Barra Ó Cinnéide:BARRA O CINNÉIDE, who has died aged 77, was Ireland's first professor of entrepreneurship, leader of the agribusiness programme at the University of Limerick, an authority on the fortunes of indigenous Irish companies, and the author of a book on the Riverdancephenomenon.
Shortly after the university was founded, he joined the Limerick campus in 1975, serving as a research fellow.
He became professor of marketing in 1981, was dean of its business school from 1984-1989 and professor emeritus in 2005. He was also leader of degree programmes at Limerick Business School and MBA research supervisor at the Mid West Business Institute.
With over 100 case studies of indigenous enterprises to his name, he had a particular interest in entrepreneurship. He wrote, or collaborated in eight books and over 140 academic publications, including 60 refereed papers.
As co-author of Cases in Irish Business Strategy and Policyhe turned a spotlight on indigenous ventures and companies in the wake of Ireland's membership of the European Community, ranging from the horse industry to Aer Lingus, major co-ops, hotel groups, the chemical sector and Irish multinationals.
He represented Ireland on the advisory board of the World Association for Case Method Research and Application. Poignantly, this year’s annual meeting of the group is in Ireland.
While he was an academic to his fingertips, his experience was rooted in the real world of industry and business. Essentially, he had a pragmatic view of entrepreneurship and was consultant to RTÉ's highly popular Start Me Upseries on the challenges of growth in enterprise. He actively encouraged his students to think outside the box and start up their own ventures.
Unsurprisingly, Ó Cinnéide was appointed to Ireland’s first chair of entrepreneurship at the university in 1995. He was also visiting fellow on the “Fiontar” programme at Dublin City University, visiting professor in the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, UCD, and was visiting research fellow to Dundalk Institute of Technology.
Born in Dublin, he was educated at Synge Street CBS and UCD, receiving his doctorate in 1959. He went on to hold research and development posts at a number of government agencies involved in tourism, agribusiness and industrial development.
Starting out in 1958 as an agricultural technologist at Johnstown Castle, Wexford, the following year he joined An Foras Taluntais (now Teagasc) and subsequently went to IBM Ireland as marketing executive in 1962.
A fluent Irish speaker, he headed up the R&D and small business division of Gaeltarra Éireann (now Údarás na Gaeltachta) and also worked for eight years with Bord Fáilte on market research studies before entering the educational stream.
While endorsing traditional teaching and proven learning practices, he was open to new ideas and believed that fresh methodologies were to be embraced.
Despite retiring from UL in 1998, he remained actively involved in campus life and was course leader of its natural resource management division. Convinced of the importance of agriculture, he led a team project in 2000 involving the university, ESB and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, to explore the benefits of information technology for agriculture, the food sector and rural communities.
On launching the project, he observed that “a significant proportion of the rural community (particularly those engaged in farming) is at risk of being peripheral and late adopters in terms of IT”. His objective was to improve the competitiveness of the Irish agricultural sector, establish whether e-business models were applicable to Irish farming, and identify new structures which could apply both to the supply chain and the farm service organisations.
His book Riverdance – The Phenomenon, is a detailed account of the origins of Irish dance and an in-depth analysis of Ireland's cultural renaissance, particularly its greatly enhanced image abroad. It explores the unprecedented boom in popularity of traditional music and dance sparked by Riverdance.
A keen gardener and walker, he had a quiet sense of humour and once helped an American couple at Tulsa, where he was visiting professor, to find a church pulpit in Ireland for their in-house bar. Ironically, the pulpit in question came from the church where he and Patricia had married and was being scrapped under a modernisation edict from Rome.
Predeceased by his son Brian and daughter Aisling, he is survived by his wife, Patricia, daughter Cara and son Eoin.
Barra Ó Cinnéide: born March 20th, 1934; died June 4th, 2011