On the factory floor: getting our inter-county elite ready for Sunday

Relax, you have not strayed into the business section by mistake, but I was thinking recently how Alfred Marshall might have theorised the production of high-quality hurling.

WISE MEN: Then-Tipperary manager Liam Sheedy with (from left), Tommy Dunne, Darragh Egan and Eamon O'Shea during the 2019 All-Ireland SHC final against Kilkenny Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

ONE of Alfred Marshall’s many contributions to economic theory from about 1890 onwards was to recognise and explain the importance of differentiation and integration for industrial production, within what he called “the representative firm”.

Differentiation relates to division of labour and the role of specialised skills and knowledge, while integration covers the connections between the various parts of the production process.