Learming Hub
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            [post_title] => "China is the next innovation powerhouse" Six Word Wisdom from George S. Yip
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            [post_content] => Described as ‘The Jane Bond of Innovation’, Nilofer Merchant has grown businesses — from Fortune 500s and silicon valley web start-ups — for 20 years.  She will be a keynote speaker at the IMI National Management Conference on 9 October 2014.  As an innovative thinker and practitioner, Nilofer will share her thoughts and experience on how we best align our organisations to succeed against our business challenges today and into the future.

nmweb150

IMI: Based on your current work – if you only had 6 words of advice to give a business - what would they be?

NM: Not everyone will, but anyone can.

IMI: What does this mean?

NM: Most organizations think of work in boxes. As in engineering does this and marketing does that. Or, even more personally as Tom is responsible for delivering X and Susan is responsible for Y. This is to put work into neat little boxes to create some type of measurability. It’s a relic of the industrial era when the way to profitability and market performance was on efficiency and productivity. But if you look around your workplace, you’ll notice the most obvious truth. Most things are not failing because so and so didn’t do such and such. It’s because of a gap. A gap between organizational silos. A gap between understanding. A gap between the organizational boxes. In order to close the box, you need to organize not around boxes but around purpose. Organize not by “who should be here” but who wants to be here. And while not everybody will rise up to solve the situation, create new products, etc … what you’ll discover is an amazing reserve of talent that exists. Things you didn’t know were possible will happen. Because anybody can.

IMI: Where should we look for further information?

NM: Visit my website nilofermerchant.com

Nilofer Merchant is a keynote speaker at the IMI National Management Conference taking place on Thursday 9 October. If you are interested in attending click here to register.
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            [post_content] => Frances Ruane picFrances Ruane served as Director of the ESRI from 2006 to 2015.  She previously taught in the Dept of Economics at TCD, and earlier in her career she work at Queens University in Canada and at the Central Bank of Ireland and the IDA. In Ireland, her current activities include chair of the Interdepartmental Group on Making Work Pay for People with Disabilities at the Department of Social Welfare, membership of the Public Interest Committee of KPMG, and an Honorary Professor in the Department of Economics at Trinity College, where she contributes to the MSc in Economic Policy Studies. She is also a Research Affiliate at the ESRI and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

 
IMI: Based on your current work – if you only had 6 words of advice to give a business – what would they be?

FR: Look positively beyond the immediate.

  IMI: What does this mean? FR: After a period of rapid growth, the global financial crisis meant that Irish businesses had to concentrate on handling immediate challenges.  They managed that disruption well and this contributed to the strength of Ireland’s recovery.   But the focus on the immediate has left many businesses with legacy issues (debt burdens, under-investment in innovation, poor staff morale). And now businesses need to prepare for the medium term when we discover what is really meant by ‘Brexit means Brexit’.  Forward looking businesses leaders need now to ask: what could Brexit mean for my market and company? Where am I exposed to risk and how can I mitigate it?   [post_title] => "Look positively beyond the immediate" Six Word Wisdom from Frances Ruane [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => look-positively-beyond-immediate-six-word-wisdom-frances-ruane [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-05-11 19:52:32 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-05-11 19:52:32 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.imi.ie/?p=16052 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [3] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 19182 [post_author] => 7 [post_date] => 2017-03-30 13:48:18 [post_date_gmt] => 2017-03-30 13:48:18 [post_content] => [post_title] => 5 Tips for Motivating Employees [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => 5-tips-motivating-employees [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-05-18 07:59:34 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-05-18 07:59:34 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.imi.ie/?p=19182 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [4] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 11945 [post_author] => 63 [post_date] => 2015-10-05 11:20:50 [post_date_gmt] => 2015-10-05 11:20:50 [post_content] =>
thimon
Thimon de Jong runs over the past ten years has consulted with leading organisations such as Ikea, Deloitte, Aon, Samsung and GDF Suez, on sharpening their business strategies to sync with wider socio-cultural trends. Thimon runs his own company, Whetston, a strategic foresight think tank. He also teaches at Utrecht University on how sociocultural trends can be used to improve business strategy. He will be a keynote speaker at the IMI National Management Conference on 8 October 2015 IMI: Based on your current work – if you only had 6 words of advice to give a business - what would they be?

