Israel Business Management

New Blog

2011-03-30T14:25:00.001+02:00

I have started a new, general focus, blog. Here is the URL - http://overlookingbethlehem.blogspot.com/

It's Been Awhile

2009-08-18T20:58:00.003+03:00

So, I have started a new job, which has left me less time for blogging. I will not let this die, but I will not be able to post with the same frequency, at least for the next few weeks.Going through the onboarding process in a new company (HR, training, meeting new people, learning new processes, etc.) gives some new thoughts to posts for the future.I love learning new things - whether products,

Outsourcing Hits Israel Hard

2009-08-09T21:22:00.004+03:00

Last week, Tadiran announced its intention to move its manufacturing out of Israel to China or somewhere else in the Far East. The days of cheap labor in Israel are officially over.Companies are looking for methods to survive the economic downturn and the laws that are on the books and the ones that have been proposed make it hard for companies to justify continuing to have labor intensive jobs

The High Cost of the Strong Shekel

2009-08-03T21:44:00.002+03:00

The dollar has dropped significantly against the shekel in the past few months from over 4 shekels to the dolar down to 3.8 currently.What does this mean? It means that when Israelis go to the US to do shopping, they now have more buying power as their shekel has gained strength against the dollar (and US goods are all priced in dollars). It means Israelis can afford to travel more as the prices

On The Road to Commoditization

2009-07-30T07:00:00.002+03:00

I have been on the road for the last week or so. It is very interesting to see how the world has changed due to the Internet and the economy.I stayed at a Hyatt last night in a room booked on Hotwire. The room rate was around $70, but if I had tried to book it directly, it would have been $150+ per night.The Internet has commoditized most of the items we buy. Plane tickets, hotel rooms, rental

It Had to Happen...

2009-07-27T11:13:00.004+03:00

In the past, we have had posts about Twitter and other social networking sites. The question that was center of mind was how does this apply to business.It seems that an Israeli firm is ready to answer that question.TwitterAnalyzer, an Israeli start-up, helps individuals and businesses get useful data about who is following them, what countries are they from and has useful graphs depicting

The Future is Still Uncertain

2009-07-24T11:50:00.002+03:00

Are we seeing the end of the recession, have we hit the bottom or is the worst still to come? Looking at recent headlines in Israeli business newspapers, it is still difficult to tell.Cisco announced earlier this week that it would be laying off 700 additional employees in their corporate headquarters and an unreported number from Cisco Israel.Flash Networks announced that they will be laying off

Customer Profiling

2009-07-22T19:31:00.003+03:00

How well do you know your customer?Last night, I flew EL AL Airlines from Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion Airport) to Newark Airport. While on the plane, I had a lot of time to think about building customer profiles.Airlines have a lot of information (or potentially can have) on their customers.They can grab credit card data (at time of purchase or confirmation) and save that data to ease the pain of buying

Developing the Corporate Blog

2009-07-21T13:57:00.003+03:00

You have made the decision to have a corporate blog. Why? Probably because every competitor in your particular market space has one and you do not want to be left behind.Let me ask you a question before you get started on your blog.Are you commited to its success?I am sure that you, without hesitating to think, have said yes.But, do you realize what the commitment is to make a blog successful?1.

Exit Strategy

2009-07-20T11:02:00.003+03:00

Recently a group of articles have been published about how Israeli companies that have been acquired have been successes. The successes cited include XIV and Diligence (acquired by IBM) and B-hive Networks (acquired by VMware).It makes it seem so easy to have a company, sell it and have it integrated into a larger entity successfully.However, it is not so easy.The acquiring company needs to find

Rethinking Business

2009-07-19T12:17:00.002+03:00

Maybe it is time to rethink business and strategy. Given the world economy and the current rates of unemploment across developed countries and the fact that the recession surprised most business leader, maybe it is time to rethink what we do and how we do it.This is the start of what will become a series of posts that will focus on the changing business environment that we live in.Today, we can

Pride - International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame

2009-07-16T07:39:00.006+03:00

Though the title of the blog is Israel Business Management, I reserve the right to bring up other topics and today is one of those days.Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the induction ceremony at the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (IJSHOF). The IJSHOF is located on the campus of the Wingate Institute in Netanya, Israel.The ceremony is held every four years to coincide with the

Who's Next?

