Louisiana-Pacific CEO Curt Stevens recently told investors his team is examining plans to boost production capacity to keep up with the rise in home construction. Among the options on the table are the addition of a fourth shift at a plant in British Columbia and the reopening of a large Alabama factory that was idled about four years ago.

Longtime Nissan executive and current Nissan Canada President Allen Childs will retire from the company Jan. 1. Taking over his spot will be Christian Meunier, who will relocate from Brazil, where Nissan was the fastest-growing car brand in 2011. Meunier joined the company in 2012 and has held a number of posts specializing in sales and marketing.

Symmetry Surgical, the Antioch-based division of publicly traded Symmetry Medical Inc., has signed an agreement to have AMT Electrosurgery exclusively distribute its instruments to its network of more than 400 hospitals in Canada. Symmetry Surgical is the result of an acquisition almost a year ago of a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. Through the first six months of 2012, the division posted an operating profit of $10.8 million on revenues of more than $54 million.

Corrections Corp. of America executives may soon have an entirely new market to explore. Correctional Service Canada, which oversees Canada’s federal prisons, “may consider” partnerships with private firms to provide “basic institutional services such as cleaning and food preparation,” says a memo prepared for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, who in May met with British Minister of State for Prisons.

Almost a year after making its biggest international move by buying Britain's Schuh chain, retail holding company Genesco is accelerating the growth of its non-U.S. footprint. On their fiscal Q1 conference call Wednesday, Chairman and CEO Bob Dennis and CFO Jim Gulmi outlined their updated expansion plans, saying they are taking advantage of the U.K.'s slide back into recession by snapping up prime real estate spots as they become available. That means Schuh will open 16 new stores this fiscal year, double the number previously planned.

Also set to grow is Genesco's network of various stores in the Americas: Dennis said seven more locations will open in the North this year, lifting the chain's total to 25, and that its higher-end Johnston & Murphy concept recently signed a distribution agreement for Latin America.

Shares of Genesco (Ticker: GCO) closed down 1.5 percent at $69.82 Wednesday and are up about 13 percent so far in 2012.

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has named Vanderbilt University humanities professors Jonathan Lamb and William Luis 2012 fellows.

Both men work within VU’s College of Arts and Science.

Lamb, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, and Luis, the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Spanish, are among 181 recipients in the United States and Canada selected for the highly coveted fellowship. Artists, scholars and scientists in all fields are eligible to apply for the fellowships, which are awarded on the basis of impressive achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment.

“The Guggenheim represents the pinnacle of academic achievement, and we are honored by this tribute to Professors Lamb and Luis, Carolyn Dever, dean of the VU College of Arts and Science and professor of English, said in a release. “Both scholars bring innovation to questions of major significance within their fields.”

Lamb, who teaches and writes about 18th century literature and culture, is working on a book about the effects of the disease scurvy on the nerves and temperaments of its victims.

Luis, who is editor of the Afro-Hispanic Review, will use his Guggenheim funding to write the definitive book on the life and works of the Cuban slave poet Juan Francisco Manzano.

Previous Vanderbilt recipients of Guggenheim Fellowships include the following: William Caferro, the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of History; Michael Bess, the Chancellor’s Professor of History; Barbara Hahn, Distinguished Professor of German; Ruth Rogaski, associate professor of history; Jay Clayton, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English; Paul Freedman, former professor of history; John Wikswo, the Gordon A. Cain University Professor; Mark Jarman, Centennial Professor of English; and Matthew Ramsey, associate professor of history.

Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Label Group is ramping up its marketing efforts in the Great White North via an exclusive label deal with Universal Music Canada. The latter will handle the distribution and marketing of seven-year-old Big Machine's roster, which is headlined by Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts.

"We've been part of the distribution family since the inception of Big Machine's entrance into Canada and now we are taking the relationship several steps up and several steps deeper. Randy is providing an unmatched opportunity for our label group to have an even greater presence in Canada. More exciting announcements forthcoming.”

Folks at 501 Broadway probably aren't shedding too many tears over today's news out of Canada:

Under intense pressure from a group of shareholders, Research in Motion Ltd. is preparing to unveil a corporate shakeup at the beleaguered BlackBerry maker that could see co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie relinquish their titles as co-chairmen of the board, according to sources.

Balsillie — who famously, of course, made a play to buy the Nashville Predators and went so far as to accept season-ticket deposits for a team he didn't own under the presumption he'd be moving it to Hamilton, Ontario — and Lazaridis reduced their salary to $1 last month. But even their peppercorn gambit doesn't look like it will save their jobs.

Foremost of the criticism of Balsillie was that he was unable to adapt to the changing landscape of the handheld market with the emergence of Apple and seemed repeatedly unaware of how to stay competitive.

And what else? Ask Barry Richards, an analyst at Paradigm Capital:

It doesn't help matters that both executives are incredibly busy. Lazaridis is involved with the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and Balsillie with the Centre for International Governance Innovation. Balsillie's intense focus on buying an NHL franchise in recent years likely diverted his attention, too. "Those guys are phenomenal, but they try to do too much, and there's not enough depth in the senior management around them," says Richards, who supports the company with a Buy rating on the stock.