An Investigation into Outsourcing Practice in Ireland: a New Direction in Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Companies are increasingly focusing on the development of core competencies as an integral part of their overall strategy development and implementation. The corollary of this is that functions regarded as being non-core are being outsourced. This paper investigates the case for and against outsourcing and in addition what is happening in Ireland regards outsourcing. Furthermore to analysis of current literature inthe field, an Irish-wide postal and e-mail survey, as well as three case studies revealed many interesting facts. The key findings of the work are manufacturing outsourcing is now the most popular function to be outsourced for both small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises. Large enterprises (LEs) do not prepare or examine hidden costs more than SMEs, nor do they differ much in relation to the use of consultants. Furthermore, the importance of time spent on preparing or producing contract, and theimpact the contract can have on the supplier-buyer relation do not differ significantly. It was found thatmost companies outsourced within Ireland, which led to further investigation in that area. In relation to logistics outsourcing specifically, this has become very important in the supply chain over the last 20 years as an activity that was traditionally handled by firms as a support function. At that time logistics activities such as warehousing, distribution, transportation and inventory management were given low priority compared with other business functions within the organisation. However, since the customer has become more demanding, the logistics function has now become a source of competitive advantage and there has been a growing emphasis on providing good customer service

An Action Plan for Implementing Responsible Management Education in Business Schools in the UK and Ireland

Recent corporate scandals have resulted in criticism of business schools for graduating students who put too much emphasis on shareholder value and profit maximisation but neglect the broader social and environmental context in which businesses operate. The Principles for Responsible Management (PRME) are a set of voluntary standards developed in 2007 under the coordination of the UN Global Compact, to address weaknesses in ethical education. This paper reviews the context of the PRME principles and UK and Irish school signatories’ approaches to implementation through a review of their reports to PRME to outline the range of options available to a business school considering implementing the principles across all aspects of the education portfolio. The paper concludes with an implementation strategy for a business school considering PRME membership

Outsourcing in Ireland: a Literature Review and Survey Perspective to Construct an Outsourcing Roadmap

This paper investigates what is happening in Ireland at the moment regards outsourcing. It looks into the literature review and the survey conducted. The research took place over a period of two years, initially as a literature review, and then the survey was conducted through the mediums of e-mail and the postal service. The survey analysis found that Ireland was the most likely place for Irish companies to outsource to, and that nearly 40 percent of the companies that have been surveyed have started on their latest outsourcing initiative since 2004. This indicates that outsourcing is still important on the Island on Ireland, and is important management strategy in terms of SCM (supply chain management). It further shows that Irish companies have confidence in the fact that outsourcing can help their companys’ in some way. The purpose of the literature review and the survey was to come up with an outsourcing roadmap for companies that are considering outsourcing. It builds on what is already in the literature to provide what is felt a comprehensive guide for companies that outsource

An Action Plan for Implementing the Principles for Responsible Management Education in College of Business Programme Learning Outcomes

Recent corporate scandals have resulted in criticism of business schools for graduating students who put too much emphasis on shareholder value and profit maximisation but neglect the broader social and environmental context in which businesses operate. This research fellowship set out to review current literature of ethics education in third level universities and institutions to determine best practice in the area. It also set out to review the reports of the signatories of PRME (Principals for Responsible Management Education) to develop an understanding of the range of options available to the College of Business to embed principles for responsible management across all aspects of the College’s education portfolio. This paper analyses a comprehensive literature review of the teaching of ethics in higher education. It reviews the importance of teaching ethics in higher education and reviews what should be taught and how best to teach this. Traditional teaching methods have been criticised for their over emphasis on theoretical and conceptual analysi

The Effect of Hydrogen Overvoltage on the Electrolytic Deposition of Zinc

In the deposition of metallic zinc by electro­lysis from neutral or acid solution, little difficulty is experienced provided certain impurities are absent from the electrolyte. The use of the process has long been considered as a potential source, patents on the process having been issued as early as 1880. However, the early experimenters failed to realize the importance of impurities in the electrolyte, and for this reason, the process suffered several severe setbacks when commercial plants were built

Estimation of the Composition of Three Component Liquid Mixtures

While carrying out research on the extraction of oil from soybeans using mixtures of various solvents, it was quite often necessary to know the composition of a mixture of liquids containing three components. A search of the literature for ways of obtaining the composition of such mixtures by the use of physical constants revealed a very convenient method employing a combination of density and refractive index. Before this method can be used, however, solutions covering the entire ternary system must be made up accurately, their refractive indices and densities taken and plotted in such a manner that the composition of solutions of constant refractive index and solutions of constant specific gravity can be determined. Finally a triangular diagram must be constructed showing the lines of constant refractive index and constant specific gravity as related to the composition (1, 2)

The Commercial Preparation of Oxygen from Lime and Chlorine

The reaction of chlorine on a suspension of lime in the presence of suitable catalysts, such as nickel, cobalt and iron salts, has been studied. It was found that the optimum temperature is 94° C.; that the greatest unit efficiency of the catalyst, nickel nitrate, is obtained at a concentration of.02 g. per 100 c.c; that the rate of generation of oxygen is almost directly proportional to the rate of flow of the chlorine and that nickel and cobalt salts are distinctly superior to all other catalysts which were used. In addition it has been found that the catalyst is not easily poisoned, and may be used throughout a number of runs