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Montreal retailer Frank and Oak files for creditor protection for second time

admin — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 17:25:58 +0000

In January 2025, the Montreal-based retailer Frank and Oak filed for creditor protection for the second time in recent years. A company statement said it was to protect employees, assets and operations from creditor claims while exploring options to restructure. “The brand is not standing out in an environment where other brands have done well,” said Bensadoun School of Retail Management Executive Director Charles de Brabant in an interview with the Montreal Gazette.

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

admin — 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.

McCall MacBain Scholar Brandon Greenall shares his MBA journey

admin — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 18:04:52 +0000

Brandon Greenall’s journey from Hazelton and Prince George, B.C., to the halls of ��˴�Ƭ University’s Desautels Faculty of Management exemplifies ambition and transformation. The 2024 McCall MacBain Scholar has leveraged his background in finance, marketing, and project management to embrace the international perspectives offered by ��˴�Ƭ Desautels' MBA program.

International diversification helps hedge against Trump tariff risk

admin — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 19:42:59 +0000

US tariffs are a concern for all Canadians—and companies on both sides of the border stand to lose out. But investors shouldn’t necessarily head for the exits, according to Benjamin Croitoru, an associate professor of finance at ��˴�Ƭ Desautels. “Emotion is a bad financial advisor,” Croitoru told Radio-Canada. “It’s a time of great uncertainty, but also a good time to think about how internationally diversified your portfolio is. You don’t want to have all your eggs in one basket.”

Corporate casual dining chains struggle to attract customers who prize authenticity

admin — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 17:45:55 +0000

Casual dining chains such as Applebee’s and TGI Friday’s were once ubiquitous in the United States. However, the middle-class restaurant is fading fast. TGI Friday’s has filed for bankruptcy, while Applebee’s has shuttered dozens of locations. Rising costs have contributed to the struggles of these chains, but their generic branding fails to resonate in an era where authenticity matters. Millennials, in particular, demand authenticity, according to Associate Professor Daphne Demetry. “I can’t think of anything more inauthentic than TGI Fridays,” Demetry says.

Spring Finance Workshop 2025

admin — Mon, 12 May 2025 16:30:37 +0000

The fourth edition of the Spring Finance Workshop took place from April 27 to 29, 2025, bringing together top scholars in the field of finance to explore emerging themes across banking, investor expectations, climate finance, asset pricing, and corporate decision-making. Co-organized by Professors Laurent Barras (University of Luxembourg), Mark Podolskij (University of Luxembourg), and Patrick Augustin (��˴�Ƭ University), the workshop continues to grow as a vibrant forum for academic exchange and collaboration.

Infrastructure banks can help get large infrastructure projects off the ground

admin — Wed, 28 May 2025 19:31:22 +0000

In Canada, investment in infrastructure has lagged, but infrastructure banks are one way to provide financing for large-scale infrastructure projects that could take decades to pay off. “Canada needs new infrastructure – housing, energy, ports – it’s all critical to our future,” says Prof. Sebastien Betermier. “But there’s a catch-22: developers can’t move forward without financing, and investors are wary of early-stage risk.

Intermingling of business and corporate affairs makes governing country as “CEO” impossible

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 18:06:07 +0000

After the federal government’s speech from the throne in May 2025, Bloc Québecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet accused Prime Minister Mark Carney of seeking to centralize power and act as Canada’s CEO. But running a country like a CEO may not be possible. After all, a country is simply not the same as a company.

��˴�Ƭ Desautels finance students expand horizons with small-cap fund

admin — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 16:50:08 +0000

Thanks to a generous donation from Montreal finance leader J. Sebastian Van Berkom, students in the Honours in Investment Management (HIM) program at ��˴�Ƭ’s Desautels Faculty of Management will now manage a newly launched small-cap fund through Desautels Capital Management (DCM)—Canada’s first university-owned registered investment firm.

Nine directors at large Canadian pension funds also hold fossil fuel positions

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 18:28:10 +0000

Nine of the directors who oversee Canada’s largest pension funds also hold positions at fossil fuel companies, according to a report by Pensions and Investments.

President Trump’s trade antics could be a prelude to 2026 USMCA renegotiation

admin — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 20:16:22 +0000

It is not yet clear whether US President Donald Trump will follow through on his threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all goods imported from Canada—or even what the motivation for that threat really is. Inconsistent messaging could be a deliberate tactic by the US president, Vivek Astvansh told canadianfamilyoffices.com. “We should care less about the reasons Trump is threatening tariffs, because they keep shifting,” says the Associate Professor of Quantitative Marketing and Analytics at ��˴�Ƭ Desautels.

How one MBA student finds time for healthy living

admin — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 19:54:58 +0000

For Liela Touré, an MBA student at ��˴�Ƭ juggling a marketing role at a consultant firm, grocery shopping is more than a necessity—it’s a form of self-care. With long days and limited time to cook, she meal-preps in bulk, freezes balanced meals, and prioritizes high-quality pantry staples. Making intentional choices has helped her stay energized and avoid burnout. She has cut out alcohol for the semester, limits caffeine, and swaps restaurant outings for home-cooked meals.

Employees tend to own workplace successes, but blame external factors for failures

admin — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 18:54:59 +0000

Nearly two-thirds of employees feel they’ve been ‘thrown under the bus’ by their colleagues—but an even higher number say they’ve never engaged in blame-shifting themselves. “The axe forgets, but the tree remembers,” says Jean-Nicolas Reyt, an Associate Professor of Organizational Management at ��˴�Ƭ Desautels. “When we hurt someone, we are quick to forget about it, but when people hurt us, we remember it forever. But there’s more to it than that, Reyt told HR Reporter.

Confused by the pace of economic change? Mathematical models are too

admin — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 15:55:02 +0000

In times of great economic uncertainty, even institutional traders can be at a loss for how to manage a portfolio. At large pension funds, portfolio managers use data-driven models to assess risk and allocate assets. But even the most advanced economic models struggle to make sense of economic scenarios that change rapidly and in unpredictable ways.

��˴�Ƭ to award honorary degree to Don Lewtas for contributions to global finance & student learning

admin — Wed, 07 May 2025 15:37:05 +0000

��˴�Ƭ University will award an honorary degree to Donald William Lewtas (BCom’75), a ��˴�Ƭ alumnus, at the ��˴�Ƭ Desautels Faculty of Management convocation this spring.

Lewtas will receive a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (LL.D.), in recognition of his leadership in global finance and his support for hands-on education at the faculty.