Fall 2022 - Winter 2023

The informal economy, defined as business activities that occur outside of formal institutional boundaries but within the boundaries of informal institutions, is a massive force in the engine of the world economy, but it remains largely shrouded in secrecy and hidden from sight. The goal of our research program is to unveil entrepreneurial dynamics in the informal economy. In collaboration with a local NGO, we will explore the role of non-market institutions in driving informal economic activity in the townships of Cape Town, South Africa. We have collected a unique set of assessing the state of informal economic activity using a promising “small area census approach,” which collects survey, visual, and spatial data on the entire population of micro-enterprises in a township. We now have data for three waves in Delft South (2011, 2015, 2021). The purpose of this project will be to link these waves of data together and investigate patterns in firm emergence, composition, and strategy. We will focus especially on utilizing the geospatial and photographic data in novel ways. The goal of this project will help enable authentic theory development on entrepreneurial activities in the informal economy and expand understanding of what entrepreneurship is and looks like in practice.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Robert Nason, Strategy & Organization

Fellow(s): Grace Williams (Major in Sustainability, Minor in International Development)

In this exploratory project, we will look to researching, measuring and defining how to develop an Analytics community for Desautels, McGill, Montreal and Canada. This project will have 3 parts: The 1st being a strategic plan in developing an ‘Analytics Community CRM’ for those who want to develop their technical acumen over their careers. The 2nd is to quantify community members progression in their careers, and the 3rd is developing a Life-Long-Learning strategies for learning & growth streams. Students will work on elements of the project that complement their strengths and interest, and should think about this as Phase 1 of a multi-staged project.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Shoeb Hosain, Operations Management

Fellow(s): Amine Kobeissi (Major in Information Systems, Minor in Statistics) and Aoduo Yu (Major in Accounting, Minor in Statistics)

Social enterprises aspire to achieve financial sustainability without compromising their social mission. Despite the growing interest in the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship, many social enterprises struggle to survive in the competitive marketplace and have been exposed to various shocks and disturbances during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fellows will participate in an ongoing field study of social enterprises that have been facing significant financial and other forms of challenges. Through an in-depth study of organizations that have ceased to exist, as well as those that continue to operate and thrive, the project aims to offer insights into building resilient social enterprises.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Anna Kim, Strategy & Organization

Fellow(s): Eva Koall (Managing for Sustainability Major / Strategic Management Minor)

This research project will explore the drivers of consumer decision making in the physical Couche Tard Retail Lab as well as the virtual VR app of the Couche Tard Retail Lab. Different elements of the physical and virtual store (e.g., prices, background videos, products) will be varied and consumer responses will be measured. This project will provide new insight into factors that influence consumers in a retail context.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Ashesh Mukherjee, Marketing; Professor Animesh Animesh, Information Systems

Fellow(s): Yasmin Salehi-Banadaki (Bioresource Engineering)

Parallel with growing stakeholder attention to human capital management (HCM), this research project investigates how companies approach the HCM disclosure. Specifically, it tackles two questions that remain underexplored in finance and management research: 1) what claims do companies make in addressing HCM details? and 2) what factors might account for the presence of such claims? This project benefits from recent amendments issued by the Securities Exchange Commission that include the requirement of the description of a registrant’s human capital resources. The research team will collect and analyze the 10-K and proxy statement filings to address those questions.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Kwangjun An, Strategy & Organization

Fellow(s): ZiRui Zhou ( Major in Accounting) and Atharva Shirsat ( Major in Economics, Minor in Social Entrepreneurship)

