Business Commons^™

Factors Affecting Retailer Adoption Of The Internet In Ireland, Roisin Vize, Joseph Coughlan, Aileen Kennedy

Conference papers

To date, most of the commentary on the impact of the Internet on retailing in Ireland has been anecdotal and there is a paucity of academic empirical research examining the factors affecting Internet adoption by retailers in Ireland. The primary aims of this research are to identify the key factors perceived as being influential in determining the resultant level of adoption among traditional retailers in Ireland and to examine the extent and level of its’ adoption in the Irish retail sector. This paper represents the results from an exploratory investigation employing multiple case studies as the first of a two-stage …

Servicescapes: A Review Of Contemporary Empirical Research, Treasa Kearney, Aileen Kennedy, Joseph Coughlan

Conference papers

This paper reviews forty three extant contemporary empirical servicescape studies conducted in the area. The review is limited to articles which focus on the servicescape as defined by Bitner (1992) and Mehrabian and Russell (1974) Pleasure, Arousal and Dominance (PAD) dimensions from environmental psychology. The publication time frame covers the period from 1980 to 2007. The review observes key patterns and trends within the literature. The content was analysed on the basis of issues such as research variables, methodological approaches, sampling methods, research origin and the theoretical frameworks underpinning the research. The analysis highlights gaps and further research directions that …

The Effect Of Different Inputs To Factor Analysis: An Example Using Service Quality In Uk Branch Banking, Joseph Coughlan, Estelle Shale, Robert Dyson

Conference papers

Factor analysis has long been used in service quality research to understand the dimensions of the construct. This research reinvestigates this construct using two different methodologies (classical test theory and item response theory) in order to assess the homogeneity of the dimensions across the methodologies in a retail branch banking sample taken from a larger network in the UK. The findings show that the two methodologies give different results. Furthermore the choice of correlation matrix to input into Confirmatory Factor Analysis may be more important than is currently thought in the literature as they give different results in this sample.

Ionad Cois Locha: 20 Years On, Gerry Mortimer

Case studies

Early in 2007, Seamus Gallagher watched from his modest attic office at Ionad Cois Locha as the last main steel beam was lifted into place right outside his window. The new venue was at last taking shape. Already it was a month or more behind schedule because the violent storms of late 2006 had meant that the steel frame could not be erected until now, and it would be at least May before the building would be completed. It had been planned to be ready by April before the main tourist season.

Heylen Bvba (Belgium), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

As Tom Heylen reflects upon his early days in business, he often wonders how his company Heylen bvba survived. He had left university after just one year of studying biology in order to pursue a business opportunity that he believed existed in the market and that needed to be acted upon without delay. About that time, nature had become modified to such an extent (particularly in Europe) that biodiversity could only be conserved through active management and restoration of the few natural areas which remained. Such management required innovation, specialised equipment, and knowledge in order to be successful. But those …

Daft.Ie (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Eamonn and Brian Fallon sat in their office at the Digital Hub near the Guinness Brewery in Dublin and reflected upon their success. It was a beautiful day outside and the sun shone warmly through the windows. About them on the walls was an array of awards that they had collected over the past two years. Indeed they had received a telephone call earlier that day informing them that the radio programme ‘Down To Business’ on NewsTalk 106 had selected them as a leading example of best business practice and wanted to interview them. It was yet further recognition that …

Ecoserve (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Roisin Nash had just finished reading a new report that had recently been launched by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey at the headquarters of the Marine Institute at Oranmore in County Galway. The report, entitled ‘Sea Change – A Marine Knowledge, Research and Innovation Strategy for Ireland 2007- 2013’, presented a national agenda (comprising of science, research, innovation, and management) aimed at a complete transformation of the Irish maritime economy. Roisin felt that the report provided a clear and realistic picture of future opportunities and challenges within the Irish marine industry, and that it would …

South Hill Enterprise (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Billy Barrett was facing challenges as a consultant that he had never previously experienced. All of the goals that are expected in business practice were not amongst the main priorities here. Confused, he asked Maura Melia (Manager of South Hill Enterprise) if he could clarify the situation.

