François Brouard

Canadian Social Enterprises: An Empirical Exploration of Social Transformation, Financial Self-Sufficiency, and Innovation

This article reports on empirical research investigating social transformation, financial self-sufficiency, and innovation in Canadian social enterprises. A set of profiles on 60 randomly selected social enterprises utilizing information from each organizations Web site was developed and analyzed. The profiles show that about one-third of the sample enterprises were deemed high in social transformation, approximately one-half were assessed high in financial self-sufficiency, and fewer that one-fifth were found to be highly innovative. Implications for marketing in social enterprises are drawn.

Complaints are a firm's best friend

The strategic intelligence literature includes many studies on the use of sales forces and exhibitions; however, customer complaints are generally sidestepped in the strategic intelligence context. This article takes a theoretical approach to the interaction between strategic intelligence and complaint management. From our literature review, we draw an exploratory model of the link between the two processes and emphasize the most important complaint handling initiatives for strategic intelligence, both for its gathering and protection aspects. An analytical presentation of the intelligence that can be collected from complaints is proposed. The research should be helpful to managers who want to understand better or design a complaint management system that is ‘strategic intelligence oriented’.

Firm Demographics in Silicon Valley North

The Ottawa-Gatineau Commercialization Task Force (CTF)was created to address issues of firm size among technology firms in SiliconValley North (SVN).To aid the CTF, teams from the business schools atCarleton University and the University of Ottawa collected research (1) toobserve the distribution of firms of various sizes in the region, and (2) tocompare SVN to other comparable technology clusters in the world.Focusingon five technological clusters (telecommunications, photonics,microelectronics, software and life sciences), the researchers utilized datacollected by the Ottawa Center for Research and Innovation (OCRI). The five clusters are described, as are the limitations of the OCRIdata.A history of SVN provides a thorough description of the evolution ofthis Canadian technology cluster, with its success attributed to its researchbase and the presence of a large private sector firm.The prevalence ofthe five technological clusters is also examined.SVNs firms are comparedin terms of size and distribution to high-tech firms in Silicon Valley,California, and Oxfordshire, England. The conclusions of the research were twofold:(1) when compared toSilicon Valley and Oxfordshire, Silicon Valley Northhas proportionatelyfewer small high-tech firms and more medium and large firms, and (2) incomparison to large California firms, Canadian high-tech firms have a tendencyto be small. (AKP)

Attracting Prospective Professional Accountants Before and After the CPA Merger in Canada

As part of the unification of the Canadian accounting profession, a lot of effort has been devoted to organizational structures and systems. In these times of change, recruitment of prospective professional accountants remains an important factor for the Canadian and international development of the profession. In this paper, we explore professional accountants’ recruitment by accounting associations in Ontario before (CA, CGA, CMA) and after (CPA) the merger of the three professional accounting associations. We use a legitimacy framework to make sense of the recruitment website content of each association. We find, in the post-merger period, that the CPA profession adopts a more passive approach to legitimacy management, focusing mainly on exchange aspects of legitimacy, whereas prior to the merger a wider range of legitimacy management strategies were deployed by the predecessor associations. Important implications ensuing from our study are discussed.

Contemporary Aboriginal settlements: understanding mixed-market approaches

Settlements at the Edge examines the evolution, characteristics, functions and shifting economic basis of settlements in sparsely populated areas of developed nations. With a focus on demographic change, the book features theoretical and applied cases which explore the interface between demography, economy, well-being and the environment. This book offers a comprehensive and insightful knowledge base for understanding the role of population in shaping the development and histories of northern sparsely populated areas of developed nations including Alaska (USA), Australia, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Finland and other nations with territories within the Arctic Circle.

The Diversity of 'Diversity' in Canadian Accounting Firm Recruitment Websites

We examine use of the term ‘diversity’ in the recruitment websites of Canada’s eight largest public accounting firms. We find a range of distinct uses of the term. We note differences in the use of ‘diversity’ between Big Four accounting firms and the next four largest firms. The Big Four vary in their approaches to diversity, with Deloitte’s and KPMG’s websites addressing the most dimensions of diversity and the highest number of references to diversity. Diversity in the discourse of diversity arguably stems from variance in the institutional logics held by accounting firms. Our analysis reveals the business case logic and commercial logic are the most prevalent institutional logics in use. Some Big Four firms also adopt an inclusiveness logic.