Irish Director Issue 32 Summer 2014

Irish Director Irish Director

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF DIRECTORS IN IRELAND IRISH DIRECTOR ISSUE 32 • SUMMER 2014

FOCUS ON CSR

THE MED-TECH SECTOR Growth through R&D

Re-imagining the future

DOING BUSINESS IN GERMANY

The exporting opportunity

www.businessandleadership.com

GROWING

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GLANBIA SIOBHÁN TALBOT ON HER NEW ROLE RUNNING THE FOOD GIANT

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ISSUE 32 • SUMMER 2014 €7.50 STG£6.70)

| LEADERSHIP | SUSTAINABILITY | INNOVATION | FINANCE | TECHNOLOGY 04/07/2014 15:33

Letter from the editor Welcome to the summer issue of Irish Director.

In our director profile we talk to Siobhán Talbot, who took over as Glanbia group managing director last November, about the challenges of her new role and her ambitions for the company.

Eamon Eastwood talks about developing his Taste Ireland business in Australia, while Easydry’s Anne Butterly shares her inspiration for developing a brand new material for her award-winning eco-towels. Elsewhere, Germany is the first subject of our new ‘Doing business in...’ section, while the medical devices industry comes under the microscope as this issue’s sector profile.

We’re also very pleased to kick off a 12-month CSR campaign, with the first of five special reports that will focus on inspiring corporate social responsibility practices and the business leaders who are leading from the front in this area.

We’re grateful to the IoD members and others who shared their time, expertise and valuable insights with us in putting together the magazine. We welcome feedback and suggestions to ID@businessandleadership.com.

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Grainne Rothery Editor, Irish Director

Editor: Grainne Rothery Production editor: Karina Corbett Designer: Keith Wealleans Client services: Sharon Bolger, ph: +353 1 625 1422, email: sbolger@businessandleadership.com For all advertising and marketing queries, contact Sam Hobbs on ph: +353 1 625 1425 or email: advertising@businessandleadership.com Irish Director is published by Business & Leadership Ltd Ph: +353 1 625 1400 Email: info@businessandleadership.com Address: Top Floor, Block 43B,Yeats Way, Park West Business Park, Nangor Road, Dublin 12 © Business and Leadership Ltd 2014

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ISSN: 1649-3621

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Irish Director The Official Magazine Of The Institute of Directors In Ireland

UP FRONT

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NEWS FROM THE IOD A word from CEO Maura Quinn

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UP FRONT News, tips and culture

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VIEW FROM ABOVE 12 Irish management leaders offer words of wisdom DIRECTOR PROFILE 16 Glanbia’s Siobhán Talbot on her new role as group managing director GLOBAL CONNECTIONS Eamon Eastwood tastes success in Australia

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ONE TO WATCH 26 Easydry is cleaning up in the sustainable, disposable towel market BOARDROOM 30 The role of the non-executive director

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DIGITAL BOARDROOM 34 Boards have a key role in tackling new threats such as cybercrime DOING BUSINESS IN...

A look at the export opportunities in Germany

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IoD MEMBER PROFILE 42 Louise Donlon, manager, Lime Tree Theatre

INNOVATION 44 Examining the benefits of Lean business SECTOR PROFILE Med-tech is one of Ireland’s shining stars

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SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS 52 The strategy required to expunge ghost estates from Ireland’s landscape CSR CAMPAIGN 55 Special Report: CSR overview – the first in a 12-month series SENIOR APPOINTMENTS Who’s moving where in Irish senior management

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WHAT’S ON 76 Cultural calendar dates for the autumn NETWORKING 78 News and photos from recent events

WEBSITE www.businessandleadership.com for further information

SUBSCRIPTIONS For subscriptions, please contact subs@businessandleadership.com +353 1 625 1422

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Business confidence improving as tolerance for austerity reaches turning point While the country ponders the results of the recent European and local elections and prepares for Budget 2015, sentiment among directors in Ireland with regard to business activity is showing signs of positivity.

In recent research carried out with members of the Institute of Directors (IoD) in Ireland in relation to Budget 2015, over two-thirds of directors surveyed claim to be optimistic or very optimistic about the future of their business.

It is encouraging to see that there has been a marked increase in the level of optimism among those surveyed in relation to their business, with a growth of almost 10pc in levels of optimism in the past 12 months.

A majority of directors, 67pc, also report increased confidence in the Irish economy in the past 12 months, no doubt fuelled by strong income tax figures reported so far this year.

In terms of the level of tolerance for austerity, directors have reached a turning point, with views divided on the size of the adjustment needed in Budget 2015. Fortyeight percent of IoD members are of the view that an adjustment of Ð2bn should be maintained in Budget 2015, while 44pc of those surveyed are calling for a smaller adjustment.

Directors consider Ireland’s income

tax rates and levies on pay are a barrier to attracting and retaining talent with a majority of the view that current rates are a threat to Ireland’s competitiveness as a place to do business.

There is overwhelming support among directors for a reduction in income tax in the upcoming budget, with 77pc of those surveyed calling for income tax to be reduced. Of those, four in five (81pc) cite an increase in the tax band ceiling of Ð32,800 as the top income tax priority in Budget 2015.

IoD members also want to see the Government make every effort in Budget 2015 to safeguard the cornerstones of Irish society – education, employment, health and housing.

Two-thirds of directors surveyed argue that the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation should face no further budget cuts in Budget 2015.

Ninety percent of directors surveyed cite the stability of the Government as one of the biggest issues facing Ireland and threequarters of directors are of the view that the results of the recent local and European elections represent a negative shift in Ireland’s political landscape.

As we look to Budget 2015, with increasing pressure on the coalition, impending cabinet reshuffles and a change of leadership in the Labour party, the Government must remain steadily focused on the core task in hand – rebuilding, renewing and reinvigorating the Irish economy.

Maura Quinn Chief Executive, Institute of Directors in Ireland

IoD BREAKFAST AND EVENING BRIEFING SERIES SPONSORED BY

18 Sept

Venue:

EVENING BRIEFING PRESENTED

BY ALAN SHORTT, MEDIA SKILLS IRELAND National Concert Hall, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2

For information on upcoming events please contact Sharon Kirwan on 01 411 0010 or visit www.iodireland.ie

IOD TRAINING AND OTHER EVENTS 25 Sept

Venue:

IOD AUTUMN LUNCH 2014 WITH GUEST SPEAKER, CHRIS MARTIN, CEO, MUSGRAVE GROUP. KINDLY SPONSORED BY LONDON CITY AIRPORT DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel – Burlington Road, Dublin 4

For bookings please contact Sharon Kirwan on 01 411 0010 or visit www.iodireland.ie 30 Sept

Venue:

01 Oct

Venue: 07 Oct Venue: 20 Oct

Venue:

WORKSHOP ON UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE BOARD, ITS CHAIR AND DIRECTORS Limerick Chamber of Commerce, O’Connell Street, Limerick WORKSHOP ON REPUTATION AND COMMUNICATION – THE ESSENCE OF BUSINESS SUCCESS IMI, Sandyford, Dublin 16 WORKSHOP ON CHAIRING THE BOARD IMI, Sandyford, Dublin 16 WORKSHOP ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE FOR DIRECTORS ON STATE BOARDS IMI, Sandyford, Dublin 16

> NOT YET A MEMBER? To learn about your role and responsibilities as a director and to develop your professional skills, knowledge and expertise, why not join over 2,000 fellow directors who are already members of the IoD in Ireland.

Call us today on 01 411 0010 or visit www.iodireland.ie.

Irish Director Summer 2014

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DENNIS HOPPER:

THE LOST ALBUM The Royal Academy of Arts in London is currently hosting an exhibition of over 400 photographs taken by American film actor, director and artist Dennis Hopper between 1961 and 1967. The photos were selected and edited by Hopper for his first major exhibition at the Fort Worth Art Center in Texas in 1970 and the original, vintage prints were discovered after his death in 2010.

Hopper said he became interested in photography in the late 1950s following encouragement from fellow actor James Dean, who he had worked with on the sets of Rebel without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). When he returned to Los Angeles in 1961 after four years in New York and found himself blacklisted in Hollywood, photography became his main creative outlet. During the next six years he took an estimated 18,000 photographs.

Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album features portraits of artists and actors, including Andy Warhol, Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, and Robert Rauschenberg, alongside images documenting political events such as Martin Luther King’s march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, as well as photos of Hopper’s own family and friends and the countercultural movements of the era. The exhibition runs until 19 October 2014. www.royalacademy.co.uk

2,000

members and counting The Institute of Directors in Ireland (IoD) recently reached the very significant milestone of 2,000 members.

Chief executive Maura Quinn described it as a fantastic achievement of which the institute is very proud.

“Our sincere thanks to all of our members for your ongoing commitment and support and particular thanks to those who have recommended membership of the IoD to colleagues,” she said.

“The organisation has progressed a lot in recent years and has become increasingly active, vibrant and dynamic with a growingly diverse membership. The IoD is going from strength to strength, both in number and in stature, and we are committed to driving that growth forward in the years ahead.”

Leon Bing, 1966 © Dennis Hopper, courtesy The Hopper Art Trust. www.dennishopper.com

Double Standard, 1961 © Dennis Hopper, courtesy The Hopper Art Trust. www.dennishopper.com

40 NEW FULBRIGHT AWARDS ANNOUNCED

A record 40 new Irish Fulbright awardees were announced at an event in the US Ambassador’s residence in May, including (L–R) Dr Enda Murphy, UCD; Treasa De Loughry, UCD; Cian Ó Concubhair, TCD; Vikki Ní Bhréin, Notre Dame School, Churchtown; and Síne Nic an Ailí, Conradh na Gaeilge

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MOSSE WINS TOP INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR THE ENCLAVE Irish artist Richard Mosse has won the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize for The Enclave, which documents the landscape of the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo where 5.4 million people have died of war-related causes since 1998.

The work represented Ireland at last year’s Venice Art Biennale, where it drew an audience of nearly 80,000 people. It was then brought home for an Arts Council tour, during which it was exhibited at the RHA Gallery in Dublin and in Limerick as part of the City of Culture programme.

The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize is given to a contemporary photographer of any nationality who is judged to have made the most significant contribution to the medium of photography in Europe in the previous year.

The award was originally set up in 1996 by The Photographers’ Gallery in London to promote the best of contemporary photography. Deutsche Börse has sponsored the £30,000 prize since 2005.

British Airways launches new Dublin to London flights

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Women in the boardroom:

Liz Hughes

Liz Hughes, head of ACCA Ireland for the last four years, shares some of her thoughts on women in leadership roles.

How do you define great leadership?

Being the very best that you can be and, in turn, inspiring your colleagues to deliver their very best to the organisation while striving to always lead by example.

What particular traits do you think women in general bring to leadership roles?

Probably first and foremost emotional intelligence, which at times can be underrated, the ability to listen and communicate effectively, a more balanced and sometimes practical perspective, empathy and, of course, multitasking!

How do you feel about gender quotas?

I don’t agree with them as I don’t think it will solve the problem from a long-term perspective in business or in politics. I think we need to address the barriers to encouraging women to the boardroom table such as work-life balance, salaries, mentoring, organisational and board culture, and the ‘tone at the top’, and women’s own attitudes towards career progression need to be addressed. These need to be rationalised rather than bringing in quotas, which might prove counter conducive to the values of opportunity and diversity.

This is an extract from a Q&A article that first appeared on Business & Leadership (www.businessandleadership.com/leadership/item/46087).

British Airways is to add an additional link between Dublin and London with the launch of new direct flights from Dublin to London City Airport.

From the start of the winter schedule, 26 October, British Airways will launch five-a-day services to London City Airport using a mix of Embraer 170 and 190 jets from its new fleet of 17 aircraft.

The aircraft will be based in Dublin overnight for an early morning departure, allowing customers to do a full day’s business in London or to connect on to British Airways’ 26 domestic, European and international destinations from the Docklands airport.

RE-IMAGINING THE FUTURE This issue of Irish Director marks the start of Business & Leadership’s year-long CSR campaign through which we hope to add to the positive movement for change that aims to improve the long-term economic, societal and environmental impacts of business through sustainable practices.

Throughout the campaign, we’ll be focusing on the four pillars of marketplace, community, workplace and environment, exploring the fundamental issues and challenges and sharing best practice from a range of champions of CSR, both in Ireland and internationally.

The campaign will feature in Irish Director and online at www.businessandleadership.com.

Summer 2014 Irish Director

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CONSUMER PRICES IN IRELAND FIFTH HIGHEST IN THE EU Consumer prices in Ireland were fifth highest in the EU in 2013 at 118pc of the EU average, according to figures published by Eurostat.

Prices were highest in Denmark (140pc of the EU28 average), followed by Sweden (130pc), Luxembourg and Finland (both 123pc), and lowest in Hungary (60pc), Poland and Romania (both 57pc) and Bulgaria (48pc).

Ireland had the highest price levels for alcoholic beverages and tobacco in the EU at 178pc of the average.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages were also above average in Ireland at 117pc of the EU average but well below Denmark in top place at 140pc of the average. Prices for consumer electronic and personal transport equipment in Ireland were also above the EU average at 105pc and 111pc respectively.

Clothing in Ireland at 98pc was the only area where prices were below average.

INNOVFIN

– EU FINANCE FOR INNOVATORS’ IS LAUNCHED Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon has welcomed the launch of a new generation of EU financial instruments and advisory services, InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators, to help innovative firms access finance more easily.

The agreement with the European Investment Bank Group was signed by European research, innovation and science commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn on behalf of the EU in Greece.

Over the next seven years, it is expected that the InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators products will make available more than Ð24bn of financing for research and innovation (R&I) by small, medium and large companies and the promoters of research infrastructures.

This finance is expected to support up to Ð48bn of final R&I investments.

Roadmap for growth:

Avoca

Ivan Pratt, director at Avoca, outlines how exports have evolved for his family company, which started from a disused mill in Co Wicklow.

What is Avoca’s current export status?

Avoca’s wholesale business generates export sales of around Ð6m a year, which represents 75pc of our wholesale business sales. Most of our sales go to 10 countries, the most recent addition being Japan, which is growing steadily and likely to be our biggest market this year.

When did Avoca enter its first export market and how did you go about that?

The beginning of exports for wholesale products was in 1974, when Donald and Hilary Pratt – my parents –bought the run-down mill in Avoca village, Co Wicklow. Their initial export port of call was to the Irish-American stores in the US. How would you describe your exporting strategy to date?

Initially we appointed several agents who each sold to a number of small and medium-sized retailers. This still works in Europe, however for the Japanese and Canadian markets we work very closely with our distributors there. In the US, we sell directly to a few large multiples.

What challenges have you faced in terms of exporting?

Breaking into a new country /market has always been a challenge as we get used to their red tape, paperwork, systems and so on, however this is usually short term and gets progressively easier as time goes on.

This is an extract from a Q&A article that first appeared on Business & Leadership (www.businessandleadership.com/exporting/item/45585).

This is an extract from a Q&A article that first appeared on Business & Leadership (www.businessandleadership.com/exporting/item/45585)

Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon with EU commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn

Irish Director Summer 2014

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Guinness Storehouse top destination for visitors again

Fáilte Ireland has published its definitive list of Ireland’s top visitor attractions last year with the Guinness Storehouse once more topping the bill as it welcomed 1,157,000 visitors in 2013, an increase of 70,000 visitors on its 2012 performance.

Among the nation’s fee-paying attractions, the Dublin centre was followed closely by Dublin Zoo with just over a million visitors and the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, which had a significant 10pc boost in visitor numbers with 960,000 paying visitors passing through.

While the National Gallery of Ireland continued to lead the ‘free attractions’ listing, there was a significant new entry to the top 10 in that category last year with the Newbridge Silverware Museum of Style Icons entering the listing at number five thanks to the interest of 350,000 visitors during 2013. Other free favourites include the National Botanic Gardens, Farmleigh and the Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin.

Overall, the combined top 10 fee-paying attractions in 2013 recorded a 5pc increase in visitors on the previous year’s top 10 performance. The combined top 10 free attractions experienced a 7pc jump in visitors compared to the top 10 performers in 2012.

IRELAND RISKS NOT MEETING EU2020 TARGETS FOR GHG EMISSIONS - EPA Ireland faces considerable challenges in moving to a low carbon economy and may not meet its EU2020 targets, according to figures released from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The EPA maintains there is a significant risk that, even under the best case scenario, Ireland will not meet its EU 2020 targets to reduce by 20pc over 2005 figures its greenhouse gas emissions from transport, agriculture, residential, waste and non-energy intensive industry.

EPA projections suggest that under the best case scenario, greenhouse gas emissions will remain relatively static up to 2020. As a result, emissions in 2020 will be just 5–12pc below 2005 levels.

“We have not solved the problem of greenhouse gas emissions and this becomes an even more pressing challenge as the economy begins to improve and places further new pressures on emissions targets,” said Laura Burke, director general of the EPA. The EPA said Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions profile is unique because of the dominance of the agriculture sector.

Emissions from the transport sector are also significant.

Emissions in some sectors such as residential, waste and services are projected to decrease between now and 2020, but those from the agriculture and transport sectors – even under the best case scenario – are projected to increase by 15pc and 9pc, respectively.

AIRSPEED TELECOM FOUNDER NAMED TOP ENTREPRENEUR AT EUROPEAN BUSINESS AWARDS Airspeed Telecom founder and CEO Liam O’Kelly was named winner of the RSM Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the European Business Awards ceremony in Athens at the end of May. The European Business Awards is an independent awards programme designed to recognise and promote excellence, best practice and innovation in the European business community.

In the 2013/14 competition, the seventh in its history, all EU member markets were represented as well as Turkey, Norway and Macedonia.

“Liam O’Kelly has created a very impressive business in a highly crowded sector,” said Jean Stephens, CEO of RSM. “His vision and sheer determination, together with his ability to continually innovate and read where the market is going, make him an outstanding entrepreneur and a very worthy winner of the RSM Entrepreneur of the Year Award.”

“We were extremely proud to reach the Ruban d’Honneur stage of the European Business Awards and to represent Ireland,” L–R: Liam O’Kelly with Aidan said O’Kelly. “Securing the Scollard, partner, RSM Farrell award for Entrepreneur of Grant Sparks, and Jim Mulqueen, the Year is a tremendous managing partner, RSM Farrell achievement and recognises Grant Sparks the hard work, focus and enthusiasm of the entire AirSpeed Telecom team.

“Demonstrating our ability to grow the business by 40pc annually over the past few years, while maintaining consistently high levels of service and value for our customers, was a key factor in securing this win.”

Irish Director Summer 2014

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INSIGHTS from some of Ireland’s business leaders

Effective media communications in a crisis Recent high-profile issues involving now badly bruised organisations like the BBC, BP, RSA Insurance and Irish charity Rehab Group all underline the need for strong strategic communications in times of crisis.

Every company, no matter how well governed, diligent or compliant, is vulnerable in an increasingly complex business world to the fallout from a crisis. The ubiquity of traditional and social media also means coverage is instantaneous and constant.

If the timing of a crisis is difficult to predict, its consequences are not. They range from organisational paralysis and damaged consumer confidence to upset shareholders, combustible share prices and damage to employee morale. The repercussions can continue in lengthy public enquiries, collapsed profit and ongoing and intrusive media interest.

Accepting that crises can occur allows us to prepare. A comprehensive crisis communications plan looks at the structure of an organisation, the stakeholders, the chain of command, the interfaces with the public (not just the press office, but the front line too) and the potential exposures the company has.

It will allocate responsibilities in the event of a crisis ensuring all audiences are considered. A major function will obviously be media relations, and a single voice here, fully briefed with access to the CEO and input on corporate decision-making is critical.

Once agreed the plan must be adopted into the fibre of the organisation – not consigned to a dusty shelf.In the throes of a crisis, the main imperative is to contain events and normalise the business as soon as possible.

To that end we look to ascertain: • • • •

What has happened Who knows about it What can be done to correct it Who else needs to know

Whether, how and when to engage the media, particularly if it is not already knocking on the door, is a delicate call and one that can only be taken based on years of experience. Too little information

DONNCHADH O’NEILL is managing director of Gibney Communications. creates a vacuum that will certainly be filled by others whereas the right pre-emptive move can kill an issue in its tracks. ‘Smart’ moves like attempting to bury bad news on a busy day are now often exposed for what they are – sly and dishonest.

