Thomas M. Cooney

Entrepreneurs with Disabilities: Profile of a Forgotten Minority.

The hosting of the Special Olympics in Ireland in 2003 compellingly brought to the forefront of public consciousness the capacity of people with disabilities to significantly contribute economically and socially to the nation. However, a body of research now exists highlighting that people with disabilities are less likely to be gainfully employed and will have lower earnings than non-disabled people. These differentials are caused by a variety of factors, including perceived and actual discrimination. An alternative career option for people with disabilities is to become self-employed, which has the benefits of the freedom, flexibility, and independence associated with self-employment, as well as autonomy from access-related obstacles such as transportation, fatigue, inaccessible work environments, and the need for personal assistance. However, people with disabilities who are considering establishing their own business face many barriers that a non-disabled person will not endure and therefore require training programs that are tailored to their particular needs. This paper examines the background to people with disabilities becoming selfemployed and identifies what can be done, both at a policy and a practical level, to help them via entrepreneurship education and training.

The context matters

Purpose – The paper aims to describe the manner in which entrepreneurship policies are embedded in the national contexts and then through analysis offers a deeper understanding of the development of Finnish and Irish entrepreneurship policies. It seeks to focus on three questions: What is the context for entrepreneurship policies in the studied countries?; What kind of governance structure for entrepreneurship policy can be identified and derived from theoretical perspectives?; and What policy instruments and content are associated with governance rationale?Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data involve primary data on national entrepreneurship policy documents illustrating the governance structure for policy development and implementation, as well as policy objectives and targets. Additionally, concrete policy measures were studied within six sub‐areas of entrepreneurship. The analysis is based on a framework with two layers of policy: governance structure, and specific policy measures.Findings...

An Anthology of Enterprise Policy in Ireland

R and Gorg (1996: 37) remarked that ‘any careful comparison of the Irish economy with other economies in the European Union immediately focuses on two key features of Ireland’s pattern of industrial development: the enormous significance of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the very high export ratios in the Irish manufacturing sector among foreign-owned companies. These two features have not developed by accident, but are directly related to the industrial strategy which Ireland has pursued over the past forty years, namely, of promoting export-led growth in Irish manufacturing through various incentives and of encouraging foreign companies to establish manufacturing plants in Ireland, producing specifically for export markets’.

Developing entrepreneurship programmes for female members of the Irish traveller community

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the distinctive challenges faced by female travellers (Roma, Sinti and Gypsy) in starting their own business.Design/methodology/approach – The paper details a pilot “start your own business” programme that was delivered in Ireland to 12 women from the traveller community.Findings – Four distinct categories of entrepreneurship barriers faced by female travellers were recognised: self‐esteem, traveller identity, welfare trap and family responsibilities.Research limitations/implications – The findings are based on just one programme and so no general conclusions can be drawn.Practical implications – The paper identifies the successes and failures of the programme, plus it highlights the future steps that need to be taken to bring appropriate entrepreneurship support to traveller women who experience triple discrimination – discrimination as women, as travellers and as traveller women.Originality/value – Very little is known about female travellers in terms of...

Entrepreneurial Teams: Comparing High-growth Software Firms through Structure and Strategy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore hypothesis that high‐growth firms founded by entrepreneurial teams use a unique combination of organic structure and emergent strategy. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative study of 445 software development firms in the USA and 219 firms in Ireland was undertaken with a valid response rate of 22 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively. Findings – Generally, all classifications of firms in the USA and in Ireland demonstrated a combination of organic structure and emergent strategy at the beginning of their existence. As the US firms grew older they moved towards a combination of organic structure and deliberate strategy, while Irish firms moved towards a combination of mechanical structure and deliberate strategy that was hierarchical and organised. Research limitations/implications – The survey was conducted in only one industry and some firm classifications had small cell sizes. Practical implications – The ambition of this study was to offer owner‐managers an evidence‐based structure/strategy combination that would support the attainment of high‐growth. Originality/value – This was the first occasion that the concept of a combination of structure and strategy was explored as an explanation for high‐growth amongst firms founded by entrepreneurial teams.

