Goodman - The Magazine, Winter 2019 - Vol. 1, Issue 2

Winter 2019 Volume 1 Issue 2

GOODMAN GOES GLOBAL Dual Degree program delivers global education and work experience

Changing the world one UN internship at a time

Goodman maintains top business school accreditations Winter 2019

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Dean’s message

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A co-op term to change the world

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A world of opportunity

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Business leader talks self-reinvention with students

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MSc program prepares the next generation of researchers

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Facts and figures

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Award-winning researchers

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Goodman grad hits the pitch at the World Cup

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Alumni reconnect with Goodman at retreat

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Students gear up for competition season

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CPA re-accreditation bolsters Goodman’s status as top accounting school

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Goodman remains among world’s best with AACSB re-accreditation

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By the numbers

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Innovative course design receives international accolades

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PUBLICATION MANAGER Susan LeBlanc

CONTRIBUTORS Kaitlyn Little, Tiffany Mayer, Delan Perera

EDITOR Kaitlyn Little

PUBLISHER Goodman School of Business

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DESIGNER Sal Sidani

PRODUCTION Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario ISSN 2561-6706 (Print) ISSN 2561-6714 (Online) goodman@brocku.ca

Cover: Fourth-year BBA student Jake Berec on exchange in France.

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GOODMAN: THE MAGAZINE

DEAN'S MESSAGE In this second issue of Goodman: The Magazine, we look at how the Goodman School of Business is impacting and interacting with the world beyond our campus.

I believe a core activity of our business school is to provide a conduit between the local and global community, generating opportunities which bring together Niagara and the world. When we look beyond the walls of our classrooms for learning, we position our students for greater personal and professional fulfillment. More than ever, our students pursue opportunities where they can make a difference, contributing in ways which go beyond the traditional bottom line.

At the same time, those same external interactions flow back to benefit all of Goodman. People within our School have developed a greater awareness of the world, generating an understanding of how to live and work with a consideration for the global community. It sows the seeds for long term economic, social and cultural growth.

Together, the programs we create and opportunities we present to our students enable them to be our ambassadors, both now and later as alumni, equipping them with skills and global perspective to benefit others.

In this issue, we take a deeper look into the programs and opportunities that are enabling students to expand both their personal horizons and global impact beyond our School. We see how our renowned dual degree program is opening a world of opportunity for students, and helping them gain international experience that is critical in preparing them for job placements with impact in today’s economy.

Our professors are also making their global mark. In this edition, we catch up with a few who’ve recently been recognized for their contributions to world-class research and instruction.

We share how Goodman’s renewed AACSB and CPA Ontario accreditations help us maintain our standing as a leading business school, which aids in the recruitment of top students and faculty.

Goodman’s global reach is positioned for growth. The School is actively working on developing new partnerships, increasing international opportunities for students and fresh new ways to impact the community at home and abroad.

As a new year begins, I hope this winter issue finds you well, and as always, I welcome your comments and feedback.

Andrew Gaudes, PhD, ICD.D Dean Goodman School of Business

Winter 2019

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A CO-OP TERM TO CHANGE THE WORLD

By Tiffany Mayer

Q

asim Khanani has big plans in life.

The third-year Goodman School of Business student aspires to a career focused on entrepreneurship, but not how you might imagine. Khanani isn’t on a quest to come up with a milliondollar idea that will bring him fame and fortune. Instead, he’s focused on how he can nurture the entrepreneurial spirit in others to improve their own lives and, in the process, the economies of developing nations.

In short, he wants to change the world. He started in earnest this past September by beginning a co-op work term in Kampala, Uganda, as a Private Sector Specialist with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Khanani is the first Goodman student to do a co-op work term with a UN Agency. The UN partnership is a new initiative driven by Dean Andrew Gaudes to provide more global opportunities for business students. In partnership with the United Nations Association (UNA) in Canada, Brock and Goodman have developed disciplined and meaningful co-op experiences to accelerate the professional development of their students, and bring global development solutions back to Canada. Both UNA-Canada and Goodman are delighted that this partnership is the first of its kind with a Canadian business school.

“The United Nations Association in Canada Grows Global Citizens, and we are proud to partner with Brock University to provide innovative co-op terms that prepare young professionals to take the next step in their careers, and support the important work of our UN partners,” said Scott Bohachyk, Director of Work-Integrated Learning at UNACanada.

Khanini is working eight months in Kampala to engage Uganda’s private sector to achieve the social development

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GOODMAN: THE MAGAZINE

goals of the National Development Plan, which is part of a larger government framework to transform the African country from a peasant and low-income nation to a competitive, upper-middle income powerhouse by 2040.

Khanani’s work also supports the broader 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a global initiative involving Canada and 192 other UN member states working together to eradicate poverty, improve education and productivity, end environmental degradation, and achieve gender equality by 2030.

It’s nothing short of bold and ambitious — or ideal for Khanani — who’s eager to be part of something bigger than himself. “(This co-op experience) just really appealed to me because I was born and raised in Pakistan and moved (to Canada) three years ago. I’ve worked in a developing country, lived in a developing country and can empathize with people living there,” Khanani said. “For me, to be able to empathize and do work that will have big impact, that’s what appealed.”

The target candidate is interested in working with not-forprofit organizations, and on initiatives involving both the private and public sectors. More specifically, it’s for those keen to contribute to the betterment of society and other people, explained Julia Zhu, Brock’s Associate Director of Coop Education.

“Typically you would see students in and humanities jump on this,” Zhu opportunity for (business) students for and professional development. They’re beyond the boardroom.”

the social sciences said. “It’s a great their own personal able to contribute

Placements within UN organizations are typically unpaid internships. In this case, Goodman is providing an $8,000

“

For me, to be able to empathize and do work that will have big impact, that’s what appealed.

”

– Qasim Khanani

THE GOODMAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS IS THE FIRST BUSINESS SCHOOL IN CANADA TO FORM A CO-OP PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION IN CANADA (UNA-CANADA).

honorarium for each student who participates in the eightmonth work term while Brock’s Co-op Education Office is contributing a $1,000-tuition credit covered by experiential funding from the province. The goal is to sponsor work terms for up to four students — undergraduate and graduate — each year.

Still, such co-op terms come with greater challenges than sorting out students’ salaries. Students live and work in developing nations, which by their very definition have degrees of instability. The UN has support and risk management built into its internship programs, Zhu noted.

“When we came to operationalize this, there were some challenges,” Zhu said. “These are areas that are underdeveloped. Safety is huge. We will be watching (students) as well, keeping close tabs on them.”

That includes someone from Brock and the UN checking in with students regularly, and providing them access to International SOS, a travel security service introduced at Brock in summer 2018 for all students, staff, and faculty who travel as a representative for the University.

Khanani was unfazed about heading to Uganda. Before he left Canada in September, Khanani’s biggest concern was finding his way from the airport to his rented apartment in Kampala. He was keen to tackle the complex terms of reference of his co-op work, which include working closely with high-ranking government officials and the country’s emerging private sector.

administrative staff at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton during a $70-million project to digitize records — everything from patient information to ordering blood transfusions.