2009-07-13T12:13:00.003+03:00

With Haim Shani being named to a post in the Ministry of Finance, there is no clear successor to the CEO post at NICE Systems. Globes reported that there has been no right-hand man to Shani, so there will be many candidates mentioned over the upcoming months.This has highlighted the importance of succession planning in a corporation for its executive management.Companies have spent millions on

What is the Price of Freedom?

2009-07-12T12:21:00.004+03:00

Recently, there has been an advertising campaign on Israeli radio, alerting companies to new proposals making their way through the legislative process. The proposals have to do with unions and how a company must allow representatives of a union access to the employees (if at least a third of the employees show interest). There is also a proposal that prison terms become mandatory if salaries are

Seeing Your Key Messages Home

2009-07-09T14:13:00.002+03:00

Your home page is one of key pieces of real estate that your company owns. However, I bet, the executives agonized longer on the hanging of the logo on the building or the wall than the web page.I see too many companies and marketing executives that seem to miss the fundamental principles of the home page. This is the "lobby" before the visitor enters your offices. It needs to be efficient in

Corporate Citizenship: What Happened to Capitalism

2009-07-08T11:03:00.003+03:00

In reading this article in The Jerusalem Post, which talks about the LA Dodgers and their sponsorship of the Maccabiah in Israel this summer, I started thinking about corporate citizenship and why corporations feel the need the sponsor pet projects. Are the corporations expecting a return on this investment or is it altruistic?Obviously, there are companies that spend their money on lobbying

Meetings Are Indispensable...

2009-07-06T10:06:00.005+03:00

The rest of that quote from John Kenneth Galbraith is "when you don't want to do anything."Too many companies become paralyzed by the amount of meetings that are on a schedule and by the amount of people that are at each of them.So, how can you run a meeting more effectively:1. Invite only those necessary to the meeting. Too many meetings include people that are not involved in the decision

Salespeople Do Not Grow On Trees

2009-07-05T12:44:00.003+03:00

As companies look for their new employees, they look for people with integrity, teamwork, intelligence and the ability to get things done (execute).But, there are other qualities that companies need to have in their salespeople. I can think of three distinct qualities that are mandatory.Drive: I had a colleague that enjoyed having the potential recruit for a sales position pick him up at the

Am I in Focus?

2009-07-02T13:00:00.004+03:00

There has been much surprise over President Obama's involvement in Israel and the cities in Judea and Samaria. The reason people are surprised is the President has stated that he wants to allow countries to solve their problems themselves and to govern themselves without US interference.So, why Israel? Though I have tried to keep this blog apolitical, I would like to take a look at this from a

Multi-Partner Approach to the World

2009-07-01T14:17:00.004+03:00

How many different companies have touched the computer that I sit at as I type this blog entry.The obvious ones are HP (the manufacturer) and Office Depot (the retailer). But, there are so many components that are built by different companies and even the completed solution from the time it left HP until it made it to me touched at least a distributor (or an importer, in this case).A number of

Process - Long and Laborious with No Short Cuts

2009-06-30T10:39:00.003+03:00

Well, never say never. I am sure that someone will point out to me that there have been successful companies that have taken "short cuts" on a process and been successful.My premptory response - that is the exception that proves the rule. I would hardly call the "short cut" a strategy. Like the Hail Mary pass in American football, it may work once in a while, but you never see a coach call the

Experience Wanted

2009-06-29T12:10:00.004+03:00

So, last week, we focused on the employers that are making a mistake by ignoring those that bring qualifications and experience beyond the job description and opening they are looking at today.Now, let's see how you can fight the label of "overqualified":1. Do not give up. If you have received a response from an HR person in a company that you are overqualified for a specific post, try getting

Is Too Much Experience a Bad Thing?

2009-06-25T09:18:00.003+03:00

Overqualified - one of the dirtiest words in the English language. The word that an experienced job seeker never wants to hear.You see a posting for a job that looks perfect for your personality, for you skill set and even for where you feel you are in your career and personal life. It is the "dream job".The response from the company's HR department (as I will give executives the benefit of the

Decision Making in Business and Sports

2009-06-24T09:35:00.003+03:00

As Michael Jordan's famous quote goes, "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life."Arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan realized that to succeed, you have to fail. But, to fail, you must be willing to take the

How Do You Prioritize Your Leads?

2009-06-22T11:53:00.004+03:00

We always learn new things, so when I heard that there are a number of vendors that are looking at new ways to categorize and prioritize their sales leads, I was interested in understanding further.The method that was always the most logical to me was take a lead that was going to close the fastest and assign it the highest priority. Then, came the sorting method by size of the opportunity. The