Ireland
Country Analysis
Ashley Marie Allen
Introduction: Ireland
Without a doubt, Ireland has some of the most
impressive scenery in the world, let alone
Europe. Ireland is an ancient land of mysticism
and history with stunning nature, scenic flora,
and all in arms reach. I have never been outside
the United States; however, I have read about the
Irish people being friendly. I love their culture.
With U2 possibly the most recognized Irish band
in the world, it’s little wonder that the music
scene in Ireland continues to thrive. Pubs
regularly have live music, further cementing
these establishments as being an integral part of
Irish culture. Music can be spontaneous too, with
pop-ups happening around the streets.
Introduction: Ireland cont..
Location and Geography (Central Intelligence Agency,
2020)
Ireland is located in Western Europe. Ireland is an island so there
are no “Bordering” countries. Surrounded by water. Accessible by
the Atlantic Ocean, North Sea, English Channel, and Norwegian Sea.
They are very close to England, but still separated by water from all
nearby countries. Due to the climate and natural hazards, it’s rare
extreme weather events.
Socio Cultural Environment
Country Composition (Central Intelligence Agency, 2020)
Literacy rate: 99% (15 and older) 2018
Rate of Urbanization: 1.14% (rate of change) and 63.7% urban population
Heavily populated cities: eastern side of the island-in-Dublin. Western side is less
populated due to mountainous land, poor soil, lack of transport routes and less jobs
options
Major religions: Roman Catholic (78.3%)
Educational Data: Education expenditures (3.7% of GDP)
Age Structure: 0-14 (21.15%), 15-24 (12.08%), 25-54 (42.19%), 55-64 (10.77%), 65+
(13.82%)
Sociocultural Environment
Values and communication
●The Irish culture believes that inequalities should be minimized among its’ people. It is
a strong individualist society and people are expected to care for themselves and direct
family. With a more masculine society people are expected to strive to be the best with
a “winner takes all” attitude. Their uncertainty avoidance score of 35 indicates that
the Irish businesses embrace creativity and looking for new ways to approach
problems. Their low Long-term orientation score of 24 indicates they have a great
respect for traditions and a strong concern with establishing the absolute truth.
●English is the language generally spoken. However Irish (Gaelic) is spoken by
approximately 39.8% of the population as of 2016.
●Shaking hands with everyone is an important form of nonverbal communication. They
should be firm and confident.
Business Etiquette (Commisceo, 2020)
●Less formal and more outwardly friendly
●Small talk builds rapport-customary to engage in small talk before
meetings
●Everyone is expected to participate
●Meetings will usually be relaxed
●Meetings may be structured or unstructured
Sociocultural Environment:
Observation Deck
●There may be contact risks between Ireland and other formally communication based
countries.
●With the high propensity of culture to avoid confrontation, management does not want
to participate in dispute resolution training.
●There is tremendous access to water on all sides so shipping in Ireland is a perfect
choice.
●Possible adjustments to ireland’s income and foreign trade pressure may impact
international taxation policies.
●Ireland’s 12.5% minimum corporate tax and talented pool of high-tech employees
facilitated investment in business.
Political-Legal Environment
Government and Ideologies (Central Intelligence Agency, 2019)
●Parliamentary Republic
●President Michael D. Higgins- Causes for Concern, Irish Politics, Culture and Society
●The continuity Irish Republican Army and New Irish Republican Army
●Higgins has been President since 2011 so there have not been changes to the head of the
government
Corruption (Transparency International, 2019)
●Corruption Perception Index: Rank: 18/200 score: 74/100
●Enforcement: little tolerance
●Bribe Index: Rank: 21/200 score: 22
Political-Legal Environment
Trade Regulations and Legal Considerations
●In Ireland there is no "work at will" (Carr, 2017).
●Multiple age-based minimum wages are available. National minimum (age
20 and over) National minimum wage (mywage.org, 2020).
●VAT (sales tax): 23%. Since 2012, that has been the case. It had previously
been 21%. (Economics of Trading, 2020).
●Legislation includes job benefits (maternity leave, pay off time).
(Paraguay, 2017).
Political-Legal Environment cont...
● There is a close cultural affinity between the United States and Ireland and
longstanding political, economic, and commercial ties.
●The dominant U.S. With $825 billion, Ireland's commercial (trade and investment)
relationship is substantial by international standards and is especially impressive
compared to the population of 4.8 million people in the world.
●Ireland is one of the world's most transparent, FDI- and export-driven economies, with a GDP of
$383 billion in 2018.
●Job development, with current unemployment at 4.5 percent from a peak of 15.1 percent in early
2012, remains a priority for the Irish government.
●Ireland's GDP grew by 8.2 percent in 2018, improving its role over the past five years as one of
the highest performing economies in the EU.
●Based on an anticipated rise in exports and steady domestic investment and demand, Ireland's
economy is predicted to grow by just under 5 percent in 2019.
Political-Legal Environment: Observation
●U.S. enterprises will benefit from being the single European market of which Ireland is a member
and an English-speaking member of the EU, of the Eurozone.
●For American SMEs who want to export to Europe for the first time, Ireland is an excellent
market for research.
●Creative U.S. companies are able to conclude partnership agreements with Irish companies,
particularly in the areas of network security, information technology and urban areas.
●Ireland high receptivity to U.S. products and services provides fertile markets for American
brands across industries.
●Ireland has strong workforce in English, collaboration between the labor market, political
stability, and pro-business government policies.
