Business Commons^™

Learning By Gaming: Supply Chain Management, Amr Arisha, Ayman Tobail, John Crowe

Conference papers

Today's third level students are of a virtual generation, where online interactive multi-player games, virtual reality and simulations are a part of everyday life, making gaming and simulation a very important catalyst in the learning process. Teaching methods have to be more innovative to help students understand the complexity of decisions within dynamic supply chain environment. Interactive simulation games have the potential to be an efficient and enjoyable means of learning. A serious interactive business game, Automobile Supply Chain Management Game (AUSUM), has been introduced in this paper. Using theories learnt in class as a knowledge base, participants have to …

Simulation-Based Optimisation Model For The Lean Assessment In Sme: A Case Study, Amr Arisha, Amr Mahfouz, John Shea

Conference papers

Due to their space limitation and small production scale, small and medium enterprises (SME) are vulner-able to rapid changes. Lean principles are considered as effective improvement approach to eliminate sys-tem’s waste and inefficiencies. Although much of the academic materials have addressed the lean practic-es into large, global companies, they can still be adjusted to SMEs. Risks are usually associated with lean implementation process due to the drastic required changes in business policies and operations. Simulation can be successfully used to predict the impact of the proposed changes ahead of the implementation which helps to mitigate risks. Integrating simulation with optimization …

Professionalism And Ethics: A Quantity Surveying Perspective, Tony Cunningham

Other Resources

The Society of Chartered Surveyors in Ireland requires its members to “Be able to justify your own actions at all times, and demonstrate your own personal commitment to abide by ethical standards to maintain the integrity of the profession.” Society of Chartered Surveyors (2006). This paper presents a review of six readings provided to final year students of the Dublin Institute of Technology DT111 BSc (Hons) Construction Economics and Management Programme as part of their coursework for the Construction Administration and Management Module (RECE4815). The paper discusses the principles and means by which the above standards are achieved in the …

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 …

Supply Chain And Logistics Technology Investment In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Edward Sweeney

Practitioner Journals

No abstract provided.

The Temporal And Processual Dimensions Of Practice For Enhancing Knowledge Exchange, Conor Horan, John Finch

Conference papers

This paper examines time and process issues that can contribute to knowledge exchange practices within network or case based research. We firstly address both the problems of time and network boundaries in network analysis and propose introducing organisational routines as a way to appreciate how actors perceive temporal structures in a dynamic environment. A dialogical analysis of data, looking at real others, imaginal others and artifacts, revealing different temporal structures in routines, is proposed as the substantive core of knowledge exchange practices. Case data from a University-Industry inter-organisational context is discussed to illustrate these negotiated temporal structures. We argue that …

Developing Business To Business Knowledge Creating Processes, Conor Horan, John Finch

Conference papers

Business-to-business networks are complex dynamic environments alive with processes of continuous change. Research about how firms can account for dynamic change and use this to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage is limited and confused. In addition there is little by way of research aimed at understanding how dyadic relationships and in turn networked organisations account strategically for dynamic change. In addition previous work toward understanding what leads to a sustainable competitive advantage looked at organisational ‘core competencies’ (Prahalad & Hamel, 1990) which arguably took a resourced based view of activities within a ‘the firm’ as an organisational level. Subsequent research …

A Simulation-Based Decision Support System To Improve Healthcare Facilities Performance – Elaborated On An Irish Emergency Department, Michael Thorwarth

Doctoral

Emergency departments (EDs) are a crucial access point to the healthcare system in Ireland. High patient demand and limited resources have resulted in long waiting times and long lengths of stay in EDs. Some of this pressure on EDs could be ameliorated by more streamlined hospital processes particularly in managing discharges and managing the volume of work. This research sought to develop a simulation-based Decision Support System (DSS) to enable an accelerated development of a simulation based solution to improve quality and care at Irish hospitals.

In order to investigate causes of bottlenecks and insufficient distribution of resources, a novel …

Knowledge Management In A Project Environment: Organisational Ct And Project Influences, Taya Polyaninova

Articles

During a project implementation various forms of information and experience are generated within the organization. If this accumulated knowledge is not recorded and shared amongst other projects, this knowledge will be lost and no longer be available to assist future projects. This may lead to increased future projects costs as resources, time and money will be wasted on redefining the knowledge that once existed within the company. By not capturing and redeploying this knowledge, the quality of a project’s deliverables may adversely suffer. First the publication reviews the concept of project knowledge management. It defines the reasons for managing project …

Rail Freight In The Republic Of Ireland, Juan Carlos Carrasco Gimenez, Edward Sweeney, John Harvey

Conference papers

In a world where freight transport is increasing, efficiency is essential. Transport by rail is characterised by its low fuel consumption per tonne. This mode of transport became extremely important during the last century but unfortunately it has been losing its importance in the logistics sector with the passing of time. However, we are currently witnessing an important transformation in the railway sector throughout Europe. This has been promoted by the European Union, with a significant allocation of resources to this issue. With the objective of increasing the volume of goods transported by rail, European nations are conducting a transformation …

