Business Commons^™

Organizational Responses To Institutional Pressures: Reconfiguration Of Spaces In Nanosciences And Nanotechnologies, Nicolas Battard, Paul Donnelly, Vincent Mangematin

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The literature on organizational responses to institutional pressures describes responses ranging from compliance to resistance via different modes of decoupling. However, although these studies provide a greater understanding of the phenomenon, they tend to be disparate and to consider the different elements separately. Through a comparative case study of six research teams in the area of nanosciences and nanotechnologies, we offer three contributions. Our first is to the decoupling literature by way of a complementary and cohesive framework, which shows that organizations vary in their responses by reconfiguring their physical (policy and materiality), mental (meaning) and social (identity) spaces, and …

Impediments In The Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr) Space: A Mixed-Method Approach, Tony Kealy

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Despite the potentially positive image and reputation implications of businesses implementing strategies in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), there appears to be a dearth of companies willing to play a leading role in moving CSR activities to upper levels within the consciousness of the organisation. The vast majority of businesses are merely complying with national regulations in their business sustainability efforts. This study investigates the reasons why there are road-blocks in the pursuit of higher levels of sustainable business development. A 17-question on-line survey was administered to a number of global participant businesses in a range of industries. The resulting qualitative …

The Importance Of Local Area As A Motivation For Cooperation Among Rural Tourism Entrepreneurs, Ziene Mottiar

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This paper explores the issue of entrepreneurial motivations among rural tourism entrepreneurs in choosing to engage in cooperation. It analyzes literature which deals with the role of entrepreneurs and the development of rural destinations and highlights the fact that the role of entrepreneurs has been understated. Using mixed research methods and studying two rural areas in Ireland it addresses research questions such as why do rural tourism entrepreneurs engage in cooperation? How did this cooperation emerge? And how do they choose who to co-operate with?

The key finding is that while these entrepreneurs are motivated to co-operate as they think …

3 E’S Enterprise Architecture Framework (That Encompasses Business Process, Information Systems, And Information Technology), Nicholas C. Bucciarelli Mr.

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No abstract provided.

Examining Best Practice For A Post-Graduate Module In Food Entrepreneurship, Kathleen Farrell

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As a lecturer in entrepreneurship education, the challenge of embedding an entrepreneurship mindset in my students is of great interest. A traditional lecturing approach is inadequate and there is a call for more creative teaching and a more experiential learning approach. In the words of Plutarch

“Minds are not vessels to be filled, but fires to be ignited”

The author decided to evaluate an existing Masters module on food entrepreneurship in the light of best practice. The approach involved a review of the literature and both EU and national policy documents. The syllabus, teaching methods and assessments on the Masters …

Book Review: Laugesen & Gauld. Democratic Governance & Health: Hospitals, Politics And Health In New Zealand, Vivienne Byers

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No abstract provided.

Training And Developing Non-Irish Workers: The Perspectives Of Interested Stakeholders, Mary Prendergast

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Purpose – This paper aims to explore the challenges facing Irish organisations in the training and development of non-Irish workers. It analyses the importance of fluency in the host country’s language and the approach taken by organisations in relation to language training. In-depth semi-structured interviews provide significant insights for the policies and practices of multiple stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach – The empirical research comprised 33 in-depth interviews conducted with employers, employees, trade unions and regulatory bodies, and an objective content analysis provided insights into the challenges Irish organisations face in the training and development of non-Irish workers.

