Developing Policies and Instruments for Sustainable Household Consumption: Irish Experiences and Futures

In recent years, the concept of sustainable consumption (SC) has received increased attention. Overconsumption in industrialized countries still presents major challenges to achieving sustainable development goals despite the global economic crisis. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of national influences on consumption patterns in the Republic of Ireland, focusing in particular on the role of governance in the design of policy instruments for sustainable consumption. It is argued that country-specific political conditions and policy frameworks fundamentally shape everyday household consumption. After an initial discussion of the effectiveness of three key types of policy instruments—legislative, economic, communicative—the paper compares SC policy making and implementation in Ireland with examples of good practice from Europe. An agenda to progress Ireland’s sustainable consumption policy framework is proposed in the concluding part of the paper.     

’E’ entrepreneurial SMEs: An Irish study of micro and macro influences

Internet-based technologies are strategically guiding the organisation of tradeable services through the development of flexible organisational structures at national and international level. Specifically for knowledge intensive business services, tasks can be mediated via technology rather than by direct physical engagement, providing enterprises with the opportunity for extensive market coverage. Many academic and political ideals thus assume that entrepreneurs have the ability to intuitively recognise technologically innovative opportunities and have the confidence to act on them. The main aim of the paper is to present the findings of a recent empirical study of Irish (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) knowledge-intensive service sector firms and shed some light on recent thinking in relation to ‘e’ entrepreneurial micro and macro-level influences. The micro-level findings reveal a relatively high level of ‘e’ entrepreneurial orientation and motivation. However, from a macro-level perspective, the overall conclusion is that firms in both regions of Ireland could benefit from a system that cultivates a more inclusive, networked and balanced regional innovation system, to foster technology-innovation led enterprise.     

Enlargement and the EU Periphery: Introduction

The CEEC share of Irish exports has grown fivefold since transition began, with export sales expanding in all sectors. Even at current income levels there remains scope for a further doubling of exports, and trade will grow even more substantially if accession facilitates the CEEC in converging more rapidly on EU living standards. Most analyses predict that the EU15 sectors that face the greatest threats of enlargement‐induced disruption are Food and Textiles, Clothing and Footwear. In the case of Irish Food Processing, however, the prognosis of the present paper is positive since Irish agricultural output differs quite strongly from that of the CEE economies. The adjustment costs associated with industrial dispution, furthermore, are highest in economies with rigid labour markets, whereas the flexibility of the Irish labour market seems to have improved substantially over the last decade or so. Outward FDI from Ireland has grown strongly over the Celtic Tiger era, and Irish multinational firms have been reasonably active in acquiring companies in their sectors in Cental and Eastern Europe. The main worry for Ireland is that the more successful accession states may divert FDI inflows away from Ireland. Micro‐level analysis of the conditions pertaining in some of Ireland's most important foreign‐dominated sectors – information technology, pharma‐chem and instrument engineering – suggests that these threats may be overstated. The leading CEE economies, rather than drawing FDI away from Ireland, may instead contribute to the further development of EU‐wide production networks, making the networks themselves more competitive as global players. The net cost to Ireland of agreements already reached on the financing of enlargement is quite manageable. The cost to Ireland would escalate dramatically, however, if costs and benefits were to be redistributed within the EU in line with current income levels, entailing a substantial transformation of the CAP transfer mechanism.     

UN Principles for Responsible Investment Signatories and the Anti-Apartheid SRI Movement: A Thought Experiment

There appears to be a growing disquiet amongst academics surrounding the ascendancy of ‘responsible’ investment that is egoist or self-interested in character – ‘business case’ responsible investment. This ascendancy has in no small measure been associated with the uptake of United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) as a de facto standard for mainstream responsible investment. This article contributes to this disquiet. It does this by examining how egoist ‘responsible’ investors (as endorsed by the PRI) might have behaved had they been around in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s during days of the anti-apartheid socially responsible investment (SRI) movement. Armed with near perfect (hindsight grade) enhanced analytics, it is clear that the signals that such egoist ‘responsible’ investors would have sent to company management in terms of the apartheid issue would have been highly muddled and therefore ineffective. The net conclusion is that there is nothing inherently or inevitably ‘responsible’ about egoist investment and that the aversion to behaving ethically amongst institutional investors must be challenged and not swept under a carpet of rhetoric.     