On The Acceleration Of Explicit Finite Difference Methods For Option Pricing, Stephen O'Sullivan, Conall O'Sullivan

Articles

Implicit finite difference methods are conventionally preferred over their explicit counterparts for the numerical valuation of options. In large part the reason for this is a severe stability constraint known as the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) condition which limits the latter class’s efficiency. Implicit methods, however, are difficult to implement for all but the most simple of pricing models, whereas explicit techniques are easily adapted to complex problems. For the first time in a financial context, we present an acceleration technique, applicable to explicit finite difference schemes describing diffusive processes with symmetric evolution operators, called Super-Time-Stepping. We show that this method can …

Supply Chain Management: Scm Key To Competitiveness, Edward Sweeney

Practitioner Journals

Any meaningful attempt to eliminate waste and improve cost competitiveness in the Irish packaging sector must have a strong focus on how the supply chain is designed and managed.

Comprehending The Evolving Leadership Role Of The Consultant Designer In The New Product Development Process In Mature Product Categories, Fiona Maciver

Doctoral

Seismic shifts in 21st century market conditions – globalisation, immediate digital communications, rapidly developing technologies, an ever more sophisticated, knowledgeable consumer – create a new landscape for organisations seeking to create products of greater value, which better meet evolving needs and desires. While the marketing-led approach, dominant in the past half-century, focused on persuasion, design, with its specialised tools, is suggested to be more adept and flexible than marketing at understanding and providing relevant value for today’s consumer. A literature review argues that, in history, design has endured periods of particular strength followed by decline. This thesis examines the proposition …

Understanding The Outcomes Of Leadership Development - A Contextual Approach, John Golden

Doctoral

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the outcomes of leadership development in the context of a global building materials company. The study utilises a contextual approach to more fully understand the outcomes of leadership development. The value of a contextual approach is highlighted in the literature.

From Boom To Doom To Boom: Offshore Financial Centres And Development In Small States, Richard Woodward

Articles

During the 1990s tax havens and offshore financial centres (OFCs) were subject to a string of initiatives designed to raise their tax and regulatory regimes to accepted international standards. Many commentators forecast that this would lead to the demise of OFCs, a worry for the many small states whose economic well being depended heavily on the provision of offshore financial services. Despite this regulatory onslaught many small state OFCs have prospered in the new millennium. This paper seeks to explain this apparent paradox by arguing that (1) international initiatives were riddled with loopholes and exceptions that have been gleefully seized …

Lost In Translation: Interpreting And Presenting Dublin’S Colonial Past, Theresa Ryan, Bernadette Quinn

Conference papers

As Alderman (2010: 90) has recently written, the potential struggle to determine what conception of the past will prevail constitutes the politics of memory. This paper aims to investigate the politics of memory at play in determining how Dublin’s colonial heritage is constructed and represented to tourists. Dublin’s profile as a tourism destination has grown recently. It attracted 5.4 million visitors in 2009 (Fáilte Ireland 2010). Culture and heritage underpin both its touristic appeal and the city’s official efforts to represent itself as a destination. Much of Dublin’s most iconic built heritage is strongly associated with its development as a …

Rationalising Public Service: Scheduling As A Tool Of Management In Rté Television, Ann-Marie Murray

Doctoral

Developments in the media industry, notably the increasing commercialisation of broadcasting and deregulation, have combined to create a television system that is now driven primarily by ratings. Public broadcast organisations must adopt novel strategies to survive and compete in this new environment, where they need to combine public service with popularity. In this context, scheduling has emerged as the central management tool, organising production and controlling budgets, and is now the driving force in television. Located within Weber’s theoretical framework of rationalisation, this study analyses the rise of scheduling as part of a wider organisational response to political and economic …

Towards A Unified Definition Of Supply Chain Management, Edward Sweeney

Articles

A wide range of definitions of supply chain management (SCM) have been developed over the last three decades. The philosophy of SCM is based firmly on a recognition that it is only by working in a more integrated manner that competitive advantage can be maximised. However, for this to become a reality the development of common definitions and understandings between supply chain partners is a critical success factor. The corollary of this is that a lack of definitional consistency and a common understanding is an inhibitor to the successful adoption of SCM thinking in practice. This paper reviews a number …

Can The Use Of Clickers Or Continous Assessment Motivate Critical Thinking?: A Case Study Based On Corporate Finance Students, Lucia Morales

Articles

This study explores the use of clickers as a tool to support, encourage and motivate critical thinking in higher education students. A case study was carried out with a cohort of undergraduate students undertaking the BSc. in Accounting and Finance during the academic year 2009/10, were corporate finance was a major component. Since the students in this sample had previously demonstrated passivity during their corporate finance classes, it was proposed that clickers would help motivate them to participate during face to face sessions. Previous research on the use of clickers shows evidence that this tool has a positive effect on …

Muslim Entrepreneurship In Ireland, Thomas M. Cooney, Jennifer Manning, Amr Arisha, Peter Smyth

Reports

No abstract provided.

