International Corporations Choosing Ireland for Multifunctional Operations

Foreign direct investment is the driving force of the Irish economic miracle . To help understand this dynamic economy better from an MNC perspective, we investigated two major international high-tech corporations: Intel and EMC Corporation. Each has made a major commitment for multioperational functions in Ireland. Importantly, both of these leading companies began with simple manufacturing operations in their industries and each expanded up the value chain in Ireland, demonstrating their confidence in the abilities of the Irish managers and work force to be partners in company growth.

Compared with other European countries , Ireland has the youngest population, and it should remain that way for the near future. About 40% of today's population of 3.8 million are under the age of 25. Given the demands for highly skilled, flexible knowledge workers in an Innovation Economy, Ireland is well positioned to compete for European-based MNC operations owing to the relative youth and highly developed skills of its work force.

Table 7-1. Future Availability of Work Force

	Ireland	U.K.	France	Netherlands	Germany	U.S.	Japan
Work force under 25 by year 2010	35.5%	31.0%	30.1%	28.7%	24.4%	34.2%	25.3%
Source: United Nations Statistical Division, www.uneve.org/stats.