The changing consumer in Ireland

The decade of the 1980s was a difficult time for companies marketing goods and services in Ireland. The business environment was dominated by high unemployment and economic recession, due to a combination of internal and external factors, which dampened consumer confidence and restrained spending. Fortunately, the economy is recovering rapidly in the 1990s, with low interest rates leading to greater confidence which, in turn, is promoting both increased investment and consumer spending. The prospects for the remainder of the 1990s look favourable assuming stability in the business environment.This paper describes key features of the Irish economy, demography and society which determine the nature of the consumer market, and examines the variables that affect its performance. It also outlines the structure of the macromarketing environment and highlights important trends. It concludes with a discussion of the future outlook for the market and examines some of the implications for marketing management.     

Firm entry and turnover: the nexus with profitability and growth

The paper presents a new sectoral taxonomy, which classifies industries according to the opportunity and cost of experimentation. Econometric tests show for a sample of 24 countries that in the 1990s ‘entrepreneurial’ industries with a mutable and growing firm population experienced the highest growth in terms of value added and employment, but also the lowest growth of labour productivity. ‘Entrepreneurial’ industries generally earned a better profit-ratio than ‘routinised’ industries with an inertial population. The results are consistent with entrepreneurial theories of market competition, which suggest that entry follows profit opportunities but does not deplete them.      

Lessons for African Economies from Irish and East Asian Industrial Policy

When comparisons in terms of industrial policy lessons to be learned have taken place, it has tended to be solely vis-a-vis the ‘development state’ East Asian experience. This paper broadens the analysis and considers lessons which African countries can learn from other so-called ‘tiger’ economies including Ireland and the East and South Asian countries. We recognise that the latter are indeed clearly significant as many African countries at the time of independence had economic structures and levels of income quite similar to East Asian countries, yet have grown at vastly different rates since then. Exploring why this has been the case can thus offer important insights into possibilities for industrial policy. Yet this comes with some health warnings over East Asian experience. We suggest that another important contribution can come by looking at the Irish example, given its emphasis on corporatism rather than simply relying on state direction in the operation of industrial policy. The Irish model is also more democratic in some senses and has protected workers’ rights during the development process in contrast to the often highly dirigisite East Asian model. Overall we suggest that some immediate actions are needed, notably with regard to the financial system in small African economies. Without such changes, a poorly functioning financial system will continue to keep investment at low levels. In relation to the small size of the African economies, the paper recommends regional integration and sufficient overseas development assistance (ODA) for infrastructural development. It is also critical to note that the various small African economies each face their own industrial and economic development challenges, and that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is not appropriate; rather the key is to tailor policies and systems to the unique opportunities and development challenges in each African country.     

Re-thinking ‘Spheres of Responsibility’: Business Responsibility for Indirect Harm

This article considers two prominent, competing approaches to defining the scope of business responsibility for human rights. The first approach advocates extension of business responsibility beyond the boundaries of the enterprise to encompass broader ‘spheres of influence’. The second approach advocates a business ‘responsibility to respect’ human rights (but not a ‘positive’ duty to protect, promote or fulfil rights). Building on a critical evaluation of these competing accounts of business responsibility, this article outlines a modified account, referred to as a framework of ‘spheres of responsibility’. On such an account, business responsibility for human rights outcomes is conceptualised not only in relation to direct ‘harms’ imposed by business, but also in relation to corporate influence over broader relationships and institutions that shape and constrain the substantive realisation of human rights.     

Applying Stories of the Environment to Business: What Business People Can Learn From the Virtues in Environmental Narratives

The use of narrative to communicate and convey particular points of view in society has increasingly become the focus of academic attention in recent years. In particular, MacIntyre. (1985, 1988, 1990, 1999) has paid attention to the role of narrative in the conflict between different traditions when developing his virtue approach to ethics. Whilst there has been continued debate about the application of virtue approaches, some arguing that it is incompatible with business, I disagree and have already argued for a form of virtue that will focus business on society’s needs rather than better business itself. Here I continue to develop the argument in two ways. First, I will explore the predominant business narrative and offer some comment on the ‘virtues’ that it promotes. However, rather than accepting this narrative, I want to challenge it with a narrative from the environmental tradition. I consider how adopting the virtues promoted by an environmental narrative it would shape business practices and challenge current business conventions. As a second step, I will focus on how we can change managers’ perceptions of business to reflect these environmentally based virtues.     

