Professor Kaouthar Lajili leads a new research cluster focusing on how corporate operational and business risk management disclosures were impacted by the 2007-2008 global financial crisis.

Managers are increasingly called upon to manage risks within and outside their control; they are also expected to monitor their risk exposures in more systematic and rigourous ways. This comes as business transactions and the regulatory and institutional framework for accounting and reporting on risks have become increasingly complex and globalized.

Despite the relevance of risk research in business management, there is currently a lack of understanding and information about comparative risk disclosure behaviour internationally, i.e. between firms in different countries and in particular country settings. This research aims to fill that gap by providing an in-depth analysis of the attributes, determinants and market performance implications of corporate operational and business risk disclosure in Canada, the United States, Germany and China during the financial crisis.

The project receives $20,000 over two years from the Strategic Research Clusters Seed Funding Program at the Telfer School. Dr. Lajili will work with Professors Tiemei (Sarah) Li, Lamia Chourou, Daniel Zéghal and Michael Dobler (Technische Universität Dresden, Germany).

Research by professor Jonathan Patrick of the Telfer School and M.Sc. System Sciences candidate Pedram Noghami will help decision makers determine the necessary capacity in a network of community services, with the goal of ensuring smooth patient flow, with minimal blocking. Conducted in collaboration with the Centre for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long Term Care (CLRI) at Bruyère Continuing Care, the project involves modelling and simulating the flow of patients between acute care hospitals and community services designed to serve the needs of continuing care patients.

A capacity plan is being developed for these community services, including long-term care, supportive housing, rehabilitation services, home services and complex continuing care. The aim is to facilitate patient flow from the acute care setting to community care and to limit excessive wait times for clients accessing these services directly from the community. The research will be supported by a $50,000 funding allocation from Bruyère Research Institute and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care covering 2012-2014.

Jonathan Patrick is an associate professor in healthcare management and a member of the Telfer faculty since 2007. His research applies the methods of operations research to improve the efficiency of health care management.

Professor Dan Lane will lead a team of partners to develop a business plan for an international market in Haiti. The aim is to explore the feasibility of creating a market on an approximately 40-hectare site near the border with the Dominican Republic to be called the “Ganthier International Flea Market.”

The project is significant for its intention to use market forces and community engagement to support development objectives in Haiti to help address the country’s current trade deficit. It is anticipated that the business plan will provide a basis to develop Canadian, Haitian, and international partners for the project.

The project recently received a seed grant from the School of Management Research Fund (SMRF), Knowledge Mobilization stream. This program supports activities aimed at developing collaborative networking with partners (companies, communities’ organizations, government, non‐profit organizations) who will be interested in the research.

Professor Mike Mulvey and M.Sc. Candidate Michael Lever will conduct an ethnographic investigation of Canadians’ cross-border shopping to provide a deeper understanding of the phenomenon to guide government and businesses. Cross-border shopping has been studied extensively in the field of geography, retailing, tourism studies, and in particular, economics: the Canada-U.S. price gap was the subject of a Senate committee report in 2013. But the body of literature falls short of providing a meticulous consumer-centered exploration of the cross-border shopping experience, the researchers write.

Given the research gap, this study has potential to offer valuable insights to government, retailers and trade organizations that require a more nuanced and variegated understanding of cross-border shopping practices. The study, titled “Cross-Border Shopping: Meanings, Rules And Practices: A Comparative Ethnographic Account Of Canadian Shoppers”, is supported by a $10,000 grant from the School of Management Research Fund (SMRF).