Israeli companies have no choice but to go global

SMALL BUSINESS: "Entrepreneurial Edge: Israeli Companies Seek Global Profile," by James Flanagan, New York Times, 21 May 2009.

Israel, like Taiwan, is tumultuously entrepreneurial and democratic. The two seem to go hand-in-hand in small-island market states.

In Israel, any company with any ambition thinks global, because the local market (hemmed in as it is) is too small. That doesn't mean Israelis don't market regionally, because they're all over the dial. They just have to use a lot of misdirection to appease local sensibilities.

That sort of work-around mentality has benefited Israel's companies, who are anything but timid in marketing, alliance-building, etc.

What this piece says it that Israeli business wants to move beyond being the small incubator of all sorts of new products and thinking and start fielding large national brand companies that build on that ingenuity and entrepreneurial edge to become global players.

Here's the bit that caught my eye, from an Israeli venture capitalist:

"America is the queen of content," Mr. Margalit said, "but it is still in the broadcast era, while China and Korea are in the interactive age." He said Israel's "creative hub" would focus on participation in those new markets.

Opinions?

Comments

[Javaid Akhtar]

Interactive = self- dialogue in a constraining language.Broadcast= soft power in a language that projectsmixing the two is the promise ofvideogaming.I don't see closed off virtual worlds competing here

[Dave Goldberg]

IMO this only underscores the differences between Core countries like Israel and its Gap state neigherbors.

Israel agressively accumulates new ties as a strategy to grow and develop, while it's surrounding regimes cling to the status quo through tribal and religious rivalries. It should be no suprise on who is winning out in terms of standard of living.

IMO these untapped labor markets, fueled by Israeli technology and innovation represent a huge opportunity to turn the dynamics of that region on its head... starting with the Palestinians, and next with the Jordanians and Syrians. The UAE could easily come on board in support of this new economic development zone. The improved standard of living would shake up those stodgy oil dependent regimes.

But those peskly tribal mentalities always seem to get in the way...