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Getting the facts on carbon tax for small to medium-sized businesses.
The carbon tax has become an election issue, a matter before the courts and the subject of coast to coast political talk. Each province and federal party are seemingly taking a side and spreading their own messaging on what the carbon tax means for small to medium-sized businesses. Heading into summer and this year's top issue is the carbon tax. Some owners claim that the rebates are not enough to cover the combined shipping, storage, services or other escalating costs. On the other hand, some are stating that's not the case, in fact, the new incentives are helping them increase business and create jobs. Do you know all the facts about the carbon tax? We have an expert that can help answer how much is it, who is paying and how is it impacting your business in Northern Ontario and across the province? John Greenidge, Manager at Freelandt Caldwell Reilly LLP, is an expert in the areas of Indirect Tax, Federal Sales Tax (GST/HST), Provincial Sales Tax (PST/RST), Taxation and Accounting services. To contact John, simply click contact John below to arrange an appointment regarding this topic. Source:
Trump, tariffs and the long game
He said he’d get tough on China and make sure America was getting the better end of any trade deal – and President Trump seems bound and determined, despite the critics and advice from his own cabinet, that massive tariffs and a trade war with China is a good thing for America. Last week Trump more than doubled tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods. China reacted with tariffs on American agricultural and other products. The response, Trump is now looking at approximately $300 billion in import levies on more Chinese goods. As far as trade wars go, this one could be epic in its scale and economic proportions. But who will blink first, who will win and ultimately – who is paying the costs and taking on the burden of all the financial collateral damage at the end of the day? Is this a matter of short-term pain for long-term gain for America’s economy? Or is this political posturing that will at the end of the day hurt the country’s bottom line? There are a lot of questions to be asked and that’s where two of the experts from Cedarville can help. Dr. Glen Deurr's research interests include nationalism and secessionism, comparative politics, and international relations theory. Jeff Haymond, Ph.D. is Dean, School of Business Administration at Cedarville ad is an expert in finance and trade. Glen and are both available to speak to media regarding the current trade war with China – simply click on either expert’s icon to arrange an interview.
Just how big of a deal is AI? At this year’s Directions 2019, IDC Canada experts will be speaking to a variety of topics that are reshaping the digital visions and tactics modern companies are using to compete. Explore how AI encompasses a huge spectrum of technologies for the enterprise and how at the center of it all is data. On May 02, join Warren Shiau, Research Vice-President with IDC Canada as he presents a highly anticipated talk on AI: Process Animation at 11:20 AM. Warren will look at what’s being adopted by Canadian enterprise under the banner of AI; and why AI can generate significant business value even in the absence of large data science teams and enterprise-wide high-quality data. Deep learning may rule the future but “small AI” targeting things like process automation rules the day. Organizations are rethinking digital transformation – join us May 02 to learn more. Location: St. James Cathedral Centre: Snell Hall, 65 Church Street | Toronto Date: May 2, 2019 Time: 8:00 AM - 8:30 AM - Registration & Networking Breakfast | 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM Conference Program Register Today before it's too late! If you're a member of the media and would like to attend this event, please contact Cristina Santander at csantander@idc.com
Transparency from charities about how funds are used builds trust and increases giving
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Charitable and humanitarian organizations are increasingly tapping into a $30 billion crowdfunding market, not only to raise funds but to build donors' trust by being more transparent, according to research from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. Certified charities like the American Red Cross regularly use crowdfunding after hurricanes and wildfires. But other, often local, organizations that are quickly created after emergencies can compensate for their lack of government certification by posting frequent updates about how funds are being used. Authors of the paper are Jorge Mejia, assistant professor of operations and decision technologies; Alfonso Pedraza-Martinez, associate professor of operations and decision technologies and Grainger Faculty Fellow; and Gloria Urrea, a visiting scholar of operations and decision technologies. Mejia, the paper's lead author, noted its timeliness in light of several recent fraud cases involving charitable giving, such as the college admissions scandal and questions about the charitable status of politicians' private foundations and religious organizations. "Our paper tackles some of these challenges head on by providing a way to increase the transparency of these organizations online," he said. The paper's findings also have implications for donors, who need to pay attention to how charities are using donations, as shown through regular operational updates and other communication and certification. "Our results indicate that individuals and humanitarian organizations willing to start crowdfunding campaigns benefit from transparency," the researchers said. "As updates have a positive effect on donations, organizations can increase funding by keeping donors informed on a regular basis about the campaign's progress." The process of receiving approval from the Internal Revenue Service as a certified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization can take months, long after the immediate needs of a disaster have passed. In the meantime, local organizations accept donations to help with recovery efforts immediately using crowdfunding. "Donations increased both when campaigns provided frequent updates about the work of the charity and when campaigns were certified," the Kelley professors said. "Strikingly, we found that the size of the positive effect derived from operational transparency -- from communications work -- is much greater than the size of the effect of conventional transparency, from being a certified tax-exempt charity. "But not all updates are the same. Operational transparency increases the financial benefits of updates," they added. "Campaign organizers should focus their efforts on posting work-related updates to describe how the campaign is achieving its objective." Researchers collected data from a large online platform for charity crowdfunding and analyzed nearly 108,000 emergency campaigns over a seven-year period. Just over half of the campaigns posted at least one campaign update, and just 9 percent of the campaigns were certified. Each work-related word in updates increased donations on average by $65 per month, while being a certified campaign raised funds on average by $22 a month. The research article, "Operational Transparency on Crowdfunding Platforms: Effect on Donations for Emergency Response," appears online in the journal Production and Operations Management.
