Exchange June 2005 01-10 2.5 MB

JUNE 2005 – $4.95
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MAGAZINE FOR BUSINESS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
2005 ADVERTISING AWARDS WINNERS
FEATURE INTERVIEW WITH LARRY SMITH:
TUNING OUT, TURNING OFF, DROPPING OUT
PLUS: • Going on Offense • Was it Worth it? • Charity for Charities
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Exchange
Volume 22, Number 6
JUNE 2005
Need to take control?
SERVING BUSINESS IN WATERLOO REGION AND GUELPH
P.O. Box 41030, Waterloo ON N2K 3K0 • Tel: (519) 886-2831 • Fax: (519) 886-6409
email: [email protected]
CONTENTS
D E PA RT M E N T S
7 PUBLISHER’S NOTE
8 BUSINESS MONITOR
Motorola radios
give you the power to
control any situation...
including your budget.
XQuarterly ; Tourism
Bankruptcy; Kitchener’s New
Voice; Harper at RDM
25 WATERCOOLER
F E AT U R E S
17 iCON ADVERTISING
AWARD WINNERS
C to C Productions,
MarketForce Tie for Top
iCON Honours
Plus Best New Artist and
2005 iCON Award Winners
On the cover: Some of the 2005 iCON
Advertising Awards winners.
11 TUNING OUT, TURNING OFF,
DROPPING OUT
BY JON ROHR
Radical solutions, diminishing effectiveness and
refusal to invest in the future – a “tell it like it is”
interview with edge
2-way radios give you unlimited
talk time. So whether the
radios are used just in
emergency situations, or
used to get your business
operating at its peak,
MRC Wireless Systems is
here to supply your every
communication need.
Exchange
Larry Smith
30 MAKING
Publisher/Editor: Jon Rohr
A
DIFFERENCE
BY PAUL KNOWLES
“A Charity for Charities”
The Kitchener and Waterloo Community
Foundation is ready with a cheque and
a helping hand
COLUMNS
23 GUEST COLUMN
BY ALLAN FOERSTER
Was It Worth It?
24 GOOD GOVERNANCE
BY JOHN T. DINNER
Going on Offense
Associate Editor: Paul Knowles
Feature Writers: Paul Knowles, Jon Rohr
Advertising Sales: Brian Lyon
TMR (519) 886-1946
Creative Director: Diane Johnson
Photography: Jon R. Group Ltd.
20 Alpine Court
Kitchener, ON N2E 2M7
Tel. (519) 749-1763
Circulation/Office Administration: Leanne Rohr
www.mrcwireless.com
Art Direction: Laurie Martin
EXCHANGE magazine is a regional business publication published by Exchange Business Communication Inc. President,
Jon Rohr. Eight issues per year are distributed to each company
in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, and Fergus as
determined by Canada Post Business Postal Walks.
Subscriptions are available for $29.90. Send cheque or money
order to Exchange, P.O. Box 41030, Waterloo, ON N2K 3K0.
Attn: Circulation Department. Back issues are available for $8
per copy. Phone: (519) 886-9953. Fax: (519) 886-6409. ISSN
0824-457X Copyright, 2005. No part of this magazine may be
reproduced without written permission from the publisher.
"Motorola and the Stylized M logo are registered in
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.† All other
product or service names are the property of their
respective owners."†
JUNE 2005
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Because everyday should be Father’s Day.
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available. Taxes, licence, PPSA or RPMRR registration and insurance are extra. MSRP for the 2005 G35 Coupe (G2TG75 AA00) is $46,100. Freight and PDE, taxes, licence and
insurance are extra. Dealerships are free to set individual prices. See your Infiniti Dealership for more information. † Available in certain option packages. See your Infiniti
Dealership for details. G35 Coupe shown with optional Performance Package.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Let’s Be Clear
Healthy business should fund a healthy society
BY JON ROHR
S
ay what you mean, mean what you say. Actions speak
volumes.
