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

Dan Carrison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 19, 2004

Israeli businesses face a unique and dramatic challenge - surviving and thriving despite four years of terrorist attacks against civilians. "Business Under Fire" uses a mixture of analysis and in-depth personal interviews to show how Israeli companies stay profitable, offering realistic insights readers can apply to their own organisations operating in an uncertain environment. Based on fascinating, first-person interviews conducted by the author himself in Israel with CEOs, managers, and in-the-trenches employees - Carrison received unprecedented cooperation and access from the Israeli government and many companies in various industries for this project.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Chief Engineer: ""Although written for the business community, Business Under Fire contains information that should be studied by every American. Entertaining, insightful, and well written, Business Under Fire is a must read for any business man or woman.""

California Israel Business News (www.ca-israelchamber.org): ""Business Under Fire offers inspirational and instructive stories about the techniques Israeli companies have used to thrive in the face of extraordinary adversity.""

Harvard Business School Working Knowledge (hbswk.hbs.edu): ""Carrison offers some fascinating vignettes and first-hand accounts of life at work from Israeli managersí point of view.""

Security Management: ""[offers] valuable insight into managing a business with a suddenly shrinking customer base and reassurance to anyone considering a visit to or an investment in Israel.""

The Jewish Press: ""...Carrison emerges as an attentive and wise listener, who derives the most he can from what he hears and sees. This would be an instructive book to read on a trans-Atlantic business trip, whatever your point of departure.""

Sacramento Business Journal: ""...a finely crafted work."""

“By learning from the experience of the Israeli companies profiled in this book, American businesses can begin to take steps to strengthen their organization to carry on in the face of terrorism or other major crises.”

---Journal Counterterroism & Homeland Security International

“Carrison brings a human touch to the task he sets for himself… He extracts some valuable lessons that could be useful to any manager under extraordinary pressure… This would be an instructive book to read on a transatlantic business trip, whatever your point of departure.”

--The Jerusalem Post

“This book will not only interest businesspeople. It presents one of the most absorbing and fascinating accounts of behind-the-headlines life in contemporary Israel that this writer has ever read.”

--Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

“Carrison offers some fascinating vignettes and first-hand accounts of life at work from Israeli managers’ points of view. One of the book’s many strengths is its variety of interviews presented in a straightforward Q&A format.”

-Harvard Business School, "Working Knowledge" Book Report

“…interesting and well-written book”

--Security Management

“…a finely crafted work”

-Sacramento Business Journal

“Ever so often, though, a book comes along that is truly important and says something compelling about the business world that isn’t being said in the more ‘popular’ business literature. When such a book comes along – and it’s a rare occasion – I feel the need to write about it… it offers a powerful, pragmatic and urgent guide for American business owners”

-Cliff Ennico, syndicated small business columnist

“Business Under Fire offers inspirational and instructive stories about the techniques Israeli companies have used to thrive in the face of extraordinary adversity.”

---California Israel Business News

Review

"""Every so often a book comes along that is truly important and says something compelling about the business world that isn't being said in the more 'popular' business literature. When such a book comes along -- and it's a rare occasion -- I feel the need to write about it Carrison's book contains exhaustive interviews with prominent business leaders, managers and employees in a variety of Israeli industries, and offers a powerful, pragmatic and urgent guide for American business owners.""

-- Succeeding in Your Business column by Cliff Ennico, nationally syndicated"

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1st edition (November 