October | 2007 | Canada's top source for Alberta's business news

October 2007

Then Goliath Moved In

You spend years building your business, then a massive, new competitor invades your turf. Here’s how five independent businesses are coping >

Canada is changing fast. Where Toronto and Montreal were once considered the country’s only metropolises, now Vancouver is renowned as a “world-class city,” and Calgary and Edmonton aren’t far behind >

Franchise Players

Buying a franchise will improve your chances of small-business success. But make sure you know what you're buying >

The Smart Tag Revolution

Radio frequency identifiers, or RFIDs, will soon link not just objects, but people too >

Battle of the Digital Directories

Local business directories could be the next old-style business consumed (and empowered) by digital networks. The prize is big and the competition is already fierce >

The Need to Know

No matter what business you’re in, it’s probably changing as a result of knowledge management. A layperson’s primer on the next big thing in ICT >

The Investigators

It takes a special kind of person to be a forensics expert. We talked to four of them – in fields ranging from accounting to medicine – to find out how they get to the bottom of life’s little mysteries >

The Naked Truth

Location may be everything in business, but Pierre Couchard knows sex sells. Under the watchful noses of a parade of mayors and disapproving neighbours, Couchard has operated Chez Pierre, Edmonton’s first strip club, for more than 30 years >

Taming the Inflation Tiger

Bording Ostergaard laughs in the face of adversity. Hah! Well, maybe he doesn’t laugh, but he’s not curled up in the fetal position on the floor of the Edmonton headquarters of Optrics Inc. either >

Flashback: Small Business Then and Now

For 10 years, Alberta Venture has marked Small Business Week in the October issue, with extended coverage of micro-enterprise. An update on a few things we reported all those years ago >

Steady Growth

No. 8 in an eight-part series on economic perspectives by business owners >

Small Time No More

Alberta’s hockey teams return to action this month following a busier than usual off-season, highlighted by reclusive drugstore billionaire Daryl Katz’s attempt to purchase the Edmonton Oilers >

October 2007

No Business Like Show Business

Great Spaces: Calgary and New York may seem worlds apart but the one thing both metropoli have in common is a gigantic primate wreaking havoc on their buildings >

Lessons from a Small Business Startup

Web Exclusive: Lessons from a Small Business Startup >

IPOs Pay the Price

Initial public offerings rarely perform well when the market is depressed. There’s still time to pick up newly listed stocks for dirt cheap >

How Did This Guy Get Rich, Anyway?

“I know cool,” my new client said. But he didn’t know customer service >

Cultural Capital

Once every two months, in a private room of Calgary’s historic Ranchmen’s Club, an architect, a land holder, a tax lawyer, a corporate president and an oilman meet >