1522 research outputs found
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Does the Value of Venture Capital Vary Over Investees Life Cycle? Evidence from Irish Investees
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Venture capital plays a catalytic role in the entrepreneurial process, which is vital for competitive vibrancy, economic growth and job creation. This is particularly true in the Irish context, where venture capital while still in its infancy is more comparable to the US and UK rather than Continental Europe. This paper investigates investee perceptions on the nature and quality of VC involvement in Ireland and examines their relation with the investees’ assessment of VC value. Overall, we document a life cycle in VC activities. Furthermore, the frequency and type of VC–investee interactions that influence the investees’ perceived contribution of VC to performance also differ over the life cycle
Advanced composites for the medical device industry
Get PDFMore and more diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are now being performed utilising microbore catheters. With the evolution of medical science and the development of new and revolutionary minimally invasive medical procedures, design
and performance requirements for small diameter medical tubing have become more demanding and complex
What is Science education for? [NB: Proof version]
No full textThe Romantics of the late eighteenth century
saw the highest good as self-realisation through
individual metamorphosis. Much of this noble
ideal has been extinguished in contemporary
schooling, in favour of pupils and teachers
alike having to comply with the instrumentalist
diktats that emanate periodically from our
political masters. Resurrecting the earlier value
encourages us to reflect upon what we see as
the purposes of science education – for both the
individual and society, to consider how present
practices fall short of achieving these ideals
and to challenge a bleak picture of science
teachers as loyal instruments of government
who unquestioningly deliver a state-mandated
science curriculum to passive recipients
End-to-End Model Driven Policy Based Network Management
Get PDFThe continued movement towards converged networks changes the focus to building application services that enable customers to move between different types of service providers based on their needs. Policy management becomes paramount for the rapid deployment and management of these application services. This paper presents the concept of a policy continuum and discusses the importance of modelling and natural languages in the presence of the policy continuum, resulting in a novel architecture suitable for autonomic computing
CONSUMER RELATIONSHIPS WITH RUTHLESS BRANDS
Get PDFThe marketing and reputation literature has failed to investigate how brands with negative associations can build trusting relationships with consumers. Research into the measurement of product brand image is unbalanced and has focused on using only positive traits (Aaker, 1999; Batra et al. 1993; Bellenger et al., 1976), as the belief was that a brand could have significant brand equity when consumers held a favourable impression of the brand (Keller, 1993). However, it has been argued that corporate brands that have negative images or associations are not necessarily destined to receive negative responses (Brown and Dacin, 1997). Hence, in the current study the authors attempt to explain consumer relationships with brands that are perceived to be controlling, totalitarian, dominant, and selfish; collectively known as brands with ruthless characters (Davies et al., 2004).
A theoretically driven model is explored and tested using structural equation modelling on survey data (N=600) for four corporate brands (Ryanair, Microsoft, Virgin and The Sun Newspaper) and the visible leaders of the four companies (Michael O’Leary, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Rupert Murdoch). These brands were the most frequently quoted brands in preliminary qualitative work conducted to identify brands with ruthless characters. The model explores consumer trust in the corporate brand and the overall attractiveness of the brand (Aaker et al. 2004). A structural model is presented with above adequate model fit along with empirical findings. Managerial implications and a future research agenda are discussed
Large scale interoperability, integrating the Daidalos project
Get PDFThis paper discusses the challenges of large scale integration within the context of the massive collaborative mobile & wireless systems beyond 3G research project Daidalos. It first examines the relationship of the Daidalos architecture. It then identifies an integration model that was used for the project, with an overview
of the testing processes, tools, and methodologies employed. Next, discusses the Daidalos demonstration scenario, and shows how it was used in the integration
execution validation and verification activity of the project. The article closes with a discussion of the research necessary to develop these capabilities further
Exploring the Strategic Aspects of Devolvement of HRM to Line Managers The Case of an Irish Semistate RIKON Group
Get PDFThe notion of line managers accepting a degree of people management responsibility is not a new phenomenon. However, a key trend in the contemporary management literature has been to increasingly assign formal responsibility for people management to the line management function (Harris et al., 2002; Whittaker and Marchington, 2003; Mesner Andolsek and Stebe 2005 and Cascon-Periera et al., 2005). The rationale for involving line managers in HRM is derived from a strategic approach to align HR strategies with the business needs and to address factors from both the internal and external environments which impact on HRM requirements. The practice of devolution has increasingly received recognition in the management literature, to the degree that it “is now received wisdom” (Holt Larsen and Brewster, 2003:228).
The aim of this paper is to explore, from a strategic perspective, the devolvement of HRM to line managers in a semi-state organisation. This includes identifying what role line managers play in the execution of HR strategy and exploring how, and to what degree, devolvement of HRM is occurring. The results of this study suggest that developing line managements HRM capabilities has fostered more collaborative relationships between HR professionals and line management and has positively impacted on line managers approach to managing their human resources
Integrating and Demonstrating Pervasiveness in a Scenario Driven Approach
Get PDFThis paper describes the effort that was taken to demonstrate a pervasive
computing platform that was integrated with advanced networking functionalities
within the Daidalos project. The Demonstrations were aligned to the two key
scenarios which were the basis of the project’s development process and served as an
exposition of the key innovations and the overall vision. The use of a new
visualisation tool is described that is used to accompany the demonstration in realtime
in order to illustrate the platform’s major features. We conclude with a critical
review of the effectiveness of the demonstrations in order to convey the innovations
and important processes
Towards Integrating Principles of Molecular Biology for Autonomic Network Management
No full textTraditionally, network management functionalities have been performed manually by expert individuals. However, the traditional approaches leads to numerous problems, including high maintenance cost as well as being error prone, and may possibly lead to failures in cases where functionality changes are inconsistent. This complexity has been accelerated with the proliferation of different network technology types, devices supporting these technologies, as well as diverse services that accompany these technological advancements. From observing these drawbacks, researchers are now investigating the application of applying autonomic functionality in communication networks in order to efficiently support and maintain high level business goals, as well as to manage the complexity of network reconfiguration and management. We explore some bio-inspired mechanisms from the point of view of autonomic network Management. Autonomic capabilities enable network entities to efficiently manage, configure, and maintain network services and resources with minimal human interaction