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The integration of social networks into branding strategy: the potential for social media networks as part of brand building and marketing strategy
Get PDFSustainable manufacturing of composite pallet blocks using waste wood and tyre-derived materials
Get PDFAn innovative technology is proposed by the Tyre/Wood Block LIFE project for manufacturing of compressed pallet blocks by introducing materials other than virgin timber into the compound: contaminated waste wood and waste tyre-derived materials. The technological, environmental and economical analyses carried out during the project proved the sustainability of this novel solution. A high volume demonstration facility has been set up in Lissarda, Co. Cork, Ireland. Providing that the technology is licensed to other manufacturers across Europe, it has long-term potential: a significant impact on the preservation of trees and absorption of an important quantity of waste tyres. This paper briefly presents the results of an LCA carried out for the pallet block manufacturing activity which proved the environmental benefits of using waste wood and tyre-derived materials over the use of virgin wood
Short interval management and the quest for process innovation: something new or déjà vu
Get PDFIreland still punches way above its weight internationally attracting 2% of total global foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2008 which amounted to circa €2 billion (IDA, 2009). The focus of the IDA (Industrial Development Authority which is responsible for foreign direct investment in Ireland) is on three strategic pillars: Global Services, High Technology Manufacturing and RD&I (Research Development and Innovation). Consequently innovation in manufacturing processes is a vital ingredient to providing sustainable MNC (Multinational Corporation) subsidiaries in the country. \ud
The work is presented in the context of a case study of innovation in APC Ireland, a subsidiary of the critical power and cooling services division of the Schneider Electric Corporation. Furthermore the paper will describe the utilization of a novel form of action research recently proposed to the IS community by Mårtensson & Lee (2004) which they call dialogical AR.. \ud
The central aim of this paper is to answer the following research question: can short interval management (SIM) support process innovation? The proposed structure of the paper is as follows. Firstly the background review will argue that SIM is not dealt with in the current literature and as a result has the potential to contribute to the conference theme. Then the longitudinal case study of a multi-national corporation together with the research approach will be outlined. An overview of the SIM process will be then presented followed by a discussion of the implication
An examination into the changing role of the chief financial officer in Irish listed companies: a 21st century perspective
Get PDFThe role of the CFO is a hotly debated topic. Multiple articles have been written\ud
on the subject. Some have advocated that the CFO is now firmly a strategic\ud
partner in organisational life, while others see it as a financial cop, focused\ud
solely on the financial matters resulting from the organisations activities. The\ud
reason for such divided opinions is the result of numerous factors that have\ud
instigated change on the role. Such factors include the globalisation of business,\ud
IT and the movements towards a knowledge based economy.\ud
The study found that these numerous factors are indeed causing changes in the\ud
scope of the role. The changes they are instigating vary from factor to factor.\ud
Globalisation is forcing the CFO’s to become more strategic in their thinking,\ud
while the increased corporate governance and reporting burden resulting from\ud
the financial scandals appears to be impeding the CFO’s value adding activities.\ud
Changes in the role have impacted on the skills and characteristics that the\ud
CFO’s require. The study highlighted that integrity was deemed the most\ud
important, followed by financial expertise, strategic focus, leadership, and\ud
finally communication.\ud
Adopting a strict definition for the role of the CFO has been identified as\ud
inappropriate. The research highlighted that the role exhibits many differing\ud
traits to it. Some facets of the role involve strategic aspects, while others are\ud
typical of the ‘financial cop-type’ work. An appreciation of the diversity in the\ud
range and nature of the CFO’s tasks is required, as opposed strict definitions\ud
such as strategic partner, or financial cop. The future of the CFO is far from\ud
clear. While it may grow in its strategic influence within organisational life, the\ud
‘financial cop-type’ traits of budgeting, project evaluation, and financial\ud
reporting are also likely to remain somewhat present for the foreseeable future
A note on long-distance matches of bottlenose dolphins (tursiops truncatus) around the Irish coast using photo-identification
