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Business Under Fire
Since the revival of the Palestinian intifada in October 2000, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in Israel -- a situation made worse by the NASDAQ meltdown of the same period. With an Israeli population of only 6.2 million, these lost jobs have had a catastrophic effect on the economy.
As a management consultant, Carrison wondered how any company, let alone an entire economy, could survive in an environment ravaged by terrorism and a recession. He questioned -- from a business perspective -- how businesses in Israel were able to stay viable in such a chaotic and destructive environment. He concludes, after spending time in Israel and interviewing many business leaders there, that even with all of the terrorism the Israeli economy is surprisingly robust.
Without getting into the politics of the middle-east conflict, nor taking sides, the book shows both technology and business managers how they can deal with the most adverse of situations.
Carrison interviews a cross section of CEOs and managers from industries hurt the hardest; namely tourism, hotel, hi-tech and biotech. What emerges from all of the stories is that every manager claims that the intifada not destroyed his company, but has actually made it a leaner and more efficient organization and one that will be ready to go into overdrive when normal economic times resume.
The five chapters have the same format: interviews with CEOs and senior directors, and a checklist for managing a business under fire. Each interviewee offers his own observations and strategies on how to deal with the current situation and work towards future growth. These strategies run from redefining the market, sharing the risk, to contingency plans and more.
One significant difference between Israel and America is demonstrated by the way Israeli citizens deal psychologically with terrorism. In an interview with financial consultant Danny Halpern, Carrison asks how many people would rent office space in the World Trade Center in New York City, were it completely rebuilt and reopened tomorrow. Halpern doubts the World Trade Center would have the same occupancy level as before 9/11. But he notes that in Israel, office are repopulated after they are bombed, and customers frequent bombed cafes and restaurants as soon as they are repaired.
Another telling difference that Halpern observed is that in Israel is more concerned with the quality of security, whereas in the U.S., more is invested into the mechanics of security. In the U.S., because of the huge numbers involved, the investment in security by default is in the mechanics, and the system. With that, minimum wage workers are hired to carry out what are supposedly important security functions.
The hotel industry has been hit hard. Hotels operate with large staffs, and require high occupancy rates to break even (roughly 75 percent). Carrison interviewed a number of hotel managers who saw their occupancy rate average about 25 percent. By any account, those hotels should have closed its doors and declared bankruptcy. But what happened is that the hotels discovered many correctable inefficiencies. In fact, Raphy Weiner, General Manager of the five-star Daniel Hotel, noted that he learned how inefficient the hotel had been before the crisis and "we'll never go back to the old way. The intifada has been a school for us."
The lesson that American IT managers can take from Weiner are that even the most adverse situation can be a fulcrum for change. Those in danger of having their jobs outsourced -- a significant number of us -- can take those lessons to heart, and hope that their managers and CEOs do too.
Carrison found that every manager had been challenged in cataclysmic ways, but refused to be run out of business by terrorists. Their defiance to the terrorists led them to streamline operations, reduce staff and determine a method to ride out the economic storm. That cutting back leads to a cruel irony: the people most heavily hurt from an economic perspective are the many Palestinian workers who -- before the intifada started -- had good jobs in Israel. The severe cutbacks in many firms resulted in Palestinian workers losing their jobs as a direct result of terrorist activities by their compatriots.
While the cause of the Israeli programmer losing his job is not the same as that of the American programmer; the manner in which they both can rebuild can be the same. Nietzsche's observation that "what does not destroy me, makes me stronger" is the attitude in interview after interview in the book. There is a lot that American programmers and managers can learn from those under fire in Israel.
You can purchase Business Under Fire: How Israeli Companies Are Succeeding in the Face of Terror - and What We Can Learn from Them from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
I guess you can always rely on making money from writing books taking advantage of mass fears and the yearly bandwagon?
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They are succeeding since the American taxpayers are footing lots of the bill for Israel's defenses. They'd have a much harder time succeeding if the Israelis had to pay for it all themselves.
Let's see if we can have this discussion without descending to racial stereotyping or xenophobia.
That said, it is interesting that some business institutions can survive under enormous stress.
London during the Blitz provided a few examples.