Two weeks after arriving in Kampala, Khanani was settling into 60-hour work weeks alongside graduate students and those with more education than he had. He was also getting accustomed to Ugandan work culture, which he described as less “methodical” than in Canada.

“I have a desire to be the hardest worker in the room and I’m too competitive with myself not to let that happen,” he said.

Left: Qasim Khanani at the Uganda National Development Policy Validation Workshop in Kampala Uganda Oct. 17, 2018.

Above: Khanani (right) speaks with his colleague Tony Muhumuza at a UN day event in Kampala.

He’s doing what he can to help Ugandans outside the office, too. Khanani volunteers at his neighbourhood community centre, teaching character building to groups of men. At home, he teaches cooking to the woman who cleans his apartment because expanding her skills will help her earn better wages.

He hopes to use his Goodman education and Uganda experience to improve life in Pakistan one day.

“I’m open to experiencing everything while I’m here. I’m looking at the positive and getting as much as I can from this experience,” Khanani said. “I want to go into entrepreneurship, but I want to see where that will have the most benefit. Will it be in Pakistan or will it be in Canada? I’m very optimistic it will work out.”

“I can relate a lot to it. This is a developing country,” he said.

“I’m not nervous about it. It seems natural and normal to me.”

Khanani is prepared for the high-level demands of his job.

On a previous co-op experience, he trained medical and

Winter 2019

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A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY

By Tiffany Mayer

C

atherine Schlett doubted she’d attend the Goodman School of Business when she applied to university three years ago.

Like many in her position, Schlett hedged her bets and sent applications to several schools. Still, she checked the box for Goodman’s prestigious international dual degree program, mostly as a personal challenge to see if she could fulfil the rigorous admissions standards. The program that would prepare her for two degrees in business, with one in Canada and one in Europe wasn’t her first choice if only because she didn’t entirely understand what she was applying to study.

“I just knew it was one of the hardest (programs) I was applying to. It was after I got accepted and looked into the program and saw what it offered that I wanted to come here,” Schlett said. “It was actually a late offer and I was going to accept my offer at McMaster University. Then I thought about it and I thought I’d be crazy to turn down an opportunity like this.”

That opportunity was the chance to study business at Goodman and, at the time she applied, one of three world-class business schools in Europe: NEOMA in France, EBS in Germany, and Dublin City University in Ireland. Schlett would also do co-op work placements in Canada and abroad, and after four years, have two undergraduate degrees — one from Brock and, in her case, Dublin City — to her name.

As Schlett settled into her first term at Dublin City this past September, she was keenly aware of the good fortune that applying on a lark turned out to be.

“The main reason I chose to do the dual degree is obviously the job market is so competitive and so many students graduate from business programs with just BBAs. I knew this would make me stand out from the other applicants,” she said. “And that’s what really stood out for me.”

Schlett’s story isn’t uncommon, said Meredith Heaney, Goodman’s Manager of International Exchanges and Partnerships. During the 10 years the program has existed, students applying haven’t always been certain of what the degree program is. Others are apprehensive about spending two years abroad and require a bit of coaxing to take the chance on the world of opportunity that can present itself if they get accepted.

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“A lot of parents see the value in it and talk their kids into applying to it,” Heaney said. “Once they understand the value of being abroad, it sells them on the program and they realize this is going to make a difference on their resume and help them get a job.”

Still, for all their uncertainty, the students who apply to the dual degree program are “really good students coming out of high school,” she noted. The typical admission average is comfortably in the 86 to 96 per cent range, and applicants have a long list of extracurricular accomplishments on top of those admirable grades.

There are also plenty vying for a spot in the program, with an acceptance rate of about 10 per cent for the 40 to 50 spaces available each year. The attraction is learning and training at some of the best business schools in world, Goodman included, that are accredited by the internationally recognized Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). There’s also the opportunity to see parts of the world they might not otherwise, and independently navigate life, study and work in another country.

The popularity of the dual degree program recently inspired a new partnership with Reutlingen University’s ESB Business School in southern Germany. Undergraduate dual degrees are common in Europe, Heaney said, but here at home, Brock and Goodman remain the only Canadian offering of such a program with two work terms included, making it a beacon for the best students in the country.

They’re students who have no shortage of ambition or curiosity, even if they’re not entirely certain what direction to take their careers when they begin the dual degree program at Goodman. Take Haley Thomson, who graduated from the program with her BBA from Goodman and her BSc from EBS Business School in Germany in 2016.

“I love to travel and that’s really what drew me to it,” Thomson recalled. “I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do either so the double degree provided some more options.”

And she took every opportunity that came her way, especially when she was abroad. As someone who debated between studying math, physics or business after high school, Thomson admitted her first couple of years in the program were

“

I probably learned more working in a foreign country than just going to school in a foreign country...

”

– Maggie Sainty

Left: Third-year student Catherine Schlett has made the most of her time in Ireland, both inside and outside the classroom.

Right: Maggie Sainty is studying in Reims, France as part of Goodman’s International Dual Degree program.

“rough” as she got her bearings. She “tried every avenue of business (courses) to figure out what I wanted to do.

“Once I got to Germany, everything came together. It was reassuring going to Germany. It solidified what I wanted to do,” Thomson recalled. “Brock is a very community-oriented school and the professors are very interested in the students.

The professors here know who you are and they check in on you regularly. It’s different in Germany. There’s very much a separation. But the courses, what you learned content-wise, it was very rigorous.”

Thomson wound up writing a thesis in operations and global management at EBS thanks to being taught and inspired by such industry experts in Germany. She also completed her co-op term in IT and controlling for Lufthansa while there, doing modelling and analytics for strike costs. She continued working for the national airline when her full-time studies resumed at EBS. The experience opened doors that elude others in the early years of their careers.

“When I finished my co-op, they offered to keep me on in Frankfurt or find a place in North America, but I wanted to do my MBA,” Thomson said. “But I’d go back and work for them in a heartbeat.”

Therein lies one of the great beauties of the dual degree: the broad spectrum of courses, topics and opportunities students get exposed to during their studies. It sets them up to do and accomplish great things when they graduate. In Thomson’s case, she entered into Goodman’s MBA business analytics stream and later landed an above-entry level position at Canadian Tire Financial in Welland. Her time in Germany was a significant talking point during her job interview, she said.

“To me, (the dual degree is) for the student who’s open-minded but undecided about what they want to do with their life,” Heaney said. “But they’re open to the intercultural experience and they don’t mind putting themselves out there. What students develop while abroad is this incredible independence and flexibility. They learn about intercultural differences and there’s a lot of personal growth. It’s why employers like hiring them because they’re adaptable and flexible and can run with a project independently.”

That describes the experience so far of Maggie Sainty, who’s going into her final year at NEOMA in France. Sainty chose the French stream because she’s bilingual and wanted to maintain those language skills. Not only is she exposed to how people live and work in France, she’s met people from elsewhere in the world studying at NEOMA and working at the smart home company in Paris where she did her co-op placement. They’re people whose paths she wouldn’t have otherwise crossed, she said.

