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BottomFeeder December 2002


BottomFeeder
Volume 2, Issue 3
December, 2002

Canadian Shareowners Study
For over 20 years the TSE/TSX has commissioned a study that attempts to track the attitudes and behaviours
of Canadian retail investors. We were able to obtain the most recent one: Canadian Shareowner's Study, July
2002, by Market Probe Canada. It will be catalogued with Canadian Shareowners : Their Profile and Attitudes.
Here are some samples of the types of charts that appear in the new edition: "Favourite Websites for Investment Information;" "Ownership of U.S. Trading Accounts;" "Total Value of Stocks Bought or Sold - Past 12 Months;" "Typical Period for Holding a Stock;" "Shareowners' Sources of Investment Advice" and "Proportion of Total Stocks/Mutual Funds Held Inside RRSP/RRIF".

Canada's Top Research Universities
On November 5, the National Post carried a special supplement prepared by Research Infosource Inc. that had
the title, "Canada's University Innovation Leaders". The first page consisted of a table: "Canada's Top 50
Research Universities, 2002". There were also other tables included and the supplement generated several
articles (including one in the UWO student newspaper) and additional ones in the Canadian press ( e.g.
"Research Ranking has Brass Smiling at U of G"; RMC Ranked Second in Research"; "Research grants top
$100-M mark"; U of M ranks 13th Among Universities"; " Research Income at Canada's Top 50 Universities
Soars to $3.4 Billion. A 22.7% Jump According to Research Infosource Inc"). Since the supplement will probably not be readily available or provided with the filmed or electronic versions of The Post, we have kept a few copies in the office. In addition, keep in mind that the supplement represents an update to a reference work that we have in the Library. We assume a new edition will be ready soon. Canada's Top Research Universities Report, 2001.

EDGAR vs SEDAR Filings
There was a good article in the Globe & Mail that indicated that foreign companies listed on the U.S. exchanges will now have to file electronically on EDGAR (formerly, only paper reports were required). This means that additional information will now be available for Canadian companies since the disclosure rules are tighter in the U.S. For example, "an individual or company must disclose when it acquires 5 per cent or more of a public company's shares. In Canada, the threshold is 10 per cent." The article also indicated that there were 192 interlisted companies on the TSX and that 96 of them were waiting as long as possible before switching to the electronic filing. See: "Firms Slow to Meet U.S. Rules," Karen Howlett, G&M, Nov.4, 2002, p.B1.

Wind Energy Industry
Given the state of Ontario electrical utilities and the growing interest in renewable energy resources we are likely to get more questions relating to 'wind companies'. A very good place to start is at the site of The Canadian Wind Energy Association (canwea.ca). This good link provides other links to companies, associations, universities, publications and government sites. As well, an "Industry Directory" is included and it lists companies in the industry in alphabetical order (we ordered a print copy of an older directory for research purposes). In the 'Canadian Production' section of the site you will find a useful table listing companies and their power output. It was this table that the Globe & Mail used in a recent article: "TransAlta Plans Major Wind Power Investment," by Lily Nguyen, Oct.29, 2002, p. B1. The "About Wind Energy" section is also very helpful and includes information like this: "At the beginning of 2002, Canada had about 205 megawatts of wind generation plant installed (see Production in Canada) producing about 449,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year - enough to supply about 56,000 typical Canadian homes. If this electricity is used to displace coal-generated electricity, it avoids discharging about 449,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually." In another document at the site, you will find that a primary goal of the WEA is "10 X 10" which means that it is the vision to have "10,000 megawatts of wind power capacity by 2010". We also ordered the recent edition of another of their publications:
Canadian Renewable Energy Guide. For this subject, we will have to encourage students to go beyond the
usual business sources. For example, there is an interesting article in Science urging the U.S. to make a large
investment in wind farming to help meet the electricity needs of that country (see Mark Jacobson and Gilbert
Masters, "Exploiting Wind Versus Coal," Aug. 24, 2001, Vol.293, p.1438 - it is available electronically via our
catalogue). There are many more like this scattered across a variety of disciplines.



Canadian Business School Names
Although the names of Canadian business schools are becoming more recognizable, it was felt that it might be
worth offering a brief note here in case someone asks where "Haskayne" is located. . Since information is easily found once one knows which University is attached to the name, only brief remarks will be provided here.