Findings – The results indicate …

A Cross-Cultural Examination Of Preferences For Work Attributes, Melissa S. Woodard, Jane K. Miller, Daniel Miller, Kirk D. Silvernail, Chun Guo, Sudhir Nair, Mehmet Devrim Aydin, Ana Helosia Da Costa Lemos, Paul Donnelly, Vilmante Kumpikaite, Robert Marx, Linda M. Peters

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between individual- and country-level values and preferences for job/organizational attributes. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were collected from 475 full-time employees (average of nine years work experience, and three years in a managerial position) enrolled in part-time MBA programs in seven countries. Findings – Preference for a harmonious workplace is positively related to horizontal collectivism, whereas preference for remuneration/advancement is positively related to vertical individualism. The authors also find a positive relationship between preference for meaningful work and horizontal individualism, and between preference for employer prestige and social adjustment …

The Welfare Effects Of Nationalization In A Mixed Duopoly Public Transport Market, Feifei Qin, Xiaoning Zhang, Eoin Plant

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Recently, many cities have launched new rail transit lines. Once these new rail transit lines start commercial operation, they will play important roles as competitors to conventional bus services. In this paper, the effects of nationalization on equilibria have been studied in a mixed duopoly public transport market, in which one publicly-owned rail transit operator competes with one private bus operator. Two numerical case studies show the nationalization of a rail transit company is always socially desirable both in Bertrand pricing game in the short run and in Nash non-cooperative game in the long run.

The Production Of Ek Tha Tiger: A Marriage Of Convenience Between Bollywood And The Irish Film And Tourist Industries, Giovanna Rampazzo

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This article examines a collaboration between the Irish and Hindi film industries, adopting the production of Kabir Khan’s Ek Tha Tiger (2012) in Dublin as a case study. It critically narrates the arc of the film’s production, foregrounding the intersecting concerns of Yash Raj Films and Irish creative and cultural institutions. Ek Tha Tiger represents Ireland through constructed idyllic images which proved to be successful in attracting tourists. Tracing the links between the production of the film and the promotion of tourism to Ireland, this article explains how the film was used to construct a ‘tourist gaze’ for audiences in …

Resolving The Policy Paradox: The Case Of Biofuel Production In Ireland, Alan Gilmer, Mark J. Mcgarrity, Vivienne Byers

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the status of policy design and policy implementation in the biofuel sector in Ireland. The focus of the work addresses the overarching operational context of the biofuel sector in Ireland and the role of different actors in shaping and resolving inconsistencies in policy outlook and practice. Design/methodology/approach – This study used a qualitative research approach involving a series of semi-structured interviews with members of the relevant sub-groups concerned. This study sought to address two questions – whether current or proposed policy is likely to affect consumption of indigenous biofuel feedstocks …

Young Consumers’ Brand Communications Literacy In A Social Networking Site Context, Margaret-Anne Lawlor, Aine Dunne, Jennifer Rowley

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Purpose - Whilst substantial scholarly attention has been given to children’s understanding of advertising in the context of traditional advertising channels, there is a gap in the literature with regard to children’s commercial awareness in the context of online social networking sites (SNS). This paper seeks to explore the nature and extent of advertising literacy amongst young consumers in the context of their use of SNS, namely Facebook and Bebo.

Design/methodology/approach - A three-stage study was conducted with 12-14 year old girls, using focus group discussions, participant observation and in-depth interviews.

Findings - The study illustrates that the increasingly blurred …

Interactive Learning: Developing An Esimulation Portal Framework, Ayman Tobail, John Crowe, Amr Arisha

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The emerging eLearning paradigm is becoming increasingly used in many academic disciplines. The concept acknowledges learning processes that no longer deploy only traditional teaching methods. It can be argued that today’s third level education students are part of a new virtual era where the blackboard has been replaced by the interactive whiteboard, so more interactive and virtually orientated teaching aids are required to assist in the transition from traditional learning to eLearning. The key objective of this paper is to propose a simulation-based learning framework that integrates web-based simulation and a web content management hierarchy model. Using the highly complex …

Legitimising Expertise: Analysing The Legitimation Strategies Used By Economics Experts In Broadcast Interviews, Joseph K. Fitzgerald, Brendan O'Rourke