Digital technologies have been taking unprecedented salience in our everyday life, but remain nascent in their ability to respond to the particular needs of the most vulnerable people. This project embraces this opportunity through a multi-stakeholder Living Lab that will generate evidence-based, holistic, community-engaged and digital-powered solutions for the vulnerable population in Montreal. Through a process of collaboration, co-creation and real-world experimentation, This Living Lab project will generate digital solutions that bridge the human and digital divide between health professionals, public health services, and community organizations, and that tackle the challenges that our partners face in addressing the evolving health and social needs of our most vulnerable population. This Living Lab project will operate within the broader Smart City-Health City initiative co-led by McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics. The fellows will get a unique chance to work with on-the-ground implementation partners, benefit from close faculty coaching and industry mentorships, and acquire professional skills that will enhance their job readiness. At the same time, the Living Lab as a whole will generate a better understanding of the determinants of Smart and Healthy Cities that can be implemented as successful, scalable and enduring solutions to many current and future challenges faced by growing and increasingly complex urban communities

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Laurette Dubé, Marketing; Dr. Catherine Paquet, Department of Marketing, FSA ULaval; Dr. Raja Sengupta, Bieler School of Environment and Department of Geography

Fellow(s): Molly Borritt (Major International Management, Concentration Business Analytics, Minor Health Geography)

This project involves working with Desautels’ Laidley Center for Business Ethics team on conducting research and implementing various strategic initiatives. Anchored at Desautels, the Centre is envisioned to be McGill University’s central hub for the support of teaching, academic research, and community engagement for ethical behaviour in business. We will gather information about Business Ethics initiatives at other universities. We will also conduct outreach to student groups at Desautels.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Obukhova, Strategy & Organization

Fellow(s): Muskaan Bhaidani (Honors in International Development Studies, Minor in Social Entrepreneurship and in Communication Studies)

This project aims to understand the role of professional networks in the gender wage gap. Using data on personal connections between French top executives for the universe of French firms, the faculty supervisor and the Fellow will seek to understand whether the wages of top executives reflect the number and the value of their personal connections. The project ultimately aims to use female directors' recruitment following the 2011 French gender board quota law as a shock on the network of female executives to identify the effects of personal connections. This work will contribute to an academic paper that wM&A will shed light on the origins of the gender gap among top executives.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Paul Beaumont, Finance

Fellow(s): Maëlle Morin ( Managing for Sustainability) and Xinyue Zhang (Major in Business Analytic, Minor in Mathematics, Concentration in Finance)

Financial analysts’ risk discussion. Conducting literature review on textual risk assessment. Topic analysis for over 500K plus text files. Preliminary data analysis.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Hongping Tan, Accounting

Fellow(s): Benjamin Bolduc (Joint honours in economics and finance with a minor in philosophy), Jingwen He (Finance Major, Math Minor), Sofi Sun (major in finance, concentration in accounting)

This research involves studying how a leading Montreal university hospital is envisioning, designing, and implementing a shared data and analysis platform that will support use-cases from multiple clinical research groups, clinical operations, and quality assurance. Core issues the hospital will have to address and resolve include but are not limited to 1) How will this be funded in the build and run phases; 2) Is the idea of a multi-purpose data platform consistent with Quebec’s regulations on data privacy and security; 3) How do involved professional groups - like clinicians, clinical researchers, pure researchers, research assistants, nurses, administrators, IT professionals, and software vendors – conceive of this type of platform (unprecedented in Canada), and are these conceptions mutually commensurate; and 4) How will the introduction of this new set of technologies meaningfully change implicated organizational work processes? We have access to senior leadership at the hospital, the program manager for this proposed project, and clinical researchers who are exploring the possibilities of this shared asset via pilot programs. Data collection has yet to begin but will be ongoing by Fall 2022.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Samer Faraj, Strategy & Organization

Fellow(s): Lauren Harrison (Major in Bioengineering, Minor in Management)

