Rotman Prof Talks Theranos Fraud, and More – Toronto News
People affiliated with Toronto‘s finest business schools have been making the news. Below, we’ve laid out some of this week’s highlights.
How Board Diversity Might Have Prevented the Theranos Fiasco – The Globe & Mail
Andras Tilcsik, Canada Research Chair in strategy, organizations, and society at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management coauthored an opinion piece in The Globe & Mail with Chris Clearfield, Principal at System Logic. The article addressed the fraud charges lodged against Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.
Holmes, who was listed as one of Forbes’ “Youngest Self-Made Billionaires” has been charged with “massive” fraud involving upwards of $700 million USD. Holmes has agreed to cede control of her company, which was boating more innovated methods of blood-testing to potential investors.
Tilcsik and Clearfield argue that Holmes’s mistakes might have been prevented had a systemic problem in businesses been addressed at Theranos: board diversity. All but two Theranos board members were white men over 60. According to the article, “… lab experiments show that while homogeneous groups do less well on complex tasks, they report feeling more confident about their decisions.”
Holmes’ equity stake in Theranos, the notorious blood-testing startup she founded, has been reduced to virtually nothing after being charged with large-scale fraud from the SEC.
Learn more about the importance of board diversity here.
YouTube Star Choreographs a Career Blending Bollywood and Business – The Globe & Mail
Shareen Ladha, graduate of York University’s Schulich School of Business, used her MBA to guide her in an unconventional career goal. She wanted to build success producing and dancing in Bollywood-esq videos on YouTube, achieving massive momentum when she did a Bollywood-style remix of Justin Bieber’s “Sorry.” The video quickly went viral, and now Ladha balances making YouTube videos with her career as a senior strategist with McCann.
“Through my MBA, I decided that this was the thing that made me unique and it was proof I could bring a creative aspect to strategy and consulting,” Ladha said in a recent profile with the Globe & Mail.
“It started getting woven into my daily life and daily conversations I would have with people. All my social media accounts were public, so if they ever looked me up or were friends with me, they’d know about it. There was such a positive response.”
You can read more about the YouTube star here.
Ivey Students Learn the Three Gs of Good Investing – News@Ivey
Multi-billion dollar Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital Management recently let students at the Ivey Business School at Western University Canada in on a simple secret: the three Gs to successful investing are “good business, good management, and good price.”
3G managing partner Pavel Begun spoke with professor George Athanassakos and his value investing class last month, further explaining what each of those three Gs (get it?) meant:
Good Business:
“’We define good business as one that is competitively entrenched, generates high return of invested capital and is in solid financial shape.’” Specifically, 3G looks at businesses that are industry leaders and show industry longevity in order to predict their future value. They also look to businesses that generate with ROEs, or return on equity, of 15 per cent and above. Finally, they look at the debt payback period of business to ensure it is no greater than three to five years, helping to determine their financial shape.”
To read the rest of the advice gifted from Begun, click here.
What Toronto MBA Can You Earn in the Least Amount of Time? – MetroMBA
Several of the most well-regarded business schools in Toronto offer MBA programs that do not take the typical two-years that a traditional full-time degree often requires.
For instance, the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University has an accelerated program that takes just eight months to complete. Alanna Shaffer further explains:
“By exempting students from the required first year MBA courses, students can earn their degree quickly while also cutting their overall tuition expenses in half and accelerating their path to employment. The program is designed for students who have earned their undergraduate business degree in the last ten years, and have at least one year of professional experience. Students may start the program in either September or January.”
Check up on the rest of the fastest MBA programs in Toronto here.
Toronto News: Ivey Students Come to the UN, and More
Let’s visit some of the biggest news coming out of Toronto business schools this week.
François Neville Unpacks Why Some Minority Groups Won’t Seek Business Loans – DeGroote Communications Department
François Neville, Assistant Professor of Strategic Management at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, recently investigated whether certain minority entrepreneurs become discouraged when it comes to entrepreneurial activities such as seeking capital. Neville’s has published a study in the Journal of Management Studies breaks down how years of mistreatment have led to many minority business owners not wanting to begin the process of seeking a loan.
“There is a fairly established body of research offering compelling evidence that minorities are subject to inequality in the workplace and entrepreneurship, despite numerous policy initiatives to curb this,” Neville told the school.
You can read more about Neville and the study here.
Ivey Students Participating in UN Conference – News@Ivey
Two Ivey Business School students were given the special opportunity to take part in a United Nations (UN) conference earlier this month. Emma Hogeterp, HBA/Huron Global Studies ’19; and Sanket Mehta, MBA ’18 , participating in the 2018 Winter Youth Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York City from Feb. 14-16.
“The purpose of the conference is to not only discuss ideas, but also how they can be applicable in your country,” said Mehta. “What works in one country might not work in another because every country has a different set of economic indicators, such as life expectancy, income levels, and population.”
Ivey Business School students Emma Hogeterp and Sanket Mehta / Photo via ivey.uwo.ca
Learn more about the Youth Assembly and the Ivey students attending the summit here.
Student Trading Competition Celebrates its 15th Anniversary at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management – Rotman Media Centre
The Rotman School of Management is hosting the 15th annual Rotman International Trading Competition (RITC) from February 22 to 24 in the Rotman School’s BMO Financial Group Finance Research and Trading Lab. Teams from 52 different universities spanning the globe will participate in various activities including electronic and outcry trading cases, seminars with industry practitioners, and social events with their fellow competitors.
“Given the challenge associated with each competition case, participants build models to apply theory, process information to separate the signal from the noise, quantify uncertainty and manage risks. Teams who combine those skills with good decision making do the best over the weekend.” Prof. Tom McCurdy, the Bonham Chair in Finance and academic director of the lab and the competition, said.
You can read more about RITC here.
The Differences Between a Full-Time MBA in New York City and Toronto – MetroMBA
We stack up the best of the best when it comes to NYC and Toronto MBA programs, and where each city stands out. Not surprisingly, Toronto MBAs are more affordable, and the cost of living in the city is infinitely more reasonable, but NYC programs have more prestige and potential financial reward.
Even for those who do not pay extra for room and board, expenses for U.S. residents studying at many NYC business schools will be higher than their neighbors to the north. According to Numbeo, the cost of living in Toronto is 24 percent less than the cost of living in New York City, and rent is nearly 40 percent less.
However, the value of the individual school tends to favor New York City programs over its Toronto counterparts. NYU Stern is currently the 12th overall on the U.S. News & World Report 2018 ranking, with CBS coming even higher at 9th overall. The ranking comparison remains consistent with The Economist as well, with CBS coming in 9th (again), Stern coming in 14th. The highest ranked Canadian program in The Economist ranking—Ivey Business School—came in 59th.
Check out the rest of our comparison here.