A Systematic Approach To Design Of Distance Graduate Management Programmes, Pauline Rodriguez

Doctoral

This study describes the systematic creation, application and evaluation of a
comprehensive framework for the design of distance graduate programmes, the goal of which is to inform decision-making for sustainable curricula that suit the growing demand for flexible learning options. A wide range of challenges face educators, and existing models appear to be insufficient to guide such endeavours. Successful distance learning is rooted in the values of the institution and requires a significant amount of organizational support, needs assessment of stakeholders, strategic planning, implementation and evaluation. This first international study of distance masters degree programmes in Tourism and Hospitality Management …

An Empirical Investigation Of Consumer Resistance To Green Product Innovation, Marius Claudy

Doctoral

Responding to the sustainability imperative has emerged as a key challenge and opportunity for businesses. Developing and marketing innovative ―green‖ products in particular can be a vital strategy for businesses to increase productivity, develop new markets, improve corporate image and ultimately attain competitive advantage. But despite consumer sensitisation towards environmental issues, many sustainable products face slow rates of diffusion in mainstream markets as consumers‘ green preferences regularly fail to translate into adoption behaviour. In this thesis we take a consumer resistance perspective to investigate empirically the so-called attitude–behaviour gap in the context of green product innovation. The aim of this …

Making Sense Of Health Care Planning In Ireland; The Street Level Public Organization (Slpo)., Vivienne Byers

Conference Papers

One of the central mechanisms of the Strategic Management Initiative (SMI) (Government of Ireland 1996) is the devolution of accountability and responsibility from the centre to executive agencies. Service planning was introduced in the Irish health care sector as part of this strategic planning ethos. This paper reports on a study that examined both the intent and the consequences of implementing legislatively mandated planning in the Irish health services, in the context of significant organizational change. In an effort to draw broader lessons, a comparison is drawn with the Canadian experience of service planning.

The choice was made to study …

In Search Of Theory: Towards An Integrating Conceptual Framework For Subsidiary Research, Donal O'Brien, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Patrick Gibbons

Conference Papers

Despite the importance of the strategic choices taken by subsidiary managers to the long terms survival of their unit, little is known about the phenomenon. (Dörrenbächer & Geppert, 2009, Scott, Gibbons, & Coughlan, 2010). This paper analyses and synthesises the research streams on subsidiary management to date to provide critical conceptual insights and proposes a new theoretical approach to subsidiary analysis, applied to the critical routine of subsidiary strategy. The adoption of more global business structures by MNEs has led to additional strategic constraints on subsidiary managers (Buckley, 2009, Buckley & Ghauri, 2004, Mudambi, 2008), which we categorise as the …

Subsidiary Strategy And The Role Of The Subsidiary Manager : Integrating The Middle Manager Perspective, Donal O'Brien

Conference Papers

Subsidiary strategy is a concept which has emerged in international business literature but research has so far failed to explain how subsidiary managers develop strategy under the constraints of the paradoxical pressures they face in today’s Multinational Enterprises (MNE). On the one hand current trends suggest that (MNE) are developing into more global business structures which are reducing the power and influence of subsidiary managers (Buckley, 2009, Buckley & Ghauri, 2004, Mudambi, 2008). The result of these trends, are that the market orientated aspects of subsidiary strategy are becoming constrained and to some degree taken out of the hands of …

Coalition Plan Falls Short Of Pre-Election Promises, Paul Donnelly, John Hogan, Brendan O'Rourke

Articles

There was much on openness and fighting white-collar crime in the parties’ manifestos – but where are they in the programme for government.

Government Policies Must Keep Business On Tight Rein, Paul Donnelly, John Hogan, Brendan O'Rourke

Articles

The unethical behaviour that helped create the economic and banking crisis has caught the attention of some parties.

Community Based Learning, And How This Policy Can Be Applied To Enhance The Learning Experience For Students On The Degree Course In Construction Economics And Management, Fiacra P. Mcdonnell

Other Resources

A study investigating the Dublin Institute of Technology’s policy regarding Community Based Learning, and how this policy can be applied to enhance the learning experience for students on the degree course in Construction Economics & Management.

The Paradoxical Effect Of Permitting Emissions, Fiacra P. Mcdonnell, Thomas Power

Other Resources

Progress has been made from the "either-or-scenario", whereby environmentalists regarded the market as an implacable enemy. The market is instead proving to be a potentially powerful ally. The rigidity of the traditional regulatory system with its mandatory approach is far from the ideal. An economic incentives approach has special merit in that it allows polluters a certain freedom of choice in the matter of compliance with pollution thresholds. This has important implications in the area of information. One of the barriers to perfect information is the private nature of information. Freedom of choice of policy in regard to achieving environmental …

Is The Law An Asset?, Fiacra P. Mcdonnell, Thomas Power

Other Resources

The peculiar nature of the US Federal Constitution impinges on the implementation of any federal legislation. The tenth amendment to the US Constitution lays down that powers "not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the States respectively...." What this amendment means is that political authority is vested in the states unless preempted by the federal government. The most obvious example of federal pre-emption is that of equal rights legislation for African Americans. Such federal action has traditionally come about as a result of the perceived failure of states …