Co-operative competition: a Foucauldian perspective

This paper considers the extent to which Michel Foucault's conception of power gives a useful explanation of power relations between firms. It examines the perceived shift in the nature of interfirm relations from the traditional model in which firms operate as autonomous units within a competitive industry, to the co-operative competition model whereby firms engage in co-operation at certain levels of their operations and compete at other levels. It argues that the concepts of power and competition are closely intertwined and that an understanding of how power operates can give a greater understanding of the nature of competition within an industry. However the issue of power relations in the presence of co-operative competition has not been adequately explored by the literature. An analysis of the type of power reflected in interfirm relations is held as being the key to understanding the simultaneous existence of co-operation and competition between firms

The costs of poor safety in the workplace

Over the last two years we have conducted research on the costs of accidents in the workplace, monitoring 14 firms in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) over a 12 week period in 1995, and 11 firms in Northern Ireland (NI) over a 12 week period in 1996. Using a standard Report Form (Appendix I) which was filled in by the appropriate manager for every accident over the period, we have been able to obtain interesting case study information on the nature of the costs of accidents. In this paper we discuss costs of accidents in general (Section II), then describe our research methodology (Section III). The next section, section IV, presents the information on the costs of accidents arising from the research, in three sub-sections: total costs, direct vs indirect costs, and insured vs uninsured costs. In section V, we briefly summarise some of the recent literature on the prevention of accidents. Finally, section VI provides a brief conclusion

The Bank Lending Survey for Ireland

The results of the survey give important information on supply and demand conditions in the loan market and they complement quantitative data on developments in this market.

Democratic deepening in South Africa: the effect of public-private contracts on local government service delivery and local citizen participation

ABSTRACT LOCAL GOVERNMENT in South Africa is well positioned to meet some of the substantive challenges posed by the democratic deepening and development discourses in new democracies. It is responsible for the delivery of services to local citizens in a way that is ‘equitable, accessible and financially sustainable’. It is also supposed to ‘develop a culture of municipal governance that compliments formal representative government with a system of participatory governance’. Democratic decentralisation in South Africa does however have its limits in fiscal and institutional terms. Furthermore the course of developmental decentralisation is affected by levels of civil society activity and political will. Also, following the global trend towards New Public Management and national pressure on local government to be economically viable, various local authorities in South Africa have opted to enter into public – private partnerships for service delivery. These contract based arrangements significantly alter the way basic services are defined and destroy the relationship between local authorities and local citizens. Services become commodities as opposed to rights, local citizens become consumers and local authorities cease to be politically accountable. This thesis examines the effect contract based service delivery has on democratic deepening in terms of local citizens being afforded their rights to basic services and having meaningful opportunities to participate in the affairs of their local authorities

Taking a step back from the individual social entrepreneur

An investigation of how a national tourism policy resulted in the emergence of new social entrepreneurs in destinations across Ireland

Holiday Home Owners: a Route to Sustainable Tourism Development:an Economic Analysis of Tourist Expenditure Data.

Although sustainability comprises economic social and environmental aspects, economic analysis has been less evident in this literature. This article takes an economic perspective to evaluate the contribution of holiday home owners to a local economy. Tourism destinations which are at the mature stages of the tourism lifecycle wish to maximise revenue from tourism while minimising costs such as overcrowding. A prime objective has to be to attract the more valuable tourists. The analysis of North Wexford in Ireland poses questions such as: How does the holiday home owners’ expenditure in the local area compare to that of traditional tourists? Do they purchase different types of goods? What levels of local expenditure do holiday home owners engage in for the upkeep or development of their second properties? What implications of these findings? The results show that there are clear economic benefits for an area that people deem attractive enough to build or purchase a holiday home in. This type of tourists has a high annual spend relative to other tourists and much of this expenditure seems to be concentrated in the local area. These findings need to be incorporated into the broader debate regarding the advantages and disadvantages of holiday home owners and the possibility of them comprising a route to sustainable development for local tourist areas

Capturing More Voice in Entrepreneurial Education

A key element in Entrepreneurship education is exposing learners to real life entrepreneurial experiences. This is most often done via guest lectures who provide insightful presentations on their journeys, activities and strategies. This is often an element that students enjoy and report on positively in quality assurance forms. However, there are limitations to this approach as usually it is limited to one entrepreneur per module/semester, the type of entrepreneur who provides the guest lecture may be related to proximity, convenience or current networks of the lecturer, and diverse interests of students, and entrepreneurial representation, may not be met in this limited scenario. From a student voice perspective although higher education has become more focussed on incorporating discussion and interaction as a teaching and learning approach, often this is limited as some students are more likely to talk, and within the lecture room setting time is limited so often it is immediate rather than reflective responses that are being expressed. Thus, the student voice is also often restricted in this traditional curriculum delivery mode. This presentation will explore how we can further enhance this often limited voice from both students and entrepreneurs within entrepreneurship education. An experience of how this is being attempted in one Entrepreneurship module in TU Dublin is presented. The presentation will outline how podcasts, post lecture reflection, vevox, mural and an e-portfolio are being utilized to capture more voices in this module

Exploring the motivations of tourism social entrepreneurs: The role of a national tourism policy as a motivator for social entrepreneurial activity in Ireland

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 Gathering? What motivated them to engage in these activities? Will this social entrepreneurship activity be maintained beyond 2013 and how has it been impacted by the Gathering? Design/methodology/approach – The empirical research was conducted in two counties in Ireland, Co. Kerry and Co. Westmeath. The research tools used were key informant interviews, a survey of event organizers and focus groups. Findings – Key findings show that the Gathering has resulted in the emergence of new social entrepreneurs, but it has also had a positive impact on those who had run their events before, as it made them be more strategic in the way they planned and ran their event and also resulted in them thinking about these events in terms of tourists rather than just the local community. They also developed new skills which will aid their future development. It is clear that social entrepreneurs can play a fundamental role in the development of tourism destinations, and this is an important topic for researchers in tourism to be concerned about. Originality/value – The originality of this paper lies in the fact that it addresses the issue of motivation of social entrepreneurs and challenges us to think more about how these types of entrepreneurs identify the problem that they will address. Furthermore, this case shows that the motivation for such action can be prompted by a national strategy, rather than as the literature heretofore represented it as an innate motivation that materialized and developed within particular individuals