Untangling the Web: an Evaluation of the Digital Strategies of Irish News Organisations

As Ireland’s print media continue to suffer a drop in their circulations, how important is the implementation of a viable and, above all, profitable web strategy, and how extensively are these currently being employed within four Irish news organisations? These include Ireland’s three best selling dailies: The Irish Times, the Irish Independent, and the Irish Daily Star, and a regional newspaper with a notable online presence, the Limerick Leader. This research examines the day-to-day operations of Irish news organisations; the resources devoted to their digital media/online departments, the revenue-generation strategies in place to monetize the work of these departments; and the prioritization given to the various mediums through which information is distributed. These issues have been explored by interviewing the people with responsibility for digital development within these organisations to ascertain what they believe that they are doing both correctly and incorrectly, in their attempts to gain traction for the online news sites within their organisations. Just what does this move online mean to Irish news organisations, and what differentiates those who are moving online from those who are not? What differences exist in their news-gathering approaches and the platforms via which they disseminate news? How far will these organisations go in their pursuit of online revenues? Are paywalls the end-goal, or is the only way to safeguard their futures to adopt the media model that is digital first

Improving communication and increasing adoption of innovations in the beef industry

Agriculture has adopted many scientific innovations that have improved productivity. The majority of innovations in agriculture have been communicated to end users through a simple diffusion and dissemination model. However, as the science underpinning the innovations becomes more complex, research and development organizations need to look at better ways to communicate their innovation to end users. This paper examines innovations in the beef industry in Australia and investigates how complex innovations are being communicated and identifies the nature and level of communication with end users and the role of intermediaries. The findings support the need for greater involvement of end users in the innovation development process and a more vibrant two-way communication process between scientists, intermediaries and end users. The results also suggest that the traditional diffusion processes are insufficient to ensure high levels of awareness and adoption

Strategy and continuous improvement in small-to-medium Australian manufacturers

While Australian firms have generally recognised the value of continuous improvement (CI) in improving performance, many have yet to develop systems to ensure that the efforts of the CI program are focussed on issues of strategic importance to the company. In fact, as recognised in operations management generally, CI activities can have a significant impact on the development of strategy as well as its implementation. The research reported here uses a CI mapping methodology to chart the relationship between CI and strategy in small- to medium-sized manufacturers. Analysis of the link between the firms’ strategies and CI programs indicates that most firms involved in the study made little attempt to link the two and some appear to be unaware of any need to do so. However, such findings seem to be dependent on company size, the maturity of the CI program and the competitive position of the firm. The paper also includes an examination of the role of operations and shopfloor CI in company strategy, particularly as related to SMEs

Star formation in the large Magellanic cloud

What role the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a dwarf irregular galaxy, plays in understanding infrared luminous galaxies is discussed. There are two main reasons the LMC may prove helpful. One, the LMC is only 55 kpc away, very nearby compared to much rarer high luminosity systems. Second, the environment in the LMC is distinctly different than in the Milky Way, at least those parts of the Milky Way interior to the sun, where most of the studies of massive star formation were concentrated. The LMC is an interacting system with a large amount of neutral hydrogen that is pushed around by the galaxy's encounter with the Milky Way. Perhaps a good understanding of star formation process in the LMC will provide guidance in the study of the infrared luminous galaxies. Two questions which will be addressed are: how is star formation in the LMC similar to the Milky Way Galaxy, and how is it different

Training practices of multinational companies in Asia

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this study is to explore a range of training practices adopted by multinational companies (MNCs) operating in Asia. It investigated the level of training expenditure, the nature of training programs offered and the concerns about training in MNCs. Design/methodology/approach &ndash; Data were obtained through a survey of 529 MNCs operating in six Asian countries to examine the average cost spent on training and the type of training programs offered to different groups of employees. The respondents were also asked to indicate their perceptions on the training provided and how effective the training has on firm performance. Findings &ndash; It appears that MNCs invested significantly in training. Training was found to be more widespread in service organisations than manufacturing organisations operating in Asia. The majority of training emphasised managerial and professional staff development; and was generally conducted externally. Respondents were concerned mainly with the quality and relevance of training programs offered externally. Originality/value &ndash; The results provide MNCs, especially those headquartered in European and other Western countries with insights into designing and offering more relevant and better quality training programs to their employees located in Asian subsidiaries.<br /

Manufacturing to Asia : who will win the emerging battle for talent between Dragons and Tigers?

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this study is to examine the issues relating to recruiting highly skilled managerial and professional staff experienced by multinational companies (MNCs) manufacturing in six Asian countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Design/methodology/approach &ndash; Data collected from 529 MNCs were used to examine critical human resource planning and recruitment concerns of companies operating in high growth &ldquo;Dragon&rdquo; and newly developed &ldquo;Tiger&rdquo; economies. The study examined the differences in recruitment practices between manufacturing and service companies and the issues relating to how manufacturers maintain an adequate skills basis. Findings &ndash; There appears a considerable extent of battle for talent among Dragon and Tiger economies with the latter required to be more aggressive as they attempt to sustain growth. Manufacturing companies are experiencing a higher demand for more job-related managerial and technical capabilities whilst competing with service companies that are also in need for more talent. To succeed, manufacturing MNCs will need to adopt a strategic approach for recruitment and retention, and internal capability training to maintain their skilled employees in order to sustain competitive advantage. Originality/value &ndash; The results shown in the paper provide manufacturing MNCs with insights into managerial and professional recruitment trend in Asia.<br /

Categorical Combinatorics for Innocent Strategies

International audienceWe show how to construct the category of games and innocent strategies from a more primitive category of games. On that category we define a comonad and monad with the former distributing over the latter. Innocent strategies are the maps in the induced two-sided Kleisli category. Thus the problematic composition of innocent strategies reflects the use of the distributive law. The composition of simple strategies, and the combinatorics of pointers used to give the comonad and monad are themselves described in categorical terms. The notions of view and of legal play arise naturally in the explanation of the distributivity. The category-theoretic perspective provides a clear discipline for the necessary combinatorics

Reading as rewriting: Miguel de Unamuno, Jorge Luis Borges and the Quijote

The relationship between Miguel de Unamuno and Jorge Luis Borges remains understudied. In this thesis I compare both authors according to their shared interest in reading and rewriting Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quijote de la Mancha. Across their vast respective bibliographies on Cervantes, from Vida de don Quijote y Sancho and ‘Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote’, both examine the canonical Spanish work from anachronistic perspectives, and re-author it according to personal circumstances and points of view. I interrogate a series of works that both authors produce on Cervantes’s masterpiece, and outline the comparable yet contrasting aesthetic approaches that underlie their arguments. From this I show that the aesthetic models of reading that they produce are strongly derived from aspects of the Quijote, a novel whose narrative complexities compel the reader into a more active, critical role in interpreting the work. Beyond demonstrating the Cervantine echoes in their works, I argue that the non-intentionalist approach that Unamuno and Borges take when reading texts including and especially the Quijote fits comfortably within the realm of literary theories that were formalised much later on. In particular I focus on the reader-response theories of thinkers such as Hans Robert Jauß and Wolfgang Iser, as well as Stanley Fish’s affective stylistics. I adopt key critical terms from the works of these theorists in order to critique the way Unamuno and Borges interpret the Quijote across their careers. Chief among my concerns is how the reader’s cultural and historical circumstances produce unique meanings in the text that the author cannot prohibit. I also explore the question common to these theorists as to the principle by which an interpretation of a work can be considered acceptable or unacceptable. By tracing the commonalities and contrasts between Unamuno’s and Borge’s readings and rewritings of the Quijote I show how their works respectively further such theoretical discussions