Business Commons^™

A Simulation-Based Decision Support System To Model Complex Demand Driven Heathcare Facilities, Amr Arisha, Michael Thorwarth

Conference papers

Simulating healthcare processes is a sophisticated endeavor. Treatment processes and patient arrival patterns differ significantly in their statistical attributes and implicate a high degree of variability. In addition, there are several types of interconnected processes of medical staff involved that accompany a patient’s journey through the healthcare facility. Replicating this behavior with process flow models in a discrete event simulation model is highly complex and therefore difficult to create while maintaining a high degree of precision. A framework is thus introduced which delivers an algorithm that allows to implement Multiple Participant Pathway Modeling (MPPM) under the consideration of Flexible Resource …

Multi-Citeria Framework For An Emergency Department In An Irish Hospital, Waleed Abo Hamad, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

Health research is one of these priorities in every economy and through this research an emphasis will be put on translational research in the context of more sustainable and efficient healthcare system (translation of operations management practices to clinical applications). Healthcare systems in general and Emergency Departments in particular around the world are facing enormous challenges in meeting the increasingly conflicting objectives of providing wide accessibility and efficiency while delivering high quality and prompt services. The proposed framework integrates simulation modeling, balanced scorecard, and multi-criteria decision analysis aiming to provide a decision support system to emergency department managers. Simulation outputs …

Capacity Planning For Elderly Care In Ireland Using Simluation Modeling, Mohamed Ragab, Waleed Abo Hamad, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

Global population aging is creating an immense pressure on healthcare facilities making them unable to cope with the growing demand for elderly healthcare services. Current demand-supply gaps result in prolonged waiting times for patients and substantial cost burdens for healthcare systems due to delayed discharges. This paper describes a project aimed at presenting modeling and simulation to address elderly care pathways within the Irish healthcare sector. The management of frail patients admitted to acute hospitals and the introduction of the new intermediate care beds are alternative interventions that healthcare executives are interested in simulating to examine their impact on the …

An Empirical Investigation Of Strategic Planning In Qs Practices, Roisin Murphy

Conference papers

The benefit of engaging in strategic planning has been well documented over several decades of strategic management research. Despite the significant body of existing knowledge in the field, there remains a limited collection of empirically tested research pertaining to strategic planning within professional service firms (PSFs) in construction, particularly from an Irish context.

The research is an exploratory study involving in-depth, semi-structured interviews and a widespread survey of Quantity Surveying (QS) practices in Ireland. The aim of the research is to ascertain the extent of strategic planning undertaken within Irish QS practices, and to gain an insight into the characteristics …

Understanding Interaction Through The Lens Of Materiality And The Processual Nature Of Artifacts, Conor Horan, John Finch, Emma Reid

Conference papers

The elements and processes to understand organisational business-to-business interactions have been extensively explored. The context and forms these interactions takeunderpinmajor threads of research in the Markets-as-Networks tradition of understanding business networks. Standard operating procedures (SOPs), job specs, contracts andbriefs as physical objects play material roles within these business-to-business interactions, guiding and managing how these relationships play out. This paper primarily builds on the rich Markets-as-Networks tradition by refocusing attention on the role artifacts play in the interaction process. In addition there appears to be non-material artifacts, without physical forms, that also aid in guiding and managing interactions. This paper incorporates …

Internationalisation By Idiosyncrasy: Resource Commitments And Competencies For Professional Service Firm Internationalisation, Deirdre Mcquillan, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Vincent Mangematin

Conference papers

Using a behavioral process approach within the field of international business theory, this study adopts a resource based lens to examine an area exhibiting exceptional growth, the internationalisation of professional service firms (PSFs). An in-depth qualitative study of the internationalisation process of five architectural firms expanding to multiple international markets was conducted. The paper’s main contribution is the identification of the interplay between the learning process and resource commitments for internationalisation. We reveal how these PSFs can be classified along a continuum whereby they adopt either a project learning or a market learning approach which drives the development and acquisition …

