Business Commons^™

An Empirical Estimation Of Statistical Inferences For System Dynamics Model Parameters, Mohammed Mesabbah, Wael Rashwan, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

For system dynamics simulation (SD) models, an estimation of statistical distributions for uncertain parameters is crucial. These distributions could be used for testing models sensitivity, quality of policies, and/or estimating confidence intervals for these parameters. Assumptions related to normality, independence and constant variation are often misapplied in dynamic simulation. Bootstrapping holds a considerable theoretical advantage when used with non-Gaussian data for estimating empirical distributions for unknown parameters. Although it is a widely acceptable approach, it has had only limited use in system dynamics applications. This paper introduces an application of Direct Residual Bootstrapping (DRBS) for statistical inference in system dynamic …

Measuring Political Brand Equity In Ireland', Ewan Mcdonald, Roger Sherlock, John Hogan

Articles

This article will apply cognitive mapping techniques to understand the manner in which political brand equity is formed, and how it differs, across the four largest Irish political parties, from the perspective of citizens. It assesses the fundamental aspects of branding and brand equity in the marketing and political marketing literatures. Primary data were generated in spring 2012 through the participation of 232 citizens in the political brand elicitation stage and a further 75 citizens were involved in creating cognitive maps of brand equity. From the mapping process, we see that Irish political party brands are plagued by a number …

The Pain Of (Organisational) Change, Philomena Hanlon

Conference papers

Abstract

Ireland is the third most globalised nation in the world - Ernest and Young 2013 report

This reflective paper addresses key drivers of organisational change (including globalisation as referred to in the quote above) and what this means at the level of the organisation and at the level of the Lacanian subject[1] (individual employee). It looks at strategies organisations are adopting to survive in a hyper competitive environment and how these strategies are interpreted / responded to by the subject. The paper utilises a Freudian / Lacanian lens to interrogate subjective responses to organisational change. For some subjects …

National Hospitality Conference 2014: A Report, James Peter Murphy

Reports

The 2014 National Hospitality Conference took place on November 3^rd and was held at the Four Seasons Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin. The main theme of this year’s conference was ‘Preparing for growth’ , DIT Bar Studies students from the School of Culinary Arts & Food Technology joined delegates in debating and discussing the significant issues surrounding the conference theme.

Economically Rational Trading Between The All Island Single Electricity Market And Great Britain; Theory Vs Practice, Aoife Wilson

Masters

Economic trading across electricity interconnectors is considered to be a key factor in delivering the economic welfare benefits of an integrated European electricity market. This research examines this assumption as it applies to the interconnection between the electricity markets in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain. In doing so it reviews the assumption of economically rational trading behaviour by participants in the market. This assumption underpinned the cost benefit studies justifying construction of the East-West interconnector. Actual patterns of trading that have arisen post commissioning are compared with projected rational behaviour.

The research also considers the consequences of these behavioural …

‘I Just Want A Job’: The Untold Stories Of Entrepreneurship, Lucia Garcia-Lorenzo, Lucia Sell-Trujillo, Paul Donnelly

Books/Book Chapters

In this chapter, we explore the untold stories of Spanish and Irish necessity entrepreneurs to better understand the process of becoming an entrepreneur. Working with narratives, media articles, and policy documents, we illustrate how necessity entrepreneurs do not recognize themselves in the institutionalized entrepreneur narrative as empowered, creative and independent individuals. It is necessity, not opportunity that is pushing, not pulling, them to become entrepreneurial. The process is experienced as more fragmented than official narratives outline. In exposing these untold stories, the chapter expands our understanding of entrepreneurship, presenting a more nuanced view of both entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial process.

