Business Commons^™

Meeting The Sustainability Challenges: An Assessment Of Entrepreneurial Education, Anna Zherdeva, Intesar Madi, Abrar Alzankawi, Lucia Morales Dr, L. Pop, A. Soler-Dominguez, J.C. Saez

Conference papers

The importance of sustainability and entrepreneurship education is highlighted in this study. The world economies are facing significant challenges as they try to enable the transition towards more sustainable economic and business models. Therefore, at the centre of the transition process, it is critical to consider the role that business education can play and, more specifically, the role of business schools in integrating and supporting the development of skills and competencies that align with our contemporary society's needs. In this paper, we initially assess the need to connect entrepreneurial and sustainability education by exploring the educational offerings at Technological University …

Using Sequential Mixed Methods To Evaluate The Contribution Of Absorptive Capacity (Acap), Anthony Paul Buckley, Francis Martin Behan

Conference papers

How might Absorptive Capacity (ACAP) (Cohen & Levinthal 1990,,Song et al. 2018) contribute to indigenous firm innovation and growth and how might the effects of this construct be evaluated at both firm and policy level? This paper demonstrates how a mixed methods research design and data analysis strategy can address the research question outlined above. Within the ‘mixed methods’ research genre, the design approach argued for here is for a ‘sequential mixed methods research’ approach. This is where one methodology is followed sequentially by another to add robustness to the overall findings from a study. The approach can also be …

Sme Ict Marketing Impact: A New Conceptual Model, Justina Setkute, Simone Kurtzke

Conference papers

This paper presents a conceptual model for SME ICT marketing impact. The conceptualization integrates approaches from technology-in-practice scholarship, which argues that the use of information and communications technology (ICT) among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is highly context specific, and applies it within marketing practice. The resulting model is relational, iterative and context-sensitive, and considers marketing impact from the use of ICT as emerging over time. This article extends existing research by considering the role that attitudes towards ICT may play in their successful use. It also provides three propositions to guide future research towards generating an empirically based understanding …

Design As Entrepreneurship: Towards A Design-Specific Entrepreneurship Framework, Con Kennedy

Conference papers

Current thinking on entrepreneurship states there is no specific link between the entrepreneur and their enterprise. Design is an individual creative act; therefore, the practitioner is not separate from their idiosyncratic process. The Designer is the product offering. Designers form Design Enterprises, meaning that with this aspect of inseparability, the Design Entrepreneur is a different kind of entrepreneur than currently discussed. The literature on the topic discusses design as a creative output, not as entrepreneurship output. Like any enterprise, Design Enterprises must be profitable. There are many entrepreneurship processes, none of which seem to address the needs of the Design …

An Examination Of The Role Of Placemaking In Tourism On The Entrepreneurial Eco System, Ziene Mottiar, Theresa Ryan

Conference papers

Place-making is a topic of increasing interest in the tourism literature as national and local governments and DMOs continue to focus on the competitiveness and attractiveness of their destination. While the focus in the entrepreneurship and innovation literature is on individual entrepreneurs, policies and networks, place is a vital element in the tourism nexus and this concept is explored in this paper. As Solfield et al. (2017, p.2) note ‘place making in tourism.. creates an identity, an image, a difference from other places’. This paper examines how place making can encourage innovation by investigating the case of the Wild Atlantic …

A Multimodal Discourse Analysis Exploration Of A Crowdfunding Entrepreneurial Pitch., Victoria Doyle, Olivia Freeman, Brendan K. O`Rourke

Conference papers

This paper explores multimodal discourse analysis (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2001) as a methodology to address the research question: How are environmentally conscious entrepreneurial ventures constituted in online investment crowd-funding pitches and the communications that surround them? While discourse may be realised in many different ways (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2001 p.5, Bezemer and Jewit, 2010), multimodal discourse analysis focuses on analysing and describing a repertoire of meaning making resources which individuals use in various contexts (visual, gestural, written, actional etc.). Broadband internet and associated technologies mean that these crowdfunding pitches and many other genres tend to be much richer …

Using Insider Action Research In The Study Of Digital Entrepreneurial Processes: A Pragmatic Design Choice?, Kisito Futonge