At least five different nationalities were represented on her work team in Paris, and 20 in the whole company. Her boss was Dutch, her team leader was from Hong Kong, and other colleagues were French Nationals. All have different approaches to work, Sainty noted.

The result was an environment that fostered creativity and independent decisionmaking while giving Sainty greater responsibility than she figured she’d get on a work term back home.

“I probably learned more working in a foreign country than just going to school in a foreign country,” Sainty said. “It was really cool to see how different people work.

The French take two-hour lunches which was an adjustment for me. I tend to work really well in an environment of get your work done, meet your deadline, and go home, whereas in France, there’s more creative freedom and they’re not as stuck on deadlines.

“In France, they loved hiring interns and they loved having you help. They really integrate you into the workplace,” she added.

Meanwhile, back at Brock, students and faculty closer to home get exposed to different approaches to studying, working and living when they meet those from the dual degree partner schools who come here for their two years of study. So the program benefits more than just those who get accepted to it.

Still, the greatest benefits are yet to come for Sainty when she graduates next year, and Schlett as she embarks on her international experience.

“When I’m out travelling the world, I’m going to be open to the opportunities,” Schlett said. “There’s a whole world of possibilities out there.”

Winter 2019

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BUSINESS LEADER TALKS SELFREINVENTION WITH STUDENTS

By Kaitlyn Little

S

tanding before the next generation of business leaders, Julia Deans shared critical words of advice: embrace change.

The prominent businesswoman and non-profit CEO has witnessed first-hand the ways in which the working world has evolved through the years and has learned to adapt each step of the way.

She brought that insight to the Goodman School of Business Oct. 3, where she told students that to succeed in this changing environment, they will need to be able to constantly reinvent themselves.

“You’re going to have to reinvent yourselves a lot of times in your careers. You are absolutely going to have to,” she said.

Deans was on campus to share insights into work and leadership with students and the Brock community as she received Goodman’s 2018 Distinguished Leader award.

Deans’ career has been dedicated to tackling social and economic challenges. She is the CEO of the Canadian Children’s Literacy Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to ensure all Canadian children are skilled and confident readers by the end of grade school. With a passion for entrepreneurial start-ups, Deans has served as CEO of Futurpreneur Canada and was the founding CEO of Civic Action, where she helped build the influential organization from an initial project.

“Don’t be afraid to lead when the opportunity arises,” Deans said. “Even if you don’t succeed, you are going to learn a huge amount about yourself and be prepared for the next time a leadership opportunity comes your way.”

Deans shared her non-linear path to leadership and how her experiences working abroad gave her the skills she needed to take on leadership roles upon returning to Canada.

“I’m very proud to have Julia Deans recognized as our 2018 Distinguished Leader,” said Goodman Dean Andrew Gaudes. “Her presence and influence with youth entrepreneurship has transformed Canada’s next generation of innovators and business leaders through her work with Futurpreneur.

“Now, her role as CEO of the Canadian Children’s Literacy Foundation gives all of us great optimism that our youth will be even more prepared for personal fulfilment, leading to a better place for us to live.”

For Goodman’s Graduate Business Council President Priya Mehta, interacting with Deans broadened her horizons of what the path to organizational leadership could look like.

“When I was sitting in your shoes, most of my fellow students thought they would have one career for life,” Deans said. “My career path, which has been constant reinvention and learning, would have looked very strange to them.

“Going into this I thought there was a set standard of what you need to do and there’s a set pathway you need to follow,” Mehta said. “As Ms. Deans exemplified, there’s no set pathway, and you can shape your own future. She took a lot of risks, but they were risks that paid off and they were all her passions.”

“But it’s a path that’s fast becoming the norm and I’m quite confident that it will be the path for most of you who are students here.”

Now in its 11th year, the Distinguished Leader Series is a tradition that recognizes the achievements of business leaders in a wide range of industries.

Student leaders met with Deans on the morning of her visit and asked questions about her career in an informal setting. In the afternoon, a public lecture gave the Brock community a chance to learn about her take on leadership.

Past recipients of the Distinguished Leader award include Deepak Chopra, retired President and CEO of Canada Post, Martine Irman of TD Bank Group, Rossana Magnotta of Magnotta Winery, Len Pennachetti of Cave Spring Cellars and Ned Goodman of Dundee Corporation, among others.

As she talked about her own journey, she encouraged those in attendance not to

Julia Deans gave her Distinguished Leader address to an audience of staff and students at the Goodman School of Business Oct. 3.

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shy away from taking on leadership roles if they present themselves.

GOODMAN: THE MAGAZINE

Jeffrey Boichuk is one of more than 30 Goodman MSc alumni who have used the program as a springboard to PhD studies and careers in academia.

MSC PROGRAM PREPARES THE NEXT GENERATION OF RESEARCHERS

By Kaitlyn Little

I

f you told Jeffrey Boichuk at the beginning of his fourth-year business-to-business marketing class that less than 10 years later he would be the one at the front of the classroom, he would not have believed you.

He had yet to decide what he wanted to do after completing his BBA degree but during that course, he was encouraged by his professor Bulent Menguc to apply to Goodman’s MSc in Management program.

“He sort of changed my life in that moment,” Boichuk said. “When he made it possible for me to do the MSc program, which is an introduction to careers in research and academia.”

Boichuk, Assistant Professor of Commerce at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, went on to complete his PhD at the University of Houston before starting his career in academia. He’s just one of more than 30 of his peers who have used Goodman’s MSc in Management as a springboard to PhD studies.

“I often describe it (the program) as an on-ramp to a PhD,” Boichuk said. “The MSc set me up for success, as a lot of my first-year classes in the PhD program were covered in my MSc.” Since the program was introduced at Brock in 2007, almost half of the graduates have gone on to enter

PhD programs across Canada, the United States and Australia.

The MSc is structured so that students spend the first year completing course work and building a foundation of technical skills and knowledge. In year two, they use that knowledge base to answer a research question that is relevant, current and important to their field of interest.

It was this technical base that helped prepare alumna Pinar Runnalls, a Visiting Scholar at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, for her PhD and research focusing on international marketing.

“Once I knew I wanted to go for a PhD, an MSc degree made the most sense because it helped familiarize me with the research process,” she said. “I felt I was well-prepared when I first started my PhD program at Michigan State University.”

Runnalls came to Brock as an international student from Turkey and chose Goodman for her Honours BBA degree based on the School’s reputation. She decided to stay at Goodman for her MSc based on the relationships she had built and the support she received from the professors.

Tek Thongpapanl, Goodman’s Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Programs, says Runnalls’ path to the program as an international student isn’t unique.

“Our program over the years has been successful at bringing the world to Canada,” Thongpapanl said.

“We welcome a number of high calibre international students to our program in the various specializations that we offer.”

The program offers a small cohort and one-on-one mentorship to help students develop their research and technical skills.

