This thesis involves an examination of the internationalisation process of the smaller craft firm in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Sectoral analysis was carried out in order to determine historical precedents as well as the identification of industry and firm level factors impinging upon domestic and export market behaviour. Key findings at this stage included the fact that the majority of craft firms could be classified as small and that they impact economically at both domestic and international level. The majority of existing craft sector research is practitioner specific, with little evidence of theoretical rigour. Following this, a range of internationalisation theories were discussed, from their historical provenance in economic trade theory to the more recent developments concerning the impact of technology and networking. It was concluded that the majority of these frameworks fail to readily explain smaller firm internationalisation behaviour. The research methodology followed was pluralistic in nature, given that the majority of existing internationalisation studies follow the quantitative method and are generally replicative. It was believed that by adopting both quantitative and qualitative methods, a richer amount of data would be obtained in order to generate an improved understanding of smaller firm internationalisation. Research propositions centred on the belief that investigation of the sector would uncover a number of internal and external impinging factors which were specific to the craft firm. Future modelling of the internationalisation process would need to account for situation specific factors, instead of attempting to offer a generic interpretation of the process. Quantitative results identified the majority of firms as microenterprises with trade fairs and networking shown to be the most effective forms of export marketing research and methods of entry into international markets. The main export markets were identified as other European Union countries and North America. The only significant differences among export groups from the five countries surveyed related to the Far East as an export market destination. Qualitative results generally supported the quantitative findings and, in addition, enabled profiling of craft firm types to be carried out. Four orientations were uncovered: the entrepreneur, the idealist, the lifestyler and the latecomer. Exporting behaviour was also found to be affected by the cultural background of the owner/manager. Comparison of the results with existing literature facilitated the construction of frameworks relating to smaller craft firm internationalisation behaviour, performance and success. Interpretation of these factors was found to vary depending on owner/manager orientation. A number of theoretical implications were presented, including the promotion of the belief that the emerging marketing and entrepreneurship paradigm provides additional understanding to smaller craft firm internationalisation. A composite framework of the various factors uncovered in the analysis was constructed. Practical implications include the belief that, instead of support organisations offering generic exporting advice, sector specific information and support is more beneficial to encouraging future exporting success. It was recognised that future comparative research examining internationalisation behaviour of craft firms of various sizes, as well as assessing consumption issues relating to the craft product, would prove valuable in additional knowledge contribution.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisors: Mia Carter and Lisa Moore. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

No description available.

Written in c. 700 at the island monastery of Iona, Adomnán’s Vita Sancti Columbae (VSC) is an important source for the study of early medieval Scotland and Ireland. This thesis analyses the text as a literary work, seeking to understand more about its internal logic and the ways in which it relates to other kinds of literary texts. These include Biblical texts, other early insular, continental and late antique hagiographies, vernacular secular sagas, legal texts, scholarly literature and wisdom literature. Adomnán did not necessarily know all of these texts, and some of them post-date him, but they provide a wider interpretative context for VSC. Adomnán’s other known work, De Locis Sanctis, and texts connected to him, such as Cáin Adomnáin, will also be considered. I look for points of similarity and divergence between Vita Sancti Columbae and these other texts, which I term “adjacent literature”, looking to see how the text relates to its wider literary and intellectual context. By taking this approach, we are able to understand the text better on its own terms, making it more useful as a source for historical study. The text is studied, and set within its wider context, with respect to the following main areas: The Manuscripts of Vita Sancti Columbae: the visual construction of the text: Considering the five surviving manuscripts of the first recension of VSC, but focussing especially on the earliest (Schaffhausen Stadtbibliothek Generalia 1, of near authorial date and Ionan provenance), this chapter considers how the visual presentation of VSC relates to its production and reproduction as a literary text. Page layout, illumination, the use of the Greek alphabet and different colours of ink and manuscript context are all discussed. Structure and Narrative Sequencing in Vita Sancti Columbae: VSC is not a chronologically-structured account of Columba’s life, but rather a hagiography made up of many short narratives that demonstrate his sanctity and power in different ways. These narratives are arranged thematically, with a basic tripartite structure, with one book concerned with prophecies, one with miracles and one with visions. The narratives within the three books are often arranged into small, tightly constructed clusters of related stories. This chapter is an investigation of both the overall structure of the work and the “micro-structure” of the sequencing of narratives. Language and Vita Sancti Columbae: This chapter explores Adomnán’s style as a Hiberno-Latin writer, including discussions of such techniques as hyperbaton, alliteration and variatio. Adomnán’s use of and attitudes to Greek and Hebrew are also explored, as is his use of and attitudes to Old Irish. Sex, Women and Violence in Vita Sancti Columbae: This chapter investigates Adomnán’s presentations of sexual behaviour, the role of women as givers of advice, and the violence inflicted on the innocent. Several of the narratives about violence clearly have a strong gendered dimension, and relate in interesting ways to Cáin Adomnáin, and they are discussed in this light. Dangerous Beasts in Vita Sancti Columbae: VSC contains several encounters with dangerous beasts of various kinds, some of which are not unambiguously identifiable. These episodes are studied in turn, including discussions about identifying the beasts, and investigating the functions that they have within the text. Vita Sancti Columbae and Cult Practice: The thesis concludes with an exploration of the roles VSC might have played in the life of the Columban familia. The use of blessed objects and relics within the text is studied, with suggestions as to their relation to cult practice. The final section concerns the possibility that certain parts of VSC were intended to be used in processions, or to be read with the active participation of an audience.

No description available.

