Re: the management. My point remains. And you should get your hands on the Ed Delaney document. Not all successful multi-nat operations in this country are running on their existing business charter (I’m one of them).

Saw the register article .. well it happens. Tax is part of the picture but only part of it. US MNCs like doing business here for a lot of the reasons I’ve outlined above.

I’d like to think you are right John but I’m more inclined to think the managers will be concerned with running a successful call centre rather than going outsied their expertise and trying to turn their call centre into a data centre or similar.

I note the Reg has an article on this move too - it seems the people of Slough (where the call centre is moving from) are none too happy about the move and blame the tax incentives as well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/404723/026-8337625-0958058

scroll down until you see cork

You are not seriously trying to tell me that the management in the Amazon call centre are going to try to turn the call centre into an R&D centre or something similar, are you?

Yes, why not. Whats stopping them. A mandate? A vision? All US companies work on the meritocrachy principle and it is down to the employees to make something of the opportunity, particularly management. You have two types of irish managers in multinational subsidiaries - boyscout and subversive. Boyscout managers focus strictly on the single deliverable whereas subversive managers seek to become a strategic pivot for the multinational and drive to expand the charter of the operation.

Do you think the HP European Software Centre started off as the European Software Centre? It didn’t, it started off life copying software onto mag tape and putting it in the back of a lorry. How did the transformation take place? Look to the management and technical team (still) there and there is your answer.

Anyone interested in this should have a read of Ed Delaney’s publication Strategic Leadership of Multi-National Subsidiaries: From Superior Performance to a Vital Part of Corporate Value Chain, 1998.

thanks for stopping by and commenting.

You are not seriously trying to tell me that the management in the Amazon call centre are going to try to turn the call centre into an R&D centre or something similar, are you?

Also Tom I honestly believe that the participation level in school is fantastic and the 3rd level attendance is amazing. In yesterdays Sunday Times we had one of the lower levels of unskilled workers in the EU far lower than our closest neighbours - the U.K.

because my wife works for the department of education, I feel fairly qualified to say our education system could stand a lot of improvement!

Ireland has the lowest spending in the EU on healthcare (7.4% of gdp) and the lowest spend on education (4.14 % of gdp) according to the oecd.

Ireland also has one of the lowest rates of broadband penetration in the OECD (ranked 24 out of 30).

Anywhere within a 60 square mile radius of Dublin and most of Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland recently announced 100% broadband rollout).

Indeed Northern Ireland does have fantastic infrastructure but that’s a different country with far larger investment due to a far larger tax take. I’d argue Dublin having better infrastructure over Cork because it’s got a far larger population so per capita Cork beats it hands down. The company I work for has offices in Cork and Dublin and the people in the office who are working here and are based in the Dublin office say that Cork has much better roads.

Yes but physical traffic to Amazon will also be coming from within Ireland (i.e. people who are not flying) - a train service and a decent bus service would be of enormous benefit to them.

I’ve worked up in Cork Airport Business Park and never had an issue the people I worked with didn’t either.

think telecoms, think healthcare, think education. We are suffering the consequences of years of underinvestment in the region.

What consequences Tom? Last time I checked Ireland was outperforming all the economies you mentioned. And in fairness saying we have poor education is the biggest joke I’ve ever heard. We have free 3rd level education with a 57% participation level at 3rd level, that’s bloody fantastic.

Seriously Tom, I’ve only ever been in one country that beat Ireland overall and that was Sweden, and I’d accept their tax rates for their infrastructure but there’s a lot of downsides to that too.

Honestly Tom tell me where else in Ireland has as good infrastructure as the Southside of Cork.

Anywhere within a 60 square mile radius of Dublin and most of Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland recently announced 100% broadband rollout).

aren’t they going to be based at the airport.

Yes but physical traffic to Amazon will also be coming from within Ireland (i.e. people who are not flying) - a train service and a decent bus service would be of enormous benefit to them.

I’ve lived in Limerick, Cork and Galway so I know that Cork beats the other two hands down on traffic and congestion

Yes and I have lived in the UK, US and am a regular visitor to Spain - we have an appalling infrastructure - and it is not just roads, think telecoms, think healthcare, think education. We are suffering the consequences of years of underinvestment in the region.

Cork has the capacity for transatlantic flights since last October it’s just nobody is offering them

Cork has only a limited capacity for transatlantic flights (only some planes capable of transatlantic flight can land at Cork - there are runway length issues as well as a below par ILS which means regular flight diversions to Kerry, Shannon and Dublin).

On the next issue a train connection doesn’t make a jot of difference, plenty of airports in cities that are highly regarded don’t. And besides how exactly does that affect Amazon, aren’t they going to be based at the airport. You can just get a Taxi to the city centre if that’s what you really need to do, and the bus to the city centre isn’t that bad.

Tom don’t try and belittle me by telling me to ‘get out more’ I’ve been to enough cities to know that for a city of 250,000 Cork has fantastic infrastructure and if you were locating in Ireland there is nowhere better.

I’ve lived in Limerick, Cork and Galway so I know that Cork beats the other two hands down on traffic and congestion. I haven’t lived in Dublin but as my father who works there two days a week says, it takes him less time to get from the house in Cork to the airport and on to Dublin than it does to get from Dublin airport into the office in Dublin.

BTW Cork has the capacity for transatlantic flights since last October it’s just nobody is offering them.

Where is the nearest motorway to Cork airport again? Oh yeah, Portlaoise - 2 hours north of Cork airport.

Cork is Ireland’s second city and the airport has no transatlantic flights.

Have you tried getting the train from the airport into the city - oh yeah, there is no train connection to the airport. The bus connection from the airport is sporadic and doesn’t connect with the trains in Kent station.

I could go on but honestly if you believe Cork has a decent infrastructure, you need to get out more.

I understand business decisions all to well and learned long ago not to take them personally and not to be disgruntled by safe choices.

It’s up to us now to seek more from these organisations when they do have a presence in our country. Step by Step..