Business Commons^™

Public Perceptions Of Hydrogen As An Energy Vector And Aid To Decarbonisation In The Republic Of Ireland, Colm Delaney

Masters

In the face of global commitments to decarbonise society by 2050, there is growing excitement surrounding the potential of hydrogen to emerge as a solution to many decarbonisation challenges. A transition to hydrogen as an energy vector in place of fossil fuels such as natural gas will require a significant transformation of existing energy policy, infrastructure, and regulations. While the technical aspects of a potential transition to hydrogen as an energy vector are undergoing large scale research, much of which is moving into the trial phase, it is widely presumed that a transition would be met with the widespread acceptance …

Harvesting A New Synergy: Exploring ‘Smart And Green’ Hotels Within The Context Of The Irish Hospitality Industry, Yi Sheng Tan

Masters

Hospitality emphasizes the ability for exchange of friendly and generous reception between businesses, guests and strangers. The complex nature of future travel and tourism industry directs the converging forces towards the hospitality industry to develop progressive strategies in response to increasing economic turbulence. Within the hotel sector, particular emphasis on emerging opportunities like sustainability and digitization are quickly shaping the strategic agenda in this competitive sector. It is envisaged that the hospitality industry will differ completely from today, owing to developments in artificial intelligence and smart technology. This research has explored the key components of the overall ‘smart and green’ …

Is The Irish Immigration Policy Delivering The Best For Its Economy Through Its Non-Eu Dependent Immigrants. An Empirical Study, Pai M.J Arjun

Masters

The Emerald Isle is fast becoming the next big hotspot for highly skilled migrants aspiring to relocate to the last English-speaking nation within the European Union [EU]. The transition from the state of being an emigrant country to an immigrant nation poses complex opportunities for the country, its people, and the immigrants who relocate in making Ireland their home. Despite a consistent inflow of skilled immigrants migrating into the country since the last few decades, policy reforms adopted in Ireland towards dependent immigrants remain reactive, lacks the backing of studies in evaluating the utilization of available skilled dependent immigrants in …

Exploring The Role Of Irish Local Authorities In Tourism Development: A Senior Management Perspective On Tourism Development In Cork County Council, Monica Moisuc

Masters

In an Irish context, the government's engagement in tourism and its role in developing the sector is acknowledged across most Irish government publications. However, despite efforts made to highlight the major role of the government in tourism, the number of studies that seek to understand how Irish local governments are engaging in tourism is limited. In an attempt to fill this knowledge gap, this study brings a new contribution to the current relevant literature by exploring the role of the government in developing tourism within a local Irish context.

Using a qualitative case-study approach, the particular entity under investigation is …

Designing Narrative Artefacts, Jennifer Dempsey

Masters

This thesis documents an investigation that explored the use of narrative and material culture to present aspects of women’s lives from eighteenth-century Cork city to a twenty-first century museum audience. There were two objectives of this research. The first was to create a catalogue of elements from material culture through which these women’s lives would be revealed. The second was to use narrative to make this information accessible and engaging.

This research is linked with Nano Nagle Place, a heritage centre in Cork city that opened in 2017. The centre documents the life of Nano Nagle, an eighteenth-century philanthropist who, …

Designing Museums For Participation, Collaboration And Social Interaction, Martin Mccarthy

Masters

This thesis documents the design and development of novel interactive experiences that explored concepts aimed to enhance the visitor experience to Cork Butter Museum, Cork, Ireland.

The context to the work is that in recent years, museums and cultural institutions are increasingly motivated to apply creative strategies to engage visitors who come for recreational, social and sometimes educative purposes. Novel museum exhibits designed to cater for such needs often involves the integration of new media technologies in response to rising expectations visitors have with regards to being actively engaged during their visit. This often requires a higher level of participation …

Strategic Development In Professional Associations: A Study Of The Strategic Development Of An Irish Professional Association, Imelda Graham

Masters

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the process of strategic development in professional associations. The thesis will apply the generic model as developed by Johnson and Scholes [1999] ton one professional association and seek to understand the process of strategic development within that association. According to Johnson and Scholes ‘the strategic development of organisations is better understood typically in terms of continuity or momentum of strategy; once an organisation has adopted a particular strategy, it tends to develop from and within that strategy, rather than fundamentally changing direction’ [Johnson and Scholes, 1999:45]. The thesis conducts a literature review …

An Exploration Of The Internationalisation Process Of Irish Indigenous Software Smes, Kathy Keeney

Masters

From meagre beginnings in the 1970s, the Irish software industry has emerged as one of the most interesting, exciting and successful Irish internationally traded service industries. Some thirty years later, the industry is still characterised by high levels of international trade activity, through niche market orientation and innovative and flexible management. Through an exploration of the internationalisation process in the context of Irish indigenous software firms, this thesis seeks to understand how this process of international expansion occurs, the barriers encountered throughout the process, future challenges for the industry and the use of strategic partnership activities as a facilitator in …

Consumer Web-Search Behaviour In The Irish Airline Industry, Bernie Lydon

Masters

Web usability is highlighted as a key factor likely to affect web search and subsequent buying behaviour. In fact it has been claimed ‘usability is a prerequisite for e-commerce success’ (Nielsen et al 2001). The main elements of usability may be categorised as primarily personal and stimulus factors. The main personal factors are constructs such as consumer attitudes towards searching, subjective norms, behavioural intentions to revisit web sites and likelihood of carrying out ecommerce purchases. The main stimulus factors are encapsulated in web design, which incorporates elements such as web content, web structure and web accessibility. These personal and stimulus …

The Determinants Of Charitable Donations In The Republic Of Ireland, James Carroll

Masters

This thesis explores the variable that affect the probability of donating and the variables that affect the size of donation by Irish households. The datasets employed are the Irish Household Budget Surveys, 1994/1995 and 1999/2000, which are analysed using a tobit model and a double-hurdle model with an inverse hyperbolic sine transformation. Between 1994 and 2000, Ireland witnessed a remarkable and well-documented economic boom. This thesis provides insight into how the determinants of charitable donations change in an economy such as the Republic of Ireland’s, which has undergone such rapid economic and cultural changes. To date there has been no …

Investing In Sustainable Urban Transport In Dublin And Its Commuting Hinterland - An Analysis Of Current Policy In The Context Of Its Review, James Nix

Masters

The thesis reviews international literature in the area of sustainable urban transport. Extensive use is made of industry reports and statistical information compiled by Irish public bodies. In turn, this data is supplemented by fieldwork, namely communication with, and study visits to meet, experts in three German cities - Bonn, Cologne and Munich - while a detailed case study is made of rail tunnelling in Madrid, with expert knowledge provided by Professor Melis, project leader of the Madrid metro expansion. Cost data from Madrid is compared with estimates for proposed underground rail lines in Dublin. Drawing on the literature and …

Consumer Decision Making As A Basis For Destination Selection: An Empirical Study Of German Tourists In Ireland, Ann Conway

Masters

The primary objective of this research was to explore the criteria that came into ply when a tourist judges one area over another. It examined the relative importance of tourist attributes in contributing to the attractiveness of a travel destination. This research is a study of over 1,000 German tourists to Ireland, having purchased and experienced the tourism product. Extensive review of consumer behaviour literature on theorists such as Schiffman and Kanuk (19940, Engel et al (1995), Lewis (1984 and 1987), Mowen (1995) and Loudon and Della Bitta (1993) laid a basis for research into tourism literature. This resulted in …