According to the World Health Organization (2019), those exposed to loud sounds in social settings for a period of 20 years and over are more than three times at risk of hearing loss compared to those unexposed, and 5–10% of listeners are likely to develop hearing loss. Studies have shown that young musicians are particularly at risk. Thanks to a joint partnership between McGill, ETS and UdeM, an inexpensive, personal noise exposure set of tools, targeted at youths, musicians and others without a technical background, is now available, at the Marvin Duchow Library (McGill), to help counter the growing trend of Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL). The Hearing-Care Platform aims at raising awareness of, and promoting, hearing care in youths by applying cutting-edge research on the development of practical and accessible noise exposure self-assessment tools. The platform consists of three components: a listening-level measuring kiosk, a smartphone-based noise measurement app, and a companion web server. Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) is permanent and irreversible, but generally progressive and preventable. By reducing NIHL, the hearing-care platform will have a positive impact on societal cost, especially given the negative effects NIHL has on social withdrawal, mental health and academic performance. Learn more on the Hearing Care Platform.

This project aims at preventing noise induced hearing loss, first into the music community, McGill and finally at large. In order to make this sustainable, the long-term plan needs to be as accessible as possible. This will have to align with values such as equity, diversity and inclusion so the social and health impact is significant.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof Isabelle Cossette, McGill’s Schulich School of Music; Prof. Jérémie Voix, Department of Mechanical Engineering at ÉTS Montreal (École de Technologie Supérieure).

Fellow(s): Fu Xu Han (Major Concentration in Statistics, Minor in Business Analytics) and Crystal Lin (Major in Finance, Concentration in Business Analytics)

The Fellow will provide assistance in helping the Faculty Supervisor write a book for the general public, on how the food giants used AI and technology to modify our food, and the resulting impact on the environment. We will be the first ones to really find patterns across the food industry to see how AI has gotten into the GMO business and the effect of implementing artificial intelligence in the production of our food.

Fellows will need to research (by gathering papers/media articles/ reading books/ government regulations) on how food has been modified across the years through AI. Then they will need to examine potential health/social/economic impacts.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Juan Serpa, Operations Management

Fellow(s): Michelle Kim ( Major in Managing for Sustainability) and Tayte Brown ( Undeclared Major) and Karin Chen (International Management Major, International Development Studies Minor) and Casey Yan Ping Luk (Strategic Management, Managing for Sustainability)

Many factors contribute to consumer food choices, which subsequently have important health, social, economic, and environmental impacts. The overarching goal of this research is to develop a behaviorally informed, adaptive, and automated decision-support system that can be used by consumers to support their decisions made when grocery shopping. Leveraging a large loyalty program dataset from a prominent Quebec grocery retailer, the goal of this specific project is to complete the final stretch of the development of the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) adapted to loyalty program data, as well as begin work to analyze the healthiness of food purchases made by loyalty cardholders using the HEI. Using the finalized clean product dataset, we will then aggregate data on consumer purchases, store information, marketing promotions, and neighborhood demographics to explore past purchasing trends. We will also begin work to train an expert system that leverages the HEI to support future consumer food choices through decision supports like personalized product recommendations (e.g., IF low in plant-based protein THEN suggest canned chickpeas). The algorithms will be prototyped with an MVP for mobile and desktop use, which could be taken-up later by retail partners in our ecosystem.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Yu Ma, Marketing; Prof Laurette Dubé, Marketing

Fellow(s): Zhixuan Ren (Statistics, Business Analytics)

Despite the crucial role they play in waste generation through their consumption and disposal behaviors, consumers have not received much attention in the Circular Economy (CE) literature. This research project addresses this void. The project involves conducting & reporting of literature reviews on sustainable consumption (with focus on consumer post-purchase behavior) to identify the latest research and the gaps in research. In addition, the research will identify effective means of enticing/promoting sustainable consumption (via packaging, labeling, visual perception, message design, emotion, etc.). This work will contribute to an academic paper that will delineate how consumers fit and integrate in the CE (through sustainable consumption behavior), and, more specifically, what more consumers could do to better enact the CE.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Emine Sarigollu, Marketing

Fellow(s): Claudio Cichi (Managing for Sustainability, International Business)