“Even though we don’t anticipate that all of our MSc grads will move on to a PhD program, when you get into research, you almost always get bit by the research bug,” Thongpapanl said. “When you pick the domain that you love, you often find it enjoyable and after you finish the master's program it’s almost a natural progression to take a doctoral degree.”

For graduates who don’t continue on to PhD programs, they put the skills they gained during the research-intensive program to use working in industry in areas including business and management consulting and macro and micro data analytics for corporations, governments and non-governmental agencies. In these roles, alumni are very hands-on in collecting, analyzing and presenting data in a meaningful and impactful way for their organizations.

Winter 2019

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FACTS AND FIGURES NEW STUDENT REGISTRATIONS 750

658 2014

2015

628

683

729

2016

2017

2018

302

2014

2015

UNDERGRADUATE

45

2015 / 2016

2016 / 2017

53 50

2017 / 2018

54

NUMBER OF OUTGOING EXCHANGE STUDENTS

50

70 2016 / 2017 65 2017 / 2018 72 2018 / 2019 58 2015 / 2016

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS INTELLECTUAL CONTRIBUTIONS

10

2017

2018

27

25

26

2014 / 15

2015 / 16

2016 / 17

28

39

2017 / 18

2018 / 19

95

115

93

121

Books and book chapters

15

15

12

12

Conference proceedings

48

43

38

40

Conference presentations

169

189

169

134

Research awards

26

39

25

19

UNDERGRADUATE

25

24

28

2014 / 15

2015 / 16

2016 / 17

27

30

2017 / 18

2018 / 19

GRADUATE

International English Language Testing System Scores for Graduate Programs Admittance

2014 2015 2016 2017

Peer-reviewed journal articles

GOODMAN: THE MAGAZINE

331

NUMBER OF COUNTRIES REPRESENTED IN CLASSROOM

66

2018 / 2019

2014 / 2015

2016

319

GRADUATE

NUMBER OF INCOMING EXCHANGE STUDENTS 2014 / 2015

354

309

7

6.75 6.75 6.71 6.80 2014 / 15

2015 / 16

2016 / 17

2017 / 18

7.01 2018 / 19

6

Average IELTS score of new registered graduate students (9 being the highest test score).

GOODMAN FACULTY DEMOGRAPHICS

NEW GOODMAN FACULTY Ali Vaezi, Assistant Professor, Operations

Have education from outside of Canada

37%

Nam Ho, Assistant Professor, Accounting Princely Ifinedo, Assistant Professor, Information Systems Shuai Yuan, Assistant Professor, Business Analytics Simon Suwanyangyuan, Assistant Professor, Accounting Raymond Chiu, Assistant Professor, Ethics

Have education within Canada

GOODMAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS 2018 ADVISORY COUNCIL

63%

David Anyon - Board Director and Consultant PhD within Canada

50%

Mark Arthur - President, Industrial Alliance Daniel Goodman - Owner GFI Investment Counsel Scott Hawkes - President & CEO, FortisOntario Inc. Jim Kozack - Vice-President, Customer Programs, Home Trust Dave Lafleur CPA, CMA - Chief Financial Officer, Funding Innovation Inc. Bonnie Lysyk - Auditor General of Ontario Anthony Marotta - Chair, Goodman Alumni Network (ex-officio)

PhD from outside of Canada

Larry G. Maxwell - Investment Advisor, TD Waterhouse

50%

Marty Philp - Founding Partner, Next Advisory

Women

George Soleas - President & CEO, LCBO

31%

Jason Sparaga - Co-founder, Spark Power Corp.

Doug Wilkinson FCPA - Partner, Deloitte

TORONTO ADVISORY GROUP Men

Deepak Chopra - Retired President and CEO of Canada Post

69%

Dan McGrath - COO, Cineplex Entertainment LLP Graeme Deans - Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

Total Undergraduate and Graduate Enrolments

3,456

3,500

3,280 3,000

2015

3,361 3,358 2016

2017

2018

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY GROUP Lili Tomovich - Chief Experience Officer, MGM Resorts Greg Berti - Vice-President Global Markets & Industry Relations, Andrew Peller Limited Winter 2019

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AWARD-WINNING RESEARCHERS

R

esearch is the hallmark of any university, and the Goodman School of Business is no exception. The research done by Goodman faculty is as relevant as it is prolific. Their work, published and presented in world-class academic journals and forums, fosters professional excellence and a student learning experience second to none. Goodman Magazine caught up with a few professors who’ve recently won awards for their research to learn about the critical work that’s earning accolades.

STACI KENNO Associate Professor of Accounting Department Research Award Winner for Accounting

Primary research focus:

Is the new funding formula good for universities?

Budgeting at Ontario universities and determining the effect of the existing funding formula on the province’s universities.

It is hard to tell right now as we are still in a hold harmless period in terms of funding to each university, and there is still uncertainty surrounding some pieces of the funding formula.

Studying university funding and budgets is timely. What inspired your research?

This is a project that my colleagues Barbara Sainty, Michelle Lau and I have been working on for a couple years. Barbara and I have a paper published that examined Brock’s attempt to implement a new budgeting system, and found that it floundered because there was a lack of leadership. From there we just kept asking questions.

Asking questions is what keeps me doing research.

This research has led us down a number of paths including a literature review on how accountants have used theory to explain budgeting over the past 30 years, a survey on budgeting practices at Canadian universities and a field study on the Ontario funding formula.

What effects are the changes to the funding formula having on Ontario universities?

We are in the process of answering this question. Currently there are minimal changes in what Ontario universities receive in terms of actual dollars, but our research is attempting to dig into whether it’s affecting the way universities react to the funding, or if they are changing their approach to budgeting and strategy because of the funding. The Ontario government plans to tie some of the funding of Ontario universities to the strategic mandate agreements (SMAs) that the universities have been filing for the past five years.

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GOODMAN: THE MAGAZINE

The funding formula has placed all universities on a level playing field in terms of funding per student, which is a good thing, but there are now two additional parts to the funding provided. The first is the differentiation envelope where the government is in the process of creating performance-based funding metrics. The second is the special purpose grants, which allows the government to continue to fund specific initiatives that are important to their public policy, such as mental health, safety grants, etc. Only time will tell if it is “good” for universities.

What were some of the challenges you faced while doing your research?

Part of it is always time. Qualitative research is time consuming. From conducting the interviews to analyzing the data to writing the paper, it’s a continuously moving process that requires time. Then it’s stopping ourselves from starting new projects while in the middle of other projects, keeping our focus on the papers we’re currently working on.

What do you hope your findings will achieve?

There is always the hope that your research will help or advance the understanding of specific scenarios or answer the questions that haven’t been answered. Qualitative research lends itself to helping us learn from what we’ve done, understand how accounting information is used in daily life and how it affects our lives. As the research we are currently doing affects many tangentially in Ontario, we will see where it takes us.