Get PDFImages of 120 individual bottlenose dolphins from around the Irish coast were obtained from three photo-identification catalogues. Twenty three individuals were subsequently re-sighted, which is a re-sighting rate of 19%. The distance between re-sightings ranged from 130 to 650km and the duration from 26 to 760 days. Images were also compared to a catalogue of resident dolphins from the Shannon Estuary candidate Special Area of Conservation and from Wales but no matches were found. This short study provides strong evidence that bottlenose dolphins in Irish coastal waters are regularly undertaking large movements around the entire Irish coast and must be considered highly mobile and transient. These results have important implications for the conservation and management of this species
Building a dolmen: an ISD approach to the management of innovation
Get PDFThis paper addresses a “challenge in practice” by describing the initial stage of an information systems development (ISD) project to support the management of innovation within a subsidiary of APC-MGE. To begin with, a review is presented of relevant literature on the management of innovation and on information systems development. The background of the case study is outlined and the advantages of a dialogical action research approach to ISD are discussed. Then the development of a conceptual model using the organizational analysis approach of Multiview2 is described. The work proposes to make a contribution in a number of areas. Firstly it provides empirical evidence of the role of innovation in an organizational transformation and the challenge of designing an information system to support this objective. Secondly it presents an example of using dialogical action research, recently introduced to the MIS discipline by Mårtensson & Lee, to develop an information system. Future work will involve tracking the implementation of the concept in order to evaluate its impact on the organization
Computer validation upgrade of the WATS application
Get PDFThe reason I chose to complete my project on the upgrade of the WATS\ud
computer application is that one of my roles within Merck Sharp and Dohme\ud
is the WATS administrator role. As a result I am heavily involved in\ud
computer validation and the topic is of great interest to me.\ud
The purpose of the project was to provide individuals with an awareness of\ud
computer validation and ensure that there is an understanding of the various\ud
requirements of computer validation in order to meet both the regulatory and\ud
divisional guideline requirements.\ud
The introduction chapter aims to provide an overview of the WATS\ud
application and computer validation. It details the purpose of the upgrade\ud
and describes the differences between the application versions.\ud
The methodological details chapter provides an overview on the regulations\ud
and guideline requirements in order to complete computer validation\ud
accurately, effectively and within compliance. It details the WATS upgrade\ud
SLC GMP deliverables and provides a brief description of each deliverable.\ud
It details the responsibilities of both the site WATS administrator and the\ud
divisional team. It provides the details on the steps required to be\ud
completed by the site WATS administrator in order for a successful\ud
implementation of the upgrade. Each possible release strategy is also\ud
detailed in this chapter along with various plans which were required to be\ud
executed as part of the rollout of the upgraded application version. These\ud
include the SOP update plan, the upgrade version training plan and the PC\ud
rollout plan.\ud
The results chapter provides details on the results which were observed\ud
during the installation and testing of the upgrade version 3.03. This chapter\ud
includes the exceptions noted during testing; any incidents raised post\ud
release of the upgrade version and also details of the bug listing on WATS\ud
version 3.03.\ud
The discussion and lessons learnt chapter describes a brief discussion on\ud
the findings and on the lessons learnt as a result of the installation of the\ud
upgraded version of the WATS application.\ud
The conclusion chapter contains a brief conclusion on the findings of the\ud
upgrade, highlights the benefits of being involved in such a project and finally\ud
provides a brief summary on the future of the WATS application.\ud
Finally a glossary of terms and acronyms used throughout the project were\ud
supplied in order for all terminology to be understood by the viewers of the\ud
project.\ud
This project was compiled and completed on the 26th-Jan-2009 and I certify\ud
that at the time of printing all the information acquired was as accurate and\ud
up to date as possible
Environmental management systems: improving environmental performance
