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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Capacity Rationalisation And Exit Barriers In The Irish Printing Industry, Kathleen Hughes

Conference papers

Decisions regarding capacity and capital investment are among the most critical for firms, as reflected in the extensive literature devoted to this subject. However, substantially less work has been carried out on the decision to disinvest. This is unfortunate as in some situations, such as recessionary times, the main competitive moves pertain to disinvestment, rather than investment. This study aims to contribute to this subject, in particular it aims to identify why industries with a concentrated structure can when proactively rationalise when required, while fragmented ones cannot. Research methodology a case study approach, comprising in-depth interviews with six industry experts …

Crisis Discourse In Ireland: Enterprise Discourse On An Edge, Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

The 2007 international economic crisis may have begun in capitalism’s heartland with credit default swops and sub-prime mortages, nevertheless some of its most dramatic manifestations have been at the edge. In Europe, the peripheral economies of Iceland, Greece and Ireland have manifested crises that have shaken Europe to the core, and generated crisis discourse that may well prove central. Certainly previous talk of crisis seem to have been key to political change processes in the past (Hay, 1996; Mårtenson and Lindhoff, 1998).While there has been some initial analysis of the discursive response to the economic crisis (Hartz, 2010; O’Rourke, 2010) …

Volatility Analysis Of Precious Metals Returns And Oil Returns, Lucia Morales, Bernadette Andreosso

Conference papers

This study examines volatility persistence on precious metals returns taking into account oil returns and the three world major stock equity indices (Dow Jones Industrials, FTSE 100, and Nikkei 225) using daily data over the sample period January 1995- May 2008. We first determine when large changes in the volatility of each market returns occur, by identifying major global events that would increase the volatility of these markets; the Iterated Cumulative Sums of Squares (ICSS) algorithm helps identify the break points or sudden changes in the variance of returns in each market using the standardized residuals obtained through the GARCH(1,1) …

The Wiki Way: Supporting Collaborative Learning For First Year Students, Kathleen Hughes

Conference papers

Skills in working in teamwork are demanded from graduates, and these are ever more likely to be over the internet. Horizon (2011) calls for this need to be reflected in students’ project work. The use of Wikis has been posited as a tool for collaborative online knowledge creation, increasing engagement, and social constructivism (Wheeler and Wheeler, 2008). The use of wikis in student groups is still relatively new, however, and the need for deeper investigation of its role in supporting group collaboration has been identified in literature (Bruen et al, in Donnelly, Harvey and O’ Rourke, 2010).

This study utilised …

Predicting Currency Pair Trends Using The Fractal Market Hypothesis, Jonathan Blackledge, Kieran Murphy

Conference papers

This paper reports on the results of a research and development pro- gramme concerned with the analysis of currency pair exchange time series for Forex trading in an intensive applications and services environment. In particular, we present some of the preliminary results obtained for Forex trading using MetaTrader 4 with a new set of trend indicators deigned using a mathematical model that is based on the Fractal Market Hypothesis. This includes examples of various currency pair exchange rates considered over di erent time intervals and use of the indicators in a live trading environment to place a buy/sell order.

Trends In The Food And Beverage Sector Of The Hospitality Industry, Detta Melia

Conference papers

The hospitality sector in Ireland represents an important part of the tourism industry and comprises hotels, restaurants, pubs and clubs, guesthouses and self-catering operations. The largest component within the Irish hospitality sector is hotels. In addition to hotels, food and beverage operations comprise a significant proportion of the industry. These businesses operate in a highly competitive environment as a consequence of a number of factors. First, there is a downturn in the global and domestic economies with a corresponding decrease in business across the tourism industry (Failte Ireland, 2010; Pitta, 2010). Second, there has been a rise in market demand …

Forex Trading Using Metatrader 4 With The Fractal Market Hypothesis, Jonathan Blackledge, Kieran Murphy

Conference papers

This paper reports on the results of a research and development programme concerned with the analysis of currency pair exchange time series for Forex trading in an intensive applications and services environment. In particular, we present some of the preliminary results obtained for Forex trading using MetaTrader 4 with a new set of trend indicators deigned using a mathematical model that is based on the Fractal Market Hypothesis. This includes examples of various currency pair exchange rates considered over different time intervals and use of the indicators in a live trading environment to place a buy/sell order.

The Wiki Way: Supporting Collaborative Learning, Kathleen Hughes

Conference papers

ABSTRACT:

Skills in working in teamwork are demanded from graduates, and these are ever more likely to be over the internet. Horizon (2011) calls for this need to be reflected in students’ project work. The use of Wikis has been posited as a tool for collaborative online knowledge creation, increasing engagement, and social constructivism (Wheeler and Wheeler, 2008). This study aims to contribute to the debate about the role of wikis and student group work, it should be of interest to instructors who use group work in their teaching, and those who wish to explore the application of web 2.0, …

Distributed Supply Chain Simulation Portal: Design And Implementation, Amr Arisha, Ayman Tobail, John Crowe

Conference papers

The emerging paradigm of eLearning is becoming increasingly in evidence across many academic disciplines acknowledging the concept that learning processes no longer support traditional teaching methods alone. It can be argued that today’s third level education students are part of a new virtual era where the blackboard has been replaced with an interactive whiteboard. To assist in the transition from traditional learning to eLearning, more interactive and virtually orientated teaching aids are needed. A simulation-based learning framework that integrates web-based simulation and a web content management hierarchy model is the key objective of this paper. Using the highly complex subject …

Identifying The Characteristics Of Key Account Managers That Drive Performance, Lesley Murphy, Joseph Coughlan

Conference papers

A conceptual model of the factors that are linked to the performance of a Key Account Manager has been developed. There is a paucity of research in the correlation between the Key Account Manager’s personal and behavioural characteristics and their influence of the individual and organisation performance. A review of the literature underlines that the Key Account Manager can described as a strategic orchestrator or lynch pin and their key role is to coordinate activities with other members of their organisation. As a result, their individual characteristics will be tested against trust, collaboration and communication which are essential for the …

The Impact Of 3pl’S Green Initiatives On The Purchasing Of Transport And Logistics Services: An Exploratory Study, Pietro Evangelista, Maria Huge-Brodin, Karin Isaksson, Edward Sweeney

Conference papers

There is a lack of research investigating the interaction and reciprocal influences between the buyer perspective and the supplier of transport and logistics services. Studies on the buyer perspective analyse the selection criteria to buy 3PL services, while research focused on green 3PL services examine initiatives undertaken by these companies to provide more environmentally sustainable services. The objective of this paper is to fill this void through an explorative case study analysis on the environmental attitude of 3PL companies in order to derive relevant implications for buyer’s behaviour. The results provide useful guidelines to buyers for understanding awareness, initiatives as …

Password-Based Authentication And Phishing, Edina Hatunic-Webster, Fredrick Mtenzi, Brendan O'Shea

Conference papers

The most common mechanism for online authenti- cation is the username-password. Majority of e- commerce applications are designed to provide pass- word authentication via an HTML form, with the assumption that the user needs to determine if it is safe to enter the password. In order to avoid phish- ing attacks, the user is expected to distinguish be- tween a phishing and a genuine website by checking the browser security indicators. Alternative authentication models suggest using images for authentication, introducing variations of Password Authenticated Key Exchange (PAKE) pro- tocols into TLS, using digital objects as passwords. Some authentication models suggest …