September 2007

Venture100: The Rankings

Building on past momentum, the Alberta Economy marked new milestones in 2006. And so did the Venture 100 >

Beating the Rush to the Exits

Expecting to cash out one day and retire in style? Make sure you’re not selling when everyone else is >

Chemical Reaction

How can Alberta maintain a viable petrochemical industry in a time of declining natural gas production? The government’s made a good first step >

Groundswell

While farmers still struggle to make ends meet, the price of the land under their feet is suddenly soaring – a sign, some say, of a new era for agriculture. Or maybe just a bubble >

Hunting Brian Hunter

A year ago Calgary energy trader Brian Hunter lost $6.6 billion US for an American hedge fund, rocking the investment world. Now he's back with his own fund, but his detractors are out for blood >

It's Sales, Not Stalking

In this, first episode of our new serial column, our hero saves the day for a could-be client >

Keep These Under Your Hat

Easterners could make fun of Alberta's daffy ideas and biases too, if word got out >

Sowing the Seeds

Tom and Emmy Droog: Founders/Owners, Spitz International  >

Great Spaces: Temple of Food

Calgary's Taj Mahal restaurant >

The Off-Season's Upside

If the summer is the right time to sell, the fall is the right time to buy >

The Right Moves

Former real estate tycoon Harold Milavsky on what it's like to be a banker in one of the world’s biggest Monopoly games >

The Western Tiger's Roar

Building on past momentum, the Alberta economy marked new milestones in 2006, and so did the Venture 100 >

Venture100: The 2007 Rankings

Our annual list of the 100 largest companies headquartered in Alberta >

Flashback: Top 10 from 10 Years Ago

A historical look at the 10 biggest players of 1997 >

Got Game

OUt of competitiveness or raw necessity, many pro athletes end up in business after they retire. but they soon learn it runs by a different playbook >

The Fabulous Life of Alberta's Newly Minted

Look Around. See the signs. Alberta ain’t what it used to be. Tower cranes are now a fixture on the urban landscape, transforming once staid skylines into iconic imagery >

Titanic Ambition

How two Calgarians plan to build something Canada has never seen before: a for-profit, 8,000-seat concert hall >

Why Women Walk

Does it feel like you just can’t keep women with families on staff? Here’s why >

Vintages of the Plains

In a land of beer and rye whisky, a nascent fruit wine sector struggles for recognition >

Albertastan

Opium poppies could become southern Alberta’s next – legal – cash crop >

Freedom Delayed

Most Alberta barley growers were ready to celebrate when the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly was to be lifted August 1. But an eleventh-hour court decision put the party on ice >

Breaking Ranks

12 companies that made moves – up, down and sideways – on this year’s Venture 100 and Next 100 lists >

Stand by Your Brand

Alberta’s largest companies put as much sweat and equity into branding as they do offering quality goods and services. Those who kick butt at brand management understand that a brand can hold as much value as a tangible asset >

Intelligent Design

Smart Technologies is starting to look like the breakout company that Alberta’s high-tech sector so desperately needs >

Second Wind

Using the latest ideas in lean manufacturing, this 93-year-old company has suddenly quintupled sales over the last five years >

Requiem for a Branch Plant

It may not rank alongside a first edition of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz or a rare sketch by A. Y. Jackson but Shell Canada’s annual report for 2006 may eventually take its place in the archives of rare Canadiana >

Meet the New Boss

It’s been a year of regime change at some Venture 100 stalwarts. Here’s what to expect from the new guy at the top >

September 2007