Making Sense Of Irish Health Care Management: The Street Level Public Organisation (Slpo)., Vivienne Byers

Conference papers

Public service reform in modern economies has placed an emphasis on effective planning and management of service delivery to the citizen-client. This paper draws on the concept of the Street Level Public Organization (SLPO) to examine the problem of government’s top down implementation of planning reform in the delivery of public services. It does so, by exploring the implementation of strategic planning in the health sector and drawing upon field work from such implementation in the health services in Ireland and Canada. The SLPO model (McKevitt 1998) is used as an explanatory tool to add to the public sector reform …

Reconceptualising Resources: A Critique Of Service-Dominant Logic, Norah Campbell, Aidan O'Driscoll, Michael Saren

Conference papers

This paper examines the interactive relationship between intangible, human capabilities (operant resources) and tangible, physical assets (operand resources) in an era of global interconnectedness. It does so within the context of service-dominant logic and the challenge of sustainability in a world of resource scarcity. It challenges conventional ideas about the superiority of certain kinds of resources and it confronts a pervasive culture of demateriality both in marketing and contemporary post-industrial theory – the idea that ‘stuff’ does not count. Building on calls for a revised theory of economics and society, this paper offers a parsimonious model of a more holistic …

Understanding The Relationship Between Entrepreneurship Education, Experiential Learning And Business Ethics, Kathleen Farrell, Thomas Cooney, Christina Benson, Gary Palin

Conference papers

Recent cognitive research in entrepreneurship describes the entrepreneur as a ‘motivated tactician’, who can be characterized as a “fully engaged thinker who has multiple cognitive strategies available” (Haynie et al., 2010: p18), and the ability to shift and choose rapidly from among them based on specific goals, motives, needs and circumstances, leading to the ability to act (or not) in response to perceived entrepreneurial opportunities. The Association for Experiential Education broadly defines experiential education as: “a philosophy and methodology in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills and …

A Case Study Investigation On Purchasing Green Transport And Logistics Services, Pietro Evangelista, Maria Huge-Brodin, Karin Isaksson, Edward Sweeney

Conference papers

In the context of green supply chain management, green purchasing has received increased attention over the past decade and the strategic importance of introducing green aspects into purchasing practices has been recognised. Despite this growing importance, little has been written in relation to purchasing green transport and logistics services. Considering the strong environmental impact associated with transport and logistics activities, much remains to be learned concerning buyer’s practices when sourcing more sustainable services from third party logistics companies (3PLs). The aim of this paper is to explore practices of buying green transport and logistics services in three different European countries …

How Professional Service Firms Internationalise: Resource Commitments And Competencies For Internationalisation, Deirdre Mcquillan, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Vincent Mangematin

Conference papers

Departing from traditional economic and behavioural approaches, this study adopts a resource based lens to examine an area exhibiting exceptional growth, the internationalisation of professional service firms (PSFs). An in-depth qualitative study of the internationalisation process of five architectural firms expanding to multiple international markets was conducted. The paper’s main contribution is the identification of the interplay between PSF competencies and the firm’s approach to internationalisation. We reveal how these PSFs can be classified along a continuum ranging from artistic to engineering orientation depending on the firm’s relative emphasis on technical or management competencies when internationalising. Implications for PSFs when …

The Wiki Way: Supporting Collaborative Learning, Kathleen Hughes

Conference papers

Skills in working in teamwork are demanded from graduates, and these are ever more likely to be over the internet. Horizon (2011) calls for this experience to be reflected in students’ project work. The use of Wikis has been posited as a tool for collaborative online knowledge creation, increasing students levels of engagement, and social constructivism (Wheeler and Wheeler, 2009: Lai and Ng, 2011). The use of wikis in student groups is still relatively new, however, and the need for investigation of its role in supporting group collaboration has been identified in literature (Bruen, et al., in Donnelly, Harvey and …