Economic impact of a private sector micro-financing scheme in South Dakota

While poverty rates on Native American Indian reservations are triple the US average. Small business incubation programs, available elsewhere in the US, scarcely exist on the Native American Indian Reservations (NAIRs). Our unique study tests the effects of the Lakota Fund (LF), a private sector small business development initiative on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, on the economic development of the NAIRs. Our objective is to determine whether the SBA-like programs (loans, training, and consulting) can improve economic conditions. The 1980–2006 annual county-level (Shannon Co. is ‘treatment,’and Todd Co. is ‘control’) data are a natural experiment. Results indicate that the LF inception and duration significantly raised real per capita income (RPCI)—suggesting not only the success of the LF, but support for the broader notion that privately funded small business initiatives can be used to support economic development of isolated impoverished groups within the US economy.     

The Potential and Challenge of the Network Realization Capability for SMEs in Ireland and Finland

In recognizing that the term ‘network’ can be interpreted in a multitude of ways and from a number of varying perspectives, the purpose of this article is to report the findings of a study designed to determine whether SME owner/manager see networks as an industrial relationship phenomenon. This gap, termed ‘realization capability’ refers to the SMEs’ ability to visualize the inter-organizational embedded systems that they are a part of that could enhance their marketing efforts. Bonds tie network members together and provide the context for relationships. Therefore, in measuring the level of SME realization capability the authors conceptualized the concept into social and structural bonds to ascertain the network perspective of the SME participants. To determine the level of realization of SME actors, a participatory action research method was employed in an Irish setting and compared to a control group in Finland. Findings suggest that from an Irish perspective, realization was low, highlighting that misconceptions existed amongst the SMEs regarding the nature and dynamics of networks whereby they were viewed as a predominantly personal contact structure. Conversely, the Finnish participants viewed networks as interconnected business relationships, continually operating in close collaboration with other stakeholders within their business. The findings are discussed in detail as they raise the barrier for many SMEs to participate in networks which by definition are proposed as cost effective solutions which can address many of the gaps to implementing marketing approaches by SMEs.     

‘New economics’?

The United States, the United Kingdom and Denmark have all enjoyed a long period of high stable growth and low inflation in the 1990s. Attempts to determine the implications of this have led to the so-called ‘New Economics’, whose advocates claim that the relationship between economic growth and inflation has fundamentally changed. The following article tests this thesis against current data for the USA.     

Organizational ethics: A stacked deck

The astute manger should be aware that, in organizations, the deck is frequently ‘stacked’ against higher levels of ethical behavior. This deck stacking occurs because of socialization processes, environmental influences, and the organization hierarchy. As a result of bosses using hierarchical leverage to take the ethical dimension of decision-making away from subordinates, the stage is set for a they-made-me-do-it defense of their moral integrity by these subordinates if and when violations of ethical norms come to light. There is also at work, however, an I-made-them-do-it situation in which professionals who prefer to ‘nest’ in the more technical aspects of their work ‘delegate’ — upward — to their bosses ethical decision-making. Understanding these dynamics is crucial in an age which is especially sensitized to the ethical facet of organizational behavior. He has taught at the University of Georgia since World War II, with the exception of a Rockefeller Foundation Year at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, and two years with the Ford Foudation in Cairo, Egypt. He is the author of four books on management and public policy — the co-author of a recent Principles of Management text — and he has written many articles on economics and management in a wide variety of journals. His most important publications are:Business and Society: Managing Corporate Social Performance (Little, Brown, Boston, 1981), ‘A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Social Performance’,Academy of Management Review (Oct., 1979), pp. 497–506, and ‘Business Ethics and the Management Hierarchy’,National Forum: The Phi Kappa Phi Journal (Summer, 1978), pp. 37–40.     

Explaining the Uneven Economic Performance of the EU Cohesion Countries: An Export-Led Growth Approach

This article explains the differences in growth rates between the cohesion countries of the EU: Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Employing a decomposition growth approach, it is found that the main driver of growth differences lies in productivity. The remarkably higher Irish growth rates in the 1990s are sourced to greater productivity growth resulting from higher investment in human capital and technology. The export-led growth approach reasonably predicts the growth rates and the prediction is more precise when differences in productivity growth are controlled for. Higher economic growth is explained by the higher income elasticity of exports relative to imports.     

Ireland's Foreign Direct Investment Competitive Advantage and Japanese Outward Foreign Direct Investment

This article addresses Ireland's record in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI has been identified as one of the key factors that has spurred the growth of the Celtic Tiger. An adaptation of Porter's Diamond is offered to explain the determinants of Ireland's competitive advantage in attracting FDI. The overall trends in FDI inflows to Ireland are considered. The study then focuses on Japanese FDI into Europe and Ireland in particular. The pattern of Japanese FDI flows into Ireland is analysed in the context of Ireland's determinants of FDI competitive advantage. Future considerations around Ireland's model of competitive advantage are addressed.     

