outsourcing founded 1912 headquarters montreal quebec canada services corporate recognition programs website www.rideau.com rideau ri do ree doh ; french pronunciation ido is a private canada based company that provides corporate and governmental recognition programs and products . founded in 1912 as the stephenson company the company has undergone several buyouts and ventures in different geographical markets . rideau was the first canadian company to produce the order of canada the country s highest civilian decoration as well as the first canadian company to be granted its own coat of arms by the heraldic authority . contents 1 history 1.1 growth and transition 1.2 business under the rideau name 2 clients and competitors 3 references 4 external links history edit rideau hall the company s namesake growth and transition edit in 1912 the stephenson company situated on saint maurice street in old montreal began as a producer of emblematic jewellery for associations such as the masons the knights of columbus and other organizations . during world wars i and ii the company produced military insignia for the armed forces . 1 however in the mid 50 s the company s shares were sold to a u.s. based company that moved stephenson company s headquarters to montreal north . the company was later sold back to two montrealers who had numerous business interests but nevertheless stephenson went into a steady state of decline . citation needed in 1968 ed and phyllis hart purchased the business the company almost bankrupt and only staffing five employees . 1 its largest customer was avon cosmetics which used the company s awards to incentivize its sales force . citation needed in the 70 s avon began selling stephenson s jewellery door to door with its traditional cosmetics which proved successful and helped the business to take off . 2 in 1974 the harts partnered with maurice bradden of d orlan jeweler s helping to launch its manufacturing capabilities on the european continent in the republic of ireland . the facility produced nina ricci fashion jewellery in the european common market . citation needed despite a major change in company leadership in 1978 the harts selling the operation to their four children and family friend 1 the company continued to expand in europe opening a subsidiary in the united kingdom called the jeweller s guild in 1979 . citation needed this branch of the company sold fashion jewellery by mail order . citation needed in 1980 other subsidiaries were set up in france holland and germany they also selling fashion jewellery by mail order . citation needed stephenson and its subsidiary companies did well until 1982 when the company s own over expansion and the recession of 1982 forced the company to change . 2 rideau was the first canadian company to produce the order of canada the country s highest civilian decoration . in 1983 the newly restructured company started producing the order of canada the country s highest civilian decoration 1 which up until that time had been produced in england by crown jeweller garrards of london . 3 at the suggestion of bruce beatty the chief designer of the canadian honours system the owners renamed the company rideau to reflect their service the governor general of canada who resides in rideau hall in ottawa . 4 business under the rideau name edit towards the end of the 80 s promotional products and fashion jewellery were increasingly being off shored to the far east so the company began focusing on corporate recognition programs . it began providing fully outsourced recognition programs to rbc scotiabank bmo molson alcan canadian pacific and the government of canada . 5 in 1991 rideau became the first canadian company to be granted its own coat of arms by the heraldic authority bearing the latin motto opus excellentiae impressions of excellence . 1 in the last decade rideau has engaged in different joint venture opportunities . in 1998 rideau launched yellowbox a dot com subsidiary designed to help charities through online gift sales ; however yellowbox dissolved a few years later . 1 in 2005 rideau formed an agreement with ceridian a u.s. based human resources outsourcing firm to deliver reward and retention programs to its clients . 6 rideau is also a sponsor of recognition professionals international . 7 clients and competitors edit a few of rideau s clients include rbc boeing bmo magna international scotiabank desjardins bell canada h & r block owens & minor alcan exxon alcatel lucent government of canada oracle ericsson rona best buy canadian pacific irving group molson and james richardson international . 8 rideau s competitors include o.c. tanner globoforce maritz and terryberry . references edit a b c d e f rideau history . rideau . retrieved 2009 01 16 . a b mr. fix it . canadian business online . retrieved 2009 02 26 . mccreery christopher 2006 . the order of canada p. 196 . university of toronto press toronto . isbn 0 8020 3940 5 . mccreery christopher 2006 . the order of canada p. 336 . university of toronto press toronto . isbn 0 8020 3940 5 . canada s fastest growing companies . canadian business . retrieved 2009 01 16 . ceridian forms agreement with rideau to deliver employee reward and recognition programs . ceridian . 2005 09 01 . retrieved 2009 01 23 . sponsorship . recognition professionals international . retrieved 2009 01 23 . provider profile rideau recognition solutions . hro today . 2008 . external links edit official site official company blog retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rideau company & oldid 729877551 categories companies established in 1912marketing companies of canadaoutsourcing in canada1912 establishments in quebechidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from january 2009 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 15 july 2016 at 05 30 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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