This project involves working with Desautels's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion team on conducting research and implementing various strategic initiatives. Developing a respectful, diverse and inclusive culture is key to ensuring everyone who passes through our doors feels safe, welcome, valued and heard. The overall goals of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at Desautels is to advance EDI and address systemic racism and discrimination faced by students, staff and faculty at Desautels. Learn more information about EDI at Desautels.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Lisa Cohen, Organizational Behavior; Karrie-Noelle Plohman, Associate Director of EDI at Desautels

Fellow(s): Safiia Abdulkadyrova (Major in Pharmacology, Minor in Management) and Izabella Tyc (Major in Finance, Data Analytics Concentration)

This ongoing project requires analyzing hundreds of already conducted interviews with C-Suite, Executives and CEOs to gain insights. Comparing the key insights with already existing literature to further broaden the implications for a written component. In 2021 one of the Fellows co-authored an article with the faculty supervisor in the Harvard Business Review Ascend from her Fellowship work.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Karl Moore, Strategy & Organization

Fellow(s): Gabriele Hartshorne-Mehl ( Major Finance, Minor Political Science) and Bo Wen Chen (Major in Finance, Concentration Data Analytics) and Carl Johan Leander (Major in Finance, Entrepreneurship concentration)

A literature review of empirical and theoretical papers published in English-based journals on the recent developments in the Chinese capital market, including but not limited to:

• Textual analysis of media, corporate filings and analyst reports
• Big data in Chinese capital market
• Corporate disclosure and finance
• Uncertainty/risk and corporate policy
• Financial market regulation and reforms
• Corporate financing and investment
• Institutional investors
• Foreign investment
• Politics and corporate finance
• Social capital
• Corporate social responsibility and finance

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Hongping Tan, Accounting

Fellow(s): Ryan Papp ( Major in Accounting) and Fiona Chang (Major in Finance) and JiPeng Li (Major in Finance)

Digitization of the production, distribution, and consumption of media content has given birth to this new burgeoning industry—creator economy. Anyone with a smartphone and internet connection, or creator, can produce content of any sort, from a twit on Twitter to a newsletter on Substack, and from a ten-second video on TikTok to an hour-long documentary on Youtube. This new generation of media platforms works as middlemen that solve the problem of matching between creators and consumers by providing the “reach” that no individual creator could hope to achieve. Unlike traditional media platform, social media platform enables individuals to distribute their creativity within an environment wherein no single entity wields absolute control. Under this new model, creators can monetize themselves directly from their audience or own partnership with brands instead of receiving advertising revenue dividends from a centralized entity (i.e., broadcaster). This research seeks to provide market design schemes (i.e., revenue model design) to cultivate creativeness in the creator market.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Hyunji So, Information Systems

Fellow(s): Danlin Luo ( Major in Finance, Minor in Computer Science) and Mingshu Liu ( Major in Finance)

Despite the growing popularity of bike-sharing, systems in several major cities such as Seattle's Pronto, and Bixi in Montreal, have run into financial difficulties in the past. On the other hand, the environmental benefits of a bike-sharing program might be less substantial than presumed. For example, the 2014 survey report of the Capital Bike Share Program in Washington D.C. noted that "40% of respondents would have taken a bus or train if Capital Bike Share had not been available for their most recent trip, another 37% would have walked to their destination, and only 12% of respondents would have driven in a car." In this study, we will carry out trip intercept surveys (among bike-share and public transit riders) in the city of Montreal to understand the true underlying travel demand and mode choice preferences. This will allow us to quantify the economic and environmental benefits of the program. We will also aim to develop a partnership with Bixi to mobilize the knowledge gained from the study.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Sanjith Gopalakrishnan, Operations Management

Fellow(s): Rudi Villemaux (Managing for Sustainability and Strategic Management) and Tanguy Montandon (Honours International Development, Minors in Economics and Philosophy)

Young professionals face specific challenges when it comes to negotiating, which means they require adapted solutions. The goal of this project is to create research and teaching materials specifically targeted to Millennials and Gen-Zs. Such materials include research reviews, simulation instructions, and survey results. Fellows will work in collaboration with the faculty supervisor to produce research and teaching materials.

