�� News - Desautels Faculty of Management

Amazon to close Quebec warehouses, affecting 1,700 jobs

webfull — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 19:07:38 +0000

Amazon Canada is closing all of its Quebec warehouses, affecting nearly 2,000 employees. The company claims the move is to provide long-term savings to customers and is unrelated to recent unionization efforts. However, industry experts, including �� business Professor Vivek Astvansh, suggest the closures are a response to union activities.

Published: 31 January 2025

Union demands for higher wages leading to longer negotiations in collective bargaining

webfull — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 19:06:18 +0000

Collective agreements are taking longer to negotiate. For agreements reached in 2024, negotiations took more than 13 months on average. The year before, negotiations averaged just seven months. “Canada is still dealing with the lingering effects of the pandemic, including a return to normal inflation,” Professor John-Paul Ferguson tells The Globe and Mail. “That has been complicating a lot of negotiations because unions are demanding higher wage increases.”

Published: 31 January 2025

Got(oat) milk? Neighbourhood café can’t give it away for free, but they can be transparent about the costs

webfull — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 19:04:46 +0000

At Café Origine on Sherbrooke Street, oat milk costs extra—and there’s a reason for that. Non-dairy milk substitutes like oat milk cost more than cow’s milk does. Some large chains like Starbucks have stopped charging extra for milk substitutes, but independent cafes can struggle to absorb the costs. “A local café doesn’t have the sales volume,” says Vivek Astvansh, Associate Professor of Quantitative Marketing and Analytics.

Published: 31 January 2025

For international students, advance preparation can smooth move to new country

webfull — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 19:01:02 +0000

Canada has some of the world’s leading business schools and attracts MBA students from around the world. However, moving to a new country is a major change, and Nitin Bishnoi (MBA’25) recommends taking care of as much as you can before you make the move. “There are certain things which students are generally stressed about when they arrive in a new country,” said Bishnoi in an interview with the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Business Schools. “These small things, if we take care of them before arriving, they take a lot of stress away.”

Published: 31 January 2025

Inflationary effects of possible US tariffs are unknown, but could already be affecting consumer behaviour

webfull — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 18:51:05 +0000

With the spectre of tariffs looming over the Canadian economy, should you hurry to buy an appliance before the added costs get built into their prices? There is no clear answer, and it is not yet known how much tariffs could affect prices, but according to Professor Saibal Ray, the way people think about tariffs could be as important as the tariffs themselves. “Rather than buying a microwave today, they push out the purchase or bring it forward,” he tells Global News.

Published: 31 January 2025

Changes in leadership can affect an entire organization

webfull — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 20:10:37 +0000

Changes at the top of an organization can have a ripple effect through its ranks—and Justin Trudeau’s resignation as leader of the Liberal Party is a case in point. An organization’s culture starts at the top, and the personality of its leader influences how decisions are made and how to get ahead, says Associate Professor Jean-Nicolas Reyt in an interview with Canadian HR Reporter.

Published: 29 January 2025

Keeping Christmas lights on to add ambiance can help set a shopping district apart

webfull — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 20:07:13 +0000

Christmas lights that glow softly through long winter nights are part of what makes the holiday season so atmospheric—but they can add to the ambiance any time of year. Some shopping districts are leaving their lights up for exactly that reason.

Published: 29 January 2025

CCM Biosciences identifies novel enzyme activators with applications in longevity space

webfull — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 20:04:49 +0000

Founded by �� Desautels Associate Professor Anisha Ghosh, with over $25 million in funding, CCM Biosciences is developing novel therapeutics in longevity. Recently, the company announced that it has developed an enzyme activator that can restore activity to youthful levels. This breakthrough has the potential to lead to drug development candidates for age-related disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.

Published: 29 January 2025

Alberta-commissioned report on CPP withdrawal used flawed methodologies

webfull — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 20:01:47 +0000

When Alberta commissioned a report on withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan, the resulting document claimed the province was entitled to $334 billion more than half of the plan’s total assets. However, the method used to calculate that share is deeply flawed. If applied to other provinces, the combined total of their share would exceed the plan’s actual assets.

Published: 29 January 2025

Challenges of adapting Canada’s pension model for the UK

webfull — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 20:00:03 +0000

In a Financial Times piece on the UK’s interest in replicating Canada’s pension system, Associate Professor Sebastien Betermier highlights concerns about the growing politicization of Canada’s pension funds. He notes that the success of the Maple 8 model relies on maintaining independence from government interference. Recent political actions such as Alberta’s abrupt overhaul of its pension board raise doubts about whether the model can sustain its advantages.

Published: 29 January 2025

�������� News - Desautels Faculty of Management

Amazon to close Quebec warehouses, affecting 1,700 jobs

Union demands for higher wages leading to longer negotiations in collective bargaining

Got(oat) milk? Neighbourhood café can’t give it away for free, but they can be transparent about the costs

For international students, advance preparation can smooth move to new country

Inflationary effects of possible US tariffs are unknown, but could already be affecting consumer behaviour

Changes in leadership can affect an entire organization

Keeping Christmas lights on to add ambiance can help set a shopping district apart

CCM Biosciences identifies novel enzyme activators with applications in longevity space

Alberta-commissioned report on CPP withdrawal used flawed methodologies

Challenges of adapting Canada’s pension model for the UK

�� News - Desautels Faculty of Management