Prosperity is an overused word, but that shouldn’t
demean its significance. I don’t believe I’m speaking only for
myself when I say “We want a prosperous community, one
that is successful, flourishing and promising.” A steady push
to prosperity also provides a cornucopia of humanitarian benefits, benefits I believe most people have come to take for
granted.
Humanitarian benefits can be as simple as improving a frequently traveled
path by building a highway. Or as complicated as creating a vaccine that wipes
out a damaging virus reeking havoc on
large groups of people, such as Polio. By
pursuing prosperity we create a society
with opportunity – individually, spiritually,
socially, intellectually, and culturally. We
build a healthy community.
Prosperity has a price – you have to work for it. And to the
benefit of society and every member of its population – businesses do. Focused on wealth creation, business is the only
group contributing the means to run the machine.
Those who think businesses is bad need to be reminded
that without healthy businesses returning healthy profits,
there won’t be healthy tax revenues for governments to redistribute and thus fund society’s programs, including muchneeded services.
What many governments and socially minded individuals
fail to recognize is that business is changing. It’s gone global,
and it’s not going back. So business has to work twice as
hard, in the short term, for less.
During this time of non-campaigning, politicians need to
be reminded that businesses – big businesses, medium-sized
businesses, and small businesses – and their many employees are the wealth generators that elected representatives, in
fact, represent.
The last federal election failed to address the challenges
facing business. The fact remains that more businesses everywhere are competing with other businesses in countries our
parents used to call “the Third World”. Times have changed;
for most employers it’s challenging – and for most it offers
new opportunity along with significant challenges.
Thankfully, businesses operating in Waterloo Region and
Wellington County are in one of the most prosperous and
industrious areas of North America, and we’re working hard
to keep it that way. Studies have shown
that we provide close to a billion dollars of
JON ROHR IS
revenue for the rest of Canada, something
PUBLISHER OF
we can be proud of. This also gives us a
EXCHANGE MAGAZINE
voice to demand that it is spent wisely.
FOR BUSINESS
Regardless of their party affiliation,
e-mail: jrohr@
exchangemagazine.com
politicians everywhere must first recognize the value that business provides
communities. They must acknowledge
that businesses enable society to offer
humanitarian programs and must
encourage a climate to allow business to continue to strive
for prosperity. As employers and employees working towards
prosperity, and members of a healthy society, we all share but
one objective – to keep the machines running.
When I look at the the likely situation – where our hardearned tax dollars may have been working against society’s
interest, and were used only for
the interest of a certain group –
my mind boggles. But I recover
sufficiently to realize how loudly this speaks to the need for
political retooling.
JUNE 2005
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BUSINESS MONITOR
SOTO Gone:
Tourism Organization Declares Bankruptcy
THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO TOURISM ORGANIZATION
is bankrupt. The organization, which stated that it
represented about 500 tourism partners from
Niagara to Windsor to Tobermory, declared bankruptcy effective April 22, 2005.
But the bad news may not end there. SOTO Chair
Bob Usher, who is CEO of the Covent Garden Market
Group in London, Ontario, told Exchange that the demise of SOTO may be the first of half
a dozen such failures among similar tourism marketing organizations in Ontario over the
next three to six months.
A statement to SOTO members, from Usher and Peter McFadden, President and CEO
of SOTO, said in part: “After struggling for the past few years and working through the ReVisioning process during the last 10 months it became evident that SOTO could not develop a sustainable business plan that would provide appropriate value to its members and
partners. The process was frustrated by SOTO’s inability to form a meaningful partnership
with the Ministry of Tourism and Recreation and the Ontario Tourism Marketing
Partnership. ... As a result, the Board ... determined that SOTO was insolvent and the
bankruptcy assignment was approved by resolution.”
KPMG Inc. is the trustee in bankruptcy.
Usher told Exchange that the Ontario govnerment put SOTO in an impossible situation.
He said, “If you look at the whole set-up of SOTO,” compared to similar organizations in
other provinces, SOTO should have been receiving annual provincial funding between
“$800,000 and $1 million.”