Development Discourse And Practice: Alternatives And New Directions From Postcolonial Perspectives, Paul Donnelly, Banu Ozkazanc-Pan

Books/Book Chapters

Development and aid programs, such as those aimed at promoting economic growth and prosperity in ‘Third World’ nations and transition economies, often arise out of Western and neo-liberal policy ideologies and practices. These programs may, in some cases, provide useful guidelines for restructuring institutional structures and governance mechanisms in nations that have long struggled with poverty, economic instability, health crises, and social and political turmoil. However, a growing number of critical voices are raising concerns over the guiding assumptions and inclusiveness of these policies and programs in their aims to promote economic development and social well-being in non-Western nations. We …

The Work And Skills Base Of The Quantity Surveyor In Ireland - An Introduction, Tony Cunningham

Other Resources

The role of the quantity surveyor is one that is often unclear amongst the general public. This study discusses the role and skills of the quantity surveyor in carrying out the financial management of building construction projects. The study outlines the roles of various categories of chartered surveyor and focuses on the duties of the quantity surveyor working in a consultancy role for building clients, and working in a commercial capacity for building contractors. The study examines recent developments in the profession, which have led to the quantity surveyor delivering a number of management related consultancy services, in response to …

Conference Presentation: 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 & …

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 & …

Knowledge Creating Routines: Dialogical Exchanges To Guide Repertoires Of Potential Action, Conor Horan, John Finch

Conference papers

We substantiate how generative routines, from a dialogical exchange perspective, guide repertoires of potential actions. Research on generative and emergent qualities of organisational routines, and their ability to assist actors arriving at new distinctions in practice, remains underdeveloped. Researchers have established that routines have the qualities of being generative, emergent and producers of ideas. Recent contributions argue for a dialogical approach to creating new organisational knowledge. This paper further develops the explanatory power of routines by combining dialogical exchanges within the ostensive-performative theory of routines. We examine the power of dialogical exchanges using words, understood as imaginal others within schemas, …

Exploring Economists & Society: Constructing Expert Identity, Joseph Fitzgerald, Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

The recent economic crisis has created a heightened interest in economics and greater demand for economics experts. The media has played an important role in meeting this demand as mediated expertise is relied upon to understand the complex relationships within society (Albaek, Christiansen and Togeby 2003; Beck 1992; Boyce 2006; Giddens 1990). Such interactions of experts with media are a key element of the knowledge flows within society (Sturdy et al. 2009) and so have attracted research attention (Ekstrom and Lundell 2011; Hutchby 2006; Montgomery 2008). This paper contributes to this literature by focusing on the under-researched area of the …

A Discourse Analytical Approach To Understanding Institutional Changes In The Irish Advertising Industry, Rosie Hand, Dalvir Samra-Fredericks Professor, Polly Pick

Conference papers

The central objective of the research upon which this paper draws is to establish how technological, economic and socio-cultural change has impacted the structures, roles and processes of the Irish Advertising Industry. Institutional theory provides the central theoretical framework. The research takes an interpretivist, constructionist and inductivist perspective and employs the methodological approach of discourse analysis to explore how institutions are being shaped and arguably changed by social actors. It draws on a growing body of literature which suggests that language is central to the structuring of organisations. The empirical data and its fine-grained analysis has begun to reveal the …

Optimization Of Resources To Improve Patient Experience In The New Emergency Department Of Mater Hospital Dublin, Heba Habib, Waleed Abo-Hamad, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

Healthcare systems globally are facing capacity issues due to the increased demand of health services, the high cost of resources and the level of quality anticipated of service providers. Emergency Departments (ED) are the most pressurized unit in healthcare systems due to uncertainty in demand and limited resources allocated. Mater Hospital (one of leading hospitals) in Dublin has built a new (state-of-the-art) unit for ED yet faced an issue in resourcing the unit to optimize performance. This paper presents an integrated solution to optimize the capacity of the new ED before opening to public and examine improvement interventions in the …

Integrating Simulation Modelling And Value Stream Mapping For Leaner Capacity Planning Of An Emergency Department, Esmat Swallmeh, Ayman Tobail, Waleed Abo-Hamad, James Gray, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