Faculty Supervisor: Professor Jean-Nicolas Reyt, Organizational Behavior

Fellow(s): Hyeonwoo Park ( Major in Finance, Concentration in Strategy) and Andrew Ma (Major Music Education, Minor French Literature, Minor Music Entrepreneurship)

This project focuses on providing engaging interactive illustrations of some of the subtle mechanisms underlying inequality beyond prejudice, bias, and discrimination. Societal inequalities result from a wide variety of mechanisms. Understanding these mechanisms is an important part of identifying effective solutions. Students will work on small and largely independent projects (see, for example Schelling's Model of Segregation) to communicate a single inequality mechanism in an online interactive manner. The mechanisms come from current and past research projects of Prof. Rubineau and others.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Brian Rubineau, Organizational Behavior

Fellow(s): Mariama Ba (Strategic Management and Sustainability, Minor in International Development Studies)

Although general public finds out the occurrence of financial misstatement at the point when the announcement is made by the firm, corporate insiders (i.e. CEOs, CFOs, board of directors, and audit committee members) normally become aware of upcoming mishap way before the official disclosure of the negative event. This study aims to investigate what are the timely approaches taken by executives to prepare for the unfavorable incident which may have huge negative consequences towards the firm and also towards their personal careers. The faculty supervisors and fellow will try to find interesting answers to this question through examining (1) director turnovers, (2) change in general council, (3) legal expertise hiring, (4) window dressing activities (i.e. CSR), (5) compensation package, (6) purchasing D&O insurance, and (7) financial reporting behavior. This work not only contributes to academic literature, but also provides valuable insights to practitioners, investors, and regulators.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Peter Oh, Accounting; Prof Jingjing Zhang, Accounting

Fellow(s): Thomas Wakeham ( Major in Accounting)

The building and construction sectors are responsible for at least 39% of global carbon emissions. The majority of global housing stock that will be inhabited in 2050 already exists (70-90% in Canada) and more than 67% of that building stock was constructed with no energy code in place. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reductions from building energy retrofits are proven to be cost-effective and can be realized more quickly than reductions in other sectors. A harmonized building energy retrofits initiative provides a timely opportunity to simultaneously tackle urgent climate change mitigation, clean and just energy transition, affordable housing, and natural resource and economic imperatives. To do this effectively, substantial investment is necessary but not sufficient. To successfully implement building retrofits at a large scale, structured building energy retrofit platforms, effective business and legislative mechanisms and overall capacity are also needed. These do not currently exist. Finally, we must address inevitable adaptation and resiliency ultimatums in an equitable manner as climate change accelerates, and certain communities are disproportionally affected. The ReCONstruct Research & Development program is a 5-year initiative that will address key conceptual, knowledge, technology gaps to mount a functioning Building Energy Retrofit program and contribute to the development of decarbonization pathways for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sectors. The program aims to invent a model 'turn-key' deep energy retrofit process solution capable of meeting large-scale demand. Through this work, we hope to help meet many ambitious goals, including building more resilient, durable, comfortable, affordable, equitable, healthier living environments and communities, fortifying and extending the capacity of the hydroelectric grid, meeting climate change mitigation targets, developing new 'green' markets, high skilled job creation, and national energy security.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Dror Etzion, Strategy & Organization; Prof. Michael Jemtrud, Associate Professor of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering

Fellow(s): Vishwa Srinivasan (Honours Economics) and Oceanne Guy (Sustainability and Marketing)

