Integrated logistics and supply chain management:the state of practice in Ireland

The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were provided with aid to offset locational disadvantages in the run up to the Single European Market. Since then the Republic has emerged as the fastest growing member of the E.U. Success has not been underpinned by the transport system, suggesting that business has had to overcome locational disadvantages by strong performance elsewhere in the supply chain. The evidence indicates that there are Irish firms operating supply chain management techniques at a truly international standard. The problem is that there are so few in that category Meeting Ireland’s competitiveness challenge means closing the gap between the small group of large and foreign-owned firms, which display excellence in SCM, and the larger group of indigenous small and medium size businesses, which do not.

Estimating additionality and leverage:between public and private sector equity finance in Ireland (2000 – 2002)

This paper aims to contribute to the debate about the role of the public sector in stimulating greater use of private sector equity for business start-up and growth in two ways. First, to examine the extent to which the provision of public sector equity finance enables individual firms to raise additional funds in the private sector market place. Second, to consider the methodological implications for an economic impact assessment of industrial policy interventions (especially those which include an equity component) at the level of the individual firm. We assess the extent to which there may be indirect positive effects (externalities) associated with public sector financial assistance to individual firms and if so how they distort standard evaluation methodologies designed to estimate the level of additionality of that support. The paper draws upon the results of a recent study of the impact of Enterprise Ireland (EI) financial assistance to indigenous Irish industry in the period 2000 to 2002. The paper demonstrates that a process of re-calibration is necessary in estimates of economic impact in order to account for these positive externalities and the result in this study was a ‘boost’ to additionality. In operational and conceptual terms, the study underlines the importance of the relationship between private and public sector sources of equity finance as an important dynamic in the attempt by industrial and regional policy to stimulate the number of firms with viable investment proposals accessing external equity finance.

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 in the 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 the impact the contract can have on the supplier-buyer relation do not differ significantly. It was found that most 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.

Outsourcing in Ireland:a literature review, survey and case study perspective

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.

Scale-up in emulsion polymerisation

The procedure for successful scale-up of batchwise emulsion polymerisation has been studied. The relevant literature on liquid-liquid dispersion on scale-up and on emulsion polymerisation has been crit1cally reviewed. Batchwise emulsion polymerisation of styrene in a specially built 3 litre, unbaffled, reactor confirmed that impeller speed had a direct effect on the latex particle size and on the reaction rate. This was noted to be more significant at low soap concentrations and the phenomenon was related to the depletion of micelle forming soap by soap adsorption onto the monomer emulsion surface. The scale-up procedure necessary to maintain constant monomer emulsion surface area in an unbaffled batch reactor was therefore investigated. Three geometrically similar 'vessels of 152, 229 and 305mm internal diameter, and a range of impeller speeds (190 to 960 r.p.m.) were employed. The droplet sizes were measured either through photomicroscopy or via a Coulter Counter. The power input to the impeller was also measured. A scale-up procedure was proposed based on the governing relationship between droplet diameter, impeller speed and impeller diameter. The relationships between impeller speed soap concentration, latex particle size and reaction rate were investigated in a series of polymerisations employing an amended commercial recipe for polystyrene. The particle size was determined via a light transmission technique. Two computer models, based on the Smith and Ewart approach but taking into account the adsorption/desorption of soap at the monomer surface, were successful 1n predicting the particle size and the progress of the reaction up to the end of stage II, i.e. to the end of the period of constant reaction rate.

The determinants of export performance:evidence for manufacturing plants in Ireland and Northern Ireland

The dramatic GDP and export growth of Ireland over the last decade forms a marked contrast with that of its nearest neighbour Northern Ireland. In Ireland, export volume growth averaged 15.5% p.a. from 1991 to 1999 compared with 6.3% from Northern Ireland. Using data on individual manufacturing plants this paper considers the determinants of export performance in the two areas. Larger, externally owned plants with higher skill levels are found to have the highest export propensities in both areas. Other influences (plant age, R&D, etc.) prove more strongly conditional on location, plant size, and ownership. Structural factors (e.g. ownership, industry) explain almost all of the difference in export propensity between larger plants in Northern Ireland and Ireland but only around one-third of that between smaller plants. Significant differences are also evident between plants in terms of their sources of new technology. For indigenously owned plants, inhouse R&D is important. For externally owned plants, R&D conducted elsewhere in the group - typically outside Ireland and Northern Ireland - proves more significant. This external dependency and lower than expected export propensity on the part of small plants in Northern Ireland represent significant policy challenges for the future.© 2006 Scottish Economic Society. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

