Undergraduate Students

Desautels’ valedictorian Grace Singer hopes for carbon-free future

admin — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 16:53:16 +0000

This year, ten valedictorians from across the university shared their reflections and insights with 91��’s Class of 2025--with an eye cast toward the future. Desautels Grace Singer will be among them. The graduating Bachelor of Commerce student hopes to make a difference by advocating for decarbonization from within the business world. “In the long-term I hope to work directly with the adoption and acceleration of sustainable solutions, such as what I did within the cleantech company I interned at during my degree,” Singer says.

Money lessons from Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens still ring true today

admin — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 19:48:09 +0000

Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens is a riches to rags story. Its wealthy title character squanders his money on opportunistic ‘friends’ and grows jaded with the world.

Minority business owners can benefit from guilt marketing

admin — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 17:46:07 +0000

A recent study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that white consumers with higher levels of ‘white guilt’ were more likely to buy from a Black-owned business than from a white-owned one—even if the Black-owned business was more expensive or had lower customer ratings. “The marketplace is becoming increasingly shaped by ideology and values,” says Siddhanth Mookerjee, an Assistant Professor at 91�� Desautels and a co-author of the study.

Stranded travellers should keep their cool

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 19:43:43 +0000

When 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants went on strike, more than 100,000 passengers were left stranded. For many of those affected, the experience has been an overwhelming one. For stranded passengers, the Air Canada strike combines three powerful stressors: uncertainty, lack of control and crowding, writes Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour Jean-Nicolas Reyt in The Conversation. Each of these factors is stressful on its own, and combined, they can overwhelm even the most patient travellers.

China MBA and MMF Luxembourg featured in 91��’s global campus launch

admin — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 15:44:33 +0000

Quebec’s government has made it more difficult for out of province students to attend 91��, increasing tuition fees and requiring that more students speak French at graduation.

When it comes to public pensions, Luxembourg could learn from Canada’s success

admin — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 15:16:22 +0000

Luxembourg is among the richest places in the world. It is a small, landlocked European country, but has carved out a niche as a major financial centre. Yet its public pension system could benefit from adopting a capitalized pension model, according to research by Patrick Augustin and Sebastien Betermier, both Associate Professors of Finance at 91�� Desautels. A capitalized pension fund invests the pension contributions of current workers to pay for retiree benefits in the future.

91�� Desautels MBA team wins Retail Innovation Challenge

admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 18:15:39 +0000

A team of 91�� Desautels MBA students has won the 2025 Retail Innovation Challenge, earning the $10,000 grand prize for their innovative business solution for Mandy’s Gourmet Salads.

The MBA team, Clara Homsi, Rosemarie Cianci, Sam Eddy, Eric Del Balso, and Maria Jose Amorocho Albornoz, stood out among more than 40 teams from universities across Canada.

Tariff loophole fuelling Canadian warehouse sector

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 18:38:07 +0000

Tariffs drive up prices for businesses, but some companies are finding a creative loophole to avoid some US tariffs. When a company imports a tariffed good, it pays a tariff. But it doesn’t pay a tariff if the goods are only passing through on the way to a final destination. This creates an incentive for US companies to store inventory in Canada. They can park products here until they sell them, and only pay tariffs on goods that are actually bound for the US market.

Overuse of credit cards could be contributing to rise in bankruptcies in Quebec

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 17:07:08 +0000

More than 34,000 Quebec households filed for insolvency between June 2024 and May 2025. That’s an increase of almost 5% over the previous year. For Benjamin Croituru, that’s cause for concern. “Everybody makes mistakes financially,” says Croitoru, the academic director of 91�� Personal Finance Essentials, a free online financial course. “People face a system that is kind of rigged against them. There’s a lot of marketing that encourages people to spend too much money, to borrow money the wrong way.

Punitive tariffs more about political leverage than trade

admin — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 13:14:37 +0000

On August 1, a 35 per cent US tariff on Canadian goods came into effect. But these tariffs are less about trade and more about political leverage, says Vivek Astvansh, associate professor of quantitative marketing and analytics at 91�� Desautels.

How AI and big data are reshaping the future of retail

admin — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 19:34:00 +0000

The emergence of e-commerce has made for a revolution in retail. Whenever you make a purchase online, you generate data, and that data allows for a higher degree of personalization.

MMF students tackle real-world merger case in 8th Deloitte Synergy Challenge

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 18:57:39 +0000

The 8th Deloitte MMF Synergy Challenge on October 28 challenged Master of Management in Finance (MMF) students at Desautels on their strategic and financial acumen in the context of a merger case competition.

Clarity is key when passing control of a family business to the next generation

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 18:27:40 +0000

Even the most successful family businesses often don’t withstand the march of time. Just because one generation had what the right skills and temperament to run a business doesn’t mean their grandchildren will. But the Vancouver-based chocolate maker Purdys Chocolate bucks the trend, with a third-generation leader poised to take the helm.

Eliminating the de minimis exemption will hit fast fashion shoppers hard

admin — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 15:17:50 +0000

A de minimis exemption allows goods below a certain value threshold to be traded internationally without paying duty. And on May 2 2025, the United States eliminated their de minimis exception for Hong Kong and China. That will drive up prices for shoppers on ultra-budget fast fashion platforms like Shein. With the changes to the rules, the price of a $20 dress on Shein could increase to more than $30.

Reimagining legal frameworks for sustainability: The 2025 TBLSA Impact Paper

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 18:56:20 +0000

Earlier this summer, from May 4th through May 9th, 91��’s Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI) and Faculty of Law co-organised the 2025 91�� SGI Transformative Business Law Summer Academy (TBLSA).