In fact, he said, no provincial money was forthcoming, despite frequent indications that
this would take place. Usher claims that there were consistent problems related to the
province. In addition to a lack of funding, “SOTO was led to believe... they were going to
play an integral part in the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership,” which he says did not
take place, despite apparent commitments from the province. He claims the commitment
was withdrawn at exactly the same time SOTO officially came into existence.
Usher believes that the bankruptcy will have the most negative impact on small communities. While larger centres will have marketing and funding options, “I think there’s
going to be a tremendous void, especially with small communities,” he says.
The volunteer board Chair says SOTO closed its doors while trying to be fair to all staff,
stakeholders and clients. A staff of ten – now out of work – were paid up to date. Usher says
that “our payables were low ... perhaps $3,000.” The SOTO website now directs enquirers
to a provincial toll-free number.
However, it is understood that some SOTO members have paid for marketing programs
that may not be delivered, or delivered in full.
As noted above, Usher believes several more shoes are going to drop. “We believe
there are other organizations in Ontario ... in the same situation.” He thinks five or six
other bodies may fold in the next three to six months, and he also told Exchange
that he understands the provincial ministry of tourism will suffer a funding cut of
between 5% and 15% in the next year.
According to the SOTO website – which, unlike the organization’s Brantford
offices, is still functioning – the organization came into existence April 1, 2000,
“as the result of a merger of three former tourism organizations: the Southwestern
Ontario Travel Association (SWOTA), the Festival Country Travel Association
(Festival Country) and the Grey-Bruce Tourist Association (GBTA).”
Usher points out that SOTO was governed by an 18-member Board of Directors,
all people from the tourism industry in south-western Ontario. He suggests, therefore, that it is actually the industry that made the decision to fold SOTO, although
when he allocates the blame, he clearly looks east, directly to Queen’s Park.
Dave Glofcheski is Advertising Manager of Visitor Magazine
(www.visitor.on.ca), an independent publication that is a sister product to
Exchange Magazine. Glofcheski says that, upon learning of the demise of SOTO,
Visitor immediately began contacting stakeholders in the tourism industry to
explore solutions to the issues facing former SOTO members, including marketing, promotion and distribution challenges.
- PAUL KNOWLES
www.xquarterly.ca
• The Canadian economy rose by 0.3% in February after increasing 0.2% in
January. Growth came retail and the demand for machinery and equipment.
• Industrial production (factories, mines and utilities) decreased by 0.2% as an
increase in manufacturing output (+0.2) was overshadowed by declines in the
mining, oil and gas extraction sector (-1.3%) and by utilities (-0.8%).
• Construction activity edged down by 0.1% in February. Residential construction declined for a third month in a row (-0.6%).
• Output in the manufacturing sector rose by 0.2% in February, pushed by
durable goods production (+0.6%). Only 9 of 21 major groups, accounting for
38% of manufacturing’s value added, reported gains.
• Demand for heavy-duty trucks fuelled output of motor vehicles (+0.6%).
• In April, manufacturers stating they would increase production over the next
three months stood at 18%, up 5 points from January. Manufacturers planning to decrease production in the second quarter rose 4 points to17%.
• Just over 7 out of 10 innovative biotechnology firms in Canada that attempted
to raise financing capital in 2001 were successful in raising $980 million,
according to new data from the Biotechnology Use and Development Survey.
In 1999, successful firms raised $2.2 billion in capital.
• Prices for manufactured goods at the factory gate rose in March for a fourth
Important message to all
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JUNE 2005
FURTMAIR AUTO SERVICES INC.
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BUSINESS MONITOR
Diverse ... and on the verge of
something big
Harper at RDM
a new publication
highlighting Kitchener’s diverse economic structure and
raising Kitchener’s profile as a community “on the verge of
something big”. The magazine, titled “diverse-city:
Kitchener edition,” is published by Exchange Business
Communications Inc. under an agreement with the City
of Kitchener. Exchange Business Communications is also
publisher of Exchange Magazine for Business.The agreement “is an example of a successful public private partnership (P3) with the city of Kitchener,” says Jon Rohr,
Publisher of Exchange Magazine and diverse-city: Kitchener edition.