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
I don't think the lessons here are about businesses surviving as much as people. Really, if Americans had to deal with the level of terrorism that Isrealis do on a daily basis, society would fall right apart.
"But he notes that in Israel, office are repopulated after they are bombed, and customers frequent bombed cafes and restaurants as soon as they are repaired."
Would you go back to your office after an attack? No. And then they'd raze the building and put up a monument.
The House Between - Original Sci-Fi Series
This, my friends, is one of the reasons why violent actions should be used very very sparingly. Violence usually has a way of just polarizing a situation to the point where both sides are destroyed in the process. Just think how prosperous both sides would be if they kissed and made up and stopped this incessant fighting.
NOTE: I'm am not taking anyone's side. It's time for both sides to work it out regardless of the past.
Workers who once envisioned a bright future now only see grim possibilities.
/. community have grim prospects because of the offshore outsourcing?
Is that just a bit of an overstatement? My first 4 years in the industry I was fulltime. The longest layoff I had (I'm now fulltime again) in 9 years as a contract programmer after that was 4 months. That followed the Enron/Dynegy/El Paso fiasco in Houston.
What people out there in the
Saying Android is a family of phones is akin to saying Linux is a family of PCs.
If he really wanted to do a book about doing business under adverse conditions he should have written about Palestinian companies.
Or , maybe, were not accustomed to daily attacks on our homeland because we're NOT pussies ?
Think about this, if Mexican Catholic extremists attacked our cities and buses (especially Texas cities and buses with Bush in office) with suicide bombers on a daily basis. What would happen to Mexico ?
Iraq would look like a playground. The US would level it and make it the 52nd state (behind Canada).
"I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator"-Adolf Hitler or George W Bush?
Iraq would look like a playground. The US would level it and make it the 52nd state (behind Canada).
Of course the US would. They wouldn't work it out. They wouldn't single out the offenders. They wouldn't try to get to the root of the problem. They'd kill every living thing because hey, you never know... KIDS could be terrorists! The US public is terrified. Why do you think Bush got elected? It wasn't for his intellect or his diplomacy. It was because his administration preyed on fear. He repeated his "We will kill all of them them" lines to cheering crowds everywhere. Yeah. Hit a 3rd world nation with massive firepower. Yeah. That's real brave.
I don't respond to AC's.
I find it very amusing every time I read about Americans complaining about loosing their jobs to outsourcing.
What exactly did the people of America expect from the World Trade Organization, APEC and NAFTA?
Did Americans really expect that these free trade organizations and treaties would only work in favor of the US? That the US would be able to import goods even cheaper than normal, creating virtual slave states in places like Mexico and China?
Next time the WTO comes to town and you sit down at starbucks instead of heading out to the streets in protest, consider that free trade works both ways. It's specifically designed to make it easy for corporations to find the cheapest labor possible, which pushes expensive US jobs overseas to be done by equally qualified professionals in other places like India for a fraction of the cost.
And as long as corporations only want more profit, it will keep moving this way, so just get used to it. Stop buying SUV, 4 dollar coffees and 5,000 dollar LCD TVs, reduce your lifestyle to something more modest and take a salary cut or live with the fact that the American dream along with it's capitalist economy is going down the drain.
Personally I couldn't be happier this is happening, but it's irritating to see a country be so naive and ignorant about the mess it created all by itself.
-- Leo Utskot
I repsectfully disagree. Americans will never tolerate the terrorism that Isreal has. Private citizens are too well armed (legally) and too, for lack of a better term, righteous. If we were to have car bombs and suicide bombings start, you would see every rifle rack in a every pickup full.
Not just that, but you'd start seeing rifle racks appearing in places other than pickups - like SUV's and Honda Accords. And "Security Mom" would take on a whole new level of meaning.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Get rid of Social Security and Medicare
This common chant from ignorant morons and republicans is seriously flawed. what happens when someone goes to the hospital without health insurance and there is no Medicare. without Medicare the health industry would implode and collapse. what we need is a public system that can be afforded by all and then health costs would go down because hospitals dont have to take such a horrible hit when an uninsured person is admitted. (where did you get your brain a cracker jack box, you are such a fucking moron it)
"like those scumbags at the welfare office"
Another infantile moronic statement, the republicans and Republican companies are the biggest welfare whores in the US. the amount of money spent on welfare is minuscule when compared to the amount of money spent to subsidize the industries that are so dear to the republican party. and guess what you fucking ape brained dimwitted waste of human skin. that welfare mom that you hate so much contributes more to you economic security that the fat peace of shit subsidized company that you probably think is wonderful you fucking ignorant savage you should that the welfare lady because shes part of the reason that you have a job fucktard.
