CMA Management articles from February 2003

CMA Management archives from February 2003

Opportunity knocks. (From the Editor).(Editorial)
February 1, 2003... After much debate, Canada's federal government has signed the Kyoto Protocol and begun the process of trying to reach the targets the agreement has set. At the same time, it is trying to placate big business, promising that industry wouldn't be...

Enron: The Rise and Fall. (Media Bites).(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... Although the collapse of Enron has been a central focus for the media throughout the past year, it's hard to know if we got the whole story on this former energy giant. In Enron: The Rise and Fall, investigative journalist Loren Fox attempts to...

Information Technology Project Management. (Media Bites).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... If you want a better understanding of contemporary project management, Kathy Schwalbe's second edition of Information Technology Project Management comes highly recommended. The reviewers at amazon.com rave about this book and it lives up to...

Managing Cultural Diversity. (Media Bites).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Managing cultural differences has only recently been recognized as an important part of doing business in North America and the literature is just catching up. The newest book on the subject is Dr. Lionel Laroche's Managing Cultural Diversity...

Refocused retirement plans. (News and Views).(Managing retirement plan assets)
February 1, 2003... According to a new study by Mercer Investment Consulting, more multinational corporations are taking a global approach to managing retirement plan assets -- a rise from 50% in 2000 to 84% in 2002. The 2002 Financial Management of Multinational...

Charting the outlying regions of the knowledge economy. (News and Views).(economic development in Canada)
February 1, 2003... The Quebec Institut de la recherche scientifique (INRS), in collaboration with the Canadian institute for Research on Regional Development in Moncton, has published conclusions of a major research project on the spatial dynamics of the Canadian...

E-commerce for SMEs. (High Tech).(E-commerce for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... G2-group.net, a business and marketing consulting firm, recently launched www.internetstrategy.ca, a site for small- to medium-sized enterprises in Canada interested in becoming more e-commerce savvy. At the time this article was written, the...

The gift of the gab: becoming a better networker. (Career Intelligence).
February 1, 2003... Networking is a life skill that most people don't do well. A great review of the basics and benefits of networking is detailed in the March 2002 issue of Management magazine ("Networking to advance your career," by Julie Demers). But it's worth...

Playing the advantage: the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may be a big boost to Canada's CMAs. (Management Trends).
February 1, 2003... It is true that one man's garbage can be another man's treasure, but it isn't always obvious, even to the man with the treasure. On July 30, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which everyone agrees is the...

Research your researcher: understand the market research you get by understanding the source of the information -- and make sure you get what you need. (Business Strategies).
February 1, 2003... Companies and organizations in Canada making mission-critical decisions routinely use research to the tune of almost $650 million dollars a year to better understand the marketplace. Manufacturers depend on it for numerous marketing and...

How greenpays: the impact of the environmental movement on economic performance and share price -- a cross-border comparison.
February 1, 2003... The environmental movement has led to new legislation and changes in buyer preferences. Both have triggered costs that profoundly affect the business sector. For example, there are capital costs required for pollution control equipment, ongoing...

Strategic savings on the right track: how Canadian Pacific Railway has saved millions of dollars in the past four years through strategic sourcing.
February 1, 2003... Not many people would point to the purchasing department when deciding how to increase the bottom line -- but the fact is that it can have a tremendous impact. The unfortunate truth is that most senior executives pay scant attention to material...

Rezoning the one-way street: knowledge helps drive down costs by repaving the strategic purchasing process.
February 1, 2003... A favourite ploy of many suppliers is to justify their price hikes by blaming them on increases in input costs. A few good examples include tuckers who seek price increases because of rising fuel costs; pallet suppliers who have to pay more for...

There's more to good governance than more regulation.(Certified Management Accountants of Canada)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Changing the composition of company boards and prescribing new regulations are not enough to restore investor confidence in capital markets. Boards need to understand the strategy of the organizations they direct, the associated risks, and the...

Virtual environments: simulation e-learning improves the retention of soft skills and speeds up training by mimicking real processes and situations.
February 1, 2003... Instructors at the German Army Aviation school in Bueckeberg used to drag CH-53 helicopters out of their hangars just so their students could get hands-on instruction on how to start up and shut down the largest helicopter in the world. ...

Fine-tuned financials: the financial assessment of a company's success now goes beyond the bottom line. That's why revenue presentation is taking on a new significance in financial statements, and there's a lot that management accountants should know.
February 1, 2003... Management accountants play a primary role in financial reporting. This role is evolving rapidly within legal and economic environments where accountants have been criticized for not being able to prevent management from altering financial...

Sweet success: CMA know-how, a lucrative distribution deal and her mother's secret recipe have helped put Sharon Beasley's cookies on the map. (Profile).(certified management accountant launches Mrs. Beasley's Cookies)
February 1, 2003... Nothing beats the taste of fresh homemade cookies, and it's hard to find anything on supermarket shelves that even approximates the experience. Sharon Beasley, CMA, is trying to change that. Beasley is someone who really understands the...

Networked knowledge: now, there are new ways of managing knowledge transfer that even the smallest SME can benefit from. (Knowledge Management).
February 1, 2003... Most large corporations have started to take knowledge management seriously, because to perform in today's competitive environment, the information a company holds can be a goldmine. Although not everyone has mastered it yet, KM is now...

The cheque is in the e-mail: Canadian banks now offer the possibility of e-mail money transfers. (Information Technology).(CertaPay)
February 1, 2003... No cash to pay the babysitter? No problem. A short e-mail and the babysitter has immediate access to what you owe her. This is the new twist on banking that CIBC, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal, TD Canada Trust and Desjardins now (or will soon)...

Cross-border cooperation: Governors and premiers on the eastern seaboard share knowledge and ideas to build an integrated presence. (Government Issues).(New England - Eastern Canada)
February 1, 2003... In the early 1970s, an annual Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers -- 11 governments in all -- was formed for the purpose of discussing cross-border issues of mutual interest and strengthening existing political...

Investing with the world: the World Bank offers many opportunities for Canadian businesses, even for the smallest. (Global View).
February 1, 2003... Winning a contract and co-operating with the World Bank -- or with any other multilateral international development bank -- can be an intimidating experience for managers of smaller businesses. It's natural for them to think that a venture of...