Openness, availability and a willingness to share approved information in a dynamic, evolving situation will build media trust and ultimately consumer confidence. An able press officer known to the media, who can explain off record the reasons why they cannot elaborate further, can also greatly affect the tone of coverage if information is restricted. It can be a much more constructive alternative to ‘no comment’.

As with any other vital parts of the business, sound decisionmaking in a white hot environment cannot be taught in textbooks.

This is where an experienced communications professional, inhouse or external, can advise you. Effective media relations will not cover over the cracks of a crisis, but a strong, strategic and highly responsive communications plan can help secure the future of the business.

Irish Director Summer 2014

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‘Managing the pipeline of talent is, in effect, not dissimilar from managing a supply chain’

AOIFE BRADSHAW is principal consultant with MERC Partners.

Succession planning – does your organisation have a sufficient pipeline of talent?

While organisations successfully plan for expansion, growth and market share, why is it that they often fail to prepare the pipeline of talent for their business? A frequent statement I hear as an executive search consultant is ‘and by the way, we need this position filled yesterday’. Should your star divisional director choose to leave in the morning, are you confident that you have the sufficient mix of talent within the business to take his/her place? What if a key executive decides to emigrate or, heaven forbid, falls under a bus? Given the immediate impact that these scenarios may have on an organisation, relatively few companies have a well formulated succession plan. Change is inevitable – it comes to us all, whether we welcome it or not. Organisations are organic structures that change over time. The reality is that people do fall

ill, people do move on and organisations must plan accordingly for this eventuality.

In a recent study by IIC Partners, the global executive search group of which MERC Partners is the Irish member firm, a surprising dichotomy arose. While organisations may have a succession plan in place, this does not necessarily mean that they have a viable direct replacement option for the departing senior executive.

When asked about their organisation’s preparedness to replace key leaders, six in 10 respondents said their company had a succession plan in place, but 80pc said their company would need at least a year to find their replacement if they were to leave.

Managing the pipeline of talent is, in effect, not dissimilar from managing a supply chain. Just-in-time manufacturing, a concept spearheaded by Ford Motor

Company, works on a demand-pull basis.

This is contrary to previously used techniques, which worked on a production-push basis. The same logic can be applied to talent management, with the premise being that we do not hire more staff than we need, yet are in position to react swiftly to the demand for new talent. It’s important for senior management teams to pre-empt where future gaps may arise.

It can be a sensitive topic in boardrooms, especially when the senior executives who form part of the subject of that discussion may be present themselves. With the early signs of recovery starting to make an appearance, this is a conversation that should be formally tabled for regular discussion in board meetings. It is the responsibility of all senior managers and business leaders to ensure that they build talent from within the business and also prepare to access talent quickly from outside the business.

It is prudent for us all to set the wheels in motion in order to access this talent when the unexpected, but inevitable, urgent need arises. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”.

Summer 2014 Irish Director

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The importance of operational excellence

WILLIE BOXWELL is site director at Abbott Vascular Clonmel.

‘When the responsibility for excellence is shared equally across all functions and roles, employees become deeply committed to continuous improvement’

‘Operational Excellence’ is one of those terms often bandied about in management meetings, corporate strategies, reports, forecasts and presentations as managers seek to make their businesses the very best they can be. But what exactly is operational excellence, and how can businesses, irrespective of their size, sector, turnover or headcount achieve it?

As site director of Abbott’s vascular manufacturing facility in Clonmel, I was delighted to recently accept, on behalf of Abbott, the Shingo Prize, a leading international award for operational excellence, by the Shingo Institute at Utah State University. It follows a decade long journey at our site to achieve a culture where the principles of operational excellence are deeply embedded into the thinking and behaviour of all employees, not just those managers and supervisors tasked with leading the organisation.

Before embarking on the journey, like any other manufacturing business we had strategic plans and a long-term vision, but the Shingo model offered us an opportunity to discover the most effective ways to foster collaboration among employees. It was this collaboration that allowed us to improve on everything we do.

When investment decisions are made by leading corporations, the efficiency of the workforce is always a core factor, but efficiency is critical in any business, whether you are leading a team of 30, 300 or 3,000. For us, it was about building on the capabilities that existed at the site, and strategically investing in employee engagement and development. When the responsibility for excellence is shared equally across all functions and roles, employees become deeply committed to continuous improvement.

Any attempt to reach operational excellence has to be a conscious effort. We sought to create an environment where all employees have pride in what they do, respect each other and are challenged to their full potential. It’s about ensuring each person is clear on their role and that the systems supporting them are aligned with that. In this way, operational excellence can be thought of as the best team sport – the end goal is to have everyone working together, in a synchronised effort, to achieve a common purpose. Like any winning team, engagement fosters stamina, which in turn supports the long-term sustainability of a business.

Abbott’s Clonmel facility is a centre of excellence in the manufacturing of medical devices used to treat people with vascular diseases, including heart disease, in more than 100 countries around the world. Securing operational excellence means we have achieved a triple-digit increase in productivity and double-digit reduction in product unit costs over the past seven years. We have also reduced the lead time from manufacturing to the customer by 85pc, while maintaining the highest standards in quality as we bring innovative medical technologies to the market.

The detail or sophistication of any strategy towards operational excellence will depend on the size of your business, but in the most general sense it will be about all employees making continuing improvements to achieve a competitive advantage. And performance metrics aside, the real prize is to have a team of people who are highly engaged, aligned and constantly trying to improve.

Irish Director Summer 2014

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director profile

Rise to the

TOP

After over two decades working for Glanbia, Siobhán Talbot became group managing director last November, however taking over the top role in the company was never part of a master plan, she tells Grainne Rothery

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hen she took over from John Moloney as group managing director of food giant Glanbia last November, Siobhan Talbot became the first woman to lead a publicly quoted company in Ireland. For Talbot, the journey to the top of the organisation took just over 21 years, beginning with her appointment in 1992 to set up an internal audit function at Waterford Foods.

She’s not quite a Glanbia lifer: following a BComm and a postgraduate in UCD, she joined PwC in 1985 to qualify as a chartered accountant. She spent six years with the firm, two of them in Sydney, Australia, where she and new husband Billy Talbot were “positive emigrants” at a time of significant recession back in Ireland.

A couple of years after returning, she joined Waterford Foods, a move that was something of a return to the Kilkenny woman’s roots.

“My father had been a farmer and my mother was delighted. The sector might not have had the popularity that it has today, but it was one I knew well and always regarded very highly. Also, from a personal point of view, we had always aimed to come back down south.”

She was financial controller of Waterford Foods when the company merged with Avonmore Foods to form Avonmore Waterford Group (AWG) in 1997. The group was renamed and rebranded as Glanbia in 1999 and she became a member of the group operating executive in 2000. She became group secretary in the new entity before being appointed finance director in 2005. In 2009, she was appointed

group finance director and became the only woman on the board.

Becoming managing director of the company four years later was never part of a master plan, she claims. “I always did and do really like the area of finance and finance director was the pinnacle of that.

I guess when you achieve that and the opportunity comes up – and John was very encouraging – you have to go for it. But it wasn’t like there had been a grand master plan for the last decade.”

Her experience in and knowledge of the organisation over the years means the new role hasn’t brought massive changes, she says. “What probably is that little bit different is being that front of house person. While you’re quite front of house as finance director there is that extra bit now and ultimately the buck stops with yourself.”

In recent months she has particularly enjoyed visiting all of the Glanbia sites globally and doing ‘town hall’ sessions with the senior teams as part of a group-wide employee engagement programme.

“It was a chance to interact directly with over 3,000 of the employees face-to-face. Having articulated to the capital markets an ambition for the group for the next five years in early March, it was absolutely right in my view that we would then articulate the strategy to the employee grouping as key deliverers and stakeholders in the vision.

It was also a great opportunity to talk to people about the dynamics across the organisation.

“If you have the opportunity to take over a role like this, in the first 12 months a lot of it is getting out and about in the organisation and connecting with people. That of itself brings a new intensity. But

Irish Director Summer 2014

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‘I am very ambitious for the organisation and performance led in terms of driving it forward’

Summer 2014 Irish Director

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director profile

I’ve always enjoyed travelling around the group anyway. So it’s really building on the knowledge I had having been with the group for over 20 years.”

Evolving company Talbot says she feels like she’s been part of three or four organisations in the course of her time with the group. “That’s why I’ve loved my time at Glanbia. It’s never been staid. The organisation is so different to the one I joined or even the organisation that was created in 1997. Things like the merger and the various divestment and acquisition programmes that we’ve done since then have just been incredible learning experiences – busy, but hugely dynamic and challenging and I’ve always enjoyed it.”

She describes the group as having evolved rather than changed over the years. “In recent years when the strategic path of Glanbia became more evident and we had the capability to drive forward on that path, it has created a great energy and enthusiasm and a very good vibe around the organisation, which is so self perpetuating.

“However, as a management group we’re not so naïve as to think there won’t be challenges. There are always going to be challenges but I think as an organisation it’s how we work through those and keep our eyes focused on the longer term.”

As regards her own leadership style, Talbot says she hopes to be seen as very inclusive in her engagement with the management team and wider employee group. “I am very ambitious for the organisation and performance led in terms of driving it forward. But I would hope to bring people with me on that shared ambition for the organisation.

“I have to say there’s a fantastic team of people in Glanbia. I think we’re an organisation that has a nice blend of being very rooted in a culture that doesn’t take itself too seriously but very much performance driven at the same time and playing to our strengths across the different aspects of our portfolio. So I’d be demanding, challenging and ambitious for the organisation.”

One of the ambitions includes realising a target for annual growth of 8pc to 10pc in adjusted earnings per share for the next five years.

“In the context of an organisation of our scale the management team believes that that’s a very ambitious target for us to set out for organic growth. That was bedrocked in a lot of strategic planning work that we did and delivery of that is obviously important to us for our stakeholders.”

Influences Talbot says her national school teacher mother has been the biggest influence in her life. “She has been resilient and strong at times of personal adversity. And from a young age she was hugely supportive of my career.” Along with her husband Billy, she has also been a key part of the infrastructure that allows Talbot juggle the demands of being a working mother of two.

Focused on growth Glanbia currently has around Ð3.3bn in annual revenue, market capitalisation over Ð3bn and more than 5,200 employees. While most of the staff are based in Ireland and the US, the group has a direct presence in 32 countries. “So it’s very much an international organisation,” says Talbot.

There are four main platforms to the group’s development, she explains. These include the global ingredients and performance nutrition businesses. In Ireland, meanwhile, the agribusiness and consumer products businesses stretch back to the Glanbia’s core roots. Included are brands like Avonmore and Kilmeaden on the consumer side. “And we have a very strong connection with the farmer supplier base as customers of our agribusiness through a series of retail stores predominantly in the south east,” says Talbot.

Glanbia’s four strategic joint ventures, meanwhile, include operations in New Mexico, the UK and Nigeria, as well as Glanbia Ingredients Ireland, which is currently building the first dairy facility in over 40 years in south Kilkenny.

“A lot of our knowledge and capability is in large scale dairy processing but the strategy of the group has been about increasing the value added aspect of our activities and going further up that value chain, both as an ingredients supplier and as a brand owner, internationally and domestically.”

This growth has been and will continue to be driven by a mix of acquisition and organic growth, she says. “Glanbia has strong capability in building: organic development where you build plants or extend facilities but also the ability to acquire and integrate. That’s been our history and I’ve no doubt that as we look forward it’ll be a mix of both.”

Glanbia’s most challenged business in recent years has been its consumer products business in Ireland. “The team has done a fantastic job in terms of trying to sustain the business for the longer term. So, we’re investing behind our brands – we’re investing behind long-life capability, because we’d like to bring our brands off the island of Ireland. And we have done quite a bit of change on the cost management side.

“While it’s been the most challenging, there’s a lot of really good stuff happening. I often say to people both internally and externally that when you have a portfolio of businesses you’ll always have some elements that are working forward at a faster pace than others. I think the main focus for us as a management team is to maintain the momentum in the entirety of the business.”

Irish Director Summer 2014

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04/07/2014 17:14

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04/07/2014 17:14

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‘If you have the opportunity to take over a role like this, in the first 12 months a lot of it is getting out and about in the organisation and connecting with people’

Talbot’s reaction to her diagnosis with breast cancer in 2010 and decision to continue to work while undergoing her successful treatment says much about her own resilience and strength.

“I approached it feeling very lucky that it was caught so early.

Working through the treatment just worked for me. Everybody has to approach these things in a way that works for them.”

Meanwhile, her new job hasn’t brought with it any unexpected challenges to date, she says.

“I think when you take on something like this, you go into it with your eyes open. I’ve been with the organisation for a long time and I’d worked very closely with John before he retired and I’d been with the senior management group for a long time. So I was very much coming at it with my eyes open.

“I’m a very strong believer in the opportunity that we have, but equally not naïve enough to think the challenges don’t and won’t emerge. But I believe we have fundamentally really strong opportunities for the organisation and a fantastic team of people to execute them. So, in all honesty I’d say there’s been a lot of travel and a lot of moving around, but I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Measures of success Talbot defines success for the organisation across several parameters. “Firstly, obviously for our shareholders there is financial success because clearly as a plc we are about driving shareholder value in a very sustained way for the longer term. As a management group we are focused on having a strategy that we believe will sustain and grow our shareholders’ value for the longer term and executing against that.

“But there are other very real measures of success which I would take credence of too, such as the whole area of culture, values and the sustainability of the organisation in the widest sense. Success really, apart from the financial piece, is that the organisation is sustainable for the long term for all our stakeholders.”

Irish Director Summer 2014

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global connections

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Taste of

SUCCESS Eamon Eastwood left Ireland at the age of 18, but links to his native country have intensified as his Taste Ireland business in Australia has grown over the past 10 years, writes Sorcha Corcoran

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he nostalgia evoked by Irish brands Barry’s Tea, Tayto Cheese & Onion and Club Orange among emigrants is undeniable, and founder of Taste Ireland Eamon Eastwood has translated this into a successful import business in Australia bolstered by a partnership approach with companies based here.

Originally from Co Tyrone, Eastwood first worked with a Belfast tour operator based in New York promoting inbound tourism to Northern Ireland.

As a backpacker to the Olympic Games in Australia in 2000 he imported a pallet of Tayto crisps to sell in Irish pubs, which he stored in his bedroom.

Fast forward to 2014 and Taste Ireland is importing more than 100 Irish brands and selling them online at Tasteireland.com.au and wholesale to pubs, shops and supermarkets with an annual turnover of €2.6m. It employs seven people at its Sydney base.

A big breakthrough came in October 2011 when Eastwood agreed a contract to supply Woolworths, which controls around

30pc of Australia’s supermarket sector. This was followed by a similar deal with Coles last February to stock a range of brands in 600 of its stores across Australia – which meant Taste Ireland was supplying a total of 900 retail outlets throughout the country.

“Woolworths and Coles dominate the Australian supermarket sector, accounting for over 70pc of the market. We are getting embedded with Coles and plan to roll out to another 150 of its stores by July,” he says.

“There were teething problems at the start because it was such a huge contract but we were well prepared having worked for two and a half years with Woolworths. They really do play off each other and we have to use that to our advantage. During the initial period with Coles we had to focus on evaluating where geographically the different brands were selling best and ensuring replenishment was there for the stores that were performing well for us.

“It is a learning process as we are putting new products [to the Australian consumer] in the international food aisle all over Oz.” Further to building up a cult following online within the Irish

‘Like every business person I am like a dog chasing a bone and have to be careful that one thing doesn’t suffer because I see potential with another thing’ Summer 2014 Irish Director

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Start-up ambassador in Australia

of joint marketing budgets and how to best push products through the retail channel. We need such support from Ireland as we’re not about flogging products to expats in pubs.

“For example, we could decide to run a promotion on Tayto, say a 10pc discount in Woolworths, and Largo Foods would support that – they need pure visibility on how many units are sold and then they rebate us with product.

“The next phase I think will be to go deeper into the markets together looking at things like share bags, multipacks etc.”

Adding suppliers from Ireland Enterprise Ireland appointed Eastwood as its start-up ambassador for Australia in November 2013 as part of its strategy to encourage overseas entrepreneurs to locate their start-up businesses in Ireland.

The voluntary role has the objective of pushing Ireland as a ‘startup nation’, getting the message across that it is viable for start-ups, regardless of the industry they’re in.

“I always had a good relationship with Paul Burfield, Australia manager for Enterprise Ireland in Sydney. The role of start-up ambassador involves tapping into my network and people I’m engaged with who might have aspirations about setting up a business in Europe,” he explains.

“I have already sent two companies his way and was involved in a very good networking event in Sydney where Noleen O’Connor of Tan Organics outlined the success of her start-up in Ireland to Irish professionals and ex-pats. Two more events for the expat community are planned this year.”

Eastwood is a member of the Global Irish Network, created in 2010

Another part of Taste Ireland’s next phase is to add new suppliers from Ireland and with this in mind, Eastwood recently attended Bord Bia’s Bloom festival in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.

“I come back to Ireland every year around this time and engage with Bord Bia and Invest NI. I meet with all of our key suppliers and look out for new ones. Thanks to Bord Bia, we’ve got a graduate now from UCD Smurfit School of Business working one day a week with us. We’ll be pushing to do this again and would like to have a graduate with us full-time to look at marketing different products.”

Eastwood sees significant potential for Taste Ireland in Australia, despite the fact that there is a cut-off point in relation to the Irish

Club Kidpreneur Foundation

and now comprising over 350 of the most senior Irish and Irish-connected business people based in around 40 countries.

“From the start I have always networked very hard and have built

Four years ago Australian businessman Creel Price asked Eastwood to get involved in his social enterprise Club Kidpreneur Foundation,

up a really strong network of people, not necessarily from my own

which seeks to encourage entrepreneurial thinking in primary-aged

industry or from the Irish community. I believe this cross fertilisation

children on a national level.

of different nationalities and industries has really helped to build the business.”

Now a director, Eastwood was involved in developing a programme called ‘Ready, Set, Go’ where children get a backpack containing the raw materials to set up their own business. Parents pay a certain amount and local businesses cover the rest of the costs through sponsorship.

community in Australia as well as a strong presence on social media – over 20,000 likes on Facebook for example – Taste Ireland was approached by both Woolworths and Coles to stock mainly the Barry’s Tea, Tayto Cheese & Onion and Club Orange brands. This was the watershed in terms of how the business relationship with Irish companies changed.

“These brands tick a few boxes – they are impulse purchases, ambient products and have a reasonably good shelf life. Our relationship with these brands in Ireland has strengthened over the past five years – previously I would have been viewed as just another expat tapping into the emigrant market and they didn’t really care what happened outside of the warehouse [in Sydney],” Eastwood explains.

“It wasn’t really until we got the retail contracts that they sat up and paid attention and decided to create a partnership. Now we’re sharing promotional calendars, talking about the possibility

“They go to a real market to sell the products they’ve made. It helps them with numeracy, teaches them how to ‘fail fast’ and in a safe environment, and nurtures creativity and communication skills.

Over 1,000 kids have gone through the programme and another 500 will have done it by the end of June.

“We use Taste Ireland’s warehouse and there are three full-time staff running the programme, which is giving us a lot more leverage to take it globally. We did pitch it to the Irish Government but it wasn’t quite ready for it.”

Eastwood taught the first ‘Ready, Set, Go’ programme in Bondai and he gets involved otherwise as a mentor to the children, sitting in on the classes.

“I wasn’t academically gifted as a child, I was more into sport. If a programme like this had existed I would have latched onto it. It prepares kids for the real world and plants a seed about entrepreneurship at an early age – which is so vital nowadays.”

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expat population.

“According to the Department of Foreign Affairs there are 600,000 Irish passport holders in Australia and 200,000 Irish-born people. In addition, there are two million people claiming Irish heritage. This is a strong core market. I had thought there could be a glass ceiling to this niche business but with our exposure now in Woolworth’s and Coles we are more in the mainstream and anecdotal evidence shows that it’s not just Irish people who are picking up the products instore,” he notes.