Is it Time to Rethink Digital Transformation? Join our experts May 02 to Find Out!
Organizations are rethinking digital transformation. After some high-profile failures, innovation being treated as a sideshow, and elusive ROIs, organizations are reshaping their digital visions and their tactics for getting there. With greater clarity about what the future enterprise will look like and what it will take to compete in redefined industries, companies are pivoting away from digital for the sake of innovation to digital for the sake of the business. Join us and catch Dave Pearson, Research Director and Team Lead for IDC Canada's Infrastructure Solutions Research Group presenting: ‘The New Infrastructure Data World ’ at IDC Directions 2019 in Toronto on May 02. Data growth and capacity concerns continue to the be the number one stress on data centers in Canada. At the same time, IT is expected to support Digital Transformation (DX) and new business initiatives at nearline speed. What will your next generation of infrastructure need to look like to support the variety of workloads, applications, and data sources your organization requires, from core to cloud to edge? Find out in Dave's breakout session at IDC Directions in Toronto Location St. James Cathedral Centre: Snell Hall 65 Church Street | Toronto Date May 2, 2019 Time 8:00 AM - 8:30 AM - Registration & Networking Breakfast 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM Conference Program Register Today before it's too late! If you're a member of the media and would like to attend this event, please contact Cristina Santander at csantander@idc.com
Goizueta information systems and operations management professor Benn Konsynski on the 30th birthday of WWW: "... Many of us were on the internet before WWW -- researchers, academic, military, libraries, etc. The operating protocols on top of the basic Internet protocols were useful, but often specialized. The world of commerce and social interchange needed a simple standard to offer creative outlet beyond specific applications and closed systems. "Sir Tim Berners-Lee brought that with common protocols for describing content (HTML), moving/referencing content (HTTP) and browser technologies for viewing and manipulating content. Over the next few years, commerce and social exchange exploded after these protocols took root. By 1995 the internet world opened to business and the general market with expectations and promise."
Turning disability into accessibility
As communities grow and modernize – are we making the proper accommodations for those with disabilities to live a fulfilling, productive, and independent life? It’s a popular topic and one that we are now seeing being advocated more in many areas of everyday life. Accessibility laws and expectations are now ensuring that all aspects of education, business, transit, and health care are made available to everyone. The concept is sound – but how are we as a community developing reasonable accommodations and community resources that allow all people to participate in the community and successfully live their life? Often, it’s not a matter of intentional exclusion, rather the issue simply hasn’t been considered and no plan exists. And there are costs to not having a plan in place. Not addressing these “social determinants of health” (housing, transportation, etc.) affect healthcare outcomes and raise costs of hospitals, social services, and health care. Addressing these issues and improving accessibility may actually increase societal health, decrease long-term societal healthcare costs, and bolster the tax base. But as we move forward there are a lot of questions in the community about how to approach accessibility: What mechanisms are in place to gather input on needs, identify barriers, and consider requests for accommodation? What types of accessibility needs exist of the people who will use different community settings? (Physical, cognitive, sensory, emotional, developmental, etc.)? What types of accessibility barriers exist (architectural, environmental, attitudinal, financial, transportation, etc.)? How much do different accommodations cost? How can community settings partner with people with disabilities and/or health and human service providers? What specific ways can accessibility improve societal health? And that’s where the experts from CARF can help. Christine M. MacDonell is the Managing Director of Medical Rehabilitation and International Aging Services/Medical Rehabilitation at CARF International. She can address the issue of accessibility as it relates to people who have experienced brain injury, stroke, cancer, amputation, and spinal cord injury. Christine is available to speak with media regarding this topic – simply click on her icon to arrange an interview.
