CMA Management articles from March 2003

CMA Management archives from March 2003

Handle with care. (From the Editor).(Editorial)
March 1, 2003... Canada's health care sector is an interesting dichotomy of burgeoning industry and cash-strapped care. I use health care here in the broadest possible sense to include the biotech/pharmaceutical industry because it demonstrates such an...

Process Visualization. (Processes, People and Products).(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... Change management is never easy, and knowing whether certain changes will have positive or negative repercussions is rarely easy to fathom. Companies often make huge investments in technology and change initiatives without truly understanding...

The Truth About Managing People. (Processes, People and Products). .(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... Managing people is a complex business, but author Stephen P. Robbins feels there are a few simple truths about how to do it. The Truth About Managing People...And Nothing But The Truth draws on more than 25,000 research studies to extract 63...

Selling Online. (Processes, People and Products).(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... Despite all reports to the contrary, e-commerce is still very much alive, and beginning to thrive. In the past, many online retailers failed due to poor planning and unrealistic expectations. But other companies have come along to demonstrate...

Dangerous HR fads. (News and Views).(human resources )
March 1, 2003... It seems an oft-quoted refrain, but it bears repeating--beware fads, especially HR fads. A new study by Deloitte & Touche hammers home the point. As it explains, effective human capital practices can boost a company's market value by up to 43%...

Trendy tablets. (High Tech).(An ultra-portable notebook PC that can be converted into tablet mode and allows the input of data by voice, typing or speech.)
March 1, 2003... The hottest new gadget in the computer market is probably the Tablet PC. They're still in the beta stage of use, but their flexibility is making an impact in test cases. Several notebook computer manufacturers launched their first Tablet PCs...

Disciplined spending a must. (News and Views).(corporate purchasing policy surveyed)
March 1, 2003... Business expenses take a fair chunk out of corporate profits, and it appears Canadian companies aren't managing them well at all. After months of cost cutting and reengineering to protect corporate profits, American Express says that Canadian...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2003... In the February 2003 issue, the article "The cheque is in the e-mail" incorrectly described CertaPay as a company independent of the banks it serves. However, in October 2002 five banks, CIBC, TD Canada Trust, Bank of Nova Scotia, BMO Bank of...

The energized workplace: keepinq your employees' energy in your business. (Human Resources).
March 1, 2003... Money is a form of crystallized energy. Your business profitability depends on how much energy your employees are willing to channel towards it. And oddly, it costs less time and money than you are probably spending now to create a workplace...

Performance keeps the pulse of hospitals ticking: more than ever, health sector managers have to make decisions that directly affect patient care. (Management Trends).
March 1, 2003... In the fall of 2002, Quebec Health and Social Services Minister Francois Legault announced that $1.8 billion had to be injected into the province's health system to keep it afloat and that the budget needed to be increased by 5.2% per year. But...

Business intelligence in action: three examples of how it really works. (Business Strategies).
March 1, 2003... In a previous issue of Management (April 2002), we briefly examined business intelligence (BI) tools and their role in value-added decision making. BI essentially supports a corporation's transition from being data rich and information poor, to...

Benchmarking the hospital logistics process: A potential cure for the ailing health care sector.
March 1, 2003... Health care absorbs such a large proportion of public finances that it's not surprising the health system hasn't escaped cutbacks. For instance, the health sector accounts for about a third of the Quebec government's budget and about 7.5% of...

The biotech boom builders.(profiles of Klaus Kepper, John Howes, Jacques Nadeau and Diane Daniel)
March 1, 2003... CMAs stimulate growth and success in an expanding biotech and pharmaceutical market Growth, expansion, acquisitions, new products: all are part of the growing field of biotechnology. As the science of developing effective solutions to...

Budgeting--an action unnecessary evil: A European idea to drop budgeting altogether is starting to find receptive ears in North America. In this two-part series, we consider what's wrong with the present model and how some are suggesting we fix it.
March 1, 2003... In a very short period, the budget has gone from playing centre stage in most organizations' control systems to being the subject of considerable criticism--to the extent that some people are calling budgeting "broken," "a thing of the past" or...

The REIT revisited: The last 10 years have witnessed a phenomenal growth in income trusts--particularly real estate investment trusts. But how secure an investment is it, and will the party last?(Real Estate Investment Trust)
March 1, 2003... Real estate--it's been the hot market in Canada for the past couple of years. Not surprising, given the bargain mortgage rates, a growing population and property prices that were stagnant for 10 years after collapsing in the early 1990s. ...

Future's so bright: Kara Biddle, CMA, drives change management at Calgary-based Sundog Eyewear. (Profile).
March 1, 2003... To say that Kara Biddle, CMA, has a Type A personality is an understatement--she'll be the first to admit it. When someone once told her that she should calm down, all she could do was stare. "Didn't you see the capital A on my door?" was the...

Conditional critical: critical illness insurance aims to save your pocketbook while health care pros save your life. But is it all they say it is? (Money Management).
March 1, 2003... Dr. Christiaan Barnard became famous when he performed the world's first successful heart transplant in 1967. His brother, Dr. Marius Barnard, assisted in the operation and noticed that, while his brother's work in organ transplantation helped...

Thin is in: after several years in the wilderness, "thin" client computer systems are coming back into vogue for both large and small businesses. (Information Technology).
March 1, 2003... The year of the "thin" client system was supposed to have been back in 1998. At the time, a lot of people were impressed by the concept of server-based applications networked to workstations. There would be no more PCs, no more of the...

Quebec's one-stop financial service: the province heads the pack in making big changes to financial regulation in Canada. (Government Issues).
March 1, 2003... The Agence nationale d'encadrement du secteur financier was recently created by the Quebec government and introduces major changes in how five existing agencies operate, as well as amending some 75 laws. The hope is that these changes will...

Global trade in gray matter: CETAI helps managers and organizations in developing, emerging or transition countries improve their performance. (Global View).(Centre d'etudes en administration internationale)(Ecole des hautes etudes commerciales de Montreal)
March 1, 2003... HEC Montreal's Centre d'etudes en administration internationale (CETAI) was established in 1975 by HEC professors who wanted to create new teaching programs with an international focus, perform original research on international themes and gain...