“The concept could also potentially be replicated in other countries, more so online than in physical stores. Like every business person I am like a dog chasing a bone and have to be careful that one thing doesn’t suffer because I see potential with another thing. I’ve learned that lesson painfully sometimes. At present I am focused on growing the business with Woolworth’s and Coles, servicing the independent channel and ramping up the online business.

“When I arrived as a backpacker in Australia at the age of 24 I fell in love with the place and was fortunate enough to get a sponsorship with a company so I was able to stay.”

‘We are getting embedded with Coles and plan to roll out to another 150 of its stores by July’

Summer 2014 Irish Director

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one to watch

Easydry is firmly focused on growth by targeting new sectors and regions as founder Anne Butterly seeks to realise the full potential of her awardwinning eco-towels. Grainne Rothery reports

Home and DRY he seeds of the idea for Anne Butterly’s multiaward-winning patented disposable eco-towels were sown in 2003 when the Easydry founder was sharing a flat in Dublin with six friends, one of whom was colouring her hair at home. “She walked into the room with a plastic shopping bag on her head and said it was to protect her clothes from the colour,” explains Butterly. “I was surprised there was nothing you could buy for this.”

A UCD BComm and MBS graduate, Butterly had previously spent six years working in marketing roles as she sought to build up commercial experience on the way to starting her own business.

She had recently co-founded a company to help Irish businesses source products in Asian markets. “We’d look for factories that would be able to make components for the companies at the right standard, at the right price,” she explains. “This gave me the experience of how to develop a product, about managing intellectual property and everything to do with component pricing and pricing a product up. It made me realise that if I came up with an idea I could find out if it’s viable or feasible.”

Armed with her marketing background, she began researching the disposable towel market and became increasingly interested in the idea’s business potential when nothing suitable appeared to be available at the time. She also researched the global hairdressing and hair colouring market.

“Every day in hair salons around the world loads and loads of cotton towels were being put into the wash and then dried. That was using a huge amount of energy and time and not adding to the

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bottom line. I thought that if I could develop a product that could be used in hairdressing as an alternative to washing and drying towels or getting stained towels, there might be a market for it.”

Butterly, who worked with a textile engineer to create her product, says she knew it would have to be both consumable and environmentally friendly. “I was very aware that the market was changing. There was a backlash against disposable nappies and the green bag was starting to come out in Ireland. We worked with a technology that was out there but not being used and re-engineered it so the dry part was 100pc biodegradable.

“That’s probably why it took a year and a half to develop. We could have gone out and made a really cheap product and mass marketed it but I wanted a product that I could stand behind.”

Staying sustainable The product has been manufactured in Asia from the start. Butterly selected a manufacturing partner that she’s now been working with for 10 years and has the capability to sustainably make both the raw materials and the end product. “We’re the only towel company in the world that has a carbon footprint for our product,” she says.

“We’ve very much gone down the route that if we’re going to do it, we want to do it properly, which means we can deal with any of the top companies. From a corporate social responsibility point of view, our factories have been audited, they stand up and it’s the same thing with any of our core raw materials – we know where it’s come from and what it’s made of.”

She describes the Easydry product as being more convenient,

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‘I thought that if I could develop a product that could be used in hairdressing as an alternative to washing and drying towels or getting stained towels, there might be a market for it’

Summer 2014 Irish Director

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compact, absorbent and hygienic than a traditional cotton towel.

Easydry towels also cost 25pc less than laundering cotton towels, she says.

However, when the new textile was launched in 2006 considerable work was required to convince the market of its benefits. “There was a bit of education involved because people have used cotton towels for hundreds of years,” she explains. “At the time, it was me telling the industry there was a need. It was hard first of all to try to get the concept across – it’s a thin material, but it’s really, really strong. It’s like trying to explain the idea of the Intel processor – the smaller it is, the better it is.”

The early adopters were quick to see the advantages, she says.

“And it’s interesting because in any new region we go into it’s always the same: the same kind of people want to benchmark themselves

targeted other sectors in the last year or so, like house care, the gym sector and retail,” she says.

“We started in trade applications to get the brand built and to prove the market concept,” she continues. “We’ve proven that now and there are retail opportunities that we want to develop further. It was always the plan to get one sector up and running properly and to then move into other sectors.

“There are industry sectors we want to get into but what we’re ideally looking for is an agent or distributor that has the market knowledge,” she says. “It’s taken me seven or eight years to learn the intricacies of the hair industry and healthcare, for example, is completely different. At this stage we’re looking for the right partners that will enable us to get into those and to gain market share quickly in those new sectors.”

The

‘We’re the only towel company in the world that has a carbon footprint for our product’ against global companies and want to bring in new products and improve standards.”

These days, Easydry sells into 22 countries, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Finland, Iceland, Malta, Austria and South Africa. According to Butterly, the company’s products are now being used by all the top hairdressing salons in its core markets, which currently include Ireland, the UK and Australia.

Butterly, the company and the product have won numerous awards to date, including Innovation of the Year at the HJ British Hairdressing Business Awards in 2009 and, in 2010, Entrepreneur of the Year at the Australian Hair Expo Awards, Green-Tech Business of the Year at the Irish Times Innovation Awards and the Export Award at the National Enterprise Awards.

Three years ago, Butterly started expanding the Easydry product range to include different sized towels, shoulder capes, gowns and salon bed covers. This has enabled the company to look at new sectors. “Our predominant industry is hair and beauty but we’ve

company currently has 10 employees between Ireland, Britain and the US and another four in Australia. To enable it to get to the next stage of its growth, Butterly says she will shortly be looking for external funding to finance new staff and an ecommerce platform.

She says Easydry’s focus for growth over the next 12 months has two main strands: moving into new geographical markets in the hair and beauty sector; and launching new products and into new sectors in those countries where it already has a strong foothold.

Butterly’s own focus will be on driving the company forward and realising the opportunity and potential that exists, she says. “First of all we were trying to educate people and then we were trying to build a brand that was acceptable with consumers and salons and different entities,” she says. “We achieved that 12 months ago.

The focus now is on getting out and selling and getting the right distributor partners. We’re ready to really push it.

“There are one or two products sitting there that haven’t reached their potential so for me it’s only the tip of the iceberg.”

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commercial profile

Asia, land of opportunity for Irish exporters Managing director for DHL Express in Ireland Bernard McCarthy makes the case for why Irish exporters should look east for new market opportunities

Bernard McCarthy, managing director for DHL Express in Ireland

‘Entry into any new export market requires detailed research and planning, wherever that market may be’

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ASIA today is home to about 60pc of the world’s population and contributes around 27pc of the world’s GDP. It is also well established that Asia is set to be the world’s fastest growing consumer market.

The Asian Development Bank further predicts that if the region’s successful economies can sustain their growth, Asia could contribute 50pc of the world’s GDP by 2050. This would reduce poverty throughout the region and give three billion Asians income levels equal to those of Europe today.

So the case as to why Irish exporters should look to Asia is not too difficult to make. But the truth is that despite the exponential growth of Irish exports over the last 15 to 20 years, as an export nation we remain largely focused on the EU and other markets closer to our shores.

With Irish exports to Asia representing just 4pc of our total exports, it is not unreasonable to suggest that we have under-penetrated these markets so in effect our market share is less than it could be.

Entry into any new export market requires detailed research and planning, wherever that market may be. Clearly this applies to an even greater extent when an exporter first seeks to enter an Asian market.

In particular the prospective exporter needs to have a very clear strategy in relation to their target market, product positioning, unique selling points, use of sales partners or distributors etc. There are also key considerations in relation to staff resources and capabilities as well as financial capabilities. Consult and take good advice in relation to export finance and where possible export credit insurance. And of course ensure that there are no specific regulatory or customs restrictions pertaining to your product and be clear about any taxes or duties that may be applied on importation to the destination country.

With good planning and research, none of the considerations mentioned above should

provide a barrier to entry into any new market, Asian or otherwise.

But there is an important misconception that I’d like to dispel, and that is the notion that Ireland’s location on the western periphery of Europe is a major barrier to exporting into Asia.

Ireland can absolutely be a base for manufacturing companies who export to Asia, and indeed there are many examples of companies from across a range of industry sectors that do so successfully.

Ireland has a well developed, multi-modal transport infrastructure that supports these export-focused companies. Our ports, airports and road network have all been upgraded over recent years and our connectivity into Asia is much improved compared to what it was ten or even five years ago.

DHL Express and other competitor companies can provide air express delivery into most major Asian cities in two to three days.

This type of service allows Irish companies to compete directly for market share with other potential suppliers in Asia. For heavier or more volumetric product, there are a wide range of air and ocean freight options also available, so it’s absolutely possible to meet Asian customer requirements in terms of delivery schedules.

Indeed in the multinational sector I’ve seen cases whereby Irish operations have been able to persuade head offices in the US and elsewhere that it makes sense to put more activity into Ireland, particularly as our cost competitiveness has improved in recent years. Allied to the other benefits we can offer in terms of our relatively low rate of corporation tax, English speaking, highly skilled and available workforce, located within the eurozone, Ireland can indeed be a very attractive location for manufacturing exporters.

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In the first of a new series on corporate governance, we consider the role of the nonexecutive director

The non-executive

DIRECTOR W

hile every Irish company must have at least two directors, there is no legal requirement that anyone sitting on a board is there in a non-executive capacity. That said, it is widely accepted that nonexecutive directors can make a vital contribution to the effectiveness of boards by adding an independent and impartial voice and providing a balance to the existing knowledge and expertise.

“If you get the right person it can add enormous value because they do challenge assumptions, whether it’s around strategic direction, business plans or budgets,” says Thora Mackey, chief operating officer of the Institute of Directors in Ireland (IoD) and head of The Boardroom Centre. “They’re people who are independent in their objectives and that’s of huge benefit to the company. They are impartial so they can see things in their totality. And, very often, they have wide experience so they can bring new experience and perspective to the board and the decision making process.”

For smaller companies, non-executives can have the added benefit of bringing specialist skills that might not be present on the executive teams.

Another potential benefit can be the non-executive’s business contacts. “In many cases, they provide a bridge to investors, potential customers or suppliers,” says Mackey. “But, if a company wants a non-executive to facilitate introductions and open up their network

it’s very important that they make that clear from the beginning.”

Functions Non-executive directors are expected to focus on board matters and not to become involved in executive issues. They are appointed to bring independence, impartiality, broad experience, specialist knowledge and personal qualities.

In general, they will be charged with providing general advice on different matters of concern to the board. In some cases and to provide more specialist expertise, they will sit on sub-committees of the board.

They will be required to contribute to the strategic direction of the organisation. They will also monitor the performance of executive management, particularly in terms of how it is progressing the company strategy. Non-executive directors may also be involved in connecting the organisation with networks that may help the business and, in some cases, representing the organisation externally

Before taking on a non-executive role Mackey advises any would-be non-executive directors to look at their capacity before taking on a role. “I think someone who has a very busy executive job is probably unlikely to make a great non-executive director because you do need to apply time and

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‘As a prospective non-executive you could register with The Boardroom Centre that you are available’

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consideration to the role,” she explains. “Even if there are only six board meetings a year, it doesn’t mean you’re just going to have to commit to six half days. In the meantime, you should be engaging with the company and additional time and days will be required.”

Some level of board experience will be required for most nonexecutive positions. “Even if you’re seeking your first non-executive appointment it would be normal to have board experience as an executive, so you’ll know how a board functions. I think it would be difficult if you haven’t had any interaction or experience at board level to get an appointment.”

Another consideration is the experience and other qualities you can bring to the table. “It depends on what board you’re going onto, but you need the scars on the back where you’ve been there and done that yourself,” says Mackey. “So you need to look at what you’ll bring – is it going to be contacts, is it going to be your experience?

You also need to make sure that you’re a match for the board.”

The recruitment process Recruitment to non-executive positions can be via a formal or informal process.

The more formal approach will be something similar to recruitment for an executive position. Organisations would usually approach The Boardroom Centre or a similar entity with a detailed spec of the sort of candidate they’re looking for and the skill sets they require. “So, as a prospective non-executive you could register with The Boardroom Centre that you are available,” says Mackey.

“The formal process around that includes submitting a CV and being interviewed.”

Those who are interested in State boards, meanwhile, can register with Publicjobs.ie to receive alerts when vacancies become available. “It’s a good way to give something back and you can get great experience on those,” says Mackey.

Another option may be to seek a voluntary board appointment by registering with Boardmatch.

“Then there’s the informal way, which is still very, very common in Ireland where people are approached directly through their network when it’s known that they’re available and interested,” she says. “This is still a very common way to appoint people to boards, particularly with smaller companies.”

Being the ‘critical friend’ Being a non-executive director is both challenging and rewarding. Having a long-term involvement with a company at a strategic level carries with it significant legal responsibilities and risks as well as the opportunity to learn, establish greater credibility and build a personal reputation.

I have experience as a non-executive director on the boards of private companies, not-for-profit organisations and State bodies, and each has a very different dynamic. Consequently, the role of the non-executive director needs to be tailored to take cognisance of the different forces and constraints affecting each type of enterprise. So, while every board is unique, the role of the non-executive director remains central to effective governance, control and strategic direction.

I have heard the role being described as that of ‘critical friend’ and that’s not too far off the mark. It is important to strike the balance between those two polarities and provide an appropriate degree of leadership, support and challenge, whilst at all times recognising the clear distinction between the executive and non-executive role.

As a non-executive director, there is a substantial time commitment – not only monthly meetings, but preparation for those meetings, which can involve substantial reading; membership of sub-committees, which requires application of specific skills and expertise; and participation in planning sessions and away days, as well as events from time to time.

I was first appointed a non-executive director as a young woman and while somewhat daunted by the responsibilities at the time, having exposure to a board early in my career has stood to me. I have invested in executive education to ensure that my contribution remains useful

Key things that a director must do:

and up to date because being a member of a board is not a destination, but a journey.

As reform of the corporate governance landscape continues

■ Act in the best interest of the success of the company ■ Act honestly, act diligently, keep good records of how the company ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

unabated in response to recent crises, it is essential that directors appreciate the need for a robust and continual focus on governance, risk

is directed and controlled

and compliance. At the same time, we cannot just be the company’s

Take good advice

‘policeman’; we must have the capacity to add real value and thinking

Keep knowledge up to date

that shapes the future and supports sustainable growth.

Show leadership and discharge directors’ duties Disclose conflicts of interest

Gary Joyce is managing partner of management consulting company

Ensure a culture of good communications

Genesis. She is vice-chair of the child and family agency Tusla, and is on

Make sound judgments

the boards of Sam McCauley Chemists Ltd, Dublin Bus and Galway Arts

Attend board meetings

Festival. She is a member of the IoD.

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Key things that a director must not do: ■ Never act in anyone’s interests other than the company’s interest

■ ■ ■ ■

Never act dishonestly or recklessly

■ ■ ■ ■

Never break the law

Never be involved in wrongful or fraudulent trading Never take bribes/personal gain Never withhold information that is relevant to the board’s decisions Never make assumptions/fail to challenge Never allow the company to trade whilst insolvent Never act for competitors

Mackey stresses the value of the more formal approach. “If you’re looking for a marketing manager you’re not just going to ring up your friends and ask them if they know anyone who’s any good at marketing. You’ll go through a formal process, considering the skill sets you need and the type of person who will best fit the role.

“The same should be applied to appointing non-executive directors. It should be a case of looking at the existing board and identifying where the gaps are in terms of diversity and skill sets, and where the company is currently at and where it wants to go over the next five years. Once the company has that spec they can invite people to submit expressions of interest.”

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But it’s not just about what looks good on paper, she says.“The chemistry has to be right as well. And you can only establish that by at least two meetings.”

These meetings are particularly valuable for the prospective non-execs as an opportunity to do due diligence. “You’ll get to meet people in the company and should do your due diligence very carefully, including asking to meet the auditors before signing on the dotted line.

“It’s important to ask the right questions. You will want to see current management figures and you should get assurances that there isn’t something material going on, such as an action pending.

It is a good idea to meet with the senior team and it’s very important to see where the operations are. It’s certainly good to talk to other people who are involved in the company and possibly people who have stepped off the board as well so you can find out what their relationship is with the company.”

One of the most important things for any non-executive director is to be in a position that they really enjoy, Mackey concludes.

“I don’t mean that in a light way. The responsibilities are very onerous. I think it’s something that you really should be enthusiastic and excited about. You should like the company or entity you’re going to get involved with and then you should really feel that you can add value to them. You don’t do it because you want to meet four times a year and have nice lunches. It’s about getting embedded and involved in the company and helping the company to grow and that can be very interesting and enjoyable.”

User’s guide for non-executive directors in regulated entities Use your expertise and experiAre you a non-executive director in a regulated entity, or do you propose

ence. As a chartered accountant with

taking on such a role in the near future? Here’s my user’s guide after

responsibility for finance and oper-

two years as a non-executive director in the regulated sector, after a

ations during my executive career

25-year career in financial services.

Reputation is key. Your reputation is critical and you should not join

I find that I can apply my expertise to each non-executive director role. Experience will also help to ensure

any board where you do not think the proper controls, processes and

decisions are taken, timelines are agreed and the people responsible

procedures are in place. Do your due diligence before you join a board

for taking actions are identified.

to make sure you share the same culture.

Use the Central Bank website. The Central Bank publishes infor-

Use networks to keep informed. The major accounting, consult-

mation on thematic examinations and enforcement actions. Both these

ing and law firms (as well as the IoD) all have non-executive director

should form part of regular board discussions and help ensure that the

networks and hold regular seminars on current regulatory, reporting

company is keeping up to date with best practice in the sector.

and legal topics of concern to non-executive directors. These represent an invaluable source of up to date information.

Insure yourself. The IoD arranges personal directors and officers

Do not take on too many roles. In banking there is a strict limit on the number of other directorships an individual can hold. There is a higher limit for fund directorships but ensure you have sufficient

insurance through Glennons and AIG. My advice is to make this policy

capacity to effectively exercise your onerous role as a non-executive

your priority each year as it protects you.

director.

Be prepared. Ensure board packs are dispatched to you at least a couple of days in advance of the board meeting to allow you to review

Tony McPoland is a non-executive director of a number of

the papers, ask for clarification of any issues and be properly prepared

regulated companies. He is also chairman of the board of Platinum

for the meeting.

World Funds. He is a member of the IoD.

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digital boardroom

New threats such as cybercrime can cause significant damage to organisations if their management does not understand the potential risks or have the resources to deal with them. Boards have a key role in to play, writes Julie Fenton

Security

GUARDED B

oth government and industry agree that fraud, bribery and corruption are bad for business, encouraging unfair advantage and anti-competitive practices. Based on in-depth interviews with over 2,700 chief financial officers, chief compliance officers, general counsel and heads of internal audit across 59 countries, EY’s 13th Global Fraud Survey, ‘Overcoming compliance fatigue: reinforcing the commitment to ethical growth’, revealed concerning levels of perceived fraud, bribery and corruption across the world, with 40pc of executives indicating that bribery and corruption were widespread in their country.

With management struggling to respond to long-standing and emerging fraud risks, it is imperative that boards ensure that they have a C-suite in place that not only understands the varying threats to their business, but also has the knowledge and resources to address the emerging external threats – such as cybercrime – that have the potential to cause significant reputational and financial damage.

Understand your risk universe Boards and management need to regularly refresh their views of

risk drivers for the business. New risks emerge from what the organisation does, from changes in the markets in which it operates and from developments in external threats. One of the most significant examples of these developing threats is cybercrime.

Cyber attacks are now a fact of life for business, posing a dynamic, relentless menace for leading companies. The threat is growing, and our survey suggests executives may be naïve regarding the scale and severity of the threat posed to their business: •

•

•

Forty-nine percent of respondents globally say that cybercrime poses a fairly or very high risk to their organisation, compared to 57pc of respondents in Ireland In some markets, the result is unexpectedly low: in Singapore, the Netherlands and Canada, less than 35pc see the risk as high Chief executive officers (CEOs) view the risk as less significant than chief compliance officers (CCOs) — 50pc of CEOs view it as a high risk compared to 61pc of CCOs

Developing an effective response is more difficult without a proper understanding of the potential sources of attacks. Of the Irish respondents surveyed, 53pc were most concerned with the risks

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‘Cyber risks manifest themselves in areas beyond the scope of the IT department’

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‘Boards and management need to regularly refresh their views of risk drivers for the business’ posed by hackers, potentially indicating that the nature of the threat is misunderstood. This compares with significantly lower proportions concerned by potentially more damaging threats such as organised crime or ‘advanced persistent threats’ where unauthorised individuals specifically target organisations and individuals within the organisation for financial gain.