TDJ: Develop a digitally balanced business strategy

IMI: What does this mean? TDJ: Society, human behaviour, business: our world is rapidly getting more and more digital. But parallel to this development, the need for the real, the personal and the unconnected is growing. In the future, a successful strategy will cater both these trends with a digital balance in any part of business: products, services, marketing communication, HR etc. IMI: Where should we look for further information? TDJ: This fall, I will release a series of articles on this, published via LinkedIn and my website: www.whetston.com NMC 2015 A4 HEADER Thimon de Jong is a keynote speaker at the IMI National Management Conference taking place on Thursday 8 October. This event has now reached maximum capacity however if you would like to be added to the waiting list, please email your contact details and company name to conference@imi.ie. [post_title] => "Develop a digitally balanced business strategy" Six Word Wisdom from Thimon de Jong [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => private [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => develop-digitally-balanced-business-strategy-six-word-wisdom-thimon-de-jong [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-12-13 18:23:44 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-12-13 18:23:44 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.imi.ie/?p=11945 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [5] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 4779 [post_author] => 15 [post_date] => 2013-09-06 09:39:08 [post_date_gmt] => 2013-09-06 09:39:08 [post_content] => With the surge of new computing capabilities afforded to us through cloud computing and data analytics there has been a significant increase in the ability to source, integrate, manage, and deliver data within organisations. The emergence of a new breed of technologies means that traditional restrictions on data processing have been overcome and the resulting boost to information capacity means that all organisations can become more agile, flexible, lean and efficient The term Intelligent Enterprise is being used to describe those that seizing the opportunities presented. This has led to a demand for people that can make this “Intelligent Enterprise” a reality. The bottom line is that without the right skills and capabilities, new technological innovations will not only be of no benefit to firms but may actually become a disadvantage to those that are unprepared to implement them. Indeed, staffing and skills have been singled out by firms as the top barrier to Agile Data Analytics, with 61% of respondents citing them as a challenge in our recent report for the Cutter Consortium. So what can organisations do to become Intelligent Enterprises and get the most from big data? We believe they need to develop three main skill bases: 1. Technology support 2. A deep analytical capability 3. A savvy understanding of what big data can deliver Organisations will increasingly be employing not only Data Miners, Data Scientists, Data Architects, Database Administrators Business Developers and Business Analysts but those individuals that combine skills from those roles such as Project Managers, Data Visulalisers and Programmers Developers. [caption id="" style="float:center" width="300"]Intelligent Enterprise Skills & Roles Mapping The Intelligent Enterprise - mapping skills and roles[/caption] At the centre of the skills bases are the Chief Information Officers (CIO) and Chief Data Offers (CDO) that will drive the transformation. With a skill set that covers all three categories, individuals are ideally placed to successfully lead their organisation into an era of extracting tangible value which is currently hidden in organisational data. It is from this perspective that we have designed the IMI Diploma in Data Business, which provides knowledge and insight into each to three areas. To find out more about how you can develop these skills come to our Information Evening for our Diploma in Data Business and Diploma Cloud Strategy in the Marker Hotel, Dublin 2, at 6pm on Tuesday 10th September register here. Tadhg Nagle is joint Programme Director of the UCC IMI Diploma in Data Business and a lecturer and researcher in Information Systems at University College Cork. With a background in financial services his expertise is in strategic innovation and emerging and disruptive technologies. [post_title] => 3 critical skills to develop if you want to work for the Intelligent Enterprise [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => 3criticalskills-6 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-05-11 21:34:08 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-05-11 21:34:08 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.imi.ie/news-and-events/?p=2142 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) )
Moira Creedon

Moira Creedon

4th Mar 2019

Moira Creedon is an associate faculty member on the IMI Diploma in Management.

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"China is the next innovation powerhouse" Six Word Wisdom from George S. Yip
"Not everyone will, but anyone can" Six Word Wisdom from Nilofer Merchant
"Look positively beyond the immediate" Six Word Wisdom from Frances Ruane
5 Tips for Motivating Employees
"Develop a digitally balanced business strategy" Six Word Wisdom from Thimon de Jong
3 critical skills to develop if you want to work for the Intelligent Enterprise

Financial Management: at the Heart of Dealing with Brexit Risks

As the daily performance in Westminster moves from Punch and Judy to the surrealism of an episode of Black Mirror, it is easy to forget the thousands of companies all over Ireland who are increasingly worried about their long-term future.

