Following in their tracks: how U2 can do the business for students
The careers of Bono and his U2 bandmates are to be used as a case study - and model - for business and management students
STUDENTS are to learn how U2 reached superstardom in a bid to transfer their global success to the business world.
In the week they launched their new single, Bono and the band are about to get the ultimate accolade from the academic world.
The Dublin rockers are now regarded as models of "innovative management, personal creativity and a global mindset".
These factors are the key to Ireland's economic recovery, according to three academics who have jointly tracked the careers of the musicians from Mount Temple comprehensive school to international fame.
Their paper describes how, in the case of U2, "adolescent bluff turned into adult confidence".
Doctors James Cunningham of NUI Galway, Denis Harrington of Waterford Institute of Technology and Thomas Lawton of Cranfield School of Management in the UK, wrote that: "Thirty years on, U2 is far from finished and continue to re-invent and refresh."
The case study is intended as a basis for classroom discussion which will help students of management practice and business education.
It is published with a number of other articles in a new book called 'Irish Management 2.0' which examines how Irish businesses can compete globally.
The authors show how U2 survived and thrived in a notoriously tricky business where artists rarely maintain a premier position for more than a few years.
Manager
One reason, they suggest, is the group's manager, Paul McGuinness, who has the ability to "think the future" -- a significant and often overlooked asset, the academics say.
"His courage to take bold decisions that allowed the band members to exploit their creative talents over the decades has ensured U2 maintains a commercial and temporal relevance."
Another reason for the long success story is U2's efforts to keep the chemistry alive by re-inventing the band, while remaining fundamentally the same: they embraced the iPod culture and harnessed digital 3D technology.
"Thirty years on from Larry Mullen's school notice board advertising 'The Band of the Eighties', U2 remain at the top of their game."
The book was launched by Padraig O Ceidigh, founder of Aer Arann, and Executive in Residence for the Executive MBA programme at the J E Cairnes School of Business at NUI Galway.
- John Walshe Education Editor