Only 24pc of Irish respondents recognised the potential threat posed by employees and contractors, in comparison to the global average of 33pc and UK average of 36pc, signalling the need for a greater awareness around the so-called ‘threat within’. Employees are often the vulnerable link within an organisation due to their susceptibility to phishing emails – where spoof emails are sent out in an attempt to gain password or confidential information,

What does good look like?

downloading viruses and transferring files to unauthorised personal devices – and, while these incidents often happen accidentally, they still serve as an Achilles heel within organisational structures.

With high-profile cybercrime incidents making headlines on a regular basis, boards should expect management to not only have preventative measures in place to avoid such attacks, but also a robust incident response strategy that involves legal and compliance functions to ensure timely disclosure of breaches.

Who owns the risk?

Cyber risks manifest themselves in areas beyond the scope of the IT department. They affect employees, business systems and interactions between an organisation and its stakeholders — including regulators. Governance of the risks, therefore, needs to be built around several executives, including the CEO, chief financial officer (CFO), chief information officer (CIO), chief technology officer (CTO) and the general counsel. In the event of a breach, the general counsel’s role quickly increases in significance as managing the messaging for authorities and the content and timing of any disclosures are critical.

Clear up the grey areas Board engagement — boards need to appropriately challenge management and request regular updates regarding fraud, bribery and corruption risk.

Big data — mining big data using forensic data analytics tools can improve compliance and investigation outcomes and can help management provide useful summary information to the board.

Anti-corruption due diligence — such specialised due diligence should be the norm, not the exception.

Escalation procedures — companies should have clearly defined escalation procedures, whether to respond to a whistleblower or a cyber incident, to minimise the damage being done.

Training — companies should have tailored ABAC training programmes; business unit leaders should be evaluated on participation levels, and C-suite executives need to lead from the front.

Budget support for internal audit and compliance functions — they play essential roles in both improving standards of business conduct and in keeping the company out of trouble.

Insufficient awareness of potential risks will only heighten the C-suite’s difficulties. While only 16pc of Irish respondents believed that bribery and corruption was widespread in Ireland, when asked what was acceptable to help a business survive, 39pc of Irish respondents said they were willing to offer corporate entertainment in order to retain business, suggesting the need for further clarity on ethical business conduct guidelines. For a lot of organisations there is somewhat of a grey area when it comes to the definition of appropriate conduct when building relationships with clients and the onus is on organisations to communicate to their employees what is and is not acceptable business conduct. Boards need to ensure their companies have clear policies in place in order to protect themselves and their employees from potential allegations of misconduct, for example in awarding a contract. Policies should be framed in consideration of: • Which employees could be at risk • When they are likely to be at risk • What the company’s tolerance is for these risks Regulators are investing heavily to bolster their ability to mine big data from corporations for potential irregularities, and boards should be asking how management is leveraging forensic data analytics to get the most from their big data in order to improve compliance and investigative outcomes and raise red flags earlier and more efficiently.

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The need to reinvigorate compliance With more focus on driving revenues from less mature markets, the challenges for companies are getting more complex and regulators are working together across borders like never before to hold companies and their executives to account.

Despite this, respondents described a largely static internal compliance environment, with many companies continuing to miss opportunities to implement robust ABAC (anti-bribery/ anti-corruption) policies and risk assessments and conduct anticorruption due diligence: • • •

Sixteen percent of businesses in Ireland still do not have an ABAC policy Forty-nine percent of Irish organisations have not introduced a whistleblowing hotline Less than a third of businesses are conducting anti-corruption due diligence as part of their mergers and acquisitions process

Markets are never static. New risks constantly emerge, and the matters that regulators and the public consider inappropriate or fraudulent are evolving. In performing its oversight role, the board must challenge the business on whether the right compliance risks have been identified and are being effectively managed.

To meet the significant compliance risks facing businesses, management needs to recognise that policies and training are really only a starting point. Boards should be demanding that the C-suite go beyond the basic building blocks to promote ethics within their organisations and intensify their efforts to challenge management to reinforce their commitment to ethical growth.

Detecting and diagnosing a cyber threat Cyber attacks probe defences, searching for weaknesses. An effective defence requires scrutiny of a company’s entire IT platform using diagnostic testing. Diagnostic testing should encompass all networks, systems, logs and events, and search for evidence of the four elements of a cyber attack: 1.

Entry — to identify evidence of malware that provides the attacker with a digital ‘beachhead’

2.

Lateral movement — identifying evidence of the extent to which an attack has spread across different parts of the network

3.

Harvesting — identifying unusual activity or tools across accounts and data sources that indicate the unauthorised capture of information

4.

Exfiltration — identifying efforts by the attacker to remove data

Julie Fenton leads the fraud investigation and dispute services practice at EY Ireland.

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doing business in Germany

Total exports from Ireland to Germany are now valued at more than €14bn and the potential is there to build on that, writes Sorcha Corcoran

Exporting

GATEWAY lthough Germany is a mature market, there are opportunities for Irish companies with a strong product or offering and a focus on innovation, according to Eddie Goodwin, manager Germany, Switzerland and Austria at Enterprise Ireland.

“Germany, for example, has a deserved reputation for quality engineering, but many customers will respond to innovation from a new supplier where it hasn’t been previously available from incumbents,” he explains.

Just over 50 years since the Irish Government set up a direct trade presence in Germany, total exports from Ireland to that market are now valued at more than €14bn, making it the second largest market for services exports and fourth largest for merchandise exports.

Kingspan, CRH, Glen Dimplex and Irish Dairy Board have significant operations in Germany and there is also a host of SME companies selling successfully there, such as Combilift, Burnside and Denison Trailers.

“The Irish companies that do best in Germany are those that have an innovative offering plus good quality service, rather than those that try to compete on price,” says Goodwin.

For Enterprise Ireland, Germany is its fourth largest market and the aim is to bring it into third place by 2016.

A

“There are between 440 and 500 Enterprise Ireland client companies currently selling into Germany, a third of which have some form of market presence, ie sales people or staff on the ground or a permanent distribution channel. There is definitely a trend towards establishing a presence.”

On a yearly basis, Enterprise Ireland client company exports amount to around €700m, and growth has been notable in recent years.

“In 2010 exports grew by 22pc on the back of Germany being first out of the traps out of the recession. This rebounded well on Irish exporters, which refocused more on Germany and away from more troubled countries. Growth was 17pc in 2011, and tapered off a bit in 2012 to 8pc, but overall our client companies recorded 30pc growth over the past three years, which is really good for an established market,” Goodwin notes.

“In terms of sectors, Enterprise Ireland client companies active in Germany are mainly in engineering, technical, medical devices, pharmaceutical services and niche areas of software. Construction is making a rebound as Irish firms have increasingly started to look overseas in the past few years.”

Gateway to international markets An important thing to note about Germany for Irish exporters

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doing business in Germany

39

‘The Irish companies that do best in Germany are those that have an innovative offering plus good quality service, rather than those that try to compete on price’

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doing business in Germany

‘In 2010 exports grew by 22pc on the back of Germany being first out of the traps out of the recession’

is that sales into that market earn credibility that carries weight internationally.

Apart from being a large market in its own right, Germany is also the gateway to many other international markets, by virtue of

German companies’ strong exporting culture – the country is the world’s second largest exporter after China.

Irish companies that have successfully worked with German multinationals and been accepted into their supply chains have

Access 6 aims to increase export sales Three Irish companies – Kinnegar Brewing, Donegal Rapeseed Oil

German-based food consultancy Green Seed Germany is working

and Dan Kelly’s Cider – have been accepted onto an EU-funded

on behalf of the Irish Exporters Association, Northern Ireland Food and

programme focused on assisting companies to enter the German food

Drink Association and Scotland Food and Drink, aiming to provide food

market.

and drink companies from these regions with the skillsets, professional

It is the German leg of the Access 6 programme, which aims to increase the export sales of 90 regional food and drink manufacturers from the border regions of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland by a total of by €22m over the next two years.

Planning to create 90 new jobs within the participating businesses,

marketing assistance and logistical support to successfully supply to the German market.

Beyond Germany, additional clusters will also be established targeting export markets in France, Benelux, UK, Scandinavia and North America.

it is funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

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Case study: Irish Dog Food Irish Dog Food entered the German market six years ago and met its

Retailers not as flexible

first customers at Interzoo, Europe’s largest pet industry tradeshow,

There are challenges in the Ger-

held once every two years in Nurnberg.

man market, Queally says. “In

This year its German sales of Home-Style Meat Treats will exceed €6m, according to managing director Liam Queally.

“The German pet care market is very mature - in fact I always say

some markets, like the US for instance, last minute changes that we know will improve the

that it’s a bit like the baby food market in that it’s immune to change.

sales outcome are tolerated

But despite its maturity it is a market that is still posting growth,” he

really well.

says.

“Overall the pet care market in Germany is valued at over €1.5bn

“This can be something as simple as adding new call-outs to packaging or swapping in a product

and of that about €1.1bn is coming from the grocery sector - 95pc of

that we know will be a star performer. When starting business in Ger-

our business is private label and in Germany private label is pushed and

many we found changes like this were viewed as unwelcome surprises.

treated like national brands.

And so we had to learn to work with retailers who had a lower degree of

“From a product perspective we knew that we had a great market fit. The mega-trend that is pet humanisation sees pet owners treat their

flexibility and spontaneity.

“To help us with this we very quickly added a German speaker to our

pets as they would members of their own family. This extends to how

team who had extensive experience with the German retailers, and I’m

they feed them. Germans are typically meat lovers, and so our Home-

glad to say that we’ve never looked back.”

Style Meat Treats were an instant hit.”

One of Irish Dog Food’s key achievements in Germany has been to gain listings in Lidl and Aldi, starting by supplying both at local level.

Queally explains: “Our products performed exceptionally well and it

While Germany is a mature market and seen by some as somewhat saturated, Queally expects continued sales growth for Irish Dog Food there.

“Our experience tells us that German pet owners are likely to continue to look for the best price-value ratio. So while competition is

was this local success that was partly responsible for gaining listings

intense we’ll continue to focus on what we do best and that’s delivering

Europe-wide.

superior quality products at great prices.

“More importantly we took the time to really learn their business

“We’re also mindful of the fact that when it comes to finding the

models. Investing in and supporting their business models has been a

right product for their pets, German customers do tend to visit pet

critical success factor.”

specialist retailers for their expertise, wide product ranges and added services. Expansion in to pet specialist is very much on our radar for this year.”

often found that this can be leveraged to enter that customer’s international supply chain.

“One of the reasons the German economy has done so well over the past few years is the fact that a lot of the German ‘Mittlestand’ [SMEs] export into eastern markets. If an Irish firm can partner with a German SME, for example by providing them with a piece of software, this can potentially give them a free ride around the world,” says Goodwin.

“It can be difficult to get in with German companies at the beginning and decision-making can be slower than in Englishspeaking countries, but if you look at it as a long-term partnership you can grow on the back of their growth. You do also need to respect the language – successful Irish firms have employed local staff or have the language skills on their team.

“Then there is the German focus on attention to detail.

Companies need to deliver on what they promise. You’re better off under-promising and over-delivering rather than the opposite in Germany, otherwise you could burn bridges very quickly.”

Germany – economic indicators ■ GDP: €2.7trn (2012), Europe’s largest economy, fourth largest in the world

■ GDP growth: 4.2pc in 2010, 3pc in 2011, 0.7pc in 2012, 0.4pc in 2013 (Bundesbank)

■ Population: 81.1 million ■ Exports from Ireland to Germany: €14bn (2012) ■ Growth sectors: pharmaceuticals, ICT, machinery manufacturing and plant construction, automotive.

■ Unemployment rate: 5.5pc (2012 estimate)

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IoD member profile

CULTURE

CREATOR

Louise Donlon is manager of Lime Tree Theatre in Limerick.

She has been a member of the IoD since February 2014

Describe your current role Managing the Lime Tree Theatre is a many-faceted job, but I have two primary functions. One is general management of the venue in terms of finance, personnel, infrastructure, networking and PR. The other is artistic management, which involves selecting the material to appear on stage. This is done by seeking out companies whose work I feel is important to present, or by responding to requests from companies and promoters who want to use the venue for their performances. It is vital that I keep abreast of developments within the arts and entertainment sectors, knowing what’s out there and making a judgement call on whether or not audiences will want to see it.

Tell us a bit about Lime Tree Theatre and its background The theatre was built about four years ago as part of an extension to the facilities of Mary Immaculate College. It is required for larger lecturers during the day time, so there was significant scope to maximise its use in other ways. The college decided to set up an independent limited company so the venue could be of service to the wider community in Limerick and the mid-west as a location for the performing arts.

What are the main challenges for the theatre?

Looking at the venue as a business the challenges are the same as that of all SMEs: to ensure product is of the highest quality and to maximise the number of customers coming through the doors. Customer service is very important as consumer spending in this sector is discretionary. We aim to keep that level of service as high as possible, ensuring that our audiences have a good night out, both in terms of the quality of the work on stage, but also their experience throughout the evening.

Can you tell us a bit about the impact of Limerick City of Culture?

Limerick City of Culture (LCofC) 2014 has had a significant impact on our programme, with a number of presentations and new work that wouldn’t have been possible without the very valuable funding LCofC has provided. For instance, we have been privileged to present the world-renowned Canadian choreographer Russell Maliphant with London’s famous Sadler’s Wells company in May. We are benefiting

significantly from the high national and international profile the artistic and cultural life of Limerick is getting.

One of the problems with arts and culture is that they are often seen as elitist and exclusive. It is part of our job to create a space where culture and the arts become accessible to all. Events such as Moyross, the performance devised and performed by the people of Moyross in collaboration with Theatre Club and performed in the Lime Tree, is typical of what we can do in terms of providing a space where the artistic voice of one of our most challenged communities can be heard. LCofC also made this project possible.

What’s your own career background?

I hold a BA in music and history from St Patrick’s College, Maynooth and spent a short number of years teaching before returning to thirdlevel to take a postgraduate diploma in arts administration. Following three years at the Arts Council, I moved full-time into theatre, firstly in Limerick with Island Theatre Company and then in Galway where I was general manager of Druid. My time at Druid coincided with its presentation of The Leenane Trilogy by Martin McDonagh and the company winning four Tony Awards on Broadway. I went into venue management in the late 1990s, managing and programming the Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise. In 2008, I was appointed to the Arts Council. I moved to my current position in Limerick in April 2012.

Can you define your leadership style?

Collegiate would be the best description of many arts workplaces and I like to think that my leadership style is based on that. Our small organisation is very team-focused and we work in close proximity to each other. I have always aimed to build loyalty and dedication through close engagement with the team and I believe I have been very successful in that in my various roles.

What is your philosophy in business?

At the heart of everything I do is a love of the arts and a strong belief in all citizens having real and meaningful access to the arts. I try to always have an ethical approach to my dealings with both customers and suppliers – the promoters – ensuring that all engagement with those I do business with is as positive and affirming as possible.

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IoD member profile

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‘One of the problems with arts and culture is that they are often seen as elitist and exclusive. It is part of our job to create a space where culture and the arts become accessible to all’

What has been your biggest lesson in business?

Trust your instincts, they are generally right.

What have been your biggest failures in business?

Every show that doesn’t sell. But my philosophy is to approach success and failure with the same attitude – I aim to take Rudyard Kipling’s advice to “meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same”.

Who or what are your main influences?

Working with Pat Moylan, former chair of the Arts Council and a highly successful businesswoman in the commercial theatre sector, in the industry and on the board of the Arts Council was a great privilege and I greatly value our professional and personal relationship. My time with Druid, working with the director Garry Hynes was also a highly influential period of my professional life and I have since aimed to bring that experience to bear in my working life.

Do you have plans for the future – inside or outside Lime Tree Theatre – that you’d like to share?

I am lucky to feel very fulfilled in my work and I hope to make the Lime Tree Theatre central to the arts in the mid-west region. My team and I have started out on an exciting journey with this new venue, but there is still much to be achieved.

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innovation

LEVERAGING

LEAN

European companies are increasingly coming around to the Japanese notion of Lean business, which is all about engaging the hearts and minds of people. Sorcha Corcoran reports

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he key differentiator between ‘Lean’ processes in Japan and Europe is that in Japan there is less focus on hard automation and more on the development of people, according to Dr Richard Keegan, fellow of the Institute of Engineers and manager of the competitiveness department at Enterprise Ireland.

Keegan was first exposed to the concept around 16 years ago when he visited a Toyota plant in Japan in his capacity as the European advisor to the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Co-operation.

“Being an engineer and having the opportunity to see Lean best practice in real life was an eye opener. The first thing I noticed was all the flashing lights and incredible technologies but I began to realise that underpinning it all was beautiful simplicity.

“People were actually engaged in terms of improving themselves and their processes. Simply defined, Lean comes down to looking at what we’re trying to do, how are we doing it and what can we do to improve it.

“What’s interesting in Japan is that companies have constantly focused on developing their people and processes at the same time and don’t see Lean as a chequebook solution. However, more and more of Europe’s leading companies are beginning to realise that engaging the hearts and minds of people is more significant than simply utilising what are known as Lean tools.”

The origins of Lean go right back to the 1920s when inventor and founder of the Toyota Corporation Sakichi Toyoda, trying to find ways to make it easier for his grandmother to produce cloth, developed a loom and weaving machine that identified broken threads.

A production process centered on preserving value with less work, Lean as a management philosophy is mostly derived from the Toyota Production System (TPS) and Japan is regarded as the home of Lean.

Originally called ‘just-in-time production’, TPS is an integrated sociotechnical system developed by Toyota that comprises its management philosophy and practices.

“TPS came about because Toyota was battling against General Motors and Ford to service a very fragmented market with lots of variants in terms of sizes and applications of vehicles without the resources the Americans had,” Keegan explains.

Nowadays, Lean is focused on providing customers with the best possible products at the best possible prices, at the best possible quality levels and at the best possible delivery times. Having started in the manufacturing area, Lean has spread right along the value chain from sales through logistics, manufacturing, purchasing, administration, product design and development, and back to sales.

Last December, Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD met senior executives from Toyota Motor Corporation at the company’s Motomachi plant as part of a trade mission to Japan. He travelled with a delegation of Irish business leaders to the Toyota plant, including Julie Sinnamon, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, Glen Dimplex CEO Sean O’Driscoll and the Irish Ambassador to Japan John Neary. The objective of the meeting was to learn from Toyota’s Lean production processes, and glean insights as to how this could be applied to industry in Ireland to support the country’s economic recovery.

“The visit marked the support given by Toyota to Irish companies in the past and the relationship between them, as well as showing the importance of best practice, efficiency and effectiveness for Irish business going forward. It was a very professional and insightful visit,” says Keegan.

“The Toyota plant in Wales had to go right through to the highest levels of the organisation to arrange the visit, explain the background and

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‘Simply defined, Lean comes down to looking at what we’re trying to do, how we are doing it and what we can do to improve it’ Spring 2014 Irish Director

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innovation

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD visiting Toyota’s Motomachi plant in Japan last December as part of the trade mission to the country

reasoning behind hosting it. Positive contribution to society is one of Toyota’s core values and the tour of the Motomachi plant was viewed in that light.”

Over the past four years, 1,000 Irish owner-managers have been to Toyota’s engine production facility in Deeside, North Wales with the support of the Toyota Lean Management Centre as part of Enterprise Ireland’s Lean programme.

“These visits expose those taking part to what good is and what really challenging means. What has been clear over the past four years is the plant’s focused and relentless approach to always trying to be better – the team keeps pushing themselves by looking at the facts as opposed to opinions,” says Keegan.

“In Ireland, we’re trying to take on the Lean business perspective, rather than purely Lean manufacturing in the belief that administration, sales, design and all functions also need to be efficient. Since our pilot in 2009, we’ve supported a total of 565 projects across all sectors in three different levels – ‘Lean Start’, ‘Lean Plus’ and ‘Lean Transform’.