Conference papers

This paper proposes that insider action research (IAR), with its iterative and emergent form of inquiry, presents a pragmatic design choice for understanding the nature of uncertainty surrounding the digital entrepreneurial process. Since entrepreneurship in the digital context is a highly dynamic and fluid process, IAR appears well-suited for use in researching it. Yet, the paucity of application in entrepreneurship research in general, and less so in the emerging digital space, is rather puzzling. Thus, using a ‘live’ case study in the e-learning domain, this paper contributes by shining light on how this design choice might be set up and …

How Can Higher Education Institutions (Heis) Support The Development Of Entrepreneurial Mindsets In Local Communities?, Emma O'Brien, Thomas M. Cooney

Conference papers

Promoting an entrepreneurial culture through the development of entrepreneurial mindsets has become an important mission on the education and enterprise policy agenda of many governments and supranational organisations. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have responded to this call by developing entrepreneurship / enterprise education pedagogies that now place a greater focus on engendering entrepreneurial competencies within individuals rather than on the creation of new ventures. Such competences are relevant for all aspects of an individual’s life and may assist them in navigating the ever changing, chaotic, global world in which they live. However, some commentators have argued that this development is …

Teacherpreneurs: From Vocation To Innovation, Anthony Paul Buckley, Kisito Futonge

Conference papers

The global market for e-learning is projected to reach $255 billion by 2017 with a compound growth average of 23% since 2012 (GSV Advisors, 2012). The shift towards digital learning has attracted a wave of digital entrepreneurs who are creating e-learning content, learning platforms, educational apps and online marketplaces. Nowhere is this more evident than in the online 'K-12' market (50 per cent share of the global e-learning market). The term K-12 refers to 12 years of formal primary and secondary education from kindergarten (K) or nursery – essentially pre-university level education. The purpose of this paper is to investigate …

Taking A Step Back From The Individual Social Entrepreneur, Ziene Mottiar

Conference papers

An investigation of how a national tourism policy resulted in the emergence of new social entrepreneurs in destinations across Ireland.

The Power Of Words In Tension: Enterprise/Strategy As A Dilemma In Neoliberalism’S Persistence., Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

We address how enterprise is related to, another important discourse, strategy. From a discourse analysis of the talk of small firm owner-managers, emerges a view of strategy and enterprise as a single, integrated entity, bound together by some commonalities but more importantly by paired opposites reminiscent of ideological dilemmas (Billig, Condor, Edwards, Gane, Middleton & Radley, 1988). This dilemmatic nature of enterprise/strategy discourse adds to explanations for the persistence of the neoliberal form of enterprise, with the entrepreneur as the heroic saviour of all, based on the entrepreneur as an empty signifier (Jones & Spicer, 2009; Kenny & …

An Indigenous Women Perspective Of Work And Organisation: The Maya Way, Jennifer Manning, J. Miguel Imas, Paul Donnelly

Conference papers

Western literature in management/organisation studies focuses primarily on gender issues that affect inequalities experienced by women at work. Adopting, in some cases, critical and feminist theoretical positions, the gender debate unfolds questions on the prevailing male discourse that is dominant in management and business organisations. Most of these theoretical assumptions tend to influence, subsequently, the way in which we understand the experiences of women in the developing or under-developed world. That is, these theoretical positions occupy a privileged voice upon which to write, describe and analyse the experiences of women in contexts where these Western discourses seem either alien or …

Internationalising Family Run Business: Overcoming Conflict, Embracing Cohesion And The Role Of Entrepreneurship, Marty Reilly, Pamela Sharkey Scott

Conference papers

Family run businesses, despite their importance to both local economies and at a broader national level have traditionally received significantly less attention in business research than either Small to Medium Enterprises (SMES) or new venture business start-ups.

The study proposes to examine the internationalisation of family run businesses with a focus on cohesion, leadership and the role of entrepreneurship, both during and directly thereafter the critical interim of expanding operations across international borders.

