Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle

Even though I am very far from being an Israeli fan, I sincerely enjoyed this book. OK, it is too much Israeli marketing&PR, but what can you say: it is legitimate. Despite the fact that I was intimidated until almost page 100 by authors' delving too much into the "goodness" of Israeli armed forces, and almost glorifying the neighbour-bashing Israeli army and air forces, I still kept reading the book which, in the end, turned out to be a very fruitful endeavour. This is a good book. It provides a very nice vision for those who are interested in economic development, industrial policy and especially innovation/entrepreneurship policy. There are invaluable hints regarding those topics, however much they are hidden in between the lines. Nevertheless, as I said, the tips are invaluable and very teaching. The main question I had in mind while reading the book was whether I could take home some of the experiences and lessons described in the book. Some definitely cannot be imported. They are those idiosyncratic things which are very much Israeli and Jewish-specific: - For example the role of Jewish diaspora and the resultant "connectedness" that came with it, - the geographical positioning of Israel, the 'culture' of Israeli jews, - war-related chance-based motivations, - reverse Jewish brain-drain en masse and - the never ending US-support of Israel (though, in the book, you hardly trace any mention of this tremendously important fact, which I believe, is a major bias of the book). There are, however, many other factors that you can take home regarding innovation and industrial policy, like: - The importance of talent & human resources, - critical roles of cross-training, of - venture capital financing, - multidisciplinary approach to business problems, - proximity of the elements of an ecosystem, - of sense of community membership for the success of business clusters, and - culture of risk-taking, failure-welcoming and 'chutzpah'. - Also very important is the book's verification of the positive and critical role of government intervention in a country's entrepreneurial push and economic development. Those are very valuable aspects of the book. Moreover, the book is also very enlightening for those people like me who have very little knowledge about Israel and never interested in learning about that country's inner workings. Because, while you read with a focus to find clues regarding innovation and entrepreneurial policy, you learn the history, predicaments and some aspects of the inner workings of Israel's economic system. This, I personally found very interesting; kind of buy one, get one free. In a nutshell, even though this is a deliberate 'marketing' effort for Israel, it is still a very valuable book for those interested in industrial, entrepreneurial and innovation policy. It is, however, not at all a guide for company-specific innovation policies and certainly NOT a business-related book.

Dan Senor and Saul Singer - Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle. How is it that Israel, population 7,500,000 has more companies listed on the NASDAQ than all of Europe, population 300,000,000? Can it be just explained away by their "Jewishness?" This is the question Senor and Singer set out to answer in their new book, Start-up Nation. Dan Senor is a policy advisor and political analyst, currently adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Saul Singer is a journalist living in Jerusalem. They approach this anecdotally, stitching together a explanation that includes the impact of the military, the role of the reserve structure, the collection of quality universities, the continuing influx of motivated and risk-embracing immigrants, and perversely, the constraint that Israeli companies cannot trade with any of the countries on its border. The role of the military on developing a specific culture of innovation and chutzpah is most interesting to me. There are two aspects that the authors emphasize. First, because of the threat to the nation, there is a zealous dedication to leadership mechanisms that work. This includes boisterous debate prior to decisions and robust and honest deconstructions of events after the fact. Members learn to respect competence, and have an irreverence for rank. The second important contribution is Israel's reserve structure. In effect, military organizations coming together annually to drill form egalitarian networks that would-be entrepreneurs tap in to. Another structural aspect of the Israeli military is it's relative understaffing of senior officers relative to junior officers: 1 to 5 in the U.S. Army; 1 to 9 in the IDF. This deliberately lean staffing results in junior officers being thrust into position where they must make key decisions early in their careers. They are tested and their judgment honed. I'm not Jewish but I can't help but think there's at least one more thing at play here, not reported by the authors. My experience is that trust significantly reduces transaction costs and speeds interaction. I wonder what the almost homogeneous Jewish population plays in allowing strangers to achieve high levels of trust rapidly, quickly achieving collaborative and common success. My name is David Marquet, from Practicum, Inc and we help our customers get everyone be a leader and avoid casting employees into follower roles. To continue the dialogue respond to [email protected] or follow our blog or follow us on twitter. @totheleadernyou.

日本もくだらない政治ゲームや大手企業内のポリテックスにエネルギーを使っているなら日本国のあり方を学ぶべきかと思います。

Israel being a tiny country surrounded by enemy countries has developed a knack of not only coping with the adversaries but to leverage such forces into something that benefits the country. This book is worth reading to understand what makes Israel an exceptional state when it comes to innovation and start ups.

Vielleicht bin ich nicht der richtige Jury für dieses Buch. Erstens bin ich Christ und daher liebe ich Israel. Zweitens habe ich das Buch nie zur Gänze gelesen, weil mir die Zeit fehlte. Doch eines kann ich sagen: Dieses Buch beschreibt auf launige und sehr intelligente Weise verschiedene Fasetten des Volkes, das so unterschiedlich ist wie nur möglich. Eines aber haben die Juden gemeinsam: Ein Bewusstsein, dass ihr Schicksal eng mit der Tora, mit dem Gesetz zusammenhängt. Und auf Grund dieses Bewusstseins nehmen sie Segen über Segen und verblüffen die Welt!

If anyone has wondered at the phenomena of Israel and its extraordinary progress from its start as a nation in 1948 to its modern day success, this is an important book to read. It sets out to examine the entrepreneurial genius of the Israelis and what features of Israeli culture and temperament have contributed to produce such an astonishing number of inventions, start-up businesses and industries. Dan Senor and Saul Singer have done thorough research and yet produced a book that is very readable and packed full of interesting stories and examples.

I enjoyed the book and learned that many of the innovations I am familiar with came from Israeli engineers. Unfortunately, after a week of reading, the book's glue cracked and chunks of pages fell off, effectively ending the experience. I'm not sure if it's the fault of Amazon or the publisher, but I feel duped!