  • "Asper" - The I.H. Asper School of Business is at the University of Manitoba.
    ( http://www.umanitoba.ca/management/asper_school_of_business_navset.htm )
  • "DeGroote" - The Michael G. DeGroote School of Business is at McMaster University in Hamilton,
    Ontario.( http://www.degroote.mcmaster.ca ). The School was named after Mr. DeGroote in 1992.
  • "Haskayne" - The Haskayne School of Business is at the University of Calgary. A picture of Dick & Lois Haskayne - "Who Are Commmitted to Raising the Bar for Business Education in Canada' - is found in the
    Financial Post, May, 30, 2002, p.5 in an advertisement that also provides the following information: "The
    Faculty of Management has been renamed the Haskayne School of Business in honour of Richard (Dick)
    F. Haskayne, OC, FCA, a well-known business and community leader who has served the University of
    Calgary for over twenty years as a dedicated volunteer." ( http://www.haskayne.ucalgary.ca )
  • "Ivey" - The Richard Ivey School of Business is here at the University of Western Ontario.
    ( http://www.ivey.ca )
  • "Molson" - The John Molson School of Business is at Concordia. It was given that name in 2000 when
    the Molson Family Foundation and Molson Inc. donated $10 million for the construction of a new building.
    ( http://johnmolson.concordia.ca )
  • "Odette" - The Edmund and Louis Odette School of Business is at the University of Windsor.
    ( http://www.windsormba.com ). The U. of W. Business School was renamed for the Odettes in 2000.
  • " Rotman" - The Joseph L. Rotman School of Business" is at the University of Toronto. In 1993 the
    Rotmans gave $3 million for the construction of a new building and in 1997 they made an additional gift of $15 million and the school was named in honor of Joseph L. Rotman. He graduated from UWO in 1957.
    ( http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/ )
  • "Schulich" - The Schulich School of Business is at York University. In 1995, Seymour Schulich donated
    $15 million and the school was renamed in his honour. ( http://www.schulich.yorku.ca/ )
  • "Schwartz"- The Gerald Schwartz School of Business and Information Systems. St. Francis Xavier University. (http://www.stfx.ca/academic/business-administration/school/ )
  • "Sobey" - The Sobey Faculty of Commerce is at St. Mary's University in Halifax. The Faculty of Commerce was named after Frank H. Sobey in 1992. ( http://www.stmarys.ca/mba )
  • "Sprott" - The Eric Sprott School of Business is at Carleton University. Mr. Sprott donated $10 million to
    the business school in April 2001.( http://www.business.carleton.ca )
As more schools are named or as we discover new names we will add them. For a related link to U.S. business schools (and more specifically, to the libraries at those schools) see our "Business Library Web Pages."

Biotechnology - London Biotechnology Commercialization Centre
Back in August 2001, we followed the announcements about the development of this Centre and created a brief bibliography relating to Biotechnology and Business. The formal opening of the Centre which is in the UWO
Research Park was covered in this article in the London Free Press: "Warning Issued as Incubator Opens," by
Norman De Bono, Nov. 15, 2002, p.C1. The rather omninous headline refers to the fact that even biotech centers are not immune when it comes to the problems typically related to start-ups. It is noted in the article that one of the local private companies created at the related Robarts Institute - Enhanced Vision - has been bought by G.E. Medical Systems. Also mentioned in the article is the study that has been in high demand and which we have in the library : Beyond Borders: The Global Biotechnology Report, 2002. By chance we have also recently received a related U.S. report on biotechnology centers. See: Signs of Life: The Growth of Biotechnology Centers in the United States. Here is an executive summary of that report: "Biotechnology is at the heart of a fast-growing new sector of the U.S. economy, and as the industry expands, it has become a focal point of many local, regional, and state economic development strategies. This report provides an analysis of biotechnology activity in the 51 largest U.S. metropolitan areas and finds that the industry is heavily concentrated in nine regions. These nine areas excel because they possess two key ingredients necessary for biotech growth: strong research, and the ability to convert that research into commercial activity. By comparing the 51 metro areas on their research and commercialization capacities, this report can help inform regions seeking to capture a share of the nation's biotechnology growth."

International Competitiveness Rankings
On November 13th, there was a report in the Globe that bore the following headline: "Canada Sinks to Eighth
Place in Competitiveness Ranking" (p.B9). Since people are likely to come asking for the full report we thought
it was worth making some comments here about the annual confusion that arises over these rankings. First,
The Global Competitiveness Report 2002-2003, referred to in the article has not yet been published. Information about the latest rankings is available at the World Economic Forum web site and the book will be published soon by Oxford University Press. Secondly, the WEF has been publishing the Global Competitiveness Report for a few years and it used to be called the World Competitiveness Report. Thirdly, there is also another report of international competitive rankings published by IMD and it is called the World Competitiveness Yearbook.(the IMD site is here. ) The competing titles and the title changes do make the situation confusing, but basically it should be noted that we have both reports under all three titles for a number of years. We also have a report which examined the methodology of the report and if we remember correctly, it was a dispute over methodology that led to two separate publications. . See: Oral, Muhittin, On the Methodology of the World Competitiveness Report. In case someone is interested in ordering a print copy, you can tell them that the IMD report costs much more than the WEF one (roughly $600 US vs $50 US) and that considerable information is available at the respective web sites.

Canadian Students Studying in the United States
In the last issue we reported on the increase in numbers of U.S. students attending Canadian Universities
(Vol.2, No.2) Now there is an article that indicates there are "More Canadians Flocking to U.S. Universities:
38% Rise in Past 10 Years". (Heather Sokoloff, National Post, Nov. 19, 2002, p.A8). It is further indicated that
"Canada's university sector is divided over the implications of the exodus of students" and that the main
question is "Are they coming back?" In 2001/2002, 26,514 Canadian students were studying at colleges or
universities south-of-the-border (as opposed to around 5000 U.S. students studying in Canada this year).
Canada ranks 6th behind Taiwan, Japan, Korea, China and India in terms of the number of students being
educated in the States. These data are available in a new report that has just been released by the Institute of
International Education. The report is called Open Doors 2002" and it is available at the very interesting IIE site.