OCT retinal thickness ratios and frequency of follow-up in Wet AMD

Poster Introduction: In neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an important tool to determine when intravitreal injections of ranibizumab should be administered. Current guidelines recommend that patients should be reviewed four weekly and OCT indications for further treatment include subretinal fluid and intraretinal fluid or cysts. Purpose: We have reviewed the OCT scans of subjects who have successfully responded to ranibizumab to look for factors that might predict which patients will not require injection and could have extended appointments. Method: This was a prospective study in which we observed for 6 consecutive months the OCT images of 28 subjects who had received intravitreal ranibizumab for nAMD and were judged to be clinically inactive at recruitment to the study. Ratios between full retinal thickness (FRT = neurosensory retina + outer reflective band) and outer reflective band (ORB) thickness at the fovea were calculated for each subject at the moment of entering the study and at each successive visit for 6 consecutive months. Results: Patients with lower FRT/ORB ratios were found to be less likely to require an additional injection of ranibizumab and no subject with a ratio of 1.75 or less needed further injections. Conclusion: This small pilot study suggests that on macular OCT, the FRT/ORB ratio, and in particular values of 1.75 or less, may prove to be a useful, practical tool when deciding the follow up period for subjects undergoing treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab for nAMD.

Outsourcing in Ireland:a literature review, survey and case study perspective

Outsourcing, or offshoring as it is now known, has been around for many decades. In the beginning it was only the very peripheral activities that were blue-collar (lower skilled) work outsourced, but this is now all changing with the outsourcing of white-collar jobs. Historically outsourcing was used when organisation could not perform to world-class excellence in all sectors of the organisation due to incompetence of staff and/or management, lack of capacity, financial pressures, and/or technological pressures. The research currently underway is initially focusing on a literature review of current outsourcing applications in the market place and what impact outsourcing has on business performance. This paper will present the findings of the initial literature review. It will also discuss the methodology being followed to explore the Irish Industrial Sector.

Radiation build-up in laminar and turbulent regimes in quasi-CW Raman fiber laser

We study the radiation build-up in laminar and turbulent generation regimes in quasi-CW Raman fiber laser. We found the resulted spectral shape and generation type is defined by the total spectral broadening/narrowing balance over laser cavity round-trip, which is substantially different in different regimes starting from first round-trips of the radiation build-up. In turbulent regime, the steady-state is reached only after a few round-trips, while in the laminar regime the laser approaches the equilibrium spectrum shape asymptotically.

Babies, bodies and entitlement: gendered aspects of access to citizenship in the Republic of Ireland

Since the mid-1990s, automatic citizenship for children born in the Republic has been a source of growing debate against a backdrop of increasing immigration and the peace process. In June 2004, the debate culminated in a referendum, opening the way to a constitutional amendment that attaches residence qualifications to the hitherto unfettered entitlement to citizenship available through ius soli. Arguments for the amendment were couched in terms of a threat posed by Third World women having babies in Ireland to obtain residence, and a putative obligation to the EU to harmonise citizenship laws. This article explores how pregnant foreign women’s bodies became a site of perplexity about the borders of the twenty-first century Irish nation. It is therefore suggested that neither the ‘racial state’ theories nor feminist theories of the nation-state account fully for this. On closer inspection, the seemingly sui generis case of the Irish referendum is therefore fruitful in that it demands further reflection in terms of bridging gaps in the existing theory.

New business formation in a rapidly growing economy: The Irish experience

The extraordinary growth of the Irish economy since the mid-1990s - the 'Celtic Tiger' - has attracted a great deal of interest, commentary and research. Indeed, many countries look to Ireland as an economic development role model, and it has been suggested that Ireland might provide key lessons for other EU members as they seek to achieve the objectives set out in the Lisbon Agenda. Much of the discussion of Ireland's growth has focused on its possible triggers: the long term consequences of the late 1980s fiscal stabilisation; EU structural funds; education; wage moderation; and devaluation of the Irish punt. The industrial policy perspective has highlighted the importance of inflows of foreign direct investment, but a notable absence from the discourse on the 'Celtic Tiger' has been any mention of the role of new business venture creation and entrepreneurship. In this paper we use unpublished Irish VAT data for the years 1988 to 2004 to provide the first detailed look at national trends in business birth and death rates in Ireland over the 'take-off' period. We also use sub-national VAT data to shed light on spatial trends in new venture creation. Our overall conclusions are that new business formation made no detectable contribution to the acceleration of Ireland's growth in the late 1990s, although we do find evidence of spatial convergence in per capita business stocks.