Business Commons^™

Knowledge Management In New Product Development (Npd), Luca Maria Mancinelli

Theses

This thesis analyses features that, in New Product Development process (NPD), foster knowledge, and their contribution to the creation and application of knowledge with the aim of increasing both global performance and organizational effectiveness. Since knowledge is becoming more important to achieve competitive advantage, companies have already started to focus on their ability to generate new competencies and create new opportunities for producing new knowledge.

One of the issues compelling knowledge management understands what aspects of the organization's work system and organizational design affect its ability to acquire, create and apply knowledge. In fact, the way that workers are organized …

Halal Certification For An Industrial Machine Intended To Come In Contact With Food, Luca Caffarelli

Theses

Halal Certification is a worldwide recognition that the products are permissible under Islamic law. These products are thus edible, drinkable or usable by Muslims. It can be extended to industrial machinery and tools. This Certification must be issued by a Notified Body under the supervision of an IMAM. Focus of the Certification are GMPs and Food Contact Materials and Articles. Four main phases to achieve Certification (the scheme is the same of ISO 14001, ISO 18001 and ISO 9001):

• Pre-Audit - The activity is to evaluate the documentation describing our internal system.
• Audit - The activity is to evaluate how …

Development Of The Commodity Strategy: The Case Of Sidel, Giuseppe Celiberti

Theses

The thesis will address the development of the sourcing strategy in Sidel, a manufacturing company that provides packaging equipment for liquids such as water, carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks, sensitive beverages like milk, and liquid dairy products.

It is developed the sourcing strategy structure that characterizes every commodity, with a particular focus on the commodity execution process. Then, it is discussed a concrete case: the one of Nitro Dozers. In order to achieve the goal, it is used a systematic approach that focuses on different steps, from the Product overview and Spend analysis to the supplier assessment and benchmarking.

After …

Family Business: Innovation And Tradition In A Global Economy, Francesca Fornasari

Theses

Eighty-five percent of Italian companies are run as a family business. They are considered vital for Italian economy. The purpose of this thesis is to study how these companies challenge the global market to understand if the globalization can cause them disadvantages or benefits. The study explains what a family business is and who are the components that can be part of it. Then it focuses on the structure of the firms, how the families run their businesses and organize the tasks between the family members. This thesis considers the strategies of innovation adopted by the family to remain competitive …

Start-Up And Open Innovation, Gonxhe Tali

Theses

Nowadays, in many industries the traditional research and development approach has become obsolete. For this reason, during the past two years companies started focusing on Startups and the Open Innovation. Firms should use internal and external relationships, ideas and paths in order to advance their organizational process and technology. Open Innovation combines all those ideas into a system and defines all the requirements for the new business model.

The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate how Startups successfully organize and manage open Innovation with large and small companies and to highlights the strengths, weaknesses, challenges and barriers faced by …

Social Media: On Tech-Caves, Virtual Panopticism, And The Science Fiction-Like State In Which We Unwittingly Find Ourselves, Michael Major

Theses

Making use of three historic philosophical thought experiments, this paper blends psychological perspectives with philosophical reasoning to show how social media is corrupting our perception of reality, the result of which is ultimately detrimental to society as a whole. This is accomplished by first using Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” to analyze and discuss the ways in which social media is limiting humanity’s access to real knowledge. Next, Michel Foucault’s analysis of punishment in its social context, Discipline and Punish, is used to discuss the ways in which social media is adversely affecting our behavior. Finally, Robert Nozick’s “Experience …

Australian Dollar Price Shocks And The Australian Stock Market, Ramzi E.N Tarazi

Theses

This thesis presents three studies on the Australian dollar price shocks and the Australian stock market. In this thesis, we study the volatility of the major currencies, identify the effect of the Australian dollar return and volatility on six sectors of the Australian stock market, evaluate volatility from the Australian dollar to the big four banks’ shares volatility in Australia, and finally identify the risk factors for the real estate market in Australia at the fundamental factors and macroeconomies level.

In chapter two, we investigate the influence of volatility of the foreign exchange rate of the US, the UK, Euro-zone, …

"No Sir, It’S Not Discrimination, You’Re Just Too Old". An Auto-Ethnography Of The Effects Of Perceived Age Discrimination Among Older Australian Male Professionals., Colin Brown

Theses

This thesis investigates the effects of perceived age discrimination in employment practices on Australian professional men. It commences by outlining the global setting of the age discrimination phenomenon, and then draws attention to the myths and stereotypes that have engendered this unsavoury, often hidden, form of discrimination by focusing on the attitudes of recruitment agencies, private and government employers and older workers themselves. The thesis examines the literature on the multiple negative effects of discrimination, and then presents the method used, the personal interviews, the analysis and findings, and finally, the conclusion.