Celtic Tiger found in education jungle

Purpose – While the growth of the Irish economy (“Celtic Tiger”) has been well documented, not enough attention has been given to the role of education as a cornerstone for the success. This paper seeks to review education policy in Ireland over the past 50 years and to identify the significant educational initiatives that helped shape modern Ireland.Design/methodology/approach – Primarily utilising history books and governmental papers with specific reference to education policy in Ireland, the paper is a review of the relevant literature offering an insight into a variety of schemes instigated by various Ministers for Education over the past five decades.Findings – The key finding was that the consistent education policies of the preceding decades bore fruit: during the 1990s, there was growing demand for educated human capital in all developed countries, and its ready availability in Ireland helped to attract foreign direct investment and to promote the development of indigenous companies.Originality/v...

Reducing Recidivism Through Entrepreneurship Programmes in Prisons

Prison systems are facing significant challenges from overcrowding and a ‘revolving door’ routine. Reducing recidivism would help alleviate both these problems and would also assist in breaking the cycle of career criminality. However, one of the primary causes of recidivism is a lack of employment opportunities for people who have spent time in prison, thereby causing them to return to crime. Given the dearth of entrepreneurship research on ex-prisoners, this paper examines a ‘Start Your Own Business’ programme delivered inside a prison. Based on interviews with the participants, the author examines whether such programmes offer a realistic opportunity for reducing recidivism.

Entrepreneurship, enterprise and Irish Travellers

ABSTRACT While Travellers are native to Ireland, they have much in common with European Roma, Sinti and Gypsies. Travellers for centuries have been highly entrepreneurial people, but it is evident that social changes and a national economy which is oriented towards a highly-skilled workforce will ensure that the majority of them will become excluded from active participation in the general labour market. However, a renewed emphasis on self-employment would enable Travellers to engage in economic activity in a flexible manner that would allow them to meet other cultural obligations, while also avoiding potentially discriminatory employee–manager–other employee relationships. Therefore, social change and new business practices are needed from within the Traveller community to maintain the Traveller culture while growing their enterprises. Such change must be supported by government through adequately funded programmes but championed by Travellers for Travellers. To continue on the current economic path and not diversify into skilled trades will see Travellers staying within the ‘welfare benefit trap’ and remaining hampered by poverty and low levels of employment.

How Can a Health-Care Business Achieve Strategy Elasticity in a Crisis Environment?

This chapter focuses on specific area of entrepreneurship—health-care services. Insufficient commercial business knowledge by the managers of SME health-care businesses and a lack of entrepreneurial skills relative to the medical care industry could also be considered barriers to growth or barriers to survival within a crisis environment. An analysis of the strategic elasticity of small a health-care organisation could help find an answer to the question of how this specialised business segment, with its multi-faceted sources of finance, might deal with challenges from the external environment and what mixture of strategies might they use to achieve their goals. This will allow the organisations to be proactive with regard to market risk and to construct their own model of behaviour under the four pillars of crisis strategic behaviour—marketing, financial, personal and plan of supply of services. This chapter compares the original options of measurement based on modelling with ROC curves and reflects upon the possible problems of applying this option to the context. A detailed analysis of the data suggest the following results—better understanding about health-care management/business and how to strategically guide such businesses in a unique regulatory environment. And answer the question—do physicians make good managers/businesspeople or would it be better for them to delegate this role to an experienced business manager. From a practitioner perspective, the chapter will give feedback for entrepreneurial effectiveness in this specialized area of commercial activity.

Wristop Technologies Ltd. (Finnland)

Eigentlich hatten sich die Grunder von Wristop Technologies den Markteintritt in das Segment fur tragbare Mini-Computer am Handgelenk einfacher vorgestellt. Ihr ehemaliger Arbeitgeber Suunto machte ihnen da einen Strich durch die Rechnung. Suunto hatte sich vertraglich zusichern lassen, dass das Wissen rund um Wrist-Computer fur den Sportbereich nicht an Konkurrenten weitergegeben werden durfte und drohte mit einem kostspieligen Rechtsstreit bei Vertragsbruch. Nachdem nun die Chance vergeben war, Wrist-Computer auch fur andere Sportzubehorhersteller neben Suunto zu produzieren, waren die Grunder von Wristop auf der Suche nach einer anderen Moglichkeit, mobile Transmission, ansprechendes Design und moderne Computertechnologie fur das Handgelenk miteinander zu verbinden. Sie suchten nach einer neuen Idee,Wrist-Computer fur Endverbraucher zu vermarkten. Aber zu entscheiden, welche Strategie sie wahlen sollten, war schwieriger als gedacht.