Factors Driving Key Account Manager Performance, Lesley Murphy, Joseph Coughlan

Conference papers

Key account management has been highlighted as a significant area of academic research (Leigh and Marshall 2001, Workman et al. 2003) and both managers and academics alike are of the view that suppliers need to develop long-term relationships with selected strategic customers. Despite a recent academic focus on Key Account Management, there have only been a limited number of published studies on the individual Key Account Manager (KAM) (Sengupta et al. 2000, Schultz and Evans 2002, Guenzi et al. 2007, 2009) and it remains an under-investigated research area (Guenzi et al. 2009). This paper endeavours to explain the underlying factors …

Engaging Students In The Classroom: How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Draw, Paul Donnelly, John Hogan

Conference papers

Recognizing the world into which our students will emerge upon graduation, a world characterized by constant change, and our belief in the need to develop our students as “critical beings” (Barnett, 1997) and as “citizens capable of governing” (Giroux, 1997: 259), we embrace a critical pedagogy that is not just about theory (Dehler, Welsh & Lewis, 2004), but can also be implemented experientially in the classroom through the use of freehand drawing. With this as context, our aim in the classroom is to create a learning space where our students develop their capacity for critical self-reflection. As such, we use …

Implementation Challenges: Triggers For Interactions In Marketing Strategy Making, Sarah Browne, Katrina Lawlor, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Laura Cuddihy

Conference papers

The old and familiar tools of marketing strategy-making (MSM), which breed sameness and repetition, no longer apply in today’s dynamic market environment. Despite the need for new insights, we understand little of how MSM actually occurs in practice. Departing from the common focus- on the prescriptive tools and techniques of strategy– we apply a marketing-as-practice (M-as-P) lens to our exploration of how organisations engage in strategy making. We utilise an in-depth case study to explore problemistic search behaviour and individuals interactions in developing strategic marketing campaigns and uncover specific consultative and collaborative interactional practices.

How Do Organisations Engage In Marketing Strategy Making? A Problemistic Search Perspective, Sarah Browne, Katrina Lawlor, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Laura Cuddihy

Conference papers

Despite the importance of marketing strategy making (MSM) we understand little of how strategy making actually occurs within organisations. Departing from the common focus - on the tools and techniques of strategy– we apply a strategy as practice (SAP) lens to our exploration of MSM. We adopt a problemistic search perspective and utilise an in-depth case study to explore individual’s interactions in developing strategic marketing initiatives. We uncover a three-stage pattern in solution search within MSM; identification of the problem situation and postponing response, to problem recognition and acceptance, to a collective problem solving stage, which we label pre implementation …

The Holiday Experience And Personal Values: An Irish Case Study, Sean Ruane, Deirdre Quinn

Conference papers

Personal values have been a focus of interest for consumer behaviour researchers for many years due to the belief that values influence a person’s lifestyle, and therefore provide a useful explanation for the multitude of interests, outlooks on life and consumption priorities that define a person’s consumer behaviour (Muller, 1991). Tourist satisfaction is a positive function of both functional congruity between the expectations of the individual and choice of destination, and their perception about themselves. Linking destination image with the self can help in understanding this behaviour by focusing on the specific attributes of the holiday and how they match …

Is There A Future / Career For Tourist Guides?, Detta Melia, Josephine Rice

Conference papers

Tourist guides are the essential interface between a tourism destination and its visitors, and are very much responsible for the overall impression and satisfaction offered by a destination. However, despite the prominent role that tourist guides play in the system of tourism, fairly scant scientific attention has been paid to them to date. Tourist Guides create a link between the visitor and the host country. Yet, of the small amount of literature devoted to them, very few studies have asked tourist guides their views and opinions, and have built up a profile of the tourist guide. This paper is an …

Shaken Not Stirred – The Evolution Of The Cocktail Shaker, James Peter Murphy

Conference papers

The paper 'Shaken not Stirred – The Evolution of the Cocktail Shaker' was presented at the 1st Dublin Gastronomic Symposium which was held at the DIT, College of Arts & Tourism in 2012.