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Archive for January, 2009

The Management at Ireland Inc

January 29th, 2009

Developing a culture of enthusiasm, a culture where strong values are put into practise from the bottom up & to have this culture infect the hearts and minds of everyone in Ireland is the key to building a successful country. This is a country in which everyone can win.

If you look at any successful business there are only a few key elements that drive that success. No matter how big an organisation it will always need a core from which leadership emanates. Leadership is not about fire fighting. It is not about doing the little day to day tasks. It is about developing the culture of a business. Bad leadership will lead to bad management and the effects will fizzle down through the ranks. In the end you will have a bad organisation. Good organisations, good businesses always have good leadership. There is never an exception.

Good leaders will often create good mission statements. This is not a statement of what they want; this is a statement of what the organisation wants. Much time will be spent creating the mission statement and everyone in the organisation will have a hand in developing it. In the end there will be a nucleus for the organisation which sets the values and goals. It gives balance, it sets a company ethos, it gives purpose for every member of that organisation because they will have created it and therefore they are committed to its success.

Merge these elements, a strong leadership core, a company mission statement and a workforce committed to the company ethos. Now you have the framework on which you can build a successful business. You have all the soldiers aligned and even in the darkest days your company is ok because you are in control. Everyone is together and everyone will push forward in one motion.

Juxtapose these structural ideas with that of any countries structure and you can see how easily they align and make sense. The US for a long time been the most powerful country in the world and it is worth taking note of the elements that give success to that country and also that which diminishes it. Strong leadership is such a major key to the success of that country and this has never been as obvious as now when we see new leadership providing new hope. The US constitution is their mission statement and it is a statement which every American is proud to commit to and work by. The populace are motivated by it and understand that it can provide the dream that each and every one has searched for.

Other countries have learned from America and are trying to create this structure or more importantly a structure that suits best and what the population want. We in Ireland need to have this. We need to run this country like a successful business. We need leaders who can lead and we need the population to want success for everyone. Perhaps we do have a strong leader, he has shown strong willingness to listen and understand what people want. He has yet to show strong vision. He has yet to make the people understand his ideas. This 2-way process whereby he understands the needs of the country and the country understand his and the governments needs as a leader is a journey yet to be completed.

In summary, we can succeed as a nation but we must clarify where we want to go. Our goals will be set to keep us on the right road. The engine in this is our government.

Jobs, ireland , , , , ,

“You take my life when you do take the means whereby I live”

January 10th, 2009

Every person is fully aware that in the past week there have been some very bad announcements when it comes to jobs but given that it is a new year January was always going to be a bad month. The big companies were always going to wait until after the holidays to make major announcements. The smaller companies, however, didn’t have the luxury and December saw 16,300 people going onto the live register topping off the highest single year rise on record. A 71% rise in unemployment in 2008.

In order to assess exactly where this country is in terms of unemployment it is worth looking at 2 charts. The first is the number of people on the live register:

The second is the unemployment rate:

Looking simply at the first chart it is clear to see that the amount of people on the dole is shooting up and within the next few weeks it will be at the highest point it has ever been.

Comfort will be taken from the second chart where we can see that as a percentage of the labour force the situation is nowhere near what it has been in the past few decades, at least yet.

Nothing more needs to be said other than keep an eye on these charts through the next few months. They will be the reason behind every other statistic, from house prices through retail sales figures.

Finance, Jobs, ireland , , , , , ,

Worth a punt or 372million..

January 3rd, 2009

In broadband terms, we’re Latvia.

January 3rd, 2009

http://www.statusireland.com/images/broadband.jpg


The number of broadband subscribers, excluding mobile broadband, is 856,375 as of the end of September 2008. If you include mobile broadband the number is 1,125,080. This gives a penetration rate of 19.7% (25.9% including mobile).

In relative terms, Ireland’s current broadband position is behind all countries in the EU with who we are looking to compete with. The Nordic countries stand out as the leaders in both Europe and the world. Denmark has a penetration rate of 36%. Sweden and Finland stand strong above 30%. The quality of broadband in Sweden is quite good with 10% of the population having access to super speed broadband (>10Mbits/s).

The National Broadband Scheme (NBS) is being run by the Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources with the support of ComReg. The aim of the scheme is to bring broadband to areas of the country without any presence. The tender for this was given to ‘3’. In order to facilitate competition ‘3’ will be required to give wholesale access to anyone wishing to serve premises in the NBS area.

As a result of this tendering the lobby group Ireland Offline have decided to reform. “IrelandOffline is a voluntary group campaigning for affordable, unmetered (flat-rate) and broadband Internet access in Ireland, for anyone who wants it.

IrelandOffline is not happy with “the national contract being awarded to a 3G mobile company with a history of poor technology and customer service.

Fair enough.

There technically isn’t a major problem with broadband in Ireland, if we were Latvia, but we’re not. Ireland is looking to position itself as a knowledge economy. The Internet is a modern revolution. It is an information revolution and if Ireland is seeking to be a leader in research, development and technology then we have to do better when it comes to broadband, we have to do much better.

Internet Penetration is a key economic indicator and as the old country expression goes “signs on”. We are currently Latvia, EU members since 2004.

ireland, technology , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s January 1st and we’re screwed already!

January 1st, 2009

When the government announced their budget, earlier than usual in October 2008, they predicted that we were in for some tough times. A levy here, a cutback there and a prediction that we would need to borrow €4.8 billion to run the country in 2009. Ouch!

The Agency that monitors this borrowing is the National Treasury Managment Agency and about 10 weeks after the budget was announced they have issued their end of year results. They have stated that the €4.8 billion will rise to €13 billion. As a result the national debt now stands at €50.7 billion.

The National Debt/GNP ratio increased from 23.3 per cent at end 2007 to 32.5 per cent at end 2008.

While Ireland’s national debt is still considered fairly stable and manageable the question remains how the government could make a prediction of €4.8 billion only for that figure to balloon so drastically in such a short space of time.

What other predictions and assumptions are they relying on? How will the inevitable gulf between prediction and actual fact impact the nation? Will they be able to sort out the banks? Will they be able to sink the public sector bloat boat? How will the Lisbon treaty be handled, again? How do they help small businesses who are struggling? Is our manufacturing and export sector doomed due to high costs and weakened pound/dollar? What about rising crime rates? What about…. everything?

It’s January 1st and we’re screwed already!

Finance, Jobs, ireland , , , , , ,