Get PDFThis dissertation seeks to examine environmental management systems (EMS) such as ISO 14001 and EMAS and to find out if they improve environmental performance. ISO 14001 has been in existence since 1996 and EMAS was first established in 1993 and has been available for participation by organisations since 1995. Some views have been expressed regarding EMSs generally that have not been complimentary in terms of their effectiveness as a means of improving environmental performance. Some of this negative opinion may be linked to inconsistencies between the application of these systems within organisations and to inconsistencies among certification bodies and also in the approach of those providing accreditation to the certification bodies. The ISO 14001 standard is an international standard and EMAS is confined to Europe and again there have been suggestions of different approaches in different countries and also differing attitudes being evident depending on the regulatory environment. This dissertation primarily focuses on environmental indicators used by organisations and how these might demonstrate improved environmental performance
E-Marketing communications: a case study
Get PDFThis research was undertaken in order to investigate e-marketing communications methods\ud
adopted by an Irish SME (Small Medium Enterprise). The investigation was based on a case\ud
study of Storm PM Ltd. The aim of the research was to examine the level of adoption and\ud
implementation of e-marketing communication. Consideration was give to e-marketing\ud
communication tools adopted by the company and the impact of e-marketing on their overall\ud
communication strategy.\ud
The research began with a review of the literature on the subject area using books, journals\ud
and the Internet. The research method used was the case study method. Within the case study\ud
multiple sources of evidence were used, namely: observation, depth interviews and customer\ud
surveys.\ud
The results of the study indicated that the adoption of e-marketing by Storm PM was driven\ud
mainly by reactive forces and only partially be proactive forces. The company does not have\ud
a formal strategic approach to e-marketing and therefore have no clear objectives or strategic\ud
plan for the current or future development of their e-marketing activities.\ud
Despite a number of e-marketing communication tools being adopted to varying levels of\ud
sophistication and implemented with different degrees of success, it appears that Storm PM\ud
does not have a full understanding or is fully aware of its scope and potential. Further\ud
development of current e-marketing activities is hindered by challenges such as time and\ud
human resource constraints as well as a lack of skills and knowledge. As a result, traditional\ud
marketing methods still form the majority of any marketing campaign. Despite this, the\ud
enthusiasm and drive exists within Storm PM to make e-marketing a significant part of their\ud
communication strategy in the future.\ud
Companies need to weigh up the value of investing time and resources to go beyond the\ud
generalist approach of merely having a company website. While businesses will have the\ud
principal responsibility for developing and investing in their e-marketing strategies, the\ud
appropriate support from government is also necessary to encourage innovation and\ud
investment
An exploratory study into the luxury services SME sector : the impact of brand equity on performance during and economic uncertainty
Get PDFBranding has evolved over recent decades from being just a name to differentiate\ud
products and services to taking on new roles such as a relationship builder and a strategic\ud
asset used in planning and budgets (Aaker, 1991, 1996, 2002, Berry, 2000, De\ud
Chernatony & McDonald, 2003, Duffy, 2003, Keller, 2000, Keller et al, 2002) Brand\ud
equity is so imperative that it has now become a financial asset of a company, often\ud
reflected in an annual balance sheet (Aaker, 2002, De Chernatony & Me Donald, 2003,\ud
Faullant, Matzler & Fuller, 2008)\ud
The following research is an exploratory study into service brand equity in luxury service\ud
SME’s to determine the impact the level of brand equity has on their performance during\ud
an economic downturn Both SME’s and luxury services are of topical debate at the\ud
moment as they are both vulnerable in this current economic downturn Despite this, both\ud
are under researched in the literature Therefore, this research aims to examine the\ud
importance of brand equity to these sectors and determine ways in which they can build\ud
it\ud
A mixed methodology approach was used for the research in order to gam a thorough\ud
insight into these complex issues For the quantitative research 177 questionnaires were\ud
completed by consumers in health spas and local shopping centers The study was carried\ud
out in the North West of Ireland For the qualitative research, two local spa managers\ud
were interviewed, one with a strong brand equity and one without, to determine the\ud
differential effect their brand equity had on their performance\ud
The research concluded that a luxury service SME can leverage brand equity to survive\ud
or even thrive in economic uncertainty The service experience, internal branding and\ud
brand image were the most important contributors However, constant investment in a\ud
brand and the people it influences is essential in order to build consumer loyalty