Please do the world a favor and kill your children your wife and yourself. because people like you are air pollution.
Basically, if you aren't the boss, you're screwed, and will be screwed more as time goes on, no matter what externalities exist.
Do we need another publication telling us this? No.
The real question here should be why the U.S. spends 3 Billion a year on Israel. Why do they need to live there again? Simply tell them you're cutting off funding and they can be U.S. citizens or go it on their own.
The reason the U.S. pays for this is because they want to keep Israel as a beachead in the middle east for oil concerns. As well, they force Israel to spend 65% of that money they give them on defense...and who makes the weapons that israel buys? The U.S. weapon companies! It's just a funnel to put tax dollars in to corporations pockets through backdoor shnanagains. The Israelis are stuck in the middle with no way out.
If anyone here's the villian, it's the U.S. senate for causing this mess in the first place.
Wow... what a biased viewpoint.. especially for a +5, informative. Israel is completely serious about the peace process... it's just that the Palestinian leadership (ie Arafat) wasn't serious about it...
And why not mention the $800m/yr in economic aid to Egypt? Or the 3 Billion with a capital B in U.S. backed loan guarantees? Money that we could use on "say, our crumbling roads/railway system, healthcare/retirement, inadequate community emergency services, etc." You would rather we cut off Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.... for what reason?
But our military hasn't.If you want to look at it that way. Again, those countries don't face the same threat in the 21st century that they faced in the 20th century.
But our military planning hasn't changed. Our force deployment hasn't changed.
Having 10,000 tanks in Germany would have been a good idea in 1975. In 2005, it's just a waste of money.Meanwhile, the US government is running how large of a deficit?
The government has LIMITED income and must decide where to spend that money.
All governments are like that.No, we don't pay for their ``social safety net''. THEY pay for it.
All WE do is maintain troops and equipment and bases there. Are those needed to defend those countries in 2005?
It doesn't look like it.And how is Russia a threat to Germany today? Hmmmmm?
The threat TODAY is from terrorism. And Germany has been dealing with terrorist attacks in their country for years. We could learn from their approach.
Historically, the politicians haven't been exactly fast reacting when the storm clouds are showing up, either...
In the 1920's my country (Sweden) closed down almost all of the defence. When trying to buy weapons when needed, a decade later, the sellers had their order books filled...
Now Sweden has closed down everything. We can only hope that Putin is more democratic than he looks like. :-(
Karma: Excellent (My Karma? I wish...:-( )
If we wanted to hit Iraq with massive firepower and "kill all of them", then we could have done it in less than an hour.
Because we want to save as many Iraqi lives as possible, we have waded in conventionally at much greater risk and cost (in lives and treasure) to ourselves. Because we are optimists we think we can roll up our sleeves and remake the entire Middle East into a modern liberal society at the cost of only thousands of our lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. Y'all better hope we succeed, because if we ever really do become convinced that Bush's noble strategy of remaking the world is impossible then we'll just pull out, leave the locals to any petty tyrant that shows up, and rely on nuclear detterent. Since Islamist fanatics are probably not as rationally deterable as the Soviets were it is likely that we will have to demonstrate our point a couple of times before everyone understands we are serious. It won't be the 1st time.
Y'all may think Bush is a warmonger, but wait and see who we elect if his soft-hearted, Wilsonian democracy-building experiment fails and we get another catastrophic terrorist attack. And the more you furriners try to undermine Bush's Iraq policies, the more likely you make it that we will give up on being nice and fighting fair and just resort to messier, less discriminating, Jacksonian methods.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Drill baby drill - on Mars
In turn, the Israeli government subsidizes a sizable fraction of the economy. As of 1999, about one-third of all gainfully employed Israelis worked directly for various branches of government. This does not include the military.
