Many manufacturers fail to appreciate the risk of double taxation that can accompany decisions about their foreign subsidiaries, for example decisions about how much management fees to charge the sub for management services provided by the parent or decisions about what the appropriate license fee should be for technology support provided to a sub.  

Taxation authorities everywhere, especially these days, want their fair share of the tax pie. CRA, for example, may be concerned that too…

With little publicity, at least outside of the legal community, the Federal Government made sweeping changes to the Competition Act in the recent Budget Implementation Act.   Despite the fact that these were the most significant changes to the Competition Act since 1986, they were included in an omnibus bill and were not subject to detailed examination and stakeholder input.   As a result, there are potential, and unintended, impacts that may defeat the stated goal of…

In Part 1, found here, we looked at how to deal with the economic frailties of customers.   In this second note, the focus turns to critical suppliers.  

The loss of a critical supplier can be more damaging to a business than the loss of a customer.   A business could be left with no inventory, suffering from business interruptions, or having to pay increased input costs.   There could also be significant problems finding alternative supply sources where there is a unique…

Part 1: Dealing with Customer Defaults

In the current economic climate companies have to be increasingly mindful of not only their own situations, but also those of their critical suppliers and customers.   In this first note on managing in an economic downturn we examine what can be done to protect against the default of a customer, and how to recognize when this situation may be arising.

The default of a customer can result in business interruption, difficulty in paying your own…

Our first note on bid disputes, found here, focused on federal government contracts.   This second note examines the process involved in disputing contract awards made by the Ontario government.

The major difference between bid protests involving the Ontario government and those involving the Federal government is the absence of a specific tribunal to deal with these disputes at the provincial level.   As noted in Part 1, the CITT is the independent bid challenge authority…

With infrastructure spending by government on the rise, this first note on bid disputes, sometimes called ‘bid protests’, will focus on disputing federal government contracts.

Billions of dollars of goods and services are purchased by the Federal Government every year, making it a vital customer for many manufacturers.   But many companies are unaware of how to protect their rights when bidding on contracts.   Substantial amounts of time and money may have been expended in preparing…

Ontario’s Employment Standards Act requires that more notice than normal must be given to all employees affected by a mass termination. Letting as few as 50 employees go within a four-week period can constitute a mass termination.

Employers who terminate 50 or more employees within a four-week period, must provide 8 weeks’ notice to those employees, unless that is less than 10% of their workforce and they are not discontinuing all or part of their business. The notice requirement…

Some of the leanest people I know are lawyers.   One of my partners is a crazy  ultra-marathoner who doesn’t carry much extra weight. But being lean means more than having a lean BMI score.

Can a law firm benefit from Lean teachings?  What is ‘waste’ in such an organization and what are the steps in the process of delivering legal services, at each of which value must be added or the step eliminated?

I don’t know offhand the answers to these questions but I am going to give it some…