Guardian Angel (Ireland), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

It was the summer of 2006 and three friends of many years had come up with a business idea that they believed could be a money-spinner for all of them. Maria Harrison, Krystle Malone and Marie Lyons had all been students at the Technological University Dublin and had recently completed their degree in Marketing. As part of their programme, they had taken a course on Entrepreneurship by way of interest rather than any deep-rooted desire to start their own business. But now, they are about to meet a venture capital company to ask for €300,000 to get the business started. …

The National Game And Irish Society: The Gaa As A Cultural Brand, Aine Carroll

Masters

The link between brands and culture is well documented (McCracken, 1986; Ritson and Elliott, 1999). However the purposeful creation of brands related to culture is less evident (Vincent, 2002; Holt, 2004). It is this lack of theoretical understanding of cultural brands that drives this study. The objective of this study is to investigate the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) as an iconic brand within the socio-economic context of Ireland. The literature has been divided into two chapters, the first is an overview of consumer culture as the context within which brands have taken on great importance, in the construction of self …

Irish Marketing Review, Vol. 19, Nos. 1 & 2, 2007, Unknown

Issues

The Irish Marketing Review deals with issues, development and research in the ares of marketing.

The Technological Gaze In Advertising, Norah Campbell

Articles

This article is concerned with what a technological gaze might mean; what regimes of truth and what new modes of subjectivity are filtered through it. By drawing on television and print advertising, we can see the pervasiveness of a gaze that is technological in contemporary Western consumer culture. This article argues that, far from being a simple “ high-tech” effect, a technological gaze is a way of seeing that may be deconstructed. To this end, it will call on visual culture studies, feminism, film theory and Derridean deconstruction to highlight how high-tech images are cultural artefacts, which underscore contemporary imaginings …

Landscape And Geotourism: Market Typologies And Visitor Needs, Catherine Elizabeth Gorman

Conference papers

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore Geotourism (landscape tourism) in the context of the Irish tourism experience, to develop visitor typologies and propose an approach that will ensure greater sustainability by addressing market value and requirements through the use of marketing techniques and tools.

Methodology/Approach: An evaluation of existing geotourism resources and information was undertaken. A gap was identified in terms of marketing the Geotourism product. This gap is identified as a break the delivery of the experience to the most suitable customer and is addressed by identifying specific typologies, their requirements and making suggestions …

Towards A Conceptual Framework Of Corporate Branding In Retailing, Edmund O'Callaghan

Conference proceedings

The view that corporate brand building in retailing is different to any other context (Burt and Sparks, 2002) is predicated in the belief that ‘goods’ retailers need to manage a range of corporate components, its multiple relationships with customers and its dependence on employees to personify and deliver much of the corporate identity. These differences in operations are perceived as adding a degree of complexity to an already challenging process of corporate brand development. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for the corporate brand building process within an SME retail context. It develops on the work of Hatch & Schultz’s …

Informed Retail Location Decisions: A Critical Concern For Irish Smes, Edmund O'Callaghan

Articles

No abstract provided.

City Break Motivation: The Case Of Dublin, A Successful National Capital, Gerard Dunne, Sheila Flanagan, Joan Buckley

Articles

This paper investigates why people take city break trips. The main objective of the study was to reveal the underlying push and pull motivational factors associated with taking a city break holiday to Dublin. In-depth interviews with 40 city break visitors uncovered six push factors and eight pull factors. The main push motives involved were, ‘escape,’ ‘socialising,’ and ‘self esteem (gift giving).’ City breaks were generally viewed as active or ‘doing’ holidays, with the ‘relaxation’ motive hardly featuring at all as a reason to visit. Pull factors were found to be particularly important in terms of the travel decision. Factors …

Echinades Fish Farm (Greece), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

The past decade had seen a dramatic decline in the regional economy along the west coast of the Greece as agriculture faded and few incentives existed for manufacturing companies to locate there given its relatively poor infrastructure. Since the long-established Greek strength of tourism was still focused on the islands and in areas where large natural beaches offered holidaymakers the opportunity to lay out in the glorious Mediterranean sunshine, this region of barren land and traditional lifestyle offered little to entice the modern tourist. Despite this pessimistic background, Nikos Anagnopoulos stood on the deck of the small boat that had …

Digicel Foundation (Haiti), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

It was a beautiful day on March 5th 2007 and the official launch of the Digicel Foundation Haiti was drawing to a close. The Foundation had been inaugurated at a special ceremony to mark the completion of the Foundation's first project, the rebuilding in record time of the Ecole Mixte Lageho (a primary school in the hurricane ravaged Pont Janvier rural community of Thomazeau), thanks primarily to the combined efforts of Digicel staff and local community members. Denis O'Brien (Digicel Group Founder / Chairman and Patron of the Digicel Foundation) was joined at the ceremony by the Prime Minister of …

De Boerinn (Netherlands), Thomas Cooney

Case studies

Hendrik Jan Hoogendoom and his parents sat around the family dinner table and once again discussed the key problem facing the business in which they all worked. There had been many changes in the use of their land over the past two decades but they knew that they had not yet achieved the maximum economic return from it. Currently, the primary income came from recreation activities, which were extremely successful for six months of the year. But the challenge remained on how they could keep the business equally active during the long cold winter months.