So in many cases, the decision to continue doing something in an area of high terrorism is a political and strategic one, not an investment decision. Even if something doesn't make economic sense, it may be subsidized anyway. In particular, the "settlements" movement is heavily subsidized.
This isn't necessarily bad, but any comparison with the US economy has to take that into account.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Without getting into the politics of the middle-east conflict, nor taking sides, the book shows both technology and business managers how they can deal with the most adverse of situations. well you can start by writing a book how the Palestinians deal with occupation? Just using the word 'terrorism' is siding with the Isrealis
But the BIGGEST issue that is ALWAYS discussed is that, with ALL these suicide bombings and murders, if the land is given back under these current conditions, it will APPEAR to validate terrorism and the demonisation of the Jewish state Israel, as a successful negotiating tactic. Because that, is what Israel and the World cannot afford to let happen. Then whenever someone had a Beef, this could be a resort, and not even the last one.
I see all these people talking about validating terrorism. Wasn't it the terrorism of the Stern Gang et al (blowing up the king David Hotel etc.) that brought about the birth of Israel in the first place?
Wasn't that validating terrorism?
Would the US stand by and do nothing if Canada were invaded? How about England or Spain? I doubt that the only reason Canadian or European companies are successful is just because the US would defend their countries.
England, Spain and Canada do not need defending from invasion. The USA's army isnt a defensive force at all. It is an Imperialist Army. The last 100 years of American history has been one of warfare. The USA has been involved in wars of aggression, save the two WW of infighting in post-colonial europe. The world needs to fear invasion FROM the USA.
The U.S. spends about 5% of GDP on military (including pizza delivery in places like the Indian Ocean), while Canada and Europe spend far less (2%?).
Sure. Right. Good.
Europe and Canada have high tax burdens compared to the U.S. Think how much higher those tax burdens would be if those countries were spending 5%+ of their GDP on their militaries. That might not cause many of their companies to fail, but it surely wouldn't help any of them succede!
Why would we? So we can invade foreign nations? Most of the West has decided it no longer has the stomach for warfare. That fighting for territory is insane on such a small and interconnected planet. Who exactly is the "THEM" that you are afraid of? Further, for instance, if Americans include health-services as part of their tax bill (as an exercise) you will discover you are the most highly taxed. We pay higher taxes, but receive far more social welfare service as 'compensation'. Shhhhs, dont tell everyone.. but it sure is a neat little trick isnt it eh?
One way to look at this is that the U.S. taxpayer is subsidizing the socialist economies of the West by providing their defense.
DEFENSE FROM WHOM? This is pure jingo-warmonger fantasy. The USA dosnt create reality -- this is complete neocon nonsense. Our Socialist Democracies dont receive subsidy from US defense. IN FACT(!) the behaviour of the USA has caused nations (china, brazil, india) need to continue to spend as they do instead of writing treaties, organizing bodies and making a transition to a Army-Free future for the planet (a para-military police force controlled by the UN is the sole Army necessary (if we all agree to not build armies, you wont need to defend yourself from anyone.. get it?))
It's an open question whether those countries could maintain their social programs and provide for their own defense if we didn't keep them dry under our umbrella. The fact that they are right now having to cut back their social programs and taxes to save their economies suggests that they would be forced to choose between guns or butter if we left them on their own.
Our economies are not in imminent Peril. What are you dreaming about? Take a look at the state of the US economy. Low dollar. Growing unemployment. A collusive and corrupt plutocratic government who has an interest in undermining international labour, environmental, safety and health standards for their paymasters. Multi-Nationals are running wild over the planet and USING the USA as host. When they are finally reigned in, the USA's domestic population will be in for the largest shock. Inspite of mccarthy propaganda Economic Planning is necessary for a community to chart a course of long-term stability and prosperity. When the USA realizes that its "leaders" are taking them for a ride -- and when your economy collapses (think 1930's depression) -- will your citizens consider JUST FOR ONCE that youve been fed a bill of goods? What do you think causes the US dollar to slide 30% in 24 months? Household debt hightest on the planet? A stable and bright economic future? Think again.
So, we pay for the Canadians and the Europeans to have a fancy ``social safety net'', then they laugh at us because we don't have one, and insult us because we have a big military.
Utter nonsense.
Maybe we should let those sleazeballs on the Continen