Recently, the application of lean thinking in healthcare has grown significantly in response to rising demand, caused by population growth, ageing and high expectations of service quality. However, insufficient justifications and lack of quantifiable evidence are the main obstacles to convince healthcare executives to adopt lean philosophies. This paper presents a real application of the successful implementation of a methodology that integrates Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and simulation modelling to improve an emergency department (ED) of a University hospital in Dublin. Appling lean approach in operations will minimize the patient waiting time and improve service time. VSM points out to …

Work-Family Balance Practices Among Irish Hotel Employees In A Human Resource Management Context, Kathleen Farrell

Conference papers

The study explored work-family balance among Irish hotel employees. Employees of a 5*, 4* and 3* hotels were surveyed in a unionised hotel group, a non-unionised hotel group and two family-run hotels, including a 4* and a 3*. Two thirds of those surveyed were front-line employees and a total of 246 (22%) returned questionnaires were used for data analysis. Regarding work-family supports, there was a considerable range varying from hotels with no supports, hotels with one support and hotels with all eight supports available. Company benefits were not associated with numerical flexibility, but company benefits were associated with functional flexibility …

The Performativity Of Objects: The Sociomaterial Role Of 'Imaginal Others', Conor Horan, John Finch, Emma Reid

Conference papers

In this paper we assess how objects can provide us with a clearer understanding of performativity especially when these objects become accounted for and calculated among actors as they review relationships. We assert that objects carry with them, and are associated with generalized others, understood here as imaginal others which as a concept used n this paper also contributes to objects’ performativity.

Developing Food Tourism - Roscommon Leader Partnership With Dit, Dermot Seberry

Other resources

A presentation on effective strategies for developing Food Tourism in County Roscommon

Breaking Down Barriers To University-Business Cooperation In The University: Change Through Incentivisation, Lyndsey El Amoud, Séamus Ó’Tuama

Conference Papers

Irish universities are currently engaged in a process of shifting their reliance on state subvention as their primary source of income to one that includes developing new streams of non-exchequer funding. This scenario emerges from a long-term trend of reduced state subvention which was dramatically accelerated by the virtual collapse of the Irish economy, which required an external rescue package brokered with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (which became know as the Troika) from November 2010. While Ireland has officially exited this arrangement, its public finance will remain severely constrained for an extended …

A Narrative Investigation Of Consumer Non-Exit In Problematic Irish Retail Financial Service Relationships, Tara Rooney

Doctoral

This study aims to provide understanding as to how customers remain in Irish banking relationships which they acknowledge to be problematic. While the banking industry asserts that inertia is the reason underpinning consumer inaction, the question remains as to how consumers rationalise the decision not to exit when dissatisfied. To this end, the literature review presents a synthesis of consumer relationship theory, dissolution theory and the role of inertia on consumer inaction. The methodology took an interpretative perspective applying a Narrative Analysis approach of fifteen varied participants in Dublin. In semi-structured life history interviews participants outlined their past experiences with …

Institutionalizing Industrial Development: The Cases Of Ireland And Taiwan, Paul Donnelly

Conference papers

Both Ireland and Taiwan are considered to have experienced “economic miracles” that, ex ante, could not have been predicted when the two countries started along the road of industrial development in the late 1940s / early 1950s through to the end of the 1960s. Taking the view that industrial development does not appear as a ready formed institution, as an essence that always-already existed, what is of interest in this paper is the work of institutionalizing or institutionalization as an on-going process. Accordingly, and through the lens of actor-network theory (ANT), the paper follows how both countries structured/organized themselves to …

A Typology Of Middle Manager Strategic Activity: An Exploration In An International Business Context, Dónal O’Brien