DIRK de CLERCQ Professor of Management Department Research Award Winner for Organizational Behaviour, Human Resources, Entrepreneurship and Ethics

Primary research focus: Factors affecting entrepreneurship in various contexts, including emerging economies, and how policy-makers can create optimal conditions to support entrepreneurs.

What prompted you to study impacts on entrepreneurship in emerging economies?

Any country’s level of entrepreneurship is crucial for its economic development and growth, but especially in less developed economies. Two key issues in these economies are: how to direct a country’s resources into entrepreneurial activities that improve the current constellation of economic activities and contribute to a country’s prosperity; and how this process might be hampered by institutional constraints in the broader environment. Emerging economies present a unique context for studying these issues because of the resource constraints and institutional hurdles that many individuals in these countries face, and the stark differences in their institutions. It’s critical to study the implications of these potential impediments because entrepreneurship is crucial for the economic development and growth of emerging economies.

This study also acknowledges individuals’ engagement in opportunity discovery, evaluation, and exploitation in new business creation. Opportunity discovery is when individuals perceive entrepreneurial opportunities. Next comes opportunity evaluation, a future-focused process through which entrepreneurs evaluate how attractive an opportunity is based on how it can benefit them. In the third phase, opportunity exploitation, entrepreneurs translate opportunities into commercial value. This study takes a comprehensive look at the entrepreneurial activities that take place in emerging countries by considering the entire process of opportunity discovery, evaluation, and exploitation.

What were some of your key findings?

Using secondary data sources, such as the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the findings indicate that people’s household income and education level directly and positively affect their engagement in entrepreneurship. Financially affluent individuals are more likely to become entrepreneurs regardless of institutional conditions, such as government regulations and support for entrepreneurship, but the influence of a person’s education level varies depending on those institutional conditions. That makes education a stronger influence on someone becoming an entrepreneur to the extent the institutional environment favours entrepreneurship.

How can governments and economies better support and encourage entrepreneurship regardless of people’s financial status and education level?

The findings shed light on how policy-makers in emerging economies can encourage entrepreneurship. Specifically, several measures are likely to encourage highly educated individuals to engage in entrepreneurship, such as developing government policy, support programs, and regulations that favour the creation, growth, and management of new businesses. Addressing entrepreneurship-related topics in the higher education system is another way, along with getting people to see entrepreneurship as a desirable career path.

Incorporating entrepreneurship-related curricula into the higher education system can work well in emerging economies because higher education institutions can channel well-educated individuals toward start-up activities and be positively associated with their engagement in entrepreneurship and innovation in general.

Contrary to expectations, financially affluent individuals are more likely to become entrepreneurs irrespective of the broader context that surrounds them. This means financial capital may enable individuals in high-income strata to lock in additional wealth created by new business activities and widen the gap between themselves and their less affluent counterparts. This could hamper economic mobility between strata.

The ability of household income to enhance entrepreneurship, irrespective of institutional conditions, suggests that social stratification based on income might be quite rigid in emerging economies. This could undermine the fair distribution of wealth, which is an issue receiving increasing attention in these economies.

If policy-makers’ objective is to increase social mobility, they could use a targeted approach to stimulate recognition and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities, paying close attention to how finance-related policies can help lowincome households overcome the hurdles that keep them from engaging in the entrepreneurial process.

Winter 2019

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WALID BEN OMRANE Associate Professor of Finance Department Research Award Winner, Department of Finance, Operations and International Systems

Primary Research Focus:

What was the most surprising or interesting finding in your research?

The reaction of foreign exchange markets to macroeconomic news during business cycles.

Although earlier studies documented a relatively stable link between macroeconomic news announcements and exchange rates, I found that this relationship could become unstable over time due to fluctuations in economic activity or changes in investors' perception about the future economic outlook. In addition, while major currencies' response to most news, such as unemployment rates, is greater during market expansions, the foreign exchange market reacted more significantly to new home sales in the U.S. and federal funds rate news during the (2008) crisis period. I attribute this to the context-specific relevance of some news announcements, such as the housing and credit sectors, in the evolution of the U.S. financial crisis.

What is the connection between the foreign exchange market and macroeconomic news?

Traders use fundamental information such as macroeconomic news in their trading strategies. In currency markets, macroeconomic news announcements related to the economy of a specific country — unemployment rate, inflation, GDP, etc. — could affect exchange rates. For example, if there’s an announcement of a decrease in the U.S. unemployment rate when the market expects an increase, the US dollar would appreciate against the Euro and Canadian dollar. But if the announcement confirms a decrease in U.S. GDP, the market would consider it a bad signal and depreciate the US dollar against the Euro and Canadian dollar. Some other traders implement technical analysis, which is based on trends. They only care about the historical movement of prices. However, the majority of foreign exchange traders implement both macroeconomic news announcements and technical analysis.

What impact does that have on the economy overall, and on us as consumers?

Macroeconomic news significantly affects foreign exchange rates, which can be observed in the US versus Canadian dollar. For instance, five years ago, the US dollar was more or less worth the same as the Canadian dollar. Now it’s about 35 per cent more and this appreciation increases the price of imported products from the U.S. and decreases Canadian imports of those products. However, if we consider the opposite case where we assume an appreciation of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar, which was actually the case about five years ago, Canadians would be encouraged to buy imported U.S. goods and services as well as spend their vacations in U.S.

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What are the implications of your findings?

My findings suggest that investors and managers of multinational corporations exposed to foreign exchange risk, as well as traders and institutional asset managers whose portfolios include international assets, may find it useful to consider the time-varying impact of macroeconomic news on exchange rates. In particular, my results can be used to design strategies to improve derivatives pricing where volatility is a key component, and enhance risk management practices associated with international transactions.

In addition, this research increases our understanding of the behaviour of exchange rates during a period of elevated uncertainty and that may help traders and investors improve their assessment of the risks and returns associated with their international assets, which are naturally exposed to exchange rate fluctuations.

TRISH RUEBOTTOM Associate Professor of Strategic Management Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant recipient

Primary research focus: Exploring how stigmatized occupations are impacted by technology-driven change using ride-sharing technologies and their influence on taxi drivers in Canada.

What prompted you to study the effects of the sharing economy and technology on the taxi industry?

The idea for the research came from a puzzle that we couldn’t explain. One of my collaborators had been doing research on the stigma facing taxi drivers, particularly immigrants. She found that taxi drivers faced intense stigma and felt a lot of shame because of their work. But when Uber entered several cities in the Canadian market everything we heard about being a ride-sharing driver was incredibly positive. It was a totally different story being told about drivers, when existing research tells us that the stigma facing taxi drivers should transfer to ride-sharing drivers. And so we decided to investigate how the ride-sharing companies managed to avoid this stigma.

We hear so much good about the sharing economy. What is it and what are the benefits?

The sharing economy is a lot of different things. The most common definition is the sharing of access to goods and services, facilitated by an online platform that connects owners with customers. This sharing allows under-utilized resources, such as cars and homes, to become productive, providing additional income for the owners. Ride-sharing was considered a part of the sharing economy based on the idea that people who own cars could connect with people who need rides through an online platform, providing income for the car owners. Whether ride-sharing is still considered a part of the sharing economy is much more debated now, but we felt like its initial association with the sharing economy was part of the positive image that was created.