Proposing a multiple case study methodology, we intend to explore the practicalities of how family run enterprises expand beyond their national borders and embrace wider, international markets. …

The Strategic Planning Process In Complex Settings: The Case Of Construction Professional Service Firms, Roisin Murphy, Iain Henderson

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Motivations For Cooperation Among Rural Tourism Entrepreneurs, Ziene Mottiar

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Returning To Ulysses: The Need For Ireland's Higher Education Institutions To Re-Imagine The Provision Of Entrepreneurship Education, Thomas Cooney, Kathleen Farrell, Paul Hannon

Conference papers

This paper is a detailed analysis of entrepreneurship education in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) on the island of Ireland based on a survey of all twenty-six institutions. The paper examines the number and types of courses and activities currently being offered to students and concludes that the vast majority of the existing provision is quite traditional in its approach. It is further argued that entrepreneurship education needs to be re-imagined if it is to meet the needs of Ireland’s current economic and social challenges, and that educators should seek inspiration from some of the island’s most creative artists from its …

Discourse At The Edge: Enterprise Discourse In Ireland, Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

Ireland is an economy, society and culture at the edge. It is at the edge of Europe and at the edge of both USA/UK and more mainland European or EU variants of capitalism. More recently it has been at the edge of economic crisis. Yet enterprise discourse is still central in Ireland. Enterprise discourse in Ireland is influenced by global and European Union (EU) developments. However, Irish enterprise discourse is not merely a ‘local adoption’. For example, high Irish economic growth rates during the ‘Celtic Tiger’ period have coincided with the development of the EU’s enterprise policy, thus giving the …

Social Entrepreneurs As Drivers Of Destinations, Ziene Mottiar

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Examining The Inseparability Of Enterprise And Strategy Discourse, Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

Small owner-managed firms are an interesting site in which to examine the deployment of strategy discourse. On the one hand, small firms offer a location where the holistic nature of strategy (Clegg et al., 2004:24; Liedtka, 1998:122; Lilley,2001: 75) is more likely to feature in daily practice On the other hand, owner-managed firms lack a key reason for the original emergence of the strategy discourse i.e. strategy as a discourse of accountability by professional managers to shareholders (Knights & Morgan, 1991). Small firm owner-managers are the ideological heroes of the enterprise discourse (Carr, 2000:101). This work looks at how owner-managers …

Exploring The Discourses Of Small Enterprise Proprietors, Brendan O'Rourke, Martyn Pitt

Conference papers

Over the last three decades the discourses of strategy and enterprise have developed significantly in the context of large corporate organizations and increasingly within and for the public sector. The discourses of strategy and enterprise have developed in relationship with each other and are generative of various attributes and dilemmas for the identity of the strategist/entrepreneur. This study looks at how these important discourses are deployed by small enterprise proprietors in periodical publishing in Ireland as they construct their business identities with one of the authors. Interview data from one proprietor is subjected to a discourse analysis drawing particularly on …

Searching For Greater Variety In Strategic Thinking, Brendan O'Rourke, Martyn Pitt

Conference papers

This paper proposes a use of the discursive approach to explicate variety in ways of strategic thinking. Such an explication of variety is both useful managerially in increasing awareness of greater discursive resources and also theoretically in critiquing views of strategic thinking as homogenous and organizationally contained. Ways of strategic thinking have been investigated using a variety of approaches including expertise perspectives (Voss, Greene et al. 1983), cognitive mapping (Eden, Jones et al. (1979); Huff (1990) ) and upper echelon theory (Hambrick 1998). More recently the linguistic turn in organizational sciences (Alvesson and Kärreman 2000), and the study of strategy …

Developing Ireland As A Successful Garden Tourism Destination, Catherine Elizabeth Gorman

Conference papers

The marketing of Ireland as a garden destination has been evolving over the past six years. The complexity of Ireland’s history and modern circumstances have led to the demise of Irish gardens over the past three centuries. An initiative entitled The Great Gardens of Ireland Restoration Programme has been operated under the Operational Programme for Tourism 1994-99 which has been funded by the European Union. The outcome of the scheme has been twofold; the funding has rescued a significant part of Irish heritage and history; it has provided many new comprehensive tourist attractions to both the domestic and overseas market. …