Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle |  | Authors: Dan Senor, Saul Singer
Publisher: Twelve
List Price: $26.99
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Seller: TheReadingPenguin
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 198
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 044654146X
Dewey Decimal Number: 330.95694
EAN: 9780446541466
ASIN: 044654146X
Publication Date: November 4, 2009 (New: Last 30 Days)
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Product Description
START-UP NATION addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel-- a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources-- produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK?
With the savvy of foreign policy insiders, Senor and Singer examine the lessons of the country's adversity-driven culture, which flattens hierarchy and elevates informality-- all backed up by government policies focused on innovation. In a world where economies as diverse as Ireland, Singapore and Dubai have tried to re-create the "Israel effect", there are entrepreneurial lessons well worth noting. As America reboots its own economy and can-do spirit, there's never been a better time to look at this remarkable and resilient nation for some impressive, surprising clues.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
Where did all of Israel's innovation and entrepreneurship come from? November 22, 2009
Norman Goldman (Montreal)
In 2001, what started as a long discussion between Dan Senor, adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and Saul Singer, a columnist and former editorial editor at the Jerusalem Post, morphed into an excellent book, Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle.
Senor had led a group of twenty-eight Harvard Business School classmates to Israel to explore Israel's economy, politics, and history. It was a time when there was considerable business opportunity in Israel but also, it was when the peace process collapsed and there was escalating insecurity. At the end of one week, many of the participants were asking, where did all of Israel's innovation and entrepreneurship come from? Senor and Singer didn't have an answer and furthermore when they tried to find some book explaining what made Israel's start-up scene so vibrant and seemingly impervious to the security situation, they came up empty-handed. Thus, they decided to write their own book that would try to answer what makes Israel so innovative and entrepreneurial?
Part of the answer to this amazing phenomenon, and as pointed out and exemplified in the book, is Israel's tight proximity of great institutions of higher learning, large companies, start-ups, and the ecosystem that connects them. The latter includes everything from suppliers, a fantastic pool of well-qualified engineers, and venture capital. In addition, and one very important element, is the important role of the military in molding future business leaders and innovators. It is the IDF that fosters a culture of chutzpah and critical, independent thinking that distinguishes the Israeli entrepreneur from their competitors. It is also the IDF's R&D funds that is pumped into the most sophisticated military hardware and software that eventually finds its way into the civilian economy, both in technologies and human resources.
Other factors include Israel's isolation or as one of its business leaders, Shai Agassi stated, by isolating Israel, its adversaries had actually created the perfect laboratory to test ideas. And when you look at the patents registered by Israel from 1980 to 2000 which numbered 7, 652 as compared to the combined total of 367 from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Syria and Jordan, you can't help being impressed. It is little wonder that technology companies and global investors such as Google, Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, eBay have entered the Israeli market discovering unique combinations of audacity, creativity and drive. As the authors mention, Israel has the highest density of start-ups in the world, "a total of 3,850 start-up, one for every 1,844 Israelis." In addition, more Israeli companies are listed on the NASDAQ exchange than all companies from the entire European continent.
However, as Senor and Singer argue, all of the above does not fully explain Israel's success. What Israel also has is "a cultural core built on a rich stew of aggressiveness and team orientation, on isolation and connectedness, and on being small and aiming big." This is something that is lacking with some of its competitors as Singapore or Korea.
Quite interesting is that the original Israeli settlers were pioneers creating a country from nothing, whose milieu was socialist and profit was a dirty word. Today's Israeli entrepreneur is likewise a pioneer and their new narrative is about creating things for the world in a variety of fields-"You're not just trading in goods, or you're not just a finance person. You are doing something for humanity. You are inventing a new drug or chip."
Apart from Israel's successes, the authors also explore why American innovation industries have not taken full advantage of the entrepreneurial talent of the U.S. military training and experience, why the Arab world is having difficulty in fostering entrepreneurship, and what are the challenges that Israel faces in maintaining its brilliant economic miracle.
Very often books of this nature digress into pages crammed with all kinds of graphs and statistics that, to put it bluntly, are just plain boring. However, Senor and Singer avoid this with an entertaining prose style, bolstered by meticulous research and many first hand interviews with people in the know.
Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor Bookpleasures
Easy to read with remarkable stories of how people innovate. November 13, 2009
Diana Barshaw Rich (Haifa, Israel)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is written without unnecessary jargon in a clear simple style. So even though I am no expert in finance I was still able to both enjoy the material and learn a great deal.