Expert: Why do entrepreneurs fail? They choose the wrong idea.
The importance of having a sound business idea for a startup is essential, but identifying the ideas most likely to go from concept to venture is challenging. Statistics show that about 34 percent of startups fail within the first two years and 56% within the first four years. Most failures are due, in part, to the pursuit of ideas that are poorly selected and/or tested. “Inexperienced entrepreneurs have improved odds of succeeding over the long run if their first idea is sound,” says Dan Cohen, director of Wake Forest University’s Center for Entrepreneurship. “A key to that success is to generate 100 ideas and then evaluate and select the best one. That first win builds confidence for the next.” - Dan Cohen Cohen’s new teaching method, IDEATE, has been proven to help develop higher-quality, more innovative ideas. He is available to discuss ways fledgling entrepreneurs can refine their ideas — from product or service development to customer testing to securing investors to marketing and sales. He can also discuss why starting a business is easier today than it has ever been and what characteristics people share who are drawn to opportunities, innovation and entrepreneurship. Dan Cohen and Wake Forest’s Center for Entrepreneurship were prominently featured in the Winston-Salem Journal’s Business & Innovation section Spotting valuable ideas. IDEATE was one of four finalists for the 2018 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Teaching and Pedagogical Innovation Award from the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers — winning recognition from among more than 100 submissions. Most recently, Wake Forest University was a finalist for the Model Emerging Entrepreneurship Program Award at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Conference focused on entrepreneurship education. Broadcast Television and Radio Studio Information Wake Forest operates a fully-equipped, professional television and radio studio to connect experts with global news media. Video interviews can be coordinated through LTN Global Communications’ Smartcloud IP video transport service that provides regular high-quality video transport connections to most major broadcast networks. Audio interviews are coordinated through ipDTL, an IP codec used for remote radio broadcasts as well as voice-overs. ipDTL replaces classic ISDN audio codecs and has backward compatibility. Details available here.
Opioid addiction is gripping America. It’s destroying lives, tearing apart families and devouring resources in policing and healthcare. As medical, mental health and addictions professionals look for solutions, often times accessible and public Opioid Treatment Programs, often known as a Methadone Clinic will open in communities. These clinics bring relief, treatment and support – but they also bring crowds, increased traffic and concern from local residents and the community. These concerns usually find their way to the media, where the attention can quickly turn negative. The solution to avoiding this scrutiny and making sure residents, business owners and community leaders are fully informed about the process, operation and security measures at these clinics are key to their success and integration. Questions such as: How was the site selected? How do you plan to control traffic flow and overcrowding? How will you manage parking and wait times? What are your measures to prevent diversion? Who can I speak to if I have questions or concerns about operations? CARF can speak to best practices, expectations, and requirements for when an opioid treatment program opens. Debbi Witham, Managing Director of Public Policy and is an expert in opioid treatment programs. Debbi is available to speak with media regarding this issue – simply click on her icon to arrange an interview.
Another shutdown? Let our experts explain if there's a reason to worry about the economy
It lasted longer than a month, and for now we’re on a three-week reprieve – but the federal government shutdown that saw Democrats and Republican dueling at a safe 20 paces while 800,000 federal employees were watching unpaid from the sidelines is over. But from the financial side, the big picture for America was hardly touched. Will that still be true this time around? But with the shutdown over and employees back to work, for three weeks while politicians negotiate a final deal – there are still a lot of questions outstanding? What industries are most vulnerable to another government stoppage? Is there anything that can be done politically to stop federal government employees from being used as pawns in future negotiations? Despite the economy carrying on – are investors dissuaded by these shutdowns? David M. Primo is the Ani and Mark Gabrellian Professor and an associate professor of political science and business administration at the University of Rochester. He is the author of three books and is a go-to for media in New York and nationally for his expertise on topics like this. David is available to speak with media regarding the economic effects of the shutdown – simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.