There is limited ethnographic research into the psychological …

Macroeconomic Risk Factors Of Australian Mining Companies, Mohammed Kamruzzaman

Theses

This thesis identifies the priced macroeconomic risk factors for the Australian mining industry from January, 2004 to December, 2013, and the macroeconomic variables that have had an impact on stock returns. A rapid growth in the stock returns of the mining industry in Australia occurred during this period. This phenomenon is studied using a multifactor model and arbitrage pricing theory. The method involves analysis of two samples: the top ten mining firms and the aggregate mining industry. Firstly, unbalanced panel data containing 1550 yearly observations of 155 mining companies is selected for the aggregate industrial analysis. Secondly, data from the …

An Analysis Of Strategic Planning In Delivering Infrastructure In Ireland, Noel Murtagh

Theses

The 2009 recession was the most severe recession in the history of the state and led to bankruptcy and subsequent bailout of the Irish state by the European Union, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank (collectively known as the 'Troika'}. In this context, this research looked at the role of strategic planning and investigated did Ireland lack a strategic planning perspective in economic development, with a particular focus on the delivery of critical national infrastructure. This research also looked at the impediments to the delivery of infrastructure in Ireland, the benefits to national growth with investment in infrastructure …

Foreign Direct Investment: A Sustainable Prospect For Irelands Future?, Kieran Stanton

Theses

This research has found that, as a consequence of the recent changes in the approach taken globally to foreign direct investments, Irelands existing model for practice is under threat. This research has focused on the future sustainability of Irelands foreign direct investments and the feasibility of introducing changes to the existing model for practice at local and national levels. Positively, this research has also found that Ireland offers many corporate advantages, including a competitive cost base, a young and educated workforce, low tax regime, membership within the European Union and it remains to be one of the most attractive locations …

Autonomous Vehicles As A Disruptive Innovation: Economic And Social Impact, Tomasz Walivander

Theses

The pace of technology development and innovation is accelerating. The impact of new innovations becomes more and more disruptive, enriching but also challenging peoples' concept of life and the perception of the world. Social and economic implications of new innovations cause rapid and deep shifts in the existing paradigms. The number of tasks, at which machines exceed human capabilities is growing rapidly. Computers analyse medical images, make financial decisions and drive vehicles better than humans. This study is aimed to understand the disruptive nature of self-driving cars and explore the possible socio-economic outcomes that this innovation is expected to bring. …

The Extent To Which Strategic Talent Management Is Understood, And Properly Utilised, In The Life Science Sector In Ireland, Jennifer O'Brien

Theses

In 2017, Ireland was named the best country in the world for attracting high-value foreign direct investment for the sixth year in a row and is home to the top ten global Life Science organisations. The Life Science industry in Ireland depends on a consistent pipeline of talent to realise the growth incentivised by this investment and as the war for talent rages, there is unrelenting pressure on these organisations to attract, manage, develop, engage and retain highly skilled STEM talent. The talent focus, consequently, has to become more strategic.

This thesis focuses on the extent to which Strategic Talent …

Retaining Nurses In The Irish Health Service: What Role Does Human Resource Management Play In Employee Retention?, Aishling O'Gorman

Theses

This thesis focuses on the role of Human Resource Management for employee retention. Given the critical shortage of nurses within Irelands healthcare workforce, the need for first class recruitment and retention strategies is vital. Management should be actively working to attract, recruit and retain nurses within the sector.