You’ve done a pilot study on this already. What effects did you find the sharing economy is having on low-status or marginalized occupations?

Based on the interviews we’ve done so far, we’ve found that ride-sharing companies were able to deflect the stigma based on a few factors. First, that connection to the ‘sharing economy’ was helpful because it created ambiguity about how to categorize these new drivers, making the job seem completely different than that of taxi driving.

And second, the positive ideas we have about technology and the emphasis on the temporary nature of the job created a much more positive image for ride-sharing drivers. The media played a huge role in reinforcing these impressions, although the story in the media is changing and it will be very interesting to see if that changes perceptions of the occupation.

What impact do you hope your research will have?

I think that other companies entering stigmatized markets can learn from this research, to see how they might be able to separate from the existing categorizations and leverage technologies to deflect stigma and carve out a positive space for themselves. But more importantly, I hope the research might make us stop and think about the stigma facing taxi drivers and consider if that stigma is really justified.

Winter 2019

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GOODMAN GRAD HITS THE PITCH AT THE WORLD CUP

By Kaitlyn Little

F

or 45 days last summer, Joe Fletcher (BAcc ’00) was half a world away from his St. Catharines’ accounting firm as he stepped onto the field as an official at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

The Goodman grad has built a career that has allowed him to embrace his passion for soccer by refereeing at elite levels while balancing his role helping ownermanaged businesses as a Partner at Wormald Masse Keen Lopinski LLP. His officiating has taken him around the globe, including stepping on the pitch in both Brazil and Russia at the World Cup, the London 2012 Olympic Games and he has refereed international matches on every continent.

However, building the skills to balance these competing professional demands is something that dates back to his time at Brock. As a co-op accounting student, Fletcher would spend his summers taking courses by day and spend his nights and weekends hopping in his car to officiate at a provincial level in addition to playing on the University’s varsity volleyball team.

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It was during his first co-op term in 1997 that he found a firm that would allow him to balance his interests and he hasn’t worked anywhere else since.

Much like his work in accounting, technology is also impacting the way soccer games are officiated. The 2018 World Cup marked the first time that FIFA used video assistant referees.

After training and proving his skills in Dubai and Florence, Fletcher was selected as one of the referees who would be in the video review room during six matches in addition to his three on the field. While the rules and calls he made are the same, he says the environment is absolutely different.

“For starters, when you are watching a game live you can hear the game, the crowd and the audience.

There’s a certain feel that you have when you’re in a stadium or on a field. None of that is available when you’re in a video room.

“All you hear is the whistle and the voices of the officials on the field. The idea is that you decide without emotion.”

Managing these two roles doesn’t come without fantastic support from his firm he says. The standing rule is that he brings his laptop everywhere he goes and he’s responsible for keeping his clients happy and getting the job done.

At the end of the day, whether he is on the field or in the office, managing different personalities is the common aspect of Fletcher’s roles.

“In both cases, I’m the person that carries the expert knowledge and I have to somehow apply this knowledge to different people,” he said. “In both jobs, sometimes you give good news and sometimes you give bad news, but you still have to give it regardless.”

His passport is stamped with fond memories, but what will always be a professional highlight for him is his work at both World Cups.

“I’ve got a lot of memories but everything that happens at the World Cup stands out more. It’s the one time that everyone, whether they are soccer fans or not, tune in. For one month every four years, that’s all that seems to matter.”

STUDENTS GEAR UP FOR COMPETITION SEASON

ALUMNI RECONNECT WITH GOODMAN AT RETREAT

By Kaitlyn Little

By Kaitlyn Little

A

W

s a new semester begins, students have been hard at work preparing for a number of high-profile competitions in early 2019.

While these events help build Goodman’s spirit and reputation, they also help students develop important skills that they will apply throughout their career says Diane Miller, Goodman’s Associate Dean Undergraduate Programs.

“Competitions expand students critical thinking skills by putting them in new situations, they have to figure out how to apply their knowledge in a new way,” Miller said. “They develop important teamwork and leadership competencies, integrate their technical skills and knowledge and become polished presenters.”

Goodman looks to retain its School of the Year title earned at the last JDCC competition, which is the largest undergraduate business school competition in Canada. Students are also preparing to top the historic 17 medals earned last year at DECA provincials while graduate students look to make their mark at the MBA Games and John Molson Case Competition.

Students prepare for months leading up the events by attending invitationals, practicing with mock cases and weekly prep sessions says Goodman DECA President Jasman Bisram.

“I’m very confident in my team,” he said. “The hard work they’ve put in over the last few months has really translated in the quality of their presentations.”

As the team’s practice continues, competitors are also going to be keeping a close eye on current events, so that they are able to add context and current examples in their presentations.

In November, Goodman welcomed teams from 21 business schools from across Canada for the 10th annual Brock University Accounting Conference drawing schools from as far away as Nova Scotia.

Far Left: Goodman alumnus Joe Fletcher shows off some of his World Cup game balls in his office at Wormald Masse Keen Lopinski LLP. Above Left: Goodman students look to top the historic 17 medals won at the 2018 DECA competition.

Above Right: Alumni share their thoughts and ideas with Goodman faculty and staff.

hen people think of homecoming, a feedback retreat might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But for a fifth time, a group of active alumni returned to their alma mater to share their ideas and insights with the School.

The group of 20 alumni represented all Goodman’s undergraduate programs and included graduates of the inaugural MBA class.

Goodman Dean Andrew Gaudes says that the School wants alumni to see their degree increase in value as time progresses and for them to have a continued sense of pride about being a Goodman grad.

“The retreat allows us to understand what generates that pride and what can we do to not only sustain it, but increase it,” he said.

Alumna Claire McCarthy (BBA Dual Degree ’16) said the retreat was a valuable opportunity to hear about what’s going on at Goodman and share her thoughts on the School’s future.

“I think this is a sign that Goodman is committed to evolving and improving the experience for alumni, students and potential students,” McCarthy said. “It further validates my choosing of Goodman for my business education.”

Some of the ideas that alumni put forward have already came to fruition says Alumni Co-ordinator Teighan McIntyre. November 22 marked the first Day in the Life of a Goodman Alum and more opportunities to connect students with alumni are in the works.

Following the retreat, alumni had the opportunity to tour Goodman’s new building and catch up with former professors and classmates at a reception.

Learn more about the Goodman Alumni Network at brocku.ca/goodman/alumni Facebook LINKEDIN

/groups/GoodmanAlumniNetwork /groups/2908249

Winter 2019

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CPA RE-ACCREDITATION BOLSTERS GOODMAN’S STATUS AS TOP ACCOUNTING SCHOOL

By Tiffany Mayer

The Goodman School of Business has retained its standing among Canada’s elite education institutions for accounting.

G

oodman was the first Ontario university to be re-accredited in 2018 by Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) of Ontario to the master’s level. It’s a seal of approval that lasts five years and assures Goodman offers the best in accounting education, noted Goodman Dean Andrew Gaudes.