Allhoff on Business Bluffing

The moral status of business bluffing is a controversial issue. On the one hand, bluffing would seem to be relevantly similar to lying and deception. Because of this, business bluffing can be taken to be an activity that is at least prima facie morally condemnable. On the other hand, it has often been claimed that in business bluffing is part of the game and that therefore there is nothing morally questionable in business bluffing. In a recent issue of this journal, Fritz Allhoff puts forward a novel defence of business bluffing. In this article, I will examine Allhoff’s arguments for the moral acceptability of business bluffing and argue that they are implausible. Dr. Jukka Varelius is a Visiting Fellow in the Centre for Professional Ethics at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. His research concentrates on questions of biomedical ethics, psychiatric ethics, and business ethics. His publications include ‘Voluntary euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide and the goals of medicine’ Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 2006, 31 (2): 1--18, ‘Execution by lethal injection, euthanasia, organ-donation and the proper goals of medicine’ Bioethics, forthcoming, and ‘Autonomy, well-being and the case of the refusing patient’ Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, forthcoming.     

Entrepreneurship,export orientation,and economic growth

In this paper the relationship between a country’s prevalence of new ventures and its rate of economic growth is investigated, while taking into account new ventures’ export orientation. It is generally acknowledged that new venture creation as well as export activity may both be important strategies for achieving national economic growth. However, to our knowledge no attempt has been made to investigate empirically the role of export-driven new ventures in economic growth. We focus on the national level and use data for a sample of 34 countries over the period 2002–2008. Our results suggest that, on top of a positive relation between entrepreneurial activity in general and subsequent macroeconomic growth, there is an additional positive effect of export-oriented early-stage entrepreneurship in higher-income countries. However, there is no such additional effect in lower-income countries.     

Customers�� zone of tolerance for retail stores

The present study describes the zone of tolerance for customers’ service expectations and determines their satisfaction level for retail stores. It attempts to diagnose the service quality level of customers’ in retail store setting. A conceptual model RETZOT is presented in this study, and the results demonstrate that evaluation of services can be scaled according to different types of expectations—‘desired’ and ‘adequate’—and that customers use these two types of expectations as a comparison standard in evaluating retail store services. The findings reveal that customers have a narrow zone of tolerance with regards to the services provided by retail stores.     

Evolution of entrepreneurship and organizational configurations at Zildjian, 1623�C2010

This work uses a case-based research approach and Siggelkow’s (Acad Manag J 47:125–159, 2002) four-phase organizational configuration model to analyze Zildjian’s evolutionary growth and entrepreneurial initiatives in the global music industry. Zildjian is a unique and well-respected cymbal manufacturer that originated out of Turkey in 1623 and continues to be a major force in the music instruments sector. Turkey was a growing market during the periods of 1700 and 1800 that helped Zildjian to become an increasingly successful company. This also led to creating 13 generations of a successful family business. The work discusses Zildjian’s 387-year family genealogy and its growth within the domains of entrepreneurship, organizational configurations, and strategic inertia. The work finds that behind Zildjian’s marvelous expansion and well-known cymbals, there is a tightly knit family firm that continues to operate like an entrepreneurial venture, dealing with thousands of artists, musicians, educators, orchestras, and bands worldwide. As of 2011, the company may not be a large multinational corporation but its business model is a classic addition to the international entrepreneurship literature. Staunchly traditional in its family business, Zildjian thrives as a privately held company and protects its closely guarded metallurgical formula. The significance of this work lies in its unique methodology within the evolution of Zildjian’s entrepreneurial growth and organizational configurations.     

The Role of Business Ethics,Personality, Work Values and Gender in Vocational Interests from Adolescents

The present study investigates how business ethics are related to vocational interest. Special attention has been paid to the relationship between business ethics and the interest in ‘enterprising’ and ‘social’ oriented professions. The results show that business ethics is only significantly correlated in a negative way, to enterprising vocational preferences. Moreover, the negative contribution of business ethics to the preference for entrepreneurial and managerial professions remains after controlling for personality and work values. Some work values also predict the entrepreneurial interest: Earnings, Influence, Competition, Innovation and Creativity. The personality traits Extraversion (positive) and Agreeableness (negative) have predictive validity, but this effect disappears after controlling for work values. In the ‘Discussion’ section, we pay attention to possible consequences of the negative relationship between business ethics and Entrepreneurial interest for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). We argue that efforts concerning realistic job previews will only be meaningful if they are completed with efforts to make people more sensitive for ethics in two other domains, namely education and business.