Find markets electronically
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Mar 12/01) - Show me the bear. And use technology to do it.
"You can sell this bear using the Internet," said Bill Jandrisits, a vice president with the Royal Bank
"Would I buy a bigger bear and take it back to Toronto? Yes.
"Go find the person who wants the bear, sell crafts and materials to people," he said.
Jandrisits spoke at the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce's annual awards night in Iqaluit.
He also bought a small soapstone bear carving for his daughter.
"The way we sell products is different."
As well as saying the Internet offers a global marketing tool in which to sell Inuit carvings, Jandrisits also suggested some companies may be missing the Internet boat.
"I finance $11 billion in real estate products. I shouldn't be surprised to see some of the products I saw today (at the Nunavut Trade Show)."
On how Nunavut will handle a recession, if there is one, Jandrisits believes the territory will escape unscathed.
He said Ontario will be hardest hit by an economic slowdown because "it's an auto sector slowdown. "Alberta and Northern Canada will not feel the crunch."
Nationally, Canada is a lot stronger today than it was during the slump of 1989.
"Y2K forced everybody to upgrade technology so Canadian business is more productive," he said.
As for the coming year, he suggested if the economy does slow, that does not lessen the significance of technology investment for businesses.
"If the economy slows, do you stop spending on technology because business is not growing?, if you do, business will fail."
On stock market volatility, Jandrisits said defying gravity -- which was happening with tech stock prices -- does not work.
Individuals were spending stock market gains on cars and other items, he said. But stock prices have fallen, taking away gains spent on things like vehicles. Technology company stock prices have retreated dramatically in the past year.
"We're on earth. Companies really do need to make money to stay alive."
