O’Desi Meals was a food and beverage start-up based in Dublin, Ireland that aimed to deliver high-quality, healthy, home-cooked Indian food meals at affordable prices to customers who wanted delivery without compromise on taste or health. A second and more important objective that had driven the founding of the venture was to empower the population of underprivileged homeless individuals in Dublin. In March 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic .....more

Unlike any other European airline, Ryanair DAC had long experienced impressive growth and performance thanks to its well-designed and ruthlessly executed low-cost carrier business model. However, the limits of growth did begin to appear, at which time the company adjusted its business model with an increased emphasis on customer orientation. As a result, cracks in the business model appeared and labour issues came to the fore. While the media and .....more

On November 20, 2015, the chief financial officer of Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer) was preparing to make a recommendation about whether to proceed with or stop merger talks between Pfizer and Allergan plc (Allergan), a pharmaceutical company with headquarters in New Jersey but tax residence in Ireland. Informal talks had been going on for almost a month, but both sides were rapidly approaching the pre-arranged deadline. The two teams had less than a week to .....more

In May 2015, Qualtrics was a rapidly growing U.S.-based software-as-a-service firm, founded in 2002. After 10 years of operating with little capital, Qualtrics raised some venture capital funding, which enabled it to initiate a rapid international expansion. The management team intended to aggressively pursue global opportunities, but first needed to make some key decisions regarding how to develop the company’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) .....more

In 2014, FotoNation, an international venture previously located in Ireland, produced innovative solutions for digital photography from its headquarters in California. At the core of FotoNation’s technology were its proprietary algorithms, which were embedded in software and used in over 2 billion digital devices such as the cameras in smartphones. The company placed an emphasis on research, and it had its research and development units in Romania, .....more

The Gaelic Athletic Association and Irish Rugby Football Union are two sporting organizations that have innovated through their business models to grow their sports, create world-class sport facilities and improve their ability to win European competitions. Yet they reside in one of the smallest countries in Europe — Ireland. While the Gaelic Athletic Association is a volunteer organization whose amateur status (in which players and coaches are unpaid) .....more

An Irish Air Lines pilot has re-created his home city of Dublin on Second Life. His Second Life alter ego, Ham Rambler, is busy running the site, and selling office space and advertisement on the property. The property includes a popular bar, a venue for live music performances, as well as a realistic rendering of Dublin's core. Second Life "residents" flock to the site for its entertainment and to experience Dublin. Mahon/Rambler needs .....more

By using standard components, Compaq's supercomputer line, known as the Alpha Server SC, attempted to avoid some of the risk associated with supercomputer development. However, more than five years after unveiling its first supercomputer, known as Turbozilla, Compaq's High Performance Technical Computing Group had yet to make a profit, despite rapidly growing demand. The bidding process for large government contracts typically resulted in .....more

In this supplement to Compaq High Performance Computing (A), product 9B03M041, Compaq's High Performance Technical Computing Group attempts to shift its focus from one of gaining access to new markets to becoming a profit center through the manufacture and sale of standardized products. To accomplish this goal, the HPTC must learn to balance core development with manufacturing, sales, and service. Unlike large government accounts, volume customers .....more

Aspen Grove was one of the first companies to provide applications over the Internet in 1996. It was also the first application service provider to implement a functional system for the legal market. Despite an apparent first mover advantage, the company has had limited growth and it has not expanded its customer base much beyond its original legal clients. With one of the three founders tied to the development of software and support for the company's .....more