A "New" MacKay Report
There have been several references to a "MacKay Report" that is likely to be confused with the "MacKay report" of a few years back. The new one refers to a very brief report that was just presented to the Finance Minister and it relates to the need for revised securities regulations in Canada. It is likely to result in a new committee report that is scheduled to come out next fall. The author of the brief report that was just submitted is Harold MacKay who was the chair of the Task Force on the Future of the Canadian Financial Services Sector. For discussions about this new report on securities regulation see: "Report Urges Update of Securities Rules," Toronto Star, Nov.19, 2002; "MacKay Report Called 'Catalyst for Reform," Financial Post, Nov. 20, 2002 and "Ottawa Likely to Back Report on Regulation," Financial Post, Nov.19, 2002.

Top 10 Business Publishers
This interesting material comes from the 25 October issue of "Business & Computer Books" that is published by the Bookseller in the U.K. Along with the publisher name, sales and market share are provided (p.8).

  1. 1. Financial Times Prentice Hall (12.3%)
  2. 2. Pitman (9.7%)
  3. 3. McGraw (6.7%)
  4. 4. Kogan Page (6.5%)
  5. 5. Prentice-Hall (5.3%)
  6. 6. Wiley (4.6%)
  7. 7. Dorling Kindersley ((3.5)
  8. 8. Butterworth-Heinemann (3.2%)
  9. 9. Harvard Business (2.7%)
  10. 10. Hodder (2.3%)
Top 10 Business Authors
From the same publication and on the same page one will find the even more interesting list of top business
authors along with the number of titles (also given in the chart are volume and value).
  1. 1. Johnson and Scholes (4)
  2. 2. Wood, Frank (13)
  3. 3. Slack, Nigel et al (1)
  4. 4. Kotler, Philip (2)
  5. 5. Armstrong, Michael (14)
  6. 6. Dyson, J.R. (1)
  7. 7. Jobber, David (2)
  8. 8. Brealey and Myers (4)
  9. 9. Drury, Colin (8)
  10. 10. Saunders, Mark et al (1)
Gerry Johnson and Kevin Scholes write mainly in the area of strategy. Wood, who is deceased, wrote in the
accountancy area. Nigel Slack's books relate to operations. Kotler is well-known in the marketing area.
Armstrong has many books relating to HR. We think it is J.R. Dyson's book on accounting for non-accountants
that is so popular. Jobber writes about sales and marketing. Brealey and Myers are familiar to students of
corporate finance. Drury has produced accounting texts and Saunders is the author of Research Methods for
Business Students. (The source indicates that the data are derived from Neilsen BookScan. There is no
indication of the exact criteria used).

Corporate Knights
This is a new Canadian publication that "focuses on socially aware firms instead of scandal coverage" ("Glossy Offers New Spin on Business Ethics," Andre Mayer, G&M, Oct.16, 2002, B11). The first issue was distributed
free with the G&M, but the distribution was not national and we did not get one. We have asked for a subscription and picked up #2 at a local book store. The magazine is also accessible via the web at:
http://www.corporateknights.ca. The latest issue (#2) has a list of Canadian universities that offer undergraduate
or MBA courses in business ethics. Western is not included, although the Philosophy Department offers a course (Phil.164g) and a Diploma in Ethics. There is a table that will be of interest to anyone who remembers what FIRA was and it appears in an article by Eric Reguly: "The Hollowing Out of Corporate Canada: Is Toronto's Bay Street Corridor in Danger of Looking Like Downtown Buffalo?"

MAJOR TAKEOVERS SINCE 1995 (p.17)
Seagram by Vivendi
Newbridge Networks by Alcatel
Gulf Canada by Conoco
BioChem Pharma by Shire Pharmaceuticals Group
Westcoast Energy by Duke Energy
Anderson Exploration by Devon Energy
Bell Canada (20% stake) by Ameritech
C-MAC Industries by Solectron
Norcen Energy Resources by Union Pacific Resources
Newcourt Credit by CIT Group
MacMillan Bloedel by Weyerhaeuser
Canadian Hunter Exploration by Burlington Resources
Celanese by Hoecht
John Labatt by Interbrew
Trimark Financial by Amvescap
Poco Petroleums by Burlington Resources
Shoppers Drug Mart by Kohlber Kravis Roberts
Laidlaw by Allied Waste
Hemlo Gold Mines by Battle Mountain Gold
Avenor by Bowater
Rio Algom by Billiton
Solect Technology Group by Amdocs
Janna Systems by Siebel Systems
Rogers Cantel Mobile by British Telecom (33% stake)
St.Laurent Paperboard by Smurfit-Stone
These 25 companies are ranked by the value of the takeover. It is also stated in the article that "between 1995
and 2001, American companies took over 3,008 companies in Canada, while Canadian companies bought
697 American companies"(p.17)