Doctoral

There is a growing body of literature which recognises the strategic importance of middle managers (Westney, 1990, Kanter, 1982, Balogun, 2003, Balogun et al., 2011, Tippmann et al., 2013). Through enactment of strategic activities, middle managers influence how strategy develops in organisations (Aherne et al., 2014). Floyd and Wooldridge (1992) developed a model of upward and downward strategic activity which has been the basis for much of the research on middle managers. However, recent developments have highlighted the limitations in only researching upward and downward strategic activities (Rouleau and Balogun, 2011). Middle managers are engaged with interfaces above and below …

Mirrors: 'Bleeding' The Creation Of Alternative Organization Through A Liberating Ideology Of Transformative Humanism, Alia Weston, J. Miguel Imas, Paul Donnelly

Conference papers

In this paper, we propose a new way of explaining the everyday practices of communities who socially organize to create sustainable grass-roots engagement. We discuss how this collective engagement is based on principles and values of socio-economic engagement that are fundamentally different to those associated with capitalism. We theorise that these community engagements are sustained by an organizational ideology of 'transformative humanism' that is founded on an ongoing struggle for emancipation. Our perspective is constructed through a combination of Frantz Fanon's ideas on humanism, Manfred Max-Neef's barefoot economics, and Paulo Freire's pedagogies of hope and transformation. We suggest that movements …

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 …

Developing Food Provenance In The 'Boyne Valley', Dermot Seberry

Other resources

A presentation on how Best Practice Food Tourism Initiative can be used across Ireland

Reducing Conflict And Violence In Hospitality Establishments., James Peter Murphy

Conference papers

Bar owners and staff members must be more concerned about safety and security issues. This is the result of a variety of factors, most notably recent legislative changes at national and international level and the subsequent high costs of assaults (including costs relating to litigation and compensation). Poor health, safety and security standards place staff members and customers at risk of serious injury if not death; employers suffer in terms of lost productivity and potentially higher premiums and the morale of the staff, as well as the industrial relations climate in the bar, can be adversely affected. At a minimum, …

Waste Management And Energy Recovery: A Significant Business Issue, James Peter Murphy

Conference papers

Waste Management and energy recovery has become a significant business issue for hospitality establishments in recent years. Hospitality establishments have to be more concerned about waste in their businesses and be able to adopt systems to reduce, reuse and recover waste. This challenge is the result of a variety of factors, most notably the charges involved in waste removal and cost of every businesses energy needs. Costs have grown dramatically, landfill capacity has become increasingly scarce and expensive. Stringent legislation has been introduced around the world to ensure optimum waste management and energy recovery practices in hospitality businesses. Opportunities have …

Developing Craft Beer Sales Opportunities: The Beer Tasting Experience, James Peter Murphy

Conference papers

The aim of this special presentation was to offer advice to delegates and members of the hospitality and retail licensed trade industries, amateur beer appreciation clubs and tasting groups, in relation to what preparations are necessary and what pitfalls to avoid when you are organising beer tasting events for their businesses.

Seeing Others As Others See Us, James Peter Murphy

Conference papers

The many challenges to the bar industry today include increased competition from a variety of entertainment sources, Bar owners recognize that other establishments are providing a similar offering sometimes at lower prices. This realization has brought about an increased focus on the care of customers and their viewpoints. Customers encounters can include attitudes of indifference from staff and poor overall service. Dissatisfied customers usually talk to others about their dissatisfaction and the negative effect of this outcome can paralyze, all your best pro-active customer and marketing efforts. It costs, on average, five times as much to win a new customer …

Cocktails: Profitable Assets Or Expensive Beverage Offerings, James Peter Murphy

Conference papers

Cocktails have become very popular in the majority of hospitality and licensed premises in recent years. Customer demands for contemporary and classic cocktails has driven demand. The training, innovation, equipment, new brands and exotic glassware, have all contributed to the overall success and interest in these drinks. It is crucial before you decide to enter into the cocktail area of your overall drinks offerings to ensure that you have all the elements required to build success and maintain a healthy business. Many establishments in the past have entered in the cocktail area only to exit after a short space of …