IMPROVING COMPETITIVENESS USING LEAN PRINCIPLES THE IRISH EXPERIENCE

Ireland is a small island nation, located on the Western periphery of Europe. Our closest neighbour and largest trading partner is the United Kingdom. Our economy is based on an "Open" business model where we have organised ourselves to be export led. Per capita of population Ireland is one of the leading global export economies. This openness is generally seen as a good thing for our country, but, it also means that we are very sensitive to negative changes in the global economy. This paper deals with an aspect of the efforts of Enterprise Ireland to help indigenous manufacturers software and service companies deal with the consequences of the 2008-2013 global downturn, through helping companies address their competitiveness issues.