“Our effort is in trying to understand and engage with best practice globally so our client base can access this and be able to use it.”

Achieving a national step change in manufacturing capability is one of the three disruptive reforms outlined in the Irish Government’s Action Plan for Jobs 2014 and Lean is part of this.

“In 2014, we will continue to roll out our Lean offering to Enterprise Ireland clients as well as sharing knowledge with Local Enterprise Offices. Six visits to Toyota are planned this year, as well as visits to Audi and Bosch, which are also seen as leaders in the Lean space,” Keegan notes.

Lean Rules

The Lean Rules provide guidance on dealing with people and processes.

Experience has shown them to be very helpful in delivering real gains from a Lean implementation effort.

People Fairness – the Lean process needs to be fair, fair to both staff and the business.

Firmness – once you decide how things should be done, they need to be done that way.

Consistency – be consistent with how you deal with people, problems and issues.

Processes Much of people’s time in business is spent handling the day job, doing what needs to be done. Lean techniques ask the question ‘What are we trying to achieve here?’ and then help the questioner to see what is actually being done – the difference between the question and the answer is the gap that needs to be bridged.

Look – look closely at your processes, go to the place where work is done.

See – see what is actually happening, how things are actually being done to service your customers to produce your products, it will often be quite different to what you think is being done.

Understand – understand what is being done, what the underlying principles that affect the outcome are.

Do – do something to improve the process. You don’t have to make it

This article first appeared in the Ireland Asia Business Yearbook 2014, which was published by think tank Asia Matters in association with Business & Leadership.

perfect, just better than it is now.

Source: Enterprise Ireland: Becoming Lean: Practical steps to build competitiveness

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sector profile

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Medical

miracle

Research and development is driving growth within Ireland’s medical technology sector, which includes a healthy mix of indigenous and multinational companies, writes Sorcha Corcoran

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he medical technology sector in Ireland is one of the economy’s rising stars, with nearly 2,000 jobs announced and €280m investment in the industry announced in the past three years alone.

As director of the Irish Medical Devices Association (IMDA) Sinead Keogh notes, a lot of the recent activity is by existing companies investing in research and development (R&D) and innovation.

for the treatment of cardiovascular and cardiac rhythm disease.

Regarding indigenous companies, VistaMed announced at the end of May that it is to create 125 new jobs at its manufacturing facilities in Carrick-on-Shannon and Rooskey in Co Leitrim by the end of this year. Currently employing 250 people in Ireland, VistaMed provides catheters and extrusion products to the global medical device industry and is a Helix Medical joint venture partner.

‘Ireland is one of the largest exporters of medical products in Europe with annual exports of €8bn’ One of the most recent announcements came from Eithicon Biosurgery, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, which is to invest €80m in a facility in Co Limerick creating 270 high end jobs over the next five years.

Other notable investments include the opening of a €10m innovation centre by Cook Medical, with the creation of 100 jobs in Limerick, and Galway-based Medtronic opening a new €7.7m customer innovation facility, which is a centre of excellence for the development and manufacture of key medical technologies

That announcement was part of a new investment programme of more than €7m, supported by Enterprise Ireland. It came as VistMed officially opened a state-of-the-art 35,000 sq ft extension to its Carrick-on-Shannon facility, which managing director Patrick Mulholland said would allow it to offer a more comprehensive design and development service.

At Government level, investment in R&D through Science Foundation Ireland over the past five years has paid dividends, Keogh maintains, as it has allowed Ireland to develop significant

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Global trends The medical technology industry globally is evolving “at an incredible pace”, with changes ranging from reimbursement and regulation to supply chain and finance already impacting enormously on the sector here in Ireland, according to director of the Irish Medical Devices Association Sinead Keogh.

“This presents both opportunities and challenges. Understanding global

drivers and adapting business models will be key to continued success here in Ireland. Pricing and reimbursement will continue to be a challenge as governments, private players, patients and competitors exert pricing pressures across different product categories,” she explains.

“Although the prevailing outlook for the industry is positive, industry is

concerned over the proposed changes to EU regulation of the medical device manufacturing sector – this could potentially slow delivery of products to market, which could force manufacturers to relocate to other jurisdictions and putting Irish jobs at risk.”

facilities for med-tech research, including the country’s first stem cell manufacturing centre at NUI Galway, which opened in January 2014.

Another notable initiative in this regard is the collaboration between Enterprise Ireland and the Mayo Clinic in the US, which will lead to the commercialisation of up to 20 novel technologies in Ireland over the next five years with the aim of creating several high value med-tech spin-out companies.

Keogh also highlights the establishment of the national medical technology innovation fellowship training programme BioInnovate, which enables participants to work directly with clinicians to develop new innovative therapies.

“This Cork-based healthcare innovation hub was established to help healthcare companies to deliver commercial products and services more quickly by giving them access to the health service in order to test products in a real-life environment,” she says.

While innovation is at the core of the med-tech industry in Ireland, the Government is also committed to enhancing its

‘Seventeen of the world’s top 25 medical technology companies have a base in Ireland’

Aerogen recognised for innovation in Hong Kong Irish headquartered medical technology company Aerogen won an award in March for innovation and leadership in Hong Kong, two years after it introduced its nebuliser products into China.

It was selected as ‘Best Company for Innovation and Leadership’ at

the 2014 IAIR Global Awards.

Since Aerogen entered the market, sales in China have grown

year-on-year and are expected to reach €5m in next three years as the company rolls out its Aeroneb ‘Solo’ product line.

All products are based on Aerogen’s patented vibrating mesh tech-

nology, which creates a fine particle aerosol for targeted drug delivery to the lungs.

They are used to treat a broad spectrum of respiratory conditions and to deliver medication in intensive care settings.

“In two short years, Aerogen has worked with our independent

distribution partners Beijing Aeonmed Co and Xiamen Galemed Corporation to roll out our products to intensive care units and homes across mainland China,” said Jim Liu, regional manager, Greater China at Aerogen.

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sector profile

Radisens Diagnostics gets second €1m ESA contract Radisens Diagnostics has been awarded a second €1m contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop a blood testing device for use by astronauts.

Building upon their initial partnership announced back in November 2011, the ESA has contracted Radisens to extend the blood testing menu on its point-of-care device, which is currently in development at its facility at the Rubicon Centre, Cork.

This forerunner device could be used on board the International Space Station (ISS) and on various human spaceflight missions where it is essential to get high performance, laboratory grade results for myriad health conditions, without fear of biological contamination.

“The operational needs on board the ISS, which requires leading-edge performance, ease-of-use and biological containment, provide Radisens with a unique test-bed for our game-changing, point-of-care platform,” said CEO of Radisens Jerry O’Brien.

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manufacturing competitiveness – for example, it has established a cross-sectoral manufacturing forum with representatives from many stakeholders to work collaboratively to develop the infrastructure, competencies and skill sets here.

In terms of its importance to the domestic economy generally, the medical technology sector in Ireland is recognised as one of the five global emerging hubs, according to Keogh.

“The sector employs 25,000 people in Ireland which represents 6pc of Europe’s med-tech workforce,” she notes. “Ireland is one of the largest exporters of medical products in Europe with annual exports of €8bn and companies here directly export to over 100 countries worldwide.

“Seventeen of the world’s top 25 medical technology companies have a base in Ireland and 50pc of the 250 med-tech companies based here are indigenous.

“Ireland boasts an incredibly strong services and contract research and manufacturing base – in fact 50pc of the companies located here are in the business-to-business space.”

Three sectors are particularly prominent in Ireland in med-tech: vascular, orthopaedics and diagnostics, Keogh continues.

“As much as 80pc of global stent production is carried out in Ireland, with significant investment by Abbott, Boston Scientific, Cook Medical and Medtronic.

“In orthopaedics, Ireland hosts manufacturing facilities by industry leaders Stryker, DePuy Synthes, Zimmer Orthopaedics and Tornier Orthopaedics.”

Another positive indicator is IMDA’s most recent skills survey conducted in March 2014 that shows that 81pc of companies in Ireland’s med-tech sector are currently hiring engineers.

Ireland’s med-tech sector in figures ■ 13 of the top 15 global medical technology companies are in Ireland

■ With 25,000 employees, Ireland has the highest number of people working in the industry in Europe, per head of population

■ ■ ■ ■

60pc of these employees are engaged in R&D €7.9bn worth of exports annually 250 companies in the sector, up from 50 in 1993 33pc of the world’s contact lenses are manufactured in Ireland

■ 30 million people – a quarter of the world’s diabetic population – rely on an injectable device manufactured in Ireland

■ 50pc of all ventilators in acute hospitals are manufactured in Ireland

■ 8.5pc of total Irish exports are medical devices and diagnostics products Source: IDA Ireland

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sustainable business

Expunging ghost estates from the Irish landscape requires a strategy that delivers jobs, stimulates local economies and benefits Irish society as a whole in a sustainable way, writes Paul Harris

Banishing

GHOSTS T

here can surely be no more disturbing monument to the folly and excesses of the Celtic tiger than the proliferation of ‘ghost’ estates that currently litter every corner of the State. The most recent data details around 992 unfinished developments across the country at various stages of completion, all of which currently sit under the aegis of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

This body is responsible for disposing of its assets at ‘the best achievable financial return to the taxpayer’.

The problem is of course that market prices for rural residential property have plunged so far from their peak (around 50pc) that many of the proposed developments will not be commercially viable for many years – if ever.

In an effort to resolve this issue Budget 2014 included provisions for the establishment of a special fund of around €10m to complete work on unfinished units. This is in addition to the €5m spent by the Department of Environment on essential health and safety works.

Furthermore, it was announced that a hit list of around 40 of the worst (and least developed) estates would be earmarked for levelling throughout 2014. A selection criterion for inclusion on the list remains opaque and, in many cases, is contingent upon the appetite of the local authority to facilitate the transition to viable housing. Whilst these actions are commendable they do not constitute a coherent strategy that will expunge ghost estates from the Irish landscape.

What is required is a strategy that delivers jobs, stimulates local economies and benefits Irish society as a whole in a sustainable way.

One approach could be an innovative strategy based around natural capital and ecosystem goods and services. Natural capital is the stock of natural assets (soil, air, water, flora and fauna) from which we derive a range of ecosystem services that enable societies to thrive. These services comprise supporting services (soil formation and nutrients), regulating services (water quality and control, carbon sequestration), provisioning (timber, crops, fishing) and cultural services (social, spiritual and amenity). Under initiatives like TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity), launched under the auspices of the G8 in 2007, a methodology of ascribing monetary value to these elements has been developed.

Under a natural capital strategy for ghost estates an assessment would be carried out to identify the estates with the highest percentage of foundation level or undeveloped sites in locations deemed to have the lowest commercial value. These should be cross-referenced with the counties with the highest visitor footprint.

A quick and dirty analysis on latest available data reveals counties Clare, Donegal, Kildare and Louth scoring highly on these metrics.

Having established the potential development sites each one would be assessed with a view to determining the optimum natural re-engineering, or restoration, having regard to such factors as the local landscape, amenity potential and biodiversity requirements.

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‘The return to nature of the ghost estates, in a managed way, could potentially deliver diverse habitats, amenity spaces, endangered species restoration or new native woodlands, each enhancing Ireland’s natural capital’ Summer 2014 Irish Director

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sustainable business

The return to nature of the ghost estates, in a managed way, could potentially deliver diverse habitats, amenity spaces, endangered species restoration or new native woodlands, each enhancing Ireland’s natural capital.

Numerous benefits The benefits of such a strategy are numerous. Critically, for many of the areas concerned, the prospect of local employment would be improved at the site clearing, site development and operational/ maintenance stages of the project. Local businesses in the area may also prosper through greater visitor traffic to the area. A prime example of this can be found in Ballyhoura on the Cork/Limerick border. Coillte delivered a state-of-the-art mountain bike trail on its land for a modest investment. Latest Fáilte Ireland figures, published in February, attribute an additional value to the local

The funding of such an initiative has the opportunity to boost Ireland’s claim as a centre for innovative sustainable finance.

The recently established Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) is mandated to ‘invest on a commercial basis to support economic activity’. If ISIF launches a natural capital fund with seed capital of a modest €20m it is not unreasonable to believe that this sum could be matched by philanthropic and impact investors drawn from both Ireland and the diaspora and contributions from the larger agrifood companies who would benefit from an enhancement of Irish biodiversity. The newly constructed EU Natural Capital Financing Facility may also offer funding options.

The innovation associated with this fund would be that the returns would primarily be calculated on the basis of environmental metrics expressed in monetary value terms, giving rise to a commercial value. This would prove timely in respect of the obligations of

‘It is clear that by utilising the resources at our disposal innovatively we can rehabilitate hopeless ghost estates in a transformative way, creating in their place national assets delivering direct environmental benefits as well as indirect economic advantages’ economy of around €3m.

From a green infrastructure perspective, the transformation of ghost estates may be beneficial, contributing to local flood control and carbon sequestration. The establishment of an area to promote indigenous wildlife is perhaps the most valuable contribution this strategy would yield: the opportunity to plant native woodland proximate to urban settlement offers educational, health and touristic advantages as well as presenting a boost to the agricultural sector through the enrichment of local biodiversity, for example assisting pollination, pest control and water quality.

One should also have regard to the ancillary advantages that will accrue through the rollout of such a strategy in terms of human capital – expertise, skills and techniques developed will contribute to an ‘ecosystems knowledge bank’ that could develop into a national asset as other countries in Europe begin to address the decimation of their own natural capital.

member states under Article 5 EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 to integrate economic value of ecosystems in accounting and reporting systems, conferring a first mover advantage on Ireland. The variety and range of methodologies adopted throughout Ireland in the restoration of the ghost estates would accrue a technical expertise and experience upon which Ireland could develop a capacity as a hub for natural capital, underpinning employment and growth opportunities in the State.

To conclude, the return to sustainable economic growth and rising employment are priorities for Ireland. It is clear that by utilising the resources at our disposal innovatively we can rehabilitate hopeless ghost estates in a transformative way, creating in their place national assets delivering direct environmental benefits as well as indirect economic advantages. Furthermore, the pursuit of such a strategy would propel Ireland to the forefront of the Europe-wide move towards a natural capital economy.

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CSR campaign

BUSINESS LEADERS SHAPING A BETTER FUTURE

CSR CAMPAIGN

In association with

Brought to you by

Special Report: CSR overview Irish Director

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CSR campaign

CSR matters In our reputation driven economy what you stand for counts. CSR practices define who the company is, what it believes in and how it does business.

It is probably not a surprise to learn that CEOs already engaged in sustainability and responsible business are driving companies to go beyond legislation towards best practice that is making a profound difference to their business performance and how they do business. It is no longer enough to be seen to be ‘doing the right thing’.

Business & Leadership’s (B&L) 12-month long CSR campaign includes special reports in Irish Director magazine and engaging content that will run on the sustainability section of our website www.businessandleadership.com.

During the course of the campaign we will help raise awareness of inspiring CSR programmes and tell the story of the business leaders leading from the front.

The C-suite is an important driver of change, but it is not the only one. We will also look at customer demand, employees, investors, regulators and communities who are pushing companies to do business in a truly responsible way.

Thanks to our launch CSR campaign partners, we look forward to telling their stories. If you want to join B&L’s CSR campaign we want to hear from you at shobbs@ businessandleadership.com.

Sam Hobbs Managing director Business & Leadership Ph: +353 1 625 1425 Email: shobbs@businessandleadership.com

Irish Director is published by Business & Leadership Ltd Ph: +353 1 625 1400 Email: info@businessandleadership.com Address: Top Floor, Block 43B,Yeats Way, Park West Business Park,Nangor Road, Dublin 12 © Business and Leadership Ltd 2014

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64 Contents NATIONAL CSR PLAN 57 Government stresses business imperative with National Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility BUSINESS IMPACT MAP Business in the Community Ireland CEO Tina Roche comments on its findings

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ORIGIN GREEN 60 Large meat processing companies embracing Bord Bia’s pioneering sustainability programme ENERGY 62 Michael Crothers, managing director, Shell E&P Ireland discusses gas advocacy FINANCIAL SERVICES 64 Friends First’s focus on long-term sustainability through a variety of initiatives ENGINEERING 66 PM Group decided to formalise its CSR strategy two years ago based on three measurable elements STANDARDISING CSR 68 ISO 26000 is the first internationally approved standard to provide guidance on social responsibility

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Responding

RESPONSIBLY Earlier this year, launching its first ever National Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility, the Government stressed the business imperative of operating in a more socially and environmentally responsible way

he increasing importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its impact on the economy, business and community was highlighted in April with the launch of Ireland’s first National Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility. While its development answered a call by the EU Commission for all member states to develop or update national plans in this area, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD and the Government as a whole are using the plan to emphasise the business case for CSR and the part it can play in driving national growth and making Ireland a more desirable place to do business.

The Government described the plan as representing a milestone in raising the profile of CSR in Ireland and said it expects enterprises to conduct their operations in a responsible and sustainable manner “to support the objective of Ireland being consistently recognised internationally as the best small country in which to do business”.

The plan sets out a general framework within which CSR operates in Ireland and describes the main principles and objectives underpinning the Government’s own approach in this area. In an attempt to communicate a common understanding, it identifies five main pillars on which CSR is based in Ireland – namely, workplace employee focus, marketplace, environment, community and public sector.

It’s aligned with and informed by a number of guidelines and developments driving CSR globally, including the EU Commission’s ‘A renewed EU strategy 2011–14 for corporate social responsibility’; the Europe 2020 growth strategy, which is focused on delivering growth that is ‘smart, sustainable and inclusive’; the recently

T

developed voluntary social responsibility standard, ISO 26000, which has been adopted by the National Standards Authority of Ireland as an Irish standard; and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Another strategic driver for the plan is the growing consumer demand for organisations to operate in a more socially and environmentally responsible way.

“The Government recognises the role that CSR can play in contributing to Ireland’s economic recovery,” Minister Bruton told Irish Director. “When enterprises go beyond what is required by legislation alone, positive impacts can be felt across the local and wider communities in which they operate. They can contribute to positioning the country to be a better place in which to do business and a better place to live.”

He said that good CSR practices are also increasingly distinguishing the best companies from those that have less concern for sustainable practices, employee relations and community engagement. “Customers and prospective employees are more conscious than ever of the ethical record of companies, how they source their products and the contribution they make to the local or national community.

“There is a large body of Irish national legislation and regulation on a wide range of issues, which are integral to CSR and which companies operating in Ireland already adhere to. These include employment rights legislation, occupational health and safety legislation, equality legislation, and consumer and environmental protection regulations.

“Therefore in Ireland, we already have a strong base from which to work as we aim to achieve our ambitious vision for Ireland to

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CSR campaign

L–R: Bernadette Phelan, membership services manager, Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI); Kieran McGowan, chairman of BITCI; Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD; Ian Talbot, chief executive, Chambers Ireland; and Catherine Heaney, managing director, DHR Communications at the launch of the National Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility

be a centre of excellence for responsible and sustainable business practice. This complements the Government’s goal of making Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business.

“The message is clear - CSR is both ‘good for business and good for the community’. We will work with the business sector and with communities to create a positive CSR environment which can help differentiate us as a desirable place in which to live and do business.”

Since the plan was launched on 9 April, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has been involved in setting up a stakeholder forum, made up of representatives from the business sector, relevant Government departments and agencies, and the wider community. Its main objective going forward will be to increase awareness of CSR in Ireland and encourage businesses to embed best practice into their mainstream operations.

“The stakeholder forum will be a key vehicle to inform the development of CSR policy in Ireland and to ensure the National Plan remains relevant in the context of evolving best practice, both nationally and internationally,” said the Minister.

The first meeting of the forum took place on 24 June in Government Buildings, with Deloitte managing partner Brendan Jennings as chair and more than 30 participants in attendance, including representatives from Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, NSAI, Chambers Ireland, Isme, Ibec, BITCI and various Government departments. Business representatives included Accenture CEO Mark Ryan, Vodafone CEO Anne O’Leary, Abbott country manager Barbara Scott, Graeme Pallant, regional manager ROI at Marks & Spencer, and Veolia Transport CEO Brian Brennan, as well as

sustainability, CSR and communications executives from Irish Dairy Board, KPMG, Ulster Bank and Glanbia.