In an attempt to investigate the turnover and retention of nurses in the Irish Healthcare workforce research was carried out in the form of surveys and semi structured interviews. The study draws upon a survey gathering both qualitative and quantitative data from 117 nurses currently employed in Irish hospitals. It also draws …

An Investigation Into Teleworking As A Flexible Working Arrangement In The Irish Private Sector, Elaine Galvin

Theses

This study is based on teleworking in the Irish private sector. The aim of the research study was to assess the impact teleworking has on work-life balance, motivation and performance levels of employees working within the private sector of Ireland. The researcher had a keen interest in the research topic due to two major storms that hit Ireland during late 2017 and early 2018. Storm Ophelia was one of the worst Atlantic hurricanes on record to hit Ireland in 50 years (Siggins, 2017). Storm Emma hit Ireland at the end of February and start of March 2018, this storm was …

Cork International Airport: A Fulcrum For Business And Tourism Sectors In The Southern Region?, Kieran Moynihan

Theses

This research finds that aviation delivers many economic and social benefits for a region. European airports have undergone a major business transformation over the last two decades - from facilitators of air travel to fully-fledged businesses, competing for business and traffic in a liberalised market. This study focuses on Cork International Airport, in a national and international context, to assess its infrastructural importance to the economic performance of the region. A post-positivistic approach was applied to research the topic, and interviews were conducted with relevant authorities on the subject matter. The researcher interviewed twelve contributors with a fixed list of …

Exploring Organisations’ Awareness Of The Costs Associated With Millennial Employee Turnover., Ray Cronin

Theses

There has been much commentary in recent years regarding younger people, particularly Millennials, and that discussion has focused on whether they change employment more than previous generations. Additionally there has been debate regarding whether the Millennial generation show less loyalty to employers today. Loyalty, for the purposes of this study, is considered not m terms of dedication, commitment or dependability, but rather in terms of medium to long term allegiance, tenure and faithfulness to the existing employer. The counter argument to this theory is that tenure has more to do with life stage and nothing to do with being Millennial …

Design Thinking: A Case Study Of Implementation Within The It Software Industry., Jean-Baptiste Liberge

Theses

In the global economy, competition and market pressures push the majority of company managers to drive with more efficiency by improving processes, optimizing performance and reducing costs. Companies are increasing shareholder value by improving cash flow' and cutting costs. How many cost savings can finance departments reproduce and for how long? Is this enough to lead their markets to deliver better services to their customers? Is it enough to build customer loyalty? The 11 industry fails to escape these constraints, operating in an intensely competitive market. To compete in this environment, companies need to face frequent new product launches and …

To What Extent Does Employee Engagement Impact On Business Productivity?, Leonie Kierans

Theses

Employee productivity is a critical element of business success. Employee engagement has a significant impact on an employee’s level of motivation and productivity. Due to the importance of engaged employees, this research will focus on engagement levels and what common motivators are driving engagement for employees within a recruitment agency. Specifically, the context of this study is focused around the researcher’s place of work, a small to medium sized recruitment agency with offices in Cork and Dublin, that recruit nationally for the life sciences sector. The researcher adopted a mixed methods approach, based on a sequential explanatory strategy for the …

What Is The Relationship Between Work-Life Integration And Job Satisfaction With Regard To Stress And Employee Well-Being?, Nicole King

Theses

The world of work is changing with the separation of work and personal life becoming an increasing challenge. Advances in technology have facilitated the mobility of work with over 6 billion people having access to a mobile phone which has led to greater demands on the modern worker which poses a question. What is the relationship between work-life integration and job satisfaction with regard to stress and employee well-being?

Due to the universal application of the chosen research topic, an industry focus was not chosen to allow for the collection of generalisable data. Questionnaires were the chosen research method and …

4e’S Socratic Model: A Grounded Theory For Managing Team Creativity In An Organisational Context, Philip Dennett

Theses

There has been considerable research on identifying the antecedents of creativity and the determinants of organisational creativity, but researchers are yet to develop an effective model for managing creativity within a traditional hierarchical management structure. It has been suggested that using the Socratic Method to create a learning environment within an organisation is a way to foster creativity in an uncertain environment. In this context the Socratic Method is defined as a directed questioning technique to encourage critical thinking. This thesis proposes that taking a Socratic approach to champion creativity enables management to increase creativity in their teams. It also …

Workforce Nationalisation In Papua New Guinea: Security And Logistics In Resource Organisations, Warren Doudle

Theses

Many multinational organisations fail to fully employ the capabilities of their local staff, particularly those in sensitive roles, such as security and logistics positions. It is commonplace to rely on expatriate staff for many of these roles, and this practice is particularly prevalent in the resource industry in Papua New Guinea. This research first aimed to determine whether this reliance on expatriates does exist, and, if so, why this situation occurs. It then examined how resource companies operating in Papua New Guinea manage and develop their national logistics and security workforce, and how nationalisation or workforce indigenisation occurs in this …