The COVID-19 pandemic affected millions of people employed in rural agricultural small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. As they struggle to diversify revenues and confront environmental challenges, they also face reduced incomes and demand instability due to COVID-19. Through the analysis of interviews and archival data, the goal of this project is to understand the strategies for increasing the sustainability of SMEs operating in global value chains affected by the pandemic. This research project will contribute insights on the sustainability strategies of SMEs and how they are changing amidst the current disruptions. The geographical focus will be on SMEs in Africa and Latin America.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Paola Perez-Aleman, Strategy & Organization

Fellow(s): Adam Livshits (Major Economics, Concentration Managing for Sustainability) and Catherine Thomas (Major Sociology, Minors in Social Entrepreneurship and English Literature)

This research project intends to study the business model in the post-consumption apparel industry. The supply chain of the industry starts with the collection of used clothes which are then directed to sorting and grading facilities to determine the residual value of the clothes. Used clothes are then sold in the primary markets or exported to other countries. The goal is to develop a detailed understanding of the industry and devise solutions to maximize collection and extend the life cycle of clothes and hence decreasing the environmental footprint of the apparel industry.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Javad Nasiry, Operations Management

Fellow(s): Maëlle Defer ( Managing for Sustainability Major)

This research is aimed at understanding the challenges and opportunities that sustainability professionals (e.g., Chief Sustainability Officer, Sustainability Managers etc.) encounter in implementing sustainability projects within their company. We are especially interested in examining the following: how do sustainability professionals view their role within their organization, and how do they go about crafting/influencing the sustainability goals of their company?

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Arvind Karunakaran, Strategy & Organization; Prof. Dror Etzion, Strategy & Organization

Fellow(s): Marianna Tokarcik-Bermudez (Honours in Economics and Minor in Managing for Sustainability) and Emma Gurney (Strategic Management for Social Enterprise and Minor in Philosophy)

In media as well as academic discussions, seemingly different outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic in different countries have been routinely and directly attributed to the timing and forcefulness of various countermeasures taken by authorities. However, two socio-political factors that are likely to be of crucial importance in accounting for differences in policy responses and outcomes, have not yet received the attention that they deserve: the political-institutional setting and practices that have enabled or constrained policy choices and the public’s responses to those choices. Press reports have anecdotally suggested that part of the relative success of some countries in coping with the pandemic is due to their population’s greater willingness to comply with health authorities’ directives than in other countries. To date, little systematic evidence has been presented to support this hunch. The aim of this study is to fill gaps in our understanding of potential causal sequences involved in policy choices and initial public reactions to them. We propose to examine policy trajectories and epidemic outcomes in four countries that have pursued markedly different strategies and whose pandemic trajectory and measurable outcomes have varied considerably: Canada, Italy, Sweden, and South Korea.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Anthony C. Masi, Industrial Relations and Organizational Behaviour

Fellow(s): Zhaoyu Tan (Major in Mathematics, Concentration in Finance) and Géry Delepière (Political Science Major and Social Entrepreneurship Minor)

This research project will examine the factors that affect consumer visit and likelihood to purchase in a frictionless retail store. We will employ in-depth interviews, surveys, and secondary data analysis to understand the issues and challenges consumers face to access frictionless retail. We will also conduct experiments and usability studies to assess the impact of various interventions to increase visits and purchase likelihood.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Animesh Animesh, Information Systems

Fellow(s): Hana Jamal (Marketing and Finance, Minor in Economics)

This applied research project aims to document the workplace (CNESST) and social (employment insurance, pensions, etc.) for precarious workers. Our understanding of "precarious workers" includes those in atypical work (ex. temp agencies, on call, low-wage sectors) and those with precarious immigration status. The student will collaborate with researchers at the SHERPA University Institute (sherpa-recherche.org) and community organizations to develop popular education tools for workers and trainings for employers and service providers.

Faculty Supervisor: Prof. Jill Hanley, School of Social Work

Fellow(s): Tom Secheyron (Major in Political Science, Minors in Social Entrepreneurship, International Development Studies)