The forum will be charged with monitoring the progress of the plan on an ongoing basis and its continued relevance. In addition, it is intended that the plan will be more formally reviewed at least every three years, with the first review to take place in 2016.

Committing to action The Government has committed to implementing the following actions as a priority in 2014:

n Establish a stakeholder forum to support the development of CSR

in Ireland

n Establish a baseline of CSR activity in Ireland, through the

National Standards Association of Ireland

n Work with stakeholders to raise awareness of CSR and support

best practice CSR

n Explore how IDA and Enterprise Ireland can promote CSR with

their client companies

n Support programmes to develop CSR in the SME sector n Benchmark awareness of the CSR agenda in the public sector and

identify practical actions to increase CSR practices and principles

in the sector

n Support sustainable business models through public policy

supports, such as green procurement

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Employee involvement is now a major part of company CSR activities as they seek to make a difference, explains Business in the Community Ireland CEO Tina Roche

Community

spirit

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ne of the main trends Tina Roche, CEO of Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI), has seen emerging over the past couple of years is large companies becoming more committed to strategic community engagement by combining philanthropy with employee initiatives.

“There has been a real change within companies in the past six months – employee engagement in CSR initiatives is without doubt a conversation happening between senior managers and at board level,” she says.

Her organisation’s online interactive Business Impact Map launched recently shows that pro bono work provided by 49 of Ireland’s largest companies increased from a total contribution worth €6m in 2012 to €11m last year.

Employees volunteered over 162,000 hours to local groups and projects during the year, which Roche describes as “an outstanding number”.

“Businesses are trying to move the dial on being effective within their communities. They have gone from old fashioned patronage to taking a partnership approach and looking at what they can do to make a difference,” she says.

“There is a high level of skills transfer now, for example, helping community groups with things they would previously have had to spend money on such as website development.

“This kind of skills transfer is really productive because the employment area is changing and people are looking for more purpose and flexibility in what they do.”

The Business Impact Map reveals that the 49 companies formed over 5,100 community links and gave almost €9.5m in cash donations, €11m through in-kind donations and €3m was raised through employee fundraising.

Social issues that received the most support were health at €5.2m, education programmes at €5.5m, children and youth projects.

Roche says with CSR now definitely on the agenda among senior managers in Ireland a lot of companies are starting to look at the whole area from an exporting perspective.

Clockwise from left: Tina Roche, CEO, Business in the Community Ireland; Sam McGuinness, CEO of Dublin Simon Community; Julian Yarr, managing partner, A&L Goodbody; and Joan Freeman, CEO, Pieta House “Really, this is at the core of the matter – no matter where they are, consumers wanting to buy products and services without feeling guilty about it. This means they must be sustainable and ethical.”

Enterprise Ireland (EI), the Government agency focused on export-oriented companies, believes that CSR is likely to become increasingly important as the economy continues to emerge from recession which had placed a premium on price for many companies.

“Large corporates and consumer focused companies are the most likely to initially focus on this area,” says an Enterprise Ireland spokeswoman.

“Formal CSR is not readily associated with SMEs which make up the vast majority of EI’s client base. However, many SMEs do, of course, engage in CSR and community related activities.”

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THE MEAT of the matter

Ireland’s largest meat processing companies are embracing sustainability through membership of Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme

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rish Country Meats and Rosderra Irish Meats Group are two of the 342 Irish food and drink companies to have registered with Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme since it launched in 2012.

The voluntary sustainability programme is an industry-wide initiative, incorporating the full supply chain from farmers to manufacturers. It is a world first, as there is no other country doing anything similar to Ireland in terms of sustainability.

At an industry level, the programme involves food and drink manufacturers developing a sustainability action plan or charter that sets out clear targets in key areas such as emissions, energy and waste and covering a period of up to five years.

There are currently 58 fully verified members of the programme, responsible for approximately 60pc of Ireland’s food and drink exports – the target is to reach 75pc by the end of this year.

Ireland’s largest pig meat processing company with an annual turnover of around Ð300m, Rosderra Irish Meats Group became a verified member in February of this year.

Established in 2008, it supplies a full range of pork and bacon products to the retail and food processing sector in Ireland, as well as to an international customer base in the EU, US, Asia, South Africa, Australia and Russia.

Rosderra Meats is fully focused on the ‘farm to fork’ philosophy, guaranteeing complete control and traceability of products from the primary processing plants in Edenderry, Co Offaly and Roscrea, Co Tipperary, and secondary processing plants in Clara, Co Offaly, Jamestown, Co Leitrim and Stradone, Co Cavan.

Having continuously invested in sustainability programmes over the years, Rosderra decided to look into Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme to evaluate whether it would suit its business.

Once the management team went about putting the required sustainability charter together, the advantages of being involved became obvious, according to environment manager Gary Nugent.

Rosderra’s sustainability strategy is focused on environmental savings in energy, water, emissions and waste to help improve its competitiveness and reduce its overall carbon footprint.

“Becoming part of Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme has

meant that we targeted a minimum 10pc reduction in each of these areas by 2016 versus baseline year 2010,” he explains.

“Ultimately this is good for our bottom line. We are large energy users and our target of 12pc reduction in usage by 2016 [compared to 2010], for example, represents a significant figure.

“We already had heat recovery systems in place and were quite energy efficient before the concept of Origin Green was developed.

However, I would say the programme has given us even more of a focus in terms of resource usage. We used to look at energy consumption in terms of what it was costing the business, but now we’re looking at it from a sustainability perspective as well.”

An important aspect of being an Origin Green verified company is how it impacts customer relationships and growing business abroad, according to Nugent.

“By becoming Origin Green members, we can demonstrate to our key stakeholders that we’re serious about becoming sustainability leaders and are willing to manage resources sustainably.”

Internally, Rosderra has established an environmental management structure to monitor progress versus targets and a steering group meets quarterly to review overall sustainability performance.

“We plan to make site sustainability plans visible and relevant to all staff members and to invest in technology, people and group initiatives whereby collective learning and research can be used for the betterment of all.”

Based on its visible commitment to sustainability, Irish Country

Image courtesy of Irish Country Meats

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Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney TD (centre) with Rosderra’s sustainability team (L–R) James O’Connor, group technical manager; Niall Leydon, group operations director; Gary Nugent, environmental manager; and Paul Hyland, energy manager

Meats (ICM) was selected to become one of 10 pilot companies participating in Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme and is now one of the verified members.

Headquartered in Camolin, Co Wexford, ICM is the largest sheep meat processor on the island of Ireland, with a second production facility in Navan, Co Meath and employing a total of 450 people.

The company acquired Belgian specialist lamb processor A Lonhienne sprl in 2011, establishing a sales and distribution platform for Northern Europe and it currently services 26 markets worldwide.

“Sustainability is a strategic business priority at ICM. We need to play our part in building a resilient supply chain to ensure long-term security of sustainable food supply. Our sustainability objectives focus on areas that matter the most to our business and where the biggest impact can be made,” says managing director Joe Hyland.

The sustainability plan ICM developed as a result of joining Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme, called ‘Delivering our Sustainability Values’, sets out targets in four areas over the period 2013 to 2017, using 2011 as a base year.

The four areas are water, energy, waste and social sustainability.

The company plans to reduce water consumption per unit produced by 25pc by 2017 through a series of initiatives such as introducing the latest vacuuming technology processes.

Heating of water and refrigeration have been identified as the main drivers of energy consumption at its operating facilities. To further identify the highest users, sub-metering is currently being implemented across both sites.

In order to bring about the 10pc reduction target in energy consumption, the company is reviewing the compressed air provision, heat recovery and operational practices, as well as investment in new machinery.

ICM already has an active programme in place to minimise waste.

Accomplishments to date include a recycling plan, investment in reusable plastic trays, an Environment Protection Agency licensed wastewater plant, as well as the procurement of innovative packaging machines.

“We hope to build on these significant achievements and to reduce the amount of packaging consumed by 23pc over the next five years by further focusing on recycling,” says Hyland.

Regarding social sustainability, over the coming five years the company will continue to work on health and safety standard operating procedures and training for staff to ensure the target of a 60pc reduction in Health and Safety Authority reportable incidents.

Hyland says ICM customers relate to the authenticity of its sustainable mission. “We are already gaining traction and commercial advantage in the marketplace.

“ICM is increasingly conscious of the value of its own brands, as well as the value of Ireland in its brand identity. The Origin Green campaign provides a framework to leverage this and to drive its own sustainability plan.

“By promoting Ireland as a brand, ICM benefits by getting international recognition for the quality and sustainable nature of food and drink production. Origin Green membership can be used as an additional and powerful marketing tool for participants to promote their products and businesses to international markets.

“The Origin Green story is something all stakeholders in the Irish food industry can share with the ultimate potential to construct a more inclusive engagement between primary producers and processors offering a greater sense of ownership to farmers and their families in the success of our food island.

“ICM is fully supportive of the Origin Green mission not because it is commercially and politically correct to participate rather because it is easy to communicate to our customers and articulates everything that is positive about our environment.”

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Markets can realise the environmental benefits of natural gas, explains Michael Crothers, managing director, Shell E&P Ireland

Natural Gas:

FUELLING THE WORLD’S ENERGY MIX

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o survive in business, you’ve got to focus on the future. Understanding factors that will impact business performance in the years ahead and identifying key growth opportunities is what helps businesses to survive. For global energy players such as Shell (with annual revenues of $451bn), figuring out the future has become a way of life.

Over the past 40 years, the company has had a team of ‘futurologists’, whose job it is to conceive scenarios and identify trends that will shape the energy landscape decades ahead. At the turn of the millennium, gas exploration and production was identified as a key energy growth area and as a result, Shell now produces more gas than oil.

So what does the future hold? By 2050 over nine billion people will inhabit our earth, two billion more than the current population of the world. Increasing prosperity, a growing middle class and improved access to reliable electricity will lift global energy demands by up to 80pc by 2050.

At the same time, the number of motor vehicles in use will double to two billion. Developing countries such as Brazil, China and India will account for a third of global energy usage.

By 2030 experts anticipate that we will need between 40pc and 50pc more water, food and energy. Interdependence between these essential resources could lead to volatility as well as social and political upheaval or conflicts. Governments in every corner of the world are under pressure to plan for this future.

Strategic decisions based on long range forecasts Against this global backdrop, planning to meet future energy demand is a formidable challenge. The International Energy Agency and Shell’s Scenarios Team believe that all forms of energy will be needed to secure a sustainable global energy mix in the face of the surging demand.

In 2013 renewables accounted for 8.5pc of the global electricity supply. Shell’s scenario planning suggests that by 2035, renewable energy sources could provide 14pc of demand, a penetration rate too slow because of technology limitations to address energy demands on their own.

Nuclear power will also play a role but as a fuel source, although it continues to generate intense debate about safety. Because of their abundance, reliability, convenience and relative low cost, fossil fuels are likely to remain central to the global energy mix for all of this century.

The parallel challenge for policy-makers in selecting their energy portfolios is environmental and health impacts. Availability, affordability and compatibility, combined with low CO2 emissions, make natural gas uniquely positioned to address the challenges faced by governments and policy-makers.

Natural gas – abundant and affordable Natural gas is abundant. As technology advances, so does our ability to unlock the world’s natural gas resources. Global natural gas resources are growing and are increasingly geographically

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diverse. In its World Energy Outlook – 2013, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that there are sufficient technically recoverable natural gas resources to last for at least the next 235 years at current production levels (including conventional and tight natural gas, shale natural gas and coal bed methane).

Natural gas can be deployed in a decentralised and scalable manner, close to sources of demand. This makes it an essential solution to enhance the robustness of energy supply at every level, from large Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGTs) to individual household boilers.

Gas availability has provided companies throughout Ireland cleaner and more efficient energy choices than traditional energy options such as heating oil, coal or peat. Furthermore, gas is the perfect complement to Ireland’s wind generation, with fast starting gas turbines able to ramp up to take up the slack when winds are low or variable.

The carbon challenge The environmental stresses associated with meeting increasing demand for energy are increasing. Climate change is chief amongst these.

Average global temperatures have already increased by 0.8°C compared with pre-industrial levels and, without further climate action, experts estimate that global long-term temperatures could increase by between 2.8 and 4.5 °C with most of the increase occurring in this century (IEA, Redrawing the Energy-Climate Map, World Energy Outlook Special Report, 2013).

Shell believes that natural gas represents a responsible energy choice. Natural gas emits between 50pc and 70pc less CO2 emissions than coal or peat fired plants. Gas powered electricity generation stations are cheaper and faster to build than plants for any other new build electricity source (half the capital cost of coal per MWh, one-fifth the cost of nuclear, 15pc of the cost of onshore wind and less than one-tenth the capital cost of offshore wind power).

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About 30pc of CO2 is produced during power generation.

Reducing CO2 emissions in power generation is the primary response to combat the climate change threat. Moving to cleaner energy sources like natural gas, combined with carbon capture and storage, is the fastest way to reduce CO2 emissions in the short term.

Markets can realise the environmental benefits of natural gas in terms of CO2 and air emissions. Natural gas can make the single biggest and fastest (supply side) contribution to CO2 abatement and cleaner air available today. In the US, gas is replacing coal as the primary fuel for power. This has had a significant impact on CO2 emissions. In 2012, US CO2 emissions from power generation were down 17pc since 2005.

Corrib – enhancing Ireland’s energy security In 2015 Ireland’s newest indigenous natural gas supply is scheduled to come on stream – this will bolster Irish security of gas supply and reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports. At peak production Corrib gas will provide up to 60pc of the country’s gas needs with an estimated field life span of 20 to 25 years.

Due to low rates of exploration in Irish waters it is difficult to know whether there are large reserves of oil or gas available. Ireland’s wind and wave resources are also considerable and present longterm opportunities.

Public and private sectors need to work together to create a collaborative environment that supports the responsible development of these valuable energy resources in Ireland. This means early involvement of communities in decision-making and simplification of the regulatory and legal processes to bring projects to completion.

Ireland could be on the cusp of an energy revolution that could make it an energy exporter for the benefit of generations to come. It is vital that all key stakeholders, including governments, businesses and communities, work together to realise this energy revolution.

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Helping to deliver sustainable value and success Strategic marketing director at Friends First Brian O’ Neill shares his thoughts on how corporate social responsibility is assisting Friends First in delivering sustainable long-term value

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riends First formulated a new three-year business plan in 2012 and as part of this process reviewed our existing business model and results.

We concluded that we needed to deliver increased long-term value to all of our stakeholders and in doing so develop a more sustainable business model.

The recession between 2008 and 2013 led to far fewer customers buying our products or investing with us.

We also experienced significantly more customers cancelling or reducing contributions into existing products and schemes, which had a significant adverse impact on our financial results and value created.

This was being exacerbated by a practice known as re-broking, whereby clients are advised by their financial advisers to cancel existing products and take out a new product with another provider.

Much of this activity was in the client’s interest but some was motivated by the needs of financial advisers to generate commission income from selling a new product.

We concluded that the latter was not in the best interest of customers and was destroying value for them and us as the product provider.

We further concluded that we could not develop a sustainable and socially responsible business if we didn’t alter this business practice and encourage advisers to move to a recurring income model based on selling added advice to customers and not just products.

With this in mind, in 2013 we changed the way we paid financial

advisers, focusing on spreading the commission payment over the term of the product rather than paying all of it upfront and significantly increasing our educational support to financial advisers.

Our owner Achmea, the Netherlands’ largest insurance group, has consistently highlighted the need for us to deliver clear value to a broader range of stakeholders, including the wider community.

It has also stressed the need for Friends First to embed social responsibility and sustainability principals across all parts of the business.

As a co-operative group, Achmea has always had a strong societal focus and so CSR principles and activities are fully integrated across its business. For example, it operates its own charitable foundation, and in 2012 signed up to the United Nations Principles for Sustainable Insurance charter.

While Friends First needed to make signficant changes to transform the business into a sustainable one, we knew what we needed to do and had some of the building blocks in place.

We were already active in supporting charities and had a well developed environmental programme. But we were fully aware that being a truly socially responsible and sustainable business involves far more than increased charitable and societal activity.

To ensure the integration of all CSR-related activities into our business we established a new programme to monitor and co-ordinate all activities across the business.

The structure of our programme and activities was influenced by

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Boys who took part in the Friends First Lessons for Life programme in Kenya

‘To ensure the integration of all CSR-related activities into our business we established a new programme to monitor and co-ordinate all activities across the business’ The structure of our programme and activities was influenced by a review of best practice in CSR across major Irish and international companies and in our owner Achmea.

Our new CSR committee decided to manage CSR activity in Friends First under four key headings:

n Friends in the Market – our sales and marketing facing activities n Friends in the Workplace – our staff facing and development activities n Friends in the Environment – our environmental activities impact n Friends in the Community – our society, community and charitable support

for Life in educating children who are aids orphans

n Thirty-five of our staff participated in the women’s mini marathon to raise funds for our charities n Two of our staff, two financial advisers and two friends of the organisers completed four rounds of golf in one day to raise funds for one of our charities n

We embarked on a new schools support programme with St Laurence’s Secondary College in Loughlinstown and will commence a partnership with a local national school in September

n We are supporting Stonebridge Community Centre in Shankill through a range of initiatives for their members n We operate a programme of community sponsorship and supports for a range of community events and sports

We developed a fully integrated CSR plan commencing in 2013 with objectives and activities agreed for each of the four streams, supported by a reporting and monitoring process.

In our community programme we appointed charity, schools and community co-ordinators to initiate and manage a significant range of new activities, which included:

n Supporting four charities selected by the CSR committee with Friends First matching any monies raised by staff n Six of our staff completed a London to Amsterdam cycle for one of our charities – Lessons for Life n Six further staff will visit Uganda to review the work of Lessons

Our charitable and community activity is core to our CSR programme, but is only part of a broader transformation of our business, which aims to deliver long-term value to all of our stakeholders. We aim to become a sustainable and successful business and one where we can show that we are a trusted insurer.

While we have made significant progress in transforming our business to date, the process is far from complete and in a changing market environment is never fully completed. We have learnt a lot to date and will apply these learning in our CSR programme and across the business.

CSR is not just a tangential set of ‘nice to do’ activities, it is core to what we want to become as a business and a company in Ireland.

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Two years ago PM Group’s environment, health and safety manager in its Dublin office Mags Dalton began working on a structured corporate social responsibility programme for the company

Active engagement I

n 2012 CEO of PM Group Dave Murphy approached the company’s environment, health and safety manager in its Dublin office Mags Dalton to ask if she would be interested in helping to formalise the existing CSR activity into a more structured programme. Murphy was six months into the CEO role and his leadership in the area and hands-on approach ever since has been a major driver of the programme’s success.

“Dave’s focus on CSR has empowered our dedicated CSR committee and ensured the programme evolves and involves as many employees as possible. The amount of support given by senior management can’t be underestimated. To ensure the success of the programme, Dave attended all of the initial presentations to managers on the programme making sure the message went out and showed that it is something he’s really keen to see integrated into the organisation,” says Dalton.

PM Group is an international engineering, architecture and project management firm with 18 offices around the world with over 2,100 people.

Dalton jumped at the chance to work on a structured CSR programme, partly because with her environmental background, it was something close to her heart. It is currently focused on PM Group’s offices in Dublin, Cork, the UK, Poland, China, India and the US. The aim is to include all offices across the organisation in time.

“I started by gathering information on CSR activities the company had been involved with over the years and evaluating what worked and what didn’t. As an Irish headquartered company, most of the activity had naturally been in Dublin and Cork up to then.

“Further to researching the topic, we decided to adopt an approach that many other companies have structured their programmes on, focusing on the three key pillars of economic growth, social progress and ecological balance,” Dalton explains.

“We would see these three elements as being integral to our business activities and this approach allows us to structure objectives against each one and keep things manageable.”

Pat McGrath, director of international development, PM Group at the opening of the Gorta SCAD project in India

The first pillar, economic growth, is focused on how PM Group runs its business and ensuring it is run profitably and keeping people in jobs.