“I am very aware of the challenges Kitchener has faced over the last decade,
especially with the downtown and ICI expansion,” says Rohr. “The city of Kitchener is on
the upside of change, and editorial content in diverse-city: Kitchener edition will reflect
that positive shift in momentum that is so crucial to economic success and prosperity. It can
be seen in the urban landscape of the downtown core, in the attitude of city staff concerning the efforts to attract new business, and in the way Kitchener is dealing with challenges.”
Thirty thousand magazines were distributed, in early May, to Kitchener businesses and
selected areas of industrial, commercial and institutional businesses located west of the
GTA, 30 minutes from the city. The targeted audience is business owners looking to grow
their operation through expansion opportunities, and looking for a diverse community in
which to grow. A second issue is scheduled to be published in October, followed by two
more in 2006.The premier issue profiles Kitchener native Liza Fromer, morning anchor of
CityTV’s Breakfast Television. Liza’s great-grandfather, grandfather and father operated
Fromers Bakery on the east side of Kitchener up to 1970.
To find out more about diverse-city: Kitchener edition, go to diverse-city.org.
KITCHENER BUSINESSES HAVE LAUNCHED
consecutive month, but at a slower pace than
February. Raw materials prices were up for a third
month in a row as crude oil registered its largest
increase since December 2002.
• Average weekly earnings of payroll employees
increased by $3.89 in February to $713 (seasonally
adjusted). Industries showing the strongest yearover-year growth rates were: accommodation and
food services (+6.2%), mining, oil and gas (+6.0%)
and retail trade (+3.9%).
• Between 1989 and 2003, services employment grew
faster than goods employment in all but four of 27
urban centres. The share of workers in services
employment rose fastest in Hamilton, Oshawa, St.
Catharines, Niagara and Kitchener.
Economic activity rises
Federal Conservative Leader Stephen
Harper (left) visited RDM Corp in Waterloo in mid-April. He is shown with RDM
President and CEO Douglas Newman
(centre) and Edward Twardus, President
of Energetex of Waterloo.
GDP billions of chained $ (1997)
XQuote
1,070
1,060
“The prime minister has just cut a $4.5
billion deal to buy votes to deal with
allegations of vote-buying. So to deal
with Liberal corruption we get an NDP
budget. The way this Parliament is
supposed to work I guess is that what
the Liberals don't steal, the NDP gets
to spend.“
1,050
All industries
1,040
1,030
1,020
1,010
1,000
– Stephen Harper, Federal Conservative Leader
(Toronto Star, April 28)
2003
2004
2005
SOURCE STATISTICS CANADA
BUSINESS EXCELLENCE
Who Wins Your Nomination?
Waterloo Region Business Achievement Awards
Nominations are being accepted for the 21st
Annual Waterloo Region Business Achievement
Awards where local companies that have
excelled or made outstanding contributions
will receive awards in six categories:
•
•
•
•
•
•
CIBC BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
KPMG EXCELLENCE IN TECHNOLOGY
THE RECORD SMALL BUSINESS
ROYAL BANK RETAILER OF THE YEAR
UNION GAS CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP
GOWLINGS NEW BUSINESS
Don't hesitate to nominate your own company!
All companies must be based within
Waterloo Region.
The Award Ceremony and Dinner will be
held Thursday November 3, 2005 at 7:00 pm
at Bingemans. Tickets are $150 each, with a
group rate (table of eight) of $1150.
The nominations deadline is July 29, 2005.
To nominate a company, to order tickets,
or for more information, contact Junior
Achievement at:
603 Kumpf Drive,
Waterloo, ON, N2V 1K3
P: (519) 576-6610 / F: (519) 576-3210
www.jawaterlooregion.org
JUNE 2005
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The all new 2006 Jetta has arrived.
Crosby Volkswagen
www.crosbyvw.com
1175 Weber Street East, Kitchener (519) 894-9300