John Ireland is one of the most important British composers of the twentieth century. Many scholars believe the works of his early period were deeply influenced by Brahms. After graduating from the Royal College of Music, Ireland went on to develop a much more individual musical language, with influence from contemporary French composers. However, the young composer found himself confronted with the challenge of finding a new and personal style without turning wholly to impressionism or to chromaticism. In Ireland's Piano Sonata, Ireland adopted several of Brahms' compositional techniques. This piano sonata is an excellent example of one of Ireland's mature works that still demonstrates Brahms' influence.

The thesis considers an understudied form of third party peacemaking, namely peacemaking interventions with kin-state involvement. The main research question this thesis seeks to analyse is how local actors, their kin-states and third party peacemakers interact within the context of a peacemaking intervention for power-sharing in deeply divided societies. The literature on third party peacemaking largely neglects the role of kin-states in peacemaking, while in the literature on power-sharing the role of external actors, including kin-states, remains understudied. This thesis aims to address these gaps by investigating the recent peacemaking interventions for power-sharing with kin-state involvement in Cyprus, Bosnia and Northern Ireland. The findings of the case studies are combined and assessed through the use of a five-level analytical framework, which includes the local actors level; the local actors-third party peacemaker level; the local actors-kin-state(s) level; the third party peacemaker-kin-state(s) level; and the kin-states level. The analysis identifies a number of conditions pertinent to each of these levels which affect peacemaking interventions for power-sharing in deeply divided societies with kin-state involvement. There are two main original contributions of this thesis to the above mentioned literatures. First, it proposes a typology of kin-state involvement in peacemaking, which categorises kin-state involvement into four roles: promoter; quasi-mediator; power-broker; and enforcer. Second, through the use of game theoretical analysis, more specifically a nested games approach, it illustrates how the interaction between local actors, their kin-states and third party peacemakers can be modelled in the context of a peacemaking intervention for power-sharing. The empirical and theoretical conclusions of this study indicate that kin-state involvement in third peacemaking interventions is more complex and fluid than widely assumed.

This doctorate explores key aspects of the economics of housing by examining Ireland's housing market bubble of the early 2000s. For earlier chapters, the main source material is a previously unused dataset of almost two million property listings, covering the entire country from 2006 until 2012, maintained by property website daft.ie. An initial chapter outlines stylised facts of Ireland's housing market 2007-2012, including a greater spread of prices over property size in the crash but a narrower spread of rents. In contrast, the geographical spread of prices and rents was largely unchanged. The spread of rents was constrained relative to the spread of prices, suggesting either renter search thresholds or buyer "lock-in" effects. To examine which was at work, the daft.ie dataset is combined with information on a range of amenities, including landscape, transport, education, social capital and market depth. Overall, there is clear evidence that the rent effects of a range of amenities are smaller than the price effects. There is limited evidence of procyclical amenity pricing, which would indicate "lock-in" effects, with the analysis suggesting instead countercyclical pricing, or "property ladder" effects during the bubble. Results from these analyses are based on listed price and rents, rather than transaction prices. The relationship between the two is examined in a separate chapter, using an additional Central Bank of Ireland dataset on mortgages. The spread between list and sale prices gap that exists between the two is decomposed into four parts, a selection spread, a matching spread, a counteroffer spread and a drawdown spread. A selection spread of up to 10% emerged in the Irish housing market after 2009, while the counteroffer spread was positive before 2009 but negative for much of the period 2009-2011. The final chapter uses both inverted-demand and price-rent ratio methods to examine the long-run determinants of house prices in Ireland from 1980 on. In addition to careful treatment of standard fundamentals, it includes a measure of credit conditions as well as the ratio of persons to households, both contributions to the literature. The resulting inverted demand error-correction model shows a clear and stable long-run relationship, which is largely preserved when cointegration between series is explored. Similarly, a model of the price-rent ratio from 2000 shows clear error-correction properties. Together, they suggest that while a range of factors drove Irish house prices 1995-2001, credit conditions were largely responsible for the subsequent increase.

This thesis is an essay in the phenomenology of religion; it is not primarily a study of the literature or history of early Ireland. This thesis investigates the content and meaning of the early Irish people's language and expression as it relates to music. The culture being investigated is that of early medieval Ireland, up to and including the twelfth century. The focus of the thesis is on a Collection of music references extracted by this author from selected literature; the Collection itself is presented here as an independent Appendix volume to the main body of the thesis. The specific literature selected for this thesis is found in eight major categories of Old and Middle Irish texts: 1) tales from the Mythological Cycle; 2) Dindshenchas (Place-lore poems); 3) the tales and sagas from the Ulster Cycle; 4) the tales from the Cycles of the Kings literature; 5) the Immrama ("Voyage") literature; 6) tales from the Acallam na Senorach; 7) early Irish poetry; and 8) the early Irish saints' Lives. This thesis is divided into five major chapters--Performers, Instruments, Effects, Places, and Times. The Performers chapter examines the "supernatural" performers, the mundane performers, and those performers portrayed with some degree of Otherworld influence(s). The Instruments chapter discusses the various instruments portryed in this literature, as well as how they might relate to the Otherworld. The Effects chapter examines all of the various effects of music mentioned in the references from the Collection, and discusses how they relate to the "supernatural". The Places and Times chapters discuss the "supernatural'', liminal, and mundane places and times regarding music, as referred to in the references from the Collection. Comparative material is used from other world cultures, in each chapter, for illustratory purposes only. Arguing that music is a means by which the early Irish people test their world and register its realities, this thesis discovers in this select literature on music, an unbroken continuity between the otherworldly and the mundane, experienced and expressed through early Irish music, and this is common to both overtly primal and overtly Christian contexts.