“This pillar is about doing the right thing in everything that we do in order to remain sustainable. It incorporates the rolling out of certain policies. For example, we recently renewed our communications around an anti-bribery and corruption policy and are providing training to all employees on that. It also includes making sure that all of our locations are operating to all legal requirements.”

Regarding the pillar of social progress, PM Group has split its pro bono and charity work into a number of areas: ‘our communities’, ‘international aid’, ‘education and employment’, and ‘sports and culture’.

A major event under this pillar last year was the official opening of the new Gorta Social Change and Development (SCAD) medical and rehabilitation centre in Tamil Nadu, India.

The centre, which was developed in a partnership between Gorta,

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SCAD and PM Group, will cater for over 1,000 children with differing levels of abilities. PM Group has been involved in the creation of the €3.4m centre since 2009, providing pro bono services in architecture, engineering, cost management and project management.

“This was a project that caught our interest and attention because we were establishing an office in Bangalore, India at the same time the project was initiated. We had a group of employees, right up to director level, working on the project voluntarily who monitored and inspected the construction site at regular intervals,” says Dalton.

Another key initiative last year was PM Group selecting Unicef as its charity of the year and making a €10,000 donation to it in March to support the installation of a water pump to supply a number of schools in Malawi.

Otherwise, PM Group supports community initiatives, which are largely driven by employees – these can be anything from cake sales to financial donations to a local hurling club to the Special Olympics, usually raising money for charities they are connected to in their local communities.

The company has also done a lot of work in the education space, with 30 employees volunteering to take part last year in Junior Achievement, an initiative which aims to create a culture of enterprise in schools.

“Whilst we use project management tools like codes and timesheets to help manage our efforts, the most important measure of progress is the feedback from the charties and our employees,” says Dalton.

“In 2013, there were 500 volunteering hours dedicated to community projects. We have set a target of 2,000 volunteering hours for 2014 and I have no doubt we’ll easily make that.”

This is one of the key performance indicators (KPI) highlighted in PM Group’s second CSR report for 2013, published in May. The

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company has set out a range of KPIs under the headings of people, communities, communication and environment.

The ecological balance pillar of PM Group’s CSR programme is fundamental to the business and it has been focused on the environmental impact of its offices and projects as far back as 2007.

“Many of our clients are multinational blue-chip clients, quite often from the US. They have very high standards in this area and we want to be seen to be meeting or exceeding those. Within our design and engineering activities we strive to improve our environmental performance as early as concept design. Environmental management happens throughout everything we do. It is hard to discuss it in isolation,” continues Dalton.

“Our Dublin office achieved ISO14001 certification – the standard for environment management systems – in 2007, followed by the Cork office in 2009. The UK and Poland office are in the process of achieving it and we are rolling it out in Shanghai, Singapore and the US. This is one of the KPIs we measure – by the end of this year we aim to have four offices ISO14001 certified.”

In addition, three of PM Group’s offices are currently ISO18001 certified – the standard for safety management systems and we aim to have six with the certification by the end of 2014.

The biggest success factor of PM Group’s CSR programme is the people involved, according to Dalton. “We adopt a values-based recruitment process, looking to hire people who have a belief in a good working environment, doing the right thing by clients and doing the right thing in all aspects of projects. The kind of people we have working for the group means things happen really naturally on the CSR side. When I’m chatting to senior management in the various offices, I don’t have to explain what’s needed – they understand exactly what it’s about as it is integral to what we do anyway.”

‘The kind of people we have working for the group means things happen really naturally on the CSR side’

PM Group volunteers and athletes at the recent Special Olympics National Games in Limerick

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Standardising social

RESPONSIBILITY ISO 26000 is the first internationally approved standard to provide guidance on social responsibility

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n November 2010, the International Organisation for Standardisation’s social responsibility guidance standard ISO 26000 was officially launched after five years of work and negotiations, input from 450 participating experts and 210 observers from 99 ISO member countries and 42 liaison organisations, and the engagement of wide range of stakeholder groups.

Unlike some the best known ISO standards, ISO 26000 is a voluntary guidance standard that cannot be certified. Instead, it’s designed to help clarify what social responsibility is, assist businesses and other organisations to convert the principles into effective actions, and share best practices relating to social responsibility. It is aimed at all types of organisations, regardless of their activity, size or location.

The standard outlines the business case for social responsibility, stating that the perception and reality of an organisation’s performance in this area can influence, among other things: competitive advantage; reputation; ability to attract and retain employees and customers; employee morale, commitment and productivity; and external relationships.

At the time of its launch, ISO secretary general Rob Steele said that operating in a socially responsible manner is no longer an option. “It is becoming a requirement of society worldwide. What makes ISO 26000 exceptional among the many already existing social responsibility initiatives is that it distils a truly international consensus on what social responsibility means and what core subjects need to be addressed to implement it. In addition, it is based on broad stakeholder input, including from developing countries, business, government, consumers, labour, non-governmemtal organisations and others.”

He emphasised the fact that social responsibility is not confined to an organisation’s contribution to charity, but its commitment to sustainability and accountability for the impact of its actions.

“In short, it is no longer just the financial bottom line that

people measure an organisation on any more. It is the impact the organisation has on the environment and society as well as on the economy.”

To date, 77 countries throughout the world are known to have implemented ISO 26000 as a national standard, according to Kristina Sandberg, strategy and international affairs at the Swedish Standards Institute and secretariat of the ISO 26000 Post Publication Organisation.

“These are countries which have responded to our surveys on national implementation,” she stresses. “There are many countries that we have not got a reply from, so it could of course be more that these 77 countries.

“We also know that the standard has been translated into at least 28 different languages. The last ones I was informed about were Farsi, Montenegrin and Vietnamese.”

Little is known about the number of organisations that are now using the standard. “We do not have any records on that and it is really difficult to get any reliable information. One indicator could be to check number of sold standards. We have estimated sales figures of approximately 17,000 sold standards, but unfortunately these figures are very poor as very few countries responded to this question in our survey.

“Another indicator of the relevance and interest of ISO 26000 is of course also that it has been referenced in the European Commission CSR strategy as one of the important tools for European companies to use and also in the non-financial reporting document that was approved recently. There are also linkage document with GRI G4 and with UN GC 10 principles.”

As to whether ISO 26000 might ultimately become a certifiable standard, Sandberg says opinion is divided. “A more likely scenario is that we might see a proposal for a new standard on verification or self-declarations. Netherlands, France and Sweden have national documents on this and are discussing possibilities to take it to the ISO-level.”

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senior appointments

in association with

Changing Places John Cronin, Michael Cawley, non-executive directors, Kingspan Group Kingspan Group has appointed John Cronin and Michael Cawley as non-executive directors. Chartered accountant Cawley stepped down from his role as chief operating officer and deputy chief executive of Ryanair in March, having joined the airline in 1997. He is also a non-executive director of Paddy Power. Cronin is a qualified solicitor, and chairman and partner of McCann FitzGerald and a member of the International Bar Association.

Martin Shanahan

Martin Shanahan,

CEO, IDA Ireland Forfás chief executive Martin Shanahan has been named as Barry O’Leary’s successor as CEO of IDA Ireland. Shanahan will take up the role in August and will lead the development of a new strategy for the investment agency that will be developed together with client companies, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, other Government departments and sister agencies. He joined Forfás, the Government’s policy advisory agency for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation, in 2005 and has been chief executive since 2010.

He is currently a member of the board of Forfás, the National Competitiveness Council and the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs. Before joining Forfás, he held management responsibility in Fáilte Ireland for the professional development of

the tourism sector. Earlier in his career, he held a number of general management posts in the private sector in tourism and hospitality. He holds an MRes (educational research) from Lancaster University, an MSc and HDip from DIT and a BSc (mgmt) from Trinity College Dublin.

Patrick Coveney, non-executive director, Glanbia Patrick Coveney has been appointed to the board of Glanbia as a non-executive director. Coveney has been chief executive of convenience food group Greencore since 2007.

Before that, he was Greencore’s chief financial officer. He was previously a global partner of McKinsey and Co, focused on

consumer and food industries.

Coveney is a former Rhodes scholar and holds a DPhil and MPhil from Oxford University.

Dan Flinter, chairman, SkillPages Former Enterprise Ireland CEO Dan Flinter has been appointed chairman of technology startup SkillPages. Flinter currently serves as chairman of The Irish Times Ltd, Project Management Holdings and Duolog Holdings.

He is a board member of Venture Capital Investment Managers as well as Dairygold Co-op. He also chairs the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Gary McGann, Pat Gunne, non-executive directors, Green REIT Smurfit Kappa Group chief executive Gary McGann and Green Property REIT Ventures chief executive Pat Gunne have been appointed to the Green REIT board as non-executive directors.

Alan Duffy, CEO for Ireland, HSBC Alan Duffy has been appointed as chief executive officer for Ireland at HSBC, eight years since he joined the organisation to help establish its corporate banking business. Duffy has 25 years’ corporate banking experience and prior to joining HSBC was head of wholesale banking for ING Bank NV in Dublin. He has also worked with Banque Bruxelles Lambert and Canadian bank Scotiabank.

Dan Flinter

Irish Director Summer 2014

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in association with

McGann has been group CEO of Smurfit Kappa since 2002. He joined the Smurfit Group in 1998 as chief financial officer and has also served as president and chief operations officer. Before that, he was group CEO of Aer Lingus and CEO of Gilbeys of Ireland. He is also currently chairman of Aon Ireland and a director of UDG Healthcare plc, Ibec and the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. He is a member of the ERT (European Round Table of Industrialists) and the chairman of CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries).

He was named RISI’s 2014 European CEO of the Year and also received Institutional Investor Magazine’s 2013 Award for Best CEO in the sector.

Gunne is chief executive of the various Green Property businesses, including Green Property REIT Ventures Ltd (GPRV), the entity responsible for the day-to-day management of Green REIT. He joined Green Property in January 2009. He was previously European board director of CB Richard Ellis.

A chartered surveyor, he was managing director of the real estate agency Gunne Commercial from 1997 to 2007, when it was acquired by CB Richard Ellis.

Dr Michael Daly, non-executive director, Tullow Oil Tullow Oil has appointed Dr Michael Daly as a non-executive director. Daly has extensive oil and gas experience following a 28-year career at BP. Most recently, he was executive vicepresident exploration and a member of BP’s group executive team until January 2014. During his time at BP he held a variety of senior business management and exploration positions including group vice president,

exploration and new ventures, and regional president Middle East and South Asia. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Arctic, an advisory board member of the British Geological Survey and a visiting professor at the University of Oxford.

Steen previously worked for a number of international companies at a senior level including Vodafone Ireland and Shell Ireland. She started her career in Lafferty Publications and then joined Ibec.

Ronan Nolan, president, Chartered Accountants Ireland

Róisín Brennan, non-executive director, UTV Media

Róisin Brennan UTV Media has appointed Róisín Brennan as a non-executive director. Brennan, who’s a former chief executive of IBI Corporate Finance, will also become non-executive chair of UTV Ireland, the group’s new television channel, which is set to launch in 2015. Brennan is currently a non-executive director of DCC plc and Coillte Teo. She graduated from UCD with a degree in law before qualifying as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen in Dublin.

Rosemary Steen, director public affairs, Eirgrid Eirgrid has appointed Rosemary Steen as director public affairs.

Reporting to the chief executive, Steen will lead a new public affairs directorate that will be responsible for formulating and guiding the company’s communications strategy for external stakeholders.

Ronan Nolan Chartered Accountants Ireland has elected Ronan Nolan, a senior partner with Deloitte in Dublin, as president. During his time at Deloitte, where he has been a partner since 1982, Nolan has held a number of leadership positions, including chairman, member of the executive board, and leader of the audit and corporate finance divisions of the firm.

He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1977, having trained at the firm. He was educated at Terenure College and UCD, where he studied chemistry and maths. He is also currently chair of the Public Sector Outside Appointments Board, and a director of Business Reporting Ireland and of Scifest. He is treasurer and a trustee of Dublin Chess Club, a trustee of Terenure College Benevolent Fund and a former

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board member of the Auditing Practices Board, chairman of the Irish Management Institute (Dublin region) and honorary treasurer of Grange Golf Club.

Ciaran O’Brien, non-executive director, Airsynergy Airsynergy has appointed Ciaran O’Brien to its board as a non-executive director.

O’Brien has more than 20 years of experience in resource development and fundraising in Ireland and the US. Born in Ireland and now based in Chicago, he was CEO of Wind Capital Group from 2008 to 2012. Before that, he was CFO at Airtricity for eight years, during which time he launched and led its US business.

O’Brien also currently serves as a non-executive director on the board of Gaelectric Holdings plc, a renewable energy development and energy storage group.

Bryan Bourke, managing partner, William Fry

Bryan Bourke William Fry has announced that Bryan Bourke will take over from Myra Garrett as the firm’s managing partner on 1 November 2014. Bourke, who is currently head of William Fry’s corporate department, joined the firm in 1993 and has been a partner since 1999.

Garrett will return to full-time Summer 2014 Irish Director

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practice in the firm’s corporate department.

Geraldine Larkin, CEO, Irish Greyhound Board

Geraldine Larkin The Irish Greyhound Board has appointed Geraldine Larkin as CEO following a competitive recruitment process. Larkin has headed up the Private Security Authority since it was set up in January 2005 to introduce regulation to the private security industry. She originally worked in the Civil Service where she has experience in a number of posts in the Department of Justice and Equality, including areas such as courts policy, international policy, security and Northern Ireland, criminal law review and human rights.

She has a degree in public administration from the Institute of Public Administration and a master’s degree in business administration from the Open University.

Manus O’Donnell, chief investment officer, NTR NTR has appointed Manus O’Donnell as its chief investment officer, with a specific responsibility for fulfilling the company’s strategy to invest in wind projects in UK and Ireland. O’Donnell has been CEO of Mainstream Capital since September 2013. He was previously head of corporate finance at Mainstream Renewable Energy. Before that, he worked in corporate finance at Airtricity (part of the NTR

in association with

group) for six years. He had previously worked in investment and corporate banking in London and Dublin. O’Donnell is currently a steering committee member of the Green IFSC. He has a BA in economics from Trinity College Dublin, an MA in economics from University College Galway and an MBA from UCD’s Smurfit Business School.

Will Holland, chief financial officer, Fastnet Oil and Gas Fastnet Oil and Gas plc has appointed Will Holland as chief financial officer and to its board of directors with immediate effect. Holland has over 20 years of experience in the oil and gas business, primarily gained in Africa and Europe. He started his career as a cementing and frac engineer at Halliburton Energy Services before moving into business development roles based in Africa. After two years leading internal audit teams at Halliburton, he joined Macquarie Bank in London in 2007 where he originated, structured and managed equity and debt investments in smallcap E&P companies. He holds a BEng (mech) from Warwick University and an MBA from Heriot-Watt University.

Denis O’Brien, Brian Cowen, Sean Corkery, Lucy Gaffney, Colm Doherty and Emmet O’Neill, non-executive directors, Topaz Energy Group Topaz Energy Group has appointed six new nonexecutive directors, including Denis O’Brien, who now owns the fuel retailer, and former taoiseach Brian Cowen. The other four new non-executive directors are Sean Corkery, Lucy Gaffney, Colm Doherty and Emmet O’Neill. Corkery is chairman and CEO of O’Brien-

owned Siteserv as well as a director of Digicel. Gaffney, meanwhile, is also a Digicel director, as well as chairperson of Communicorp Group and a board member of Independent News & Media. Former AIB chief executive Doherty is also on the board of Siteserv. Finally, O’Neill is O’Brien’s nephew and founder of Smiles Dental, which was sold recently to the UK’s Oasis Healthcare. Topaz chief financial officer Niall Devereux has also been appointed to the board.

Stephen White, chief operating officer, AIB AIB has appointed Stephen White as its new chief operating officer. White will take up the role on 28 July and will be a member of AIB’s leadership team. He joins from National Australia Bank (NAB), where he was executive general manager, customer processing and payments. Before this, he held executive positions with NAB, including chief operating officer in business banking, transaction banking, and customer service centres. He has also worked in British Telecom, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Direct Line (RBS Group), Abbey National (now part of Santander) and NHS Direct, where he was also chief operating officer.

Kieran McGowan, chairman, Appian Asset Management Kieran McGowan has been appointed chairman of investment management company Appian Asset Management. McGowan was chief executive of IDA Ireland from 1990 to 1998 and is a former chairman of CRH plc and a former non-executive director of Irish Life & Permanent Group Holdings plc and Elan plc.

Emer Finnan, non-executive director, C&C Group C&C Group has appointed Emer Finnan to its board of directors.

Finnan is a partner and senior managing director of Kildare Partners, a private equity firm specialising in real estate investment in Western Europe.

She trained and qualified as a chartered accountant at KPMG in Dublin between 1989 and has over 20 years of UK/ Ireland investment banking and financial services experience in roles at Citibank and ABN Amro in London and NCB Stockbrokers and EBS in Ireland.

She joined Kildare Partners in 2013. She is currently a nonexecutive director of Dublin Port Company and adviser to the audit committee of RTÉ.

Imelda Hurley, chief financial officer, Origin Enterprises Imelda Hurley joins Origin Enterprises plc as chief financial officer designate in July 2014 before taking over from Brendan Fitzgerald as CFO in August. Hurley was most recently based in Hong Kong as the CFO of PCH International Holdings. Before joining PCH, she held a number of senior financial positions at Greencore Group plc having qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen. She is currently a non-executive member of the board of Bord Gáis Éireann.

Anne Keogh

Irish Director Summer 2014

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in association with

Anne Keogh, president, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Ireland Chief financial officer of the Well Water Company Anne Keogh has been elected president of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Ireland. Prior to working for the Well Water Company, Keogh held financial positions at the Adare Printing Group and was part of the threeperson NeedaHotel.com team established by Sarah Newman and Andrew Collins. She previously held roles in Smurfit Kappa Group and was a nonexecutive director of Prime Active Capital.

Eoin Likely, chief financial officer, O’Callaghan Hotel Group

Eoin Likley Eoin Likely has re-joined the O’Callaghan Hotel Group as chief financial officer (CFO).

He was previously CFO of the group in 2005/2006 before

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relocating to Cork to become head of operations and finance at alchemy properties, a subsidiary of Reox Holdings plc.

In 2009 he became CFO of Reox Holdings plc. Likely is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

David Stewart, non-executive director, Permanent TSB Group Holdings Permanent TSB Group Holdings has appointed David Stewart as a non-executive director.

Stewart, who has over 20 years’ board level experience in financial services, recently stepped down as chief executive of the Coventry Building Society, having previously held the positions of finance director and operations director at the company. Before joining Coventry in 2002, he worked for 10 years at DBS Management plc, holding a variety of positions including group chief executive. Stewart is a graduate of Warwick University and a qualified chartered accountant.

Announcing the appointment, chairman Alan Cook said it concluded the process of board recruitment that had started following the re-constitution of the group in its current form.

Mary Curtis, head of channel, UTV Ireland UTV Ireland has appointed Mary Curtis as is new head of

Mary Curtis channel with responsibility for overseeing all programming content and leading the Irish team in the development of the new channel across all platforms. Curtis was most recently RTÉ’s director of digital switchover with additional responsibility for its television digital strategy. She was previously deputy director for television programmes at the station with responsibility for commissioning and programming. As a member of the board of directors of RTÉ Television, she directed the strategic review of its full portfolio of services in 2013.

She left RTÉ in September 2013 to set up a consultancy advising State bodies and businesses on public affairs and public

information.

Malachy O’Connor, fresh food commercial category director, Tesco Ireland Malachy O’Connor has been appointed fresh food commercial category director of Tesco Ireland. O’Connor will oversee all of Tesco’s fresh food purchasing, including its chilled, dairy and bakery produce. He joins from Aldi where he held the dual role of buying and marketing director for six years from 2008 to 2014. He has 17 years’ experience in the Irish retail industry, having previously held fresh food purchasing roles with BWG Foods, Superquinn and Dunnes Stores. A native of Tyrone, he holds a first class

Summer 2014 Irish Director

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Neil Sorohan honours degree in food science from Queens University Belfast.

Tom Edwards-Moss, chief financial officer, Hibernia REIT Hibernia REIT plc has appointed Tom Edwards-Moss as chief financial officer of its investment manager WK Nowlan REIT Management Limited. EdwardsMoss joins the company from Credit Suisse, where he has had nine years of investment banking experience with a particular focus on corporate finance in the real estate sector.

