Business Under Fire: How Israeli Companies Are Succeeding in the Face of Terror -- and What We Can Learn from Them

Rating:
Summary: Interesting book, with valuable business and management
Review:
In a new and fascinating book, Business Under Fire: How Israeli Companies Are Succeeding in the Face of Terror - and What We Can Learn from Them, author Dan Carrison focuses on a different sort of crisis resulting in lost jobs, not outsourcing, but terrorism. Since the start of the Palestinian intifada in October 2000, combined with the meltdown of the NASDAQ, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in Israel. With a population of only 6.2 million, these lost jobs have had a catastrophic effect on the Israeli economy.

As a management consultant, Carrison wondered how any company, let a lone an entire economy could survive in an environment ravaged by terrorism and a recession. The Israeli economy faced a double-edged sword with the meltdown of the hi-tech industry (in which Israel is heavily leveraged) and the intifada, which started in October 2001.

Carrison questioned from a business perspective how businesses in Israel were able to stay viable in such a chaotic and destructive environment. His conclusions, after spending time in Israel and interviewing many business leaders there, is that even with all of the terrorism, the Israeli economy is surprisingly robust.

Without getting in 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.

In the book, Carrison interviews a cross section of CEO's and managers from industries hurt the hardest; namely tourism, hotel, hi-tech and biotech. What is unique from all of the stories is that every manager has stated that not only has the intifada not destroyed their company, it has made it a leaner and more efficient organizations and one that will be ready to go into overdrive when the normal economic times resume.

The five chapters have the same format, interviews with CEO's and senior directors, and a checklist for managing a business under fire. Each interviewee offers their 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 noted between Israel and America is how Israeli citizens psychologically deal with terrorism. In an interview with financial consultant Danny Halpern, he questions that if the World Trade Center in New York City were completely rebuilt and reopened tomorrow, how many people would rent office space in it? 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 US, more is invested into the mechanics of security. In the US, 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.

One area hit the hardest has been the hotel industry. Hotels operate with a large amount of staff 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, every hotel should have closed its doors and declared bankruptcy. But what happened is that the hotels discovered many inefficiencies. In fact, Raphy Weiner, General Manager of the five-star Daniel Hotel, noted that he learned how inefficient they were before the crisis and "we'll never go back to the old way. The intifada has been a school for us".

The lessons that American IT managers can take from Weiner are that even the most adverse situations can be a fulcrum for change. Those that are in danger of having their job outsourced, which is a significant number of us, can take those lessons to heart, and hope that their managers and CEO's are also.

The findings Carrison found were that every manager had been challenged in cataclysmic ways, but refused to be run out of business by terrorists. Their defiance to the terrorists enabled them to create ways to streamline operations, reduce staff and determine a method to ride out the economic storm. What is ironic, is that in interview after interview, every manager and CEO stated that the current times has made them better overall and will maximize their long-term survival.

A further cruel irony detailed in the book is that the ones that have heavily hurt from an economic perspective are the many Palestinian workers who before the intifada started, were able to have a good job. 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 literal sediment in interview after interview in the book. There is a lot that American programmers and managers can learn, from those under fire in Israel.


Rating:
Summary: How to thrive in the new world of terrorism
Review: Carrison's book is a must read for businesspeople who will increasingly be faced with serious disruption whether in the US or overseas. The book is filled with interviews of a cross section of Israeli entrepreneurs who have been operating under the most trying of circumstances -- the intifada of four years duration. Not only is it a security issue, but an economic one as the whole economy has been devastated: unemployment is up; GDP is negative; foreign companies are not investing; and tourism -- Israel's main industry--is down significantly. These set of challenges are virtually unprecedented in a deveoped country like Israel. How the individual Israeli businessperson has been coping is a lesson to be learned. While there is no denying that business is down -- it is not out. Through a combination of creativity, infinite patience and sheer bravado, Israelis have been finding new ways to survive and even thrive. From high tech to hotels, managements have devised new techniques and methodologies that are an excellent real life textbook of managing through turmoil.
For businesspeople who may have to face disruption from terrorism or other forms of dislocation and disruption, this is a great primer. And , the experiences ring true because they are not distilled by the author's style of verbatim interviews.. A must read for any student of human nature under stress, but particularly for those who want to comprehend the new world we find ourselves in and how we must devise new strategies for coping.

Rating:
Summary: Showing Fear the Door
Review: What is "usual" about doing busines in Israel during he intifada? Carrison goes to the war zone and interviews the leaders of companies still strong in the face of terror. After the initial shock of being an object of hate and holding your child through the funerals of classmates, a certain resolve sets in. Who is in charge here? Us or the terrorists? The determination is that life in all of it's phases and nuances must proceed and as fully as possible. The picture which emerges from Carrison's interesting and often compelling narrative, is one of companies reassessing and redesigning their priorities and goals, of personalizing service and depending on old fashioned customer satisfaction as a cheif element in marketing, of streamling and sculpting out of reduced opportunities, a cleaner, meaner, more durable and enduring product or service. Carrison's decisions-makers prove to be both human and humane, connected intimately to their fellow employees and their customers, as well as to the broader Israeli and world communities. Written in the same energetic and powerful prose found in Carrison's other books, Business Under Fire clearly spells out the operative principles which successful businesses have utilized to survive and serve with dignity and grace through these last years of terror in Israel. Carrison synthesizes those principles in chapter ending checklists. Business Under Fire is thorough, orderly and entirely readable.