Goodman accounting graduates are also earning distinguished status on their CFE exams, he noted. In 2017, three Goodman graduates were listed on the CFE honour roll.

“It certainly validates the programs we are running,” Gaudes said. “It underscores the value of our program for students as far as preparing them for a career in the accounting profession.”

“Students from Goodman come to the workplace ready to work hard and to continue their learning,” said Pam Lilley, a partner at Deloitte Canada in St. Catharines. “The level of core accounting knowledge they obtain in school allows them to transition with ease into the work environment. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Brock University and the Goodman School of Business as we seek future generations of Deloitte leaders.”

The re-accreditation came after a rigorous audit by an external review team to ensure Goodman’s accounting CPA pathway, which includes its Bachelor of Accounting and Master’s of Accountancy programs, met CPA Ontario standards.

Re-accreditation involved a line-by-line examination of Goodman’s accounting courses to determine if they adequately cover more than 150 professional and technical competencies, including financial reporting, strategy and governance, and assurance. Student evaluations and faculty quality were also considered during the program review. The entire process took 16 months to complete.

Goodman was the first university in Ontario accredited to the master's level by CPA Ontario in 2013 after the organization consolidated three legacy accounting designations. The original accreditation happened, thanks to a redesign of Goodman’s Master of Accountancy program that allowed its Bachelor of Accounting graduates to fulfill CPA education requirements while obtaining a master’s degree.

Students who complete both programs at Goodman are eligible to write the Common Final Examination (CFE), required for CPA’s professional designation, in less time than the traditional pathway of juggling a day job with exam preparation.

That process can take up to two years after earning a bachelor’s degree.

Goodman’s streamlined program prepares students to write the CFE in only nine months after completing their undergraduate studies.

Goodman’s unique fast-track to CPA designation gives it a competitive edge over other business schools, most of which only offer the traditional route to professional certification.

“Certainly for any student wanting to become an accountant, seeing our programs are accredited by CPA is an important factor towards arriving at their decision to attend Goodman,” Gaudes said. “The Master of Accountancy is one of the fastest tracks to attaining a CPA designation in Canada. That would influence a student’s choice of where to go.”

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As a result, they’re also landing good jobs with some of the country’s top firms actively hiring Goodman graduates.

“

It certainly validates the programs we are running, It underscores the value of our program for students as far as preparing them for a career in the accounting profession.

”

– Andrew Gaudes, Goodman Dean

GOODMAN REMAINS AMONG WORLD’S BEST WITH AACSB RE-ACCREDITATION

By Tiffany Mayer

Brock University — and the Goodman School of Business, in particular — have retained their standing among the world’s best universities and business programs.

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oodman was re-accredited in 2018 by AACSB International — The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the oldest accrediting body for business schools worldwide.

The re-accreditation, effective for the next five years, covers all six of Goodman’s degree programs, and gives the business school international clout and prestige.

“It maintains our place in the top category of business schools around the world,” said Andrew Gaudes, Goodman Dean. “It encourages us to continue demonstrating our strength in research and our programs at the University, and our standing in the community.”

Brock and its business program were first accredited by AACSB in 2002. The latest re-accreditation comes after another rigorous review of Goodman’s teaching and learning, staff support, research activities, and other criteria by senior leadership from highly regarded North American business schools. Each requirement is assessed based on international standards to ensure Goodman’s ability to provide the highest quality programs.

Ultimately, accreditation guarantees students learn material that prepares them to be effective business leaders when they graduate. It also enables Goodman to collaborate and establish educational partnerships with toptier schools throughout the world to offer international opportunities to students and faculty members.

Goodman’s dual degree programs are examples of the world-class learning opportunities that can come from AACSB accreditation and working with business schools of the same high calibre.

“Without accreditation, it’s not impossible, but it’s more challenging to do that,” Gaudes explained. “We could have had other dual degrees but they would not have been as strong as those with the schools we’ve partnered with.”

Getting accredited — and Goodman’s continued success in maintaining the credentials — is a detailed process that requires compiling information on a yearly basis to record continuous improvements, explained Alyssa Freeman, Goodman’s Accreditation Co-ordinator.

A report is then submitted every five years to the accreditation body for consideration by a team of deans from AACSB-accredited schools. They

also visit the school to interact with students, faculty and staff to assess whether standards are upheld.

Throughout the latest review process, Goodman’s program size, faculty enthusiasm and experiential education opportunities, particularly through service-learning, were noted as key areas of strength.

“They’re always looking at us to continuously improve,” Freeman said.

“Everything is tied back to whether it adheres to our mission and vision.”

Accreditation is more than a bragging right, however, Gaudes noted.

With AACSB credentials, Brock and Goodman will stand out from other schools when students decide where to pursue their business degree.

“A potential student on the other side of the planet may not know anything about a school here,” Gaudes said. “With accreditation, there’s confidence in knowing the school is among the best in the world."

“

It encourages us to continue demonstrating our strength in research and our programs at the University, and our standing in the community.

”

– Andrew Gaudes, Goodman Dean

Winter 2019

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BY THE NUMBERS

By Tiffany Mayer

T

here was a time when business leaders made decisions based on experience and gut feelings.

Sometimes it worked. Mostly, though, it was a gamble that left plenty of room for error.

These days, they rely on numbers. The use of big data to make decisions in the workplace represents a fundamental shift in business management and more than a passing trend, explains Anteneh Ayanso, Professor of Information Systems at Goodman.

Crunching numbers has become as important as any soft skill in the workplace.

“As opposed to relying on people and feelings to make decisions, we rely on facts,” Ayanso said.

“Companies who follow this approach are leading their sectors, leading their competition. If you act on data, you can make better and faster real-time decisions.”

Big data also signals a significant change in how students learn the science of management at Goodman. Where once the emphasis was more so on the skills of teamwork, adaptability and case analysis, students are now learning to read numbers and understand those all-important algorithms to support critical decision making and problem solving at work.

Two years ago, Ayanso put Goodman on the course to becoming a leader in teaching and applying big data and analytics as the founding Director of Goodman’s Centre for Business Analytics (CBA). The centre, one

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of the first at a Canadian university, brings together faculty from different disciplines throughout Brock, industry partners and alumni to collaborate on interdisciplinary research and data analysis. Together, they serve as a source of expertise for those in the public and private sectors seeking rock-solid business solutions based on hard numbers.

The CBA also put Goodman and Brock at the forefront of training the next generation of data scientists, a skill applicable to more than just business, Ayanso noted.

Big data is used in everything from retail to health care. Even coaches of professional sports teams are getting in on the numbers game to make evidencebased decisions in the arena.

Now other schools are paying attention to this growing field. They’re developing their own big data departments and centres to catch up to Brock and Goodman, which have been carving a niche since 2016 with the opening of the CBA, and before that with the 2014 introduction of an MBA with business analytics specialization.

