Sw Industry

The Irish Software Industry 1989-2008: An overview of its development.

Conor Moynihan

841119-p276

cjm1020s@gmail.com

School of Management

M.Sc. of Business Administration

Master Thesis

Contact Information

Author:

Conor Moynihan

Address: Corran, Waterfall, Near Cork, Ireland.

E-mail – cjm1020s@gmail.com

University Supervisor:

Philippe Rouchy

School of Management, BTH

Department of Business Administration

School of Management

Blekinge Institute of Technology

Box 520

SE-372 25 Ronneby

Sweden

Acknowledgements

I would like to begin by thanking my supervisor Mr. Philippe Rouchy for the choice of topic, and for his guidance throughout this thesis.  The direction and motivation he gave me was invaluable for its completion.  I am truly grateful for his feedback and literature review assistance.

Secondly I would like to thank Mr. Anders Nilsson, Dean of the School of Management for the working environment he provided for us at BTH and for the decisiveness he has shown at crucial stages of this student's work process.

Finally I am thankful to all the staff at BTH and in particular the librarians whose help was immense during my time in Sweden.

Karlskrona, August 08

Conor Moynihan

Abstract

The case of the software industry in Ireland is particularly interesting as it is a unique example of a government led innovation in attracting and fostering the development of a knowledge based industry. Using a previous work of Eileen Drew (1994) as a starting point it tracks the growth of the industry in the 1990’s and into the 21st century during a boom period in the Irish economy known as the Celtic Tiger. Growth is measured by macro-economic factors such as employment and exports. In this 15 year period Ireland increased employment in the software industry from 8,000 to over 30,000 people and its software exports from 1 to 15 billion euro.

The government’s influence is examined through the National Development Plans, The...