manulife offers a strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking company culture committed to helping students grow personally and professionally. It’s a culture that provides countless opportunities for career growth and development. It’s collaborative and high performing – we want to hire the best and brightest and that helps to foster a culture of bright leaders. Manulife is also a meritocracy – we believe in rewarding someone based on merit and not just based on the number of years they may be in a particular role. The company offers invaluable experience across diverse financial services that include banking, insurance and investments.

What’s the work/life balance like? Every

role

and

department

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division at Manulife is a little different, but in general we offer a good blend of work/life balance for our employees. Depending on the responsibilities of your individual position, there will be times of the year when you’re busier than others, but by and large Manulife encourages and enables employees to have a life outside of work.

is completed, they will be in a better position to understand what area of the company and what focus they’d like their next position to be in. Some follow very traditional finance paths, while others make their own and hold a variety of non-traditional roles. A career at Manulife is truly what you make of it.

In addition to the normal vacation allotment, Manulife employees also get Personal Obligation Days that can be used for anything you wouldn’t want to use a vacation day for. Health and wellness days and initiatives are also an important part of the culture. If you work in the Toronto office, we have a company gym that is subsidized for Manulife employees and offers a variety of classes for those who want to take time out of their work day to fit in some cardio.

What advice do you have for finance students hoping for a career at Manulife?

The nice thing about our company is that there isn’t a “typical” career path for everyone. Most new grads come into a specific program that will support them in obtaining a designation and will give them a variety of experiences in the company. There is a Staff Association at all Manulife locations that plan events throughout the year for employees and offer discounts on local attractions and events. Manulife also encourages community involvement and volunteer initiatives, so if you’re passionate about a cause, Manulife offers a number of ways in which you will be supported, from financial to time off.

What’s a typical career path like within Manulife in finance? The nice thing about our company is that there isn’t a “typical” career path for everyone. Most new grads come into a specific program that will support them in obtaining a designation and will give them a variety of experiences in the company. Once the program

Ask questions. Network as much as you can with people in the industry or company that you’re interested in – even if it’s just a ten minute phone conversation every month or so, it will give you a valuable link to a future career. Volunteer or get parttime work experience in a related environment or field if possible. Be involved in your community, and take every opportunity you can to develop your skills and interests. And learn to like the colour green!

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