I do think that the authors missed one of the factors that led to the "start up miracle" and that is the repeal of various odious taxes: we moved to Israel 20 years ago and watched the transformation here take place. When we arrived with our IBM clone computer (using the Intel 8088 chip),that my husband actually assembled from parts, Israel taxed us 100% of the price - about 1000$ !! These absurd taxes on all high tech, which at the time was considered unnecessary luxury, stifled innovation in technology. The high tech miracle in Israel could not have started with out those taxes being repealed which they finally were in 1989 or 1990. For a completely different view of the land of Israel visit my website.
Some of the good news we never hear November 9, 2009
Doris Torbati (CA, USA)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is a well written, informative and inspiring book. I read it in a day and a half... could not put it down. Then spent dinner on the second day telling my family all about it.
A naturally good read for anyone who loves Israel and wants the best for it. But also a good and informative read for anyone who has questions about the disparity in living standard in the region and comes to the with an unbiased mind - unlike one of the former reviewers. Remember Israel is the only country in the region with absolutely no oil; they have done all of this with their minds alone.
An enjoyable read November 8, 2009
Coach K (NY,NY)
18 out of 21 found this review helpful
This is an enjoyable read that highlights how Israel has come to become such a leader in high tech startups. It is quick, light reading that explores the historical and cultural aspects that lead so many Israelis to pursue entrepreneurship.
In Israel, it seems, there is a culture that embraces the questioning of authority, a flat hierarchical structure across society, and risk seeking behavior. For those who have traveled to Israel, these notions will not be unfamiliar to you. Furthermore, the book explores how the contacts made during mandatory army service serve as valuable social networking tools later on.
The book was exactly was I was hoping for. It is written for the layperson, and did not read like an academic journal. While most books about Israel focus on its conflict with the Palestinians, this book only brought up politics and conflict as it pertained to the subject at hand, and didn't editorialize in the process. Furthermore, the multitude of stories and vignettes made it a engaging read that held my interest for the time I sat reading it.
But read it as a work of fiction... November 4, 2009
Michael Santomauro (New York, NY USA)
13 out of 86 found this review helpful
Israel has been the BIGGEST welfare state in the history of humanity!
Using the year 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $3 trillion in 2002 dollars (PRESENT VALUE SCALE). If divided by today's population, that is more than $11,400 per American citizen that has sent his money to Israel in taxes. This is an amount almost four times greater than the cost of the Vietnam war, also in 2002 dollars.
Israel has never been self-supporting. It has always required massive subsidies from the outside - above all from the United States. In addition, Germany and other European states and companies have paid out many billions in "restitution," and wealthy Jewish communities, especially in the US, have provided tax-deductable substantial financial assistance-"a net drain" on the USA economy.
--US Jewish charities and organizations have remitted grants or bought Israel bonds worth $60 billion. Though private in origin, the money is "a net drain" on the United States economy.
--US help, financial and technical, has enabled Israel to become a major weapons supplier. Weapons make up almost half of Israel's manufactured exports. US defense contractors often resent the buy-Israel requirements and the extra competition subsidized by US taxpayers.
-- US policy and trade sanctions reduce US exports to the Middle East about $5 billion a year, costing 70,000 or so American jobs. Not requiring Israel to use its US aid to buy American goods, as is usual in foreign aid, costs another 125,000 jobs.
Israel was founded on terrorism, massacres, ethnic cleansing and the dispossession of its native Palestinian population. Even now it violates international law, inflicts a harsh collective punishment on the civilian population of Gaza, and continues to deny Palestinians their human and national rights. In accord with its Jewish supremacist ideology, Israel's discrimination against non-Jews is systematic and institutional. It is the only country in the region that occupies territory of its neighbors, that refuses to define its borders, and which possesses a large and illegal arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Even as a Jewish sanctuary, Israel cannot be regarded as a success. Jews are less safe and secure in Israel than almost anywhere else in the world. The great majority of Jews in the world have preferred not to live in "their" country.
Around the world, including the United States, loathing of Israel is widespread and steadily mounting. In Asia and Europe, political and business leaders increasingly regard Israel and its policies as harmful to global order and stability.
Regional demographic trends are also important. In Israel and its occupied territories, the Arab population is growing at a faster rate than the Jewish population, and within 20 years non-Jews will almost certainly be the majority.
Very few persons in 1985 foresaw the collapse six years later of the mighty and seemingly solid Soviet Union. But its end was predictable because it was an essentially artificial entity based on an inhumane and impractical ideology. Although Israel is a formidable military power, it is an aberrant, crisis-prone state, artificially kept alive with outside support, and based on an unworkable ideology.
Given its artificial character and built-in problems, as well as global political-economic and regional demographic trends, Israel's future in the next 60 years is not bright.
I still give it 5 stars because the writing style is good. But read it as a work of fiction.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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