Brock has also been teaching business and data mining at the undergraduate level with a concentration in information technology since the early 2000s, Ayanso noted.

“We were one of the first in this area but everyone is looking at it now out of necessity,” he said. “This isn’t

an advantage now. It’s a necessity at every school.”

Looking at the numbers, Ayanso knows decisions need to be made to ensure Goodman’s leadership in the field. Establishing the CBA was an important first step. One day, Ayanso would like to see a dedicated physical space for the centre — a visible stake in the ground that will maintain Goodman’s status among the elite in the world of big data.

For now, Ayanso and the CBA are staying ahead of the curve by showcasing the interdisciplinary research that’s happening here. Ayanso is also trumpeting the education opportunities and industry partnerships that give students real-world experience and connections to future employers.

Companies and organizations are coming to the CBA in search of ironclad evidence, generated by students, faculty or both, to make business decisions.

Industry partners include Environics, IBM and analytics software developer SAS. Locally, the CBA is working with rel8ed.to, a Niagarabased data analytics company founded by Bob Lytle, former CIO of Canada's TransUnion Credit Bureau, and helped along by Goodman MBA graduates Ren Li and Pari Borah. Together, they’re researching how artificial intelligence can be used more effectively to target advertising to potential customers. They’re building and testing an automated system, initiated

Left: Anteneh Ayanso founding Director of Goodman’s Centre for Business Analytics Right: Students, researchers and businesses network at the Centre for Business Analytics' grand opening in March 2017.

by Borah and Brock Social Sciences student Valérie Plante-Brisebois, that scans social media postings for keywords identifying users’ interests.

Meanwhile, grants from the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), along with $50,000 and in-kind support from rel8ed. to will allow the company and the CBA to advance the concept.

The company also hires Goodman co-op students, and its founders give guest lectures and host workshops at the CBA. Rel8ed.to supports Brock’s Datathon, a student-led interdisciplinary educational conference about the importance of big data, too.

The CBA’s impact has also been felt by The Cooperators General Insurance Company, which approached the centre about a solution to better respond to online requests for car insurance quotes.

Both graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in business analytics courses tackled how to convert those quote requests into policy sales using privacyprotected data, and exploratory and predictive modelling techniques.

One student, Nate Rankin, recently completed an internship with the insurance giant based on his project performance. The quotes-to-policies project

was also supported by Paul Forsina, a Goodman MBA business analytics graduate, who was named co-op student of the year in 2016 and hired by The Cooperators as a business intelligence analyst.

“If it wasn’t for the centre, we wouldn’t have just cause to bring (these companies) on board,” Ayanso said. “It’s entirely dependent on the talent here.”

Ayanso has been busy securing more opportunities for students to work with local businesses, organizations and municipalities in the classroom and on co-op placements.

Graduates of the business analytics specialization MBA have been hired by universities, large banks, telecommunications companies, municipalities, and in corporations overseas. These aren’t entry level positions, either, Ayanso noted.

“It is interesting to see at such an early stage of their careers that they’re working in a data analysis and business analysis role. Usually they start in clerical positions,” he said. “It’s a fast-moving field and a fascinating field. You can’t sleep on this trend because companies are shifting now. If you don’t integrate data analytics, you lose. Everyone is interested in learning data analytics.”.

“

As opposed to relying on people and feelings to make decisions, we rely on facts...

”

– Anteneh Ayanso

Winter 2019

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INNOVATIVE COURSE DESIGN RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL ACCOLADES

By Kaitlyn Little

A

Goodman professor’s innovative approach to experiential learning in his classroom has earned him top honours from a leading North American marketing association.

Kai-Yu Wang, Chair of Goodman’s Marketing, International Business and Strategy department, recently received the AxcessCapon Teaching Innovation Award at the Marketing Management Association’s Fall Educators’ Conference.

Each year, the association takes submissions from across North America on innovative approaches to teaching and chooses the top three proposals to present at their fall conference for a chance to win the $1,000 prize.

In the award’s eight-year history, this marked the first time a Canadian instructor has received the honour.

For Goodman Dean Andrew Gaudes, the award reflects the dedication that Wang puts into his work.

“Kai-Yu has been an excellent representative of the Goodman School of Business, elevating our profile in research and now teaching,” said Gaudes. “He’s a shining example of a well-rounded Chair and faculty member, contributing highly in teaching, research and service.”

Wang’s presentation at the conference shared how he designed his Internet and social media marketing course to get students hands-on experience in the

Kai-Yu Wang talks with students in his Internet and social media marketing course.

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constantly changing field by partnering them up with community organizations.

“For the past seven years I’ve used service-learning projects in all of my courses,” Wang said. “I want students to know that the knowledge, concepts and theory they learn can be applied to the business world and marketing activities.”

Previously, students in this course would propose a plan for a community partner that would enhance their website design, search engine marketing, search engine optimization or social media marketing. What Wang found was that just coming up with a plan wasn’t very practical.

So, for the Winter 2018 section of the course he applied for one of Brock’s teaching and learning innovation grants from the Centre for Pedological Innovation. Wang used the money he received to give students $300 per group to implement their plan and achieve real results for their community partner.

Fifth-year BBA student Ali Anees has participated in a number of service-learning projects during his time at Goodman, but the fact that this course used real money raised the stakes and impact of the hands-on learning for him and his classmates.

“This course held us responsible,” Anees said. “The ultimate responsibility was that the money had to be used in an ethical way when you allocated your budget

and resources. You had to be answerable to the client and all of the allocations needed to be justified.”

When designing the course, Wang had three goals: to bring students experiential education, to increase Brock’s community involvement and to make sure that community partners received practical benefits out of the project.

Now that the grant has ended, community partners are required to contribute a minimum of $100 towards the campaign and local organizations are scrambling to get involved. For the Fall 2018 course there were 38 applications for the 12 partner spots available.

In his conference presentation, Wang gave the attendees and judges a six step guide on how to implement his course design. Although the resource was specific to search engine marketing, it can easily be adapted for other marketing courses.

For instructors thinking about adding new experiential components into their course design, Wang says they should be willing to take some risks and have flexibility in their approach.

While the award may have recognized the course design, Anees said what really made the class stand out to him was the man teaching it.

“He’s an amazing professor. He takes the interest of students into his own hands and is very generous with his time.”

Sept. 21, 2019

Stay connected

brocku.ca/goodman Winter 2019

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THE LAST WORD

“The dual degree program has been wonderful for me since I’ve arrived at Dublin City University (DCU).

I got a co-op placement working for Allianz as a Data Analyst (in my aspiring field) and worked for a total of ten months. I learned a variety of technical skills and have been encouraged to complete another co-op with Allianz SE in Germany. The city is booming economically, and life is vibrant throughout the town. I myself had six booked interviews with companies such as Oracle, EY, Deloitte and Allianz."

- Eoghan O’Connell, Fourth-year BBA Co-op International Dual Degree student

Brock University Niagara Region 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way St. Catharines, ON 3A1 24 L2S GOODMAN: THE MAGAZINE

brocku.ca/goodman