The Research Office of the Telfer School of Management is pleased to be hosting the event entitled The Role of University in Entrepreneurship, to be held on November 8th from 5:30 p.m.  to 7:30 p.m. at Telfer School of Management (55 Laurier Avenue East, Ottawa, room 4101).

Each presenter will talk about the role of universities in supporting entrepreneurship and/or entrepreneurs from their personal perspective.  The floor will then be opened to questions for the panel.  Following this, there will be an informal networking period with hors d’oeuvres and beverages.

RSVP: Register to this event

Schedule

5:30 p.m. – Opening remarks by Francois Julien, Dean, Telfer School of Management and Moderator Louis Barriault, Interim Associate Vice-President, Research, University of Ottawa

5:40 p.m. – Introduction – Mark Freel - Vice-Dean (Career Development) and RBC Financial Group Professor in the Commercialization of Innovation

5:50 p.m.  Telfer Perspective

-                 Stephen Daze - Dom Herrick Entrepreneur in Residence, Telfer School of Management

-                 Peter Jaskiewicz - University Research Chair in Enduring Entrepreneurship

6:10 p.m. – Community Partner Perspective

-                 Sue Abu-Hakima - CEO and President of Akima Mobile Corporation

-                 Samantha Fulton - CEO Profunda Analytics

6:30 p.m. – Question period

6:50 p.m. – Closing remarks by Mark Freel

7:00 p.m. – Networking and Refreshments

When: September 29, 2017

Time: 11:00 am — 5:00 pm

Location: Richcraft Hall, Carleton University

Room: 2224, 2228 & Atrium

Intended Audience: Anyone

For more information, please visit the following link.

Big-data analytics investments don’t necessarily mean big impact. Two of our researchers from Telfer are exploring how to get more value from big data.

Telfer Professors Ajax Persaud and Sandra Schillo want to know if small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES) are ready to take advantage of the deluge of data at their disposal, in new research funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Mastery of big-data insights was supposed to enable SMEs to punch above their weight. By acquiring the right deep data and analytical skills, SMEs will be well in their way to making better decisions in the new digital landscape. That at least, was the chant small-business leaders were hearing for years. But with more than half of big data projects failing to achieve their objectives, what are Canadian SMEs to do?

“A lot SMEs are proceeding with caution on big-data analytics (BDA), and you can hardly blame them,” professor Schillo contends. The path to achieving value from BDA initiatives is far from clear. “It’s a big concern right now because Canada needs these organizations to stay current on BDA in order to remain globally competitive.”

Professor Persaud observes that “BDA is fast becoming a major focus for corporate executives with the main concern being how to extract maximum value from big data. It will transform corporate governance and decision-making” The transformation is so rapid that Canada’s Big Data Consortium has predicted a massive shortage of employees with the right mix of big data skills. “In a few short years, the ability to store, capture, process, analyze this information became of strategic importance to firms,” explained Persaud. “Every firm today wonders, how can I use it to my advantage?”

But he adds that BDA is still a gamble for most small businesses, even for companies with an appetite to chase big-data insights and resources to put behind the effort. “Capturing and mining the data does not automatically lead to value or better decisions – the right people with the right skills are needed to generate valuable insights and management needs to act strategically to harness the value of the insights.”

With their research, the Telfer researchers will use quantitative and qualitative methods to gauge the readiness of SMEs to leverage big data. Where most of the research in this area focuses on the technologies of big data, professors Persaud and Schillo are interested in BDA management processes, strategies and resources. Along the way, they’ll also contribute towards the development of frameworks, scales and indicators which, again, would illuminate the managerial aspect of big data. They expect to generate practical insights for Canadian SMEs, the academic management field, and the entrepreneurship public-policy community.

The researchers say that, as with any initiative designed to prepare SMEs to exploit big data for competitive advantage, their study will venture into uncertain terrain. But this much appears certain: given SMEs role in the economy, and considering the promise of big data, now is the time to help them unlock the value of big data. “One side, there’s a lot of euphoria about how SMEs might benefit from BDA, and on the other, there are those who say that only a wait-and-see approach will avoid business losses,” says professor Schillo. “But neither extreme is probably very realistic,” professor Persaud adds. “Our hope with this research is to make it a lot more realistic.”

Lavagnon Ika, Associate Professor and Program Director, MSc in Management at the Telfer School of Management, won the Outstanding Paper in the 2017 Emerald Literati Network Awards of Excellence for his paper “Rethinking Revisited: Insights from an Early Rethinker” published in the International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.

The paper looks at Hirschman’s ideas on contemporary projects to encourage the rethinking of project management theories and practice. Professor Ika analyzes and shares Hirschman’s insights and discusses their theoretical implications on current project management practices.

The Emerald awards were established 24 years ago to celebrate and reward the contributions of authors and editors to scholarly research.

To make the most of this global recognition, Emerald has made the paper freely available to all for 1 year. Access it here.