DocuSign:  in preparation for your site visit to DocuSign, DocuSign is a start-up from Silicon Valley in California that has evolved into one of the world’s leading e-based document signing technology companies.  As the linked article shows, DocuSign has serious expansion plans for the Dublin office and hopes to hire 1,000 additional workers.  Based on your quick review of the article on DocuSign’s expansion to Dublin, identify one commercial opportunity and one commercial challenge they are addressing in this expansion.

DocuSign has a commercial opportunity to grow as a company and increase the profits. Since the company is very small right now, expansion is important for the future. The challenge is finding the right employees (1000 employees to be exact). However, DocuSign should be able to find adequate workers because there are many talented, cultured people living in Dublin.

Google EMEA Headquarters in Dublin: In preparation for your site visit to Google’s Headquarters in Dublin for its Europe, Middle East and Africa division, this is an excellent example of how a firm is responding to opportunities and challenges in generating digital advertising revenue in its broader social environment by recognizing and addressing opportunities and challenges related to digital advertising revenue in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  Based on your quick review of the article on Google’s 15 years in Ireland, identify one commercial opportunity and one commercial challenge they are addressing in the EMEA headquarters.

One opportunity that Google faces is the Dublin Impact Challenge, a partnership with the community in which people can present their social and economic ideas. This is an interesting opportunity because the challenge can truly help Dublin to build stronger communities. A challenge is rapid expansion, but Google seems to be handling this well with the largest redevelopment in Dublin. A company as large as Google needs a large staff, and I can imagine keeping the workspace large enough is difficult.

Questions For The Site Visits:  Finally, acting as members of consulting teams that might choose to write a group paper about the commercial opportunities and challenges connected to DocuSign or Google EMEA Headquarters in Dublin, what specific questions do you have about the business model for DocuSign that relate to our course material (Triple Bottom Line and sustainability, market segmentation, maximization versus shared value, etc.)?  What specific questions do you have about the business model for Google EMEA Headquarters in Dublin that relate to our course material (Triple Bottom Line and sustainability, market segmentation, maximization versus shared value, etc.)?    Give us specific questions for each of tomorrow’s visits.

Does DocuSign promote the sustainability aspect of reducing paper waste to clients? Are there many software-as-a-service companies that are competitors of DocuSign? How involved is Google in the Dublin Impact Challenge? Are there any drawbacks to having such a diverse staff at Google, such as language barriers or cultural differences?