The Valentines Day S&P report painted a rosy future for the Irish services sector predicting that hiring into financial, IT and other services would accelerate in a no deal scenario. But the outlook for indigenous exporting companies is not so bright. The UK is still Ireland’s largest trading partner, and many Irish companies are at significant risk.

In my work advising Irish CEOs on preparing for Brexit I have met incredibly agile companies who have already managed to completely reposition their export sales to mainland European, Middle Eastern, US and Asian markets and are fully Brexit proof.

Many other companies have taken a wait-and-see approach. With tight resources it is incredibly difficult to invest significant money to mitigate against an outcome where deep down it is hard to believe this crazy scenario will ever materialise.

For smaller companies, where it is unrealistic to have a full-time person dedicated to leading the Brexit preparation charge, it is hard to know where to even start.

Questions, not answers
The single most urgent thing a businesses should do is address the simple questions – How would a hard Brexit impact my business? Would my business survive?

This conversation usually triggers immediate action. For some companies Brexit demands root and branch strategic change. For other companies this can kickstart a general upgrade in financial and operational management to drive better profitability and reduce risk.

Brexit has more questions than answers
(Photo source)

This is always a good idea: we should never waste a good crisis.

There are many financial Brexit exposures facing Irish companies, from tariff imposition, cashflow impacts from border VAT, border delays and the need to stockpile, regulatory impacts facilitating cheaper competition in UK, sourcing exposures and the sheer cost of the paperwork required to get goods through customs.

Currency fluctuations
The most obvious Brexit exposure where financial management can help is currency volatility. For a company with a cost base primarily in euro, and revenues mainly in £, negative movements in Sterling can easily erode profit margins. In a tight margin business this can quickly trigger catastrophic losses.

Keep it simple if possible
There are several ways of addressing this. Start, if possible, with the simplest strategy – invoice your UK clients in Euro. Not all UK clients will accept this, but many will be exporting to Europe and may need to increase their percentage of euro costs, in which case they will be more than happy to oblige.

Pass it on to your customer – increase price to the UK market to cover the drop in sterling
Irish companies are often afraid to raise this with UK clients on the assumption that they will end up uncompetitive compared to UK competitors. Whether this can work or not depends on the dynamics of your sector. In many sectors such as food and construction materials, your UK competition are buying the raw materials in a global market place and their costs in £ will increase with a weak £.

Keep a tight eye on your competition sourcing footprint and how this impacts their pricing.

Natural Hedge
Natural hedging means getting the percentage of your Sterling costs in line with the percentage of your Sterling revenues by purchasing more in the UK, for example outsourcing manufacturing to the UK, paying UK based staff in sterling or buying materials in the UK.

I worked recently with a company with 90% of their revenues in the UK and no currency hedging in place, which initially looks extremely worrying. However, with roughly 90% of their cost base is in UK pounds, they are automatically naturally hedged. Their margin will be reasonably stable regardless of the currency movements.

Hedging – Forwards and Options
Banks and other specialist FX risk management companies offer forward contracts so you get a guaranteed exchange rate now for sterling inflows in the future. These contracts are relatively cheap, so apart from the initial set up paperwork, the main downside is that if the UK £ shoots up you are locked in at the agreed rate.

Options are the “cake and eat it” version. These are like forwards in that you agree an exchange rate in advance but very different in that if currency values move in your favour you can tear up the contract.

Talk to your bank and also the many Irish financial services companies created recently to offer specialist currency risk management products suitable for Irish SMEs. Explain your exposures and see what they can offer but remember you may need to strengthen your finance team to fully avail of these tools.

Long term competitiveness – the impact of a slide in sterling
Financial contract-based hedging is only ever a short-term insurance policy: If the competitiveness of your product is being eroded in the long run by a slide in sterling, hedging alone is not going to save you.

For some companies market diversification is a critical element of the Brexit mix. You will need a clearly differentiated offering and a well planned and funded marketing campaign to reach your target segment.

Businesses must forecast the full financial impact of their chosen Brexit strategy to make sure it adds up and that support is available from all stakeholders and funders.

 


Moira Creedon is an associate faculty member on the IMI Diploma in Management. Moira works with a wide range of Irish businesses in Food, Technology sectors and Life Sciences to address and prepare for Brexit risks.

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