●The UK's departure from the EU (Brexit), which would leave Ireland as the only remaining
English-speaking country in the EU, could therefore be better off as an destination.
●Ireland has strong workforce in English, collaboration between the labor market, political
stability, and pro-business government policies.
Economic-Infrastructure Environment
Economics Measures
●Interest Rates (Trading Economics, 2018) 0%
●Unemployment (Central Intelligence Agency, 2018)
6.4% (2017 est.)
●Inflation (consumer prices) (Central Intelligence
Agency, 2018) 0.4% (2017 est.)
●Income Growth (Central Intelligence Agency, 2018)
4.1% (2017 est.)
●Exchange Rates (Central Intelligence Agency, 2018)
euros (EUR) per US dollar 0.89 (2017 est.)
●Exchange Rates Regime (CESifo Group Munich,
2015) Free floating
●GDP (Central Intelligence Agency, 2018) $344.8
billion (2017 est.)
●Labor Force (Central Intelligence Agency, 2018)
2.226 million (2017 est.) Compared to the world
Ireland is 123 out of 233 countries
●Major Industries (Central Intelligence Agency,
2018) machinery and equipment, computers,
chemicals, medical devices, pharmaceuticals;
foodstuffs, animals products
●FDI Rates (International Trade Centre, 2016) 9.4%
Trade
●Major Trading Partners
Exports: U.S. 28%, Belgium 13%, UK 12%, Germany
7.7%, Netherlands 5.5%
Imports: UK 23%, U.S. 18%, France 13%, Germany
12%, China 6.1%
●Major Imports/Exports
Exports: Pharmaceutical Products, 32% (53.49B)
Organic Chemicals, 20% ($33.13B)
Optical, photo,technical, medical apparatus, 9.4%
($15.68B)
Machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers, 5.6% ($9.28B)
Essential oils, perfumes, cosmetics, toiletries, 5.5%
($9.12B)
Imports: Aircraft, spacecraft, 23% ($24.45B)
Machinery, Nuclear Reactors, boilers, 10% (10.80B)
Mineral Fuels, oils, distillation products, 6.7% ($7.12B)
Electrical, electronic equipment, 5.5% ($5.87B)
Economic-Infrastructural Environment cont.
●Regional Trade Agreements and Member Countries
Ireland participates in the free trade arrangements of the European Union and European
Free Trade Association. They are also a member of the World Trade Organization. They are
also a member of European Economic Area (EEA) along with 29 other countries: Austria;
Belgium; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France;
Germany; Greece; Hungary; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Malta; Netherlands;
Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovak Republic; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Iceland;
Liechtenstein; Norway
Economic-Infrastructural Environment
●Major Airport/Seaports
There are 2 major seaports in Ireland: Dublin and Shannon Foynes. Only Dublin is a container seaport.
(CIA, 2017)
Airports (Junior, 2018): The three major international Airports in Ireland are Dublin, Cork and
Shannon
Railway Stations (Irishmail, 2020)
●Carrigtwohill Railway Station
●Castleconnell Railway Road
●Cobh Railway Station
●Gormanston Train Station
●Rushbrooke Railway Station
●Manulla Junction
●Bayside Railway Station Sutton Dublin 13
Internet users: (Central Intelligence Agency, 2017)
4,971, 493 Mobile Subscriptions
Mobile Providers (Txtnation, 2020)
●3 (Hutchison whampoa
●Meteor (eircom Group)
●02 Ireland (Telefonia)
●Vodafone Ireland (Vodafone)
Logistics Performance Index Rating (The World Bank, 2018)
Rank: 29 Score:3.51
Economic-Infrastructural Environment
Observation Deck
●Shipping and distribution can be supported by connections to numerous
airports, railways and some ports.
●Healthy investment in Ireland includes the lowest tax rates on companies in
Europe, modern infrastructure, a lowest unemployment rate in the European
Union, young, skilled and high domestic demand (due to high wages and living
standards).
●Work in a controlled competitive market that offers a broad range of
customer creative digital services.
Final Recommendations
Market Entry Strategies (Enterprise Ireland, n.d.)
●Getting goods and services into the Irish market is relatively simple as a small
and open economy with good foreign trade retention.
●US companies may benefit from business comfort, shared language, and
multi-use relationships.
●American companies should choose a local partner for the Irish sector.
●American businesses are gradually seeking strategic Irish partners in contract
creation and joint-ventures, licensing, logistics and value-added service
agreements in the Irish and European markets.
●American companies will go to Ireland regularly to create long-term relations
with local Irish business partners.
Final Recommendations cont...
●The Irish economy's short-term prospects are positive, as GDP rose by 8.2 per cent in 2018. Development
is forecast to hit just under five percent in 2019 with increased jobs and steady consumer spending.
●Small to medium-sized US exporters have major opportunities in the Irish market in a range of products,
technologies and services.
●Ireland, as a member of the eurozone, is regarded by many US companies as a natural distributor in the
EU and is a real gateway to 741 million customers.
●Ireland also has no significant impact on US shore companies back in the US as a competitive predictor
of the US tax and regulatory reform.
Cultural Awareness
●The Irish helped build US railways and factories because they were able to work for lower wages and
choose more than anyone else who didn't want to work for less.
●The Irish had a rich heritage of cuisine that they adapted to American foods. The Irish brought the
idea/recipe of ham, pork salt or potato bacon.
●Business in Ireland offers a rich, fun opportunity to develop profound and enduring partnerships and to
create fruitful partnerships.
References
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