He is a graduate of Cambridge University and qualified as a chartered accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2005.

Brendan Spring, president, Irish Brokers Association Brendan Spring, CEO of FBD Financial Solutions, part of the FBD Group, has been appointed as the 24th president of the Irish Brokers Association (IBA).

Having spent two years on the IBA Council, in his new role Spring will represent the association at industry events, and becomes chairman of the management committee, and chairman of the council. Spring has 40 years’ experience in financial services, which began in Irish Life. He has worked for FBD Financial Solutions for the past 17 years and is an

accredited asset management specialist, a fellow of the Irish Institute of Pensions Managers and is currently studying for a business degree in management at the Irish Management Institute.

Neil Sorohan, chief financial officer, Ryanair Ryanair’s finance director Neil Sorohan is to take over as chief financial officer on 1 October 2014. Sorohan joined the airline as treasurer in 2003, having previously worked in CRH plc for 11 years as deputy treasurer.

He was promoted to finance director in June 2006. In this position he has been operating as outgoing CFO Howard Millar’s deputy and a key leader in the airline’s finance department, having actively managed the treasury function and financial reporting, participating in investor roadshows and recently being closely involved in its debut €850m bond offering.

Millar is retiring after 23 years with the airline and 11 years as CFO. He will join Ryanair’s board as a non-executive director in mid 2015.

Tom Shipsey, chairperson, Concern Worldwide Tom Shipsey has been appointed chairperson of Concern Worldwide’s governing council. Since becoming a

member of Concern’s council in 2009, Shipsey has served on a sub-committee advising on the agency’s new strategic plan and was elected company secretary in 2010, which also made him a member of the officers committee. Shipsey has visited and witnessed the work of Concern, both at home and in the field, visiting Haiti in 2010, northern Uganda in 2011 and Ethiopia in 2013. He has a BAgr from UCD and an MSc in executive leadership from the University of Ulster.

He has worked in the agriretail industries for almost 30 years and became Ireland’s first chartered director (IoD) in 2001.

He takes over the voluntary role from Frances O’Keeffe, who was chairperson from 2010.

Michael Gallagher, chief financial officer, Falcon Oil & Gas Falcon Oil & Gas has promoted Michael Gallagher to the position of chief financial officer.

Gallagher, who takes over from Eoin Grindley, joined Falcon in October 2012 as group financial controller with responsibility for the group’s Dublin, Hungarian and Australian finance and commercial functions. He had previously spent 11 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Ireland and the US, working with and advising both quoted and unquoted oil and gas exploration and production companies.

Darragh O’Loughlin, president, Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union Secretary general of the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) Darragh O’Loughlin has been elected as president of the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) for 2015. O’Loughlin, who has been secretary general of the IPU since 2013 and was its president from 2010 to 2012, has been treasurer and IPU

representative for European Affairs in PGEU since 2013.

In addition to his work with the IPU and the PGEU, he has also previously served on both the board of the Health Information & Quality Authority (Hiqa) and the council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, having been appointed by successive Ministers for Health.

Nick Johnson, managing director and vice president customer development, Unilever Ireland Nick Johnson has been appointed to replace Jill Ross as managing director and vice president (VP) customer development for Unilever Ireland. Johnson has held various senior posts since joining Unilever in 2011, most recently as shopper marketing and category management director with Unilever UK. He will lead the company’s Irish sales and marketing team from Unilever Ireland’s head office in Citywest, Dublin and be responsible for business development in Ireland, working in close partnership with the company’s retail and wholesale customers.

John Moloney, chairman designate, DCC DCC has named former Glanbia managing director John Moloney as chairman designate. Moloney, who joined the DCC board in February 2009, will succeed Michael Buckley on his retirement in September.

Buckley has been chairman of DCC since May 2008 and a non-executive director since September 2005.

Moloney retired as group managing director of Glanbia at the end of last year after 12 years in the role. He is also chairman of Coillte Teo and a non-executive director of Greencore Group and Smurfit Kappa, as well as a number of private companies.

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highlights

HIGHLIGHTS SUMMER 2014 MUSIC Happy Birthday Tour Nana Mouskouri is celebrating her 80th year with the Happy Birthday Tour, which is taking her around the world for a year.

She will perform in the National Concert Hall on 27 September, shortly before the tour concludes on the day of her 80th birthday on 13 October 2014. Mouskouri has recorded more than 1,350 songs in many languages, including Greek, English, German, Spanish, French and Dutch, and has around 300 gold and platinum discs. www.nch.ie Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club – Adios Tour The Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club is on the road for one last time in 2014/15 with a series of concerts and related events and will perform at the National Concert Hall on 2 August. The event is part of the Summer @ NCH Festival 2014, which continues until 16 August and will include Altan; The Art of the Song: David Bowie featuring Lisa Hannigan, Duke Special and others; and singer/songwriters Paul Brady and Sinéad O’Connor. www.nch.ie

Ballyturk Starring Cillian Murphy, Mikel Murfi and Stephen Rea, Enda Walsh’s new play Ballyturk will have its world premiere at the Blackbox Theatre during the Galway Arts Festival from 10 to 27 July, before moving on to the Olympia Theatre Dublin from 7 to 23 August, the Cork Opera House from 26 to 30 August and the National Theatre, London from 11 September to 11 October. The play, which is directed by Walsh, reunites the creative team behind the 2012 production of his Misterman, which also featured Murphy. www.ballyturk.com

VISUAL ARTS

Hélio Oiticica, Parangolé P4 Cape 1, 1964. [Photo Sergio Zalis]

THEATRE The Actor’s Lament Actor, director, author and playwright Steven Berkoff is bringing The Actor’s Lament to the Gaiety Theatre from 1 to 6 September. Berkoff wrote the play in verse and also acts in it, alongside Jay Benedict and Andree Bernard. The Actor’s Lament describes the bizarre lives of actors and the frustrations and aggravations of being a performer. www.gaietytheatre.ie The Price Arthur Miller’s The Price is scheduled to run at the Gate Theatre in Dublin until 16 August. The play, which is directed by Doug Hughes and stars Fiona Bell, Denis Conway, Barry McGovern and J Stadlen, is set in New York and focuses on the meeting of two brothers who come together after 16 years of estrangement to dispose of their dead parents’ property. www.gatetheatre.ie

Hélio Oiticica: Propositions Imma is presenting a major retrospective exhibition of the work of the internationally renowned Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica (1937–1980) from 19 July to 5 October.

Propositions will include a succinct selection of works by Oiticica, including vital examples from throughout his prolific career with a view to illuminating his art historical importance and relevance to contemporary practice. www.modernart.ie Second Sight: The David Kronn Collection Second Sight is drawn from the collection of photography amassed by Dr David Kronn over the past 20 years, which is a promised gift to Imma. The David Kronn Collection comprises more than 550 photographs ranging in content from 19th century Daguerreotypes; works by icons of modern photography such as Edward Weston and August Sander; as well as works by awardwinning contemporary photographers such as Trine Sondergaard and Simon Norfolk. In

2011, Imma staged the first exhibition from this collection. Second Sight, which runs from 1 August to 9 November in the Garden Galleries, marks the donation of 50 works to Imma from the Kronn Collection. This donation will be shown alongside a display of work by contemporary international photographers from the Imma Collection. www.modernart.ie

FESTIVALS Kilkenny Arts Festival The 41st Kilkenny Arts Festival, running from 8 to 17 August, promises ‘a series of themed projects that range across the frontiers of classical, traditional and contemporary performance, many of which are unique collaborations, one-off events and world premieres’. Highlights include the Beethoven Quest: a full cycle of the composer’s string quartets performed by The Heath Quartet in 10 lunchtime concerts at St John’s Priory, and his five piano concertos performed over two evenings

by Barry Douglas and Camerata Ireland at St Canice’s Cathedral. Elsewhere, Shakespeare’s Globe will return to the Castle Yard for 10 open air performances of Much Ado About Nothing on a recreated Elizabethan ‘Booth Stage’. Alfred Brendel will share a lifetime of musical insights in his lecture A Pianist’s A-Z, while male voice choir Basiani Ensemble will make its Irish debut with a journey through the choral tradition of Georgia. www.kilkennyarts.ie A Taste of West Cork Festival Skibbereen is the venue for West Cork’s annual foodie festival, which brings together a mix of food markets and demonstrations, cookery competitions, tours to organic farms, themed nights in the town’s restaurants, sea shore foraging, brunches and banquets, food tastings, talks, exhibitions, traditional music nights, children’s events and more. This year’s festival runs from 5 to 14 September. www.atasteofwestcork.com National Heritage Week More than 1,700 events – everything from medieval fairs to night time bat walks and historical re-enactments to children’s

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workshops – will happen across the country as part of this year’s National Heritage Week, which takes place from 23 to 31 August. The event will mark the UN 20th anniversary of International Year of the Family by taking the theme ‘Family … generations exploring heritage together’ and is encouraging families, young and old, to connect with their heritage. www.heritageweek.ie Culture Night The ninth annual Culture Night – when cultural organisations in more than 30 towns around the country open their doors until late with hundreds of free events, talks and performances – takes place from 5 to 11 on Friday 19 September 2014. www.culturenight.ie

Home Grown The inaugural Home Grown food festival in Letterkenny takes place on 12 and 13 July and promises the very best of what the north-west and beyond has to offer from the land and sea. The event will be showcasing seasonal and local produce from artisan suppliers to local restaurants and everything in between. A number of well known chefs will be showing off their culinary skills at the festival, including Rachel Allen, Paul Rankin and Ian Orr. www.homegrownfoodfestival.ie Galway International Arts Festival Included in this year’s programme are the premieres of three new plays – Ballyturk by Enda Walsh, Chapatti by Christian O’Reilly and Be Infants in Evil by Brian Martin; two new festival galleries with exhibitions from John Kindness, Janet Cardiff and Patrick O’Reilly; the Royal Court Theatre’s trilogy of Beckett’s Not I, Footfalls and Rockaby; concerts by The Waterboys and The National; Rossi’s opera Orfeo in a new production by Resurgam and Atlantae; and A Night at the Proms with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. It’s the 37th year of the Galway International Arts Festival and runs from

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14 to 27 July at a range of venues in and around the city. www.giaf.ie Leonard Cohen Event The eighth biannual Leonard Cohen Event will be held in Dublin from 7 to 10 August with a programme of music, film and literature in Liberty Hall and tours across the city centre. Since the inaugural event in Montreal in 2000, it has been held in Hydra, Greece (2002); New York (2004); Berlin (2006); Edmonton (2008); Krakow (2010); and Madison, US (2012). Among this year’s highlights are a screening of never before broadcast footage of one of Cohen’s concerts from his 2013 tour, which has been provided by his manager, Ed Sanders.

Meanwhile, an afternoon of spoken word features John MacKenna, Dermot Bolger, Gerard Smyth, Leif Bodnarchuk – who worked with Cohen from 2008 to 2013 – and The Poetry Divas. International bands performing include Ali & the Thieves from Australia and Patricia O’Callaghan from Canada; while Irish musicians and bands Gerry Tully, The Van Diemens and Tir na nÓg will share their interpretations of Cohen songs. www.leonardcohenfiles.com

MERC Partners Leadership Breakfast –

patron news

Selecting, developing and delivering for success

Joe Schmidt

Rugby fans were out in force at the Four Seasons Hotel recently when MERC Partners held the latest seminar in its Leadership Breakfast Series and welcomed head coach of the Irish Rugby team Joe Schmidt as guest of honour and keynote speaker for the event.

The MERC Partners Leadership Breakfast Series is a biannual event hosted

by MERC Partners, Ireland’s leading consultants in executive search and leadership advisory.

The series provides an excellent networking forum for senior executives, as well as an opportunity to hear insightful perspectives on the themes of leadership and talent

development.

The timing of the event could not have been better, following so closely from Ireland’s championship winning success in the Six Nations.

Over 200 senior executives were in attendance to show their appreciation for Schmidt and his team’s magnificent achievements during his debut season as national coach.

The audience at the seminar was captivated by what was an inspirational and highly entertaining address from Schmidt, which was entitled ‘Selecting, developing and delivering in a competitive world’ – a theme that is as applicable to business as it is to sport.

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networking

University of Limerick President’s Dinner 2014 Niall FitzGerald KBE addressed more than 200 philanthropic and business leaders at the University of Limerick (UL) President’s Dinner 2014 at Adare Manor on 16 May. In his keynote speech, FitzGerald, who is a former chairman and CEO of Unilever and originally from Limerick, emphasised the interdependence of commercial and societal needs.

“I believe more and more companies understand that attending to their own business means also attending to the needs of society,” he said. “The two cannot be separated. We live in communities of citizens who are the consumers of our goods and service. If we betray their trust as citizens, we forfeit the loyalty of consumers.”

Also speaking at the event, UL president Prof Don Barry said the university’s €224m capital development plan aimed to deliver 12 major infrastructural development projects including a new clinical education research building at University Hospital Limerick, the second phase of the Glucksman Library and a city centre campus including an academic building and student residences.

Included in the entertainment was a solo flute performance by Michael Flatley.

The proceeds of the evening were presented by UL Foundation chairman Loretta Brennan Glucksman to Mary Davis, worldwide CEO of Special Olympics.

UL president Prof Don Barry; Minister for Finance Michael Noonan TD; and Niall Fitzgerald KBE

Prof Don Barry; UL Foundation chairman Loretta Brennan Glucksman; and Minister Noonan

Gerry Boland, Sinead Teefy, Tadhg Kearney and Linda Stevens

David Cronin, chief executive of UL Foundation; Michael Welsh; Loretta Brennan Glucksman; Stuart Dwyer, Chargé d’affaires US Embassy Dublin; and Rose Hynes, Shannon Airport

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Gobnait O’Riordan, Lady Dunraven, Tadhg Kearney, Loretta Brennan Glucksman, Anna Ryan and Prof Don Barry

Karen Carmichael and Robert Park, MXB

Joyce O’Donoghue; John O’Donoghue, CEO of Noonan, the main sponsor of the event; and Prof Don Barry

MariaDavid Doyle Cronin and Fildelma Morrissey, Supplies with Michael andDS Niamh Flatley

Stephen Cloonan, Gabbit; Darina Kneafsey, Quilly; and Donal Flinn, Druids Glen Niall Fitzgerald and David Cronin

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IoD Governance Forum The IoD hosted a dedicated Governance Forum for Directors of Charities and Not-For-Profit Organisations on Thursday, 1 May at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

There were over 200 attendees from across 140 not-for-profit organisations represented at the forum, which concentrated on a range of board and governance issues through a series of breakout sessions and contributions and insights from two expert panels.

Carol Ann Casey, CRC; Chris White, National Council for the Blind Ireland; and Eilish Finan, Social Finance Foundation

Eileen Gleeson, event facilitator; Liam Daniel, IoD president; and Thora Mackey, IoD chief operating officer

John Edmondson, Airfield Trust, and Bob Semple, Suas Liam Bergin, The Educena Foundation, and Kevin Smyth, Carmichael Centre

Moninne Griffith, Amnesty International, and Eilis Murray, Philanthropy Ireland

Fergal O’Sullivan, Make-A-Wish; Sarah Bird, Sarah Bird Foundation; and Susan O’Dwyer, Make-A-Wish

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Application form for membership There are two categories of membership of the IoD – Full and Associate. Both can avail of all membership benefits and attend all IoD events.

Full Member: A person must be a director of a corporation for a minimum of three years or a partner, senior executive or officer of an entity, with three years’ experience as a member of the body that is responsible for the strategic business direction of that entity. The company must be solvent and in existence for at least three years and have a minimum annual turnover or budget of €300,000.

Associate Member: A person must be a director, partner, senior executive or officer of an entity or a sole trader for a minimum period of one year or who reports to a member of the body that is responsible for the strategic business direction of that entity and is interested in the promotion and advancement of good corporate governance.

Please indicate the category you are applying for: Full � Associate � 1. PERSONAL DETAILS OF THE APPLICANT (Please attach your business card if possible)

Name

__________________________________________________

DOB ____________________________________________________

________________________________________________

Work Email ______________________________________________

Business Name____________________________________________

Personal Email ____________________________________________

Business Address

________________________________________

Mobile __________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

Qualifications______________________________________________

________________________________________________________

Home Address ____________________________________________

Business Phone __________________________________________

________________________________________________________

Number of years served as a Director __________________________

Company Type (ie plc, Ltd) __________________________________

________________________________________________________

Company Sector __________________________________________

Job Title

I hereby apply for membership of the Institute of Directors in Ireland and agree to be bound by its Memorandum and Articles of Association.

I also confirm that: • • •

I do not have any unspent criminal convictions (other than for traffic offences).

I have not been restricted from acting as a company director, under s150 of the Companies Act 1990, or disqualified from acting as a company director under s160 Companies Act 1990, as amended or equivalent legislation in other jurisdictions.

I have read and understood the code of conduct expected as a member of the Institute of Directors in Ireland. The code can be viewed at www.iodireland.ie/membership or emailed to you on request.

2. COST OF IOD IRELAND MEMBERSHIP: � Registration fee (payable in the first year only) €200

Annual subscription €295

Total Cost of New Membership €495

3. PAYMENT DETAILS Payment is accepted by cheque made out to: The Institute of Directors in Ireland, or by credit/debit card (see below) Cardholder’s Name: ______________________________________ Amount: €______________

� Visa � MasterCard � Laser (We cannot accept American Express) Card no: ���� ���� ���� ���� ��� Expiry date: ��/��

I am paying by

Signature: ____________________________________________________________ All information provided is treated with the strictest confidence. If you have any queries, please phone us on 01 4110010.

Please return your completed form by fax to 01 4110090 or post to: Institute of Directors in Ireland, Europa House, Harcourt Street, Dublin 2

www.iodireland.ie

Letter from the editor Welcome to the summer issue of Irish Director.

In our director profile we talk to Siobhán Talbot, who took over as Glanbia group managing director last November, about the challenges of her new role and her ambitions for the company.

Eamon Eastwood talks about developing his Taste Ireland business in Australia, while Easydry’s Anne Butterly shares her inspiration for developing a brand new material for her award-winning eco-towels. Elsewhere, Germany is the first subject of our new ‘Doing business in...’ section, while the medical devices industry comes under the microscope as this issue’s sector profile.

We’re also very pleased to kick off a 12-month CSR campaign, with the first of five special reports that will focus on inspiring corporate social responsibility practices and the business leaders who are leading from the front in this area.

We’re grateful to the IoD members and others who shared their time, expertise and valuable insights with us in putting together the magazine. We welcome feedback and suggestions to ID@businessandleadership.com.

We connected every business in Weavers Court directly to the USA.

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10 Gigabit internet speeds for every tenant - a world’s first.

Competitive advantage in a connected world.

Grainne Rothery Editor, Irish Director

Editor: Grainne Rothery Production editor: Karina Corbett Designer: Keith Wealleans Client services: Sharon Bolger, ph: +353 1 625 1422, email: sbolger@businessandleadership.com For all advertising and marketing queries, contact Sam Hobbs on ph: +353 1 625 1425 or email: advertising@businessandleadership.com Irish Director is published by Business & Leadership Ltd Ph: +353 1 625 1400 Email: info@businessandleadership.com Address: Top Floor, Block 43B,Yeats Way, Park West Business Park, Nangor Road, Dublin 12 © Business and Leadership Ltd 2014

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ISSN: 1649-3621

www.businessandleadership.com

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Irish Director Irish Director

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF DIRECTORS IN IRELAND IRISH DIRECTOR ISSUE 32 • SUMMER 2014

FOCUS ON CSR

THE MED-TECH SECTOR Growth through R&D

Re-imagining the future

DOING BUSINESS IN GERMANY

The exporting opportunity

www.businessandleadership.com

GROWING

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GLANBIA SIOBHÁN TALBOT ON HER NEW ROLE RUNNING THE FOOD GIANT

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ISSUE 32 • SUMMER 2014 €7.50 STG£6.70)

| LEADERSHIP | SUSTAINABILITY | INNOVATION | FINANCE | TECHNOLOGY 04/07/2014 15:33