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Few would doubt that economists have taken a prominent role as experts on policy issues [Maesse, J. 2015. Economic experts: A discursive political economy of economics. Journal of Multicultural Discourses 10, no.3: 279–305] and some contend that no other social science discipline has gained such prominence [Fourcade, M., E. Ollion, and Y. Algan. 2015. The superiority of economists. Journal of Economic Perspectives 29, no.1: 89–114]. This prominent societal role has long been evident and leans on their perceived objectivity with regard to the economy and policy advice. Yet, the Great Recession of 2008 put past understandings of the economy, and …

Strategy/Enterprise Discourse Bounds In Business Talk., Brendan O'Rourke

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Corporate strategy emerged as large non-owner managed firms became economically important (Knights and Morgan, 1991). Strategy became the substitute for the earlier enterprise discourse, which depended on the dominance, in entrepreneurial capitalism, of owner-managed firms. The discourses of strategy and enterprise developed as separate academic areas and as logics of two very different economic domains. From the late 1970s however, large organizations (Kanter, 1983:27) and governments have been urged to be more entrepreneurial (Klein et al., 2010; Osborne and Gaebler, 1993). Meanwhile, small firms were encouraged to be more strategic (Carr, 2000). This article looks at evidence from small …

A Techno-Economical Appraisal Of A Pv Domestic Plant On A Irish Dwelling, Roberto Sandano

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A comprehensive study of a domestic PV installation is addressed in this paper. A series of economic results are presented for a domestic installation in Ireland.

Interactive Learning: Developing An Esimulation Portal Framework, Ayman Tobail, John Crowe, Amr Arisha

Articles

The emerging eLearning paradigm is becoming increasingly used in many academic disciplines. The concept acknowledges learning processes that no longer deploy only traditional teaching methods. It can be argued that today’s third level education students are part of a new virtual era where the blackboard has been replaced by the interactive whiteboard, so more interactive and virtually orientated teaching aids are required to assist in the transition from traditional learning to eLearning. The key objective of this paper is to propose a simulation-based learning framework that integrates web-based simulation and a web content management hierarchy model. Using the highly complex …

Harmonizing Multinational Parent Company Liability For Foreign Subsidiary Human Rights Violations, Vivian Grosswald Curran

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A notable development of recent years has been the simultaneous legal invisibility and ubiquity of the giant multinational corporation where its subsidiaries operate elsewhere under legal structures that preserve the parent company from liability for the subsidiary’s conduct. This article focuses on multinationals whose parent company is at home in a developed country and subsidiaries operate in a developing state, and specifically where the foreign subsidiary is alleged to have violated norms of universal human rights. It examines current legal theory, and offers a comparative perspective on legislative and judicial traditions and innovations in several home states of large multinational …

Keeping It Real: Why Congress Must Act To Restore Pell Grant Funding For Prisoners, Spearit

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In 1994, Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (VCCLEA), a provision of which revoked Pell Grant funding “to any individual who is incarcerated in any federal or state penal institution.” This essay highlights the counter-productive effects this particular provision has on penological goals. The essay suggests Congress acknowledge the failures of the ban on Pell Grant funding for prisoners, and restore such funding for all qualified prisoners.

When The Customer Is King: Employment Discrimination As Customer Service, Lu-In Wang

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Employers profit from giving customers opportunities to discriminate against service workers. Employment discrimination law should not, but in many ways does, allow them to get away with it. Employers are driven by self-interest to please customers, whose satisfaction is critical to business success and survival. Pleasing customers often involves cultivating and catering to their discriminatory expectations with respect to customer service — including facilitating customers’ direct discrimination against workers.

Current doctrine allows employers to escape responsibility for customers’ discrimination against workers because it takes an overly narrow view of the employment relationship. The doctrine focuses on the formal lines of …

Customer Roles In Self-Service Technology Encounters In A Tourism Context, Petranka Kelly, Jennifer Lawlor, Michael Mulvey

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This paper reports on a study which explored the customer perspective on their roles in SST encounters in a tourism context, through the theoretical lens of service-dominant logic. The study employed short qualitative interviews with airline passengers at an international airport. The findings suggest that customers can assume six roles in an SST encounter which can be viewed as either positive or negative in terms of value creation. Therefore, a key contribution of this paper is the development of a role-experience continuum which depicts the variations in customer experiences of value creation in a tourism context.

Supporting Sustainability Through Developing A Learning Network Among Traditional Food Producers: Applications Of Action Learning, Paul Coughlan, David Coghlan, Denise O'Leary, Clare Rigg, Doireann Barrett

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Purpose: The chapter describes and reflects upon an EU-funded research initiative, TRADEIT, which has attempted to develop a learning network among European traditional food producers as one way of contributing to the economic sustainability of the ventures, the social sustainability of the food’s regional character, and the environmental sustainability of food production through the use of traditional methods.

Design/methodology/approach: The chapter describes TRADEIT before moving on to an exploration of learning in organizations and networks. It outlines the action learning research methodology developed and implemented to explore the development of a learning network in TRADEIT. A single case history …

Turning To Case Studies As A Mechanism For Learning In Action Learning, Denise O'Leary, Paul Coughlan, Clare Rigg, David Coghlan

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Case studies are a useful means of capturing and sharing experiential knowledge by allowing researchers to explore the social, organisational and political contexts of a specific case. Although accounts of action learning are often reported using a case study approach, it is not common to see individual case studies being used as a learning practice within action learning sets. Drawing on a network action learning (NAL) project, this paper explores how the process of coaching, articulating, authoring, sharing and editing case studies provided a vehicle for learning and research within a NAL set. The intended contribution of this paper to …

Exploring The Importance Of Team Psychological Safety In The Development Of Two Interprofessional Teams, Denise O'Leary

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It has been previously demonstrated that interactions within interprofessional teams are characterised by effective communication, shared decision-making, and knowledge sharing. This article outlines aspects of an action research study examining the emergence of these characteristics within change management teams made up of nurses, general practitioners, physiotherapists, care assistants, a health and safety officer, and a client at two residential care facilities for older people in Ireland. The theoretical concept of team psychological safety (TPS) is utilised in presenting these characteristics. TPS has been defined as an atmosphere within a team where individuals feel comfortable engaging in discussion and reflection without …

Customer Roles In Self-Service Technology Encounters In A Tourism Context, Petranka Kelly, Jennifer Lawlor, Michael Mulvey

Articles

This paper reports on a study which explored the customer perspective on their roles in SST encounters in a tourism context, through the theoretical lens of service-dominant logic. The study employed short qualitative interviews with airline passengers at an international airport. The findings suggest that customers can assume six roles in an SST encounter which can be viewed as either positive or negative in terms of value creation. Therefore, a key contribution of this paper is the development of a role–experience continuum which depicts the variations in customer experiences of value creation in a tourism context.

Exploring The Motivations Of Tourism Social Entrepreneurs: The Role Of A National Tourism Policy As A Motivator For Social Entrepreneurial Activity In Ireland, Ziene Mottiar

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivations of social entrepreneurs. It explores the case of the Gathering in Ireland in 2013, when against a backdrop of recession, the national Government encouraged individuals and communities to organize events and invite the Diaspora to visit Ireland as a way of helping the country to revitalize. Some 5,000 events took place across the country during the year, and this paper examines this in the context of social entrepreneurship. Three research questions are posed: Who were these tourism and social entrepreneurs who organized events as a result of the …

Constructing A Postcolonial Feminist Ethnography, Jennifer Manning

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Purpose – The paper details the construction of a postcolonial feminist approach to ethnography; providing insight into how the researcher developed her ethnographic approach based on her theoretical framework and demonstrating how she undertook this research. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to outline how the researcher identified positionality and representation as the primary challenges of undertaking a postcolonial feminist ethnography with marginalised Maya women in Guatemala, and how she addressed these complexities in the field.

Design/methodology/approach – This postcolonial feminist ethnography was conducted over a three-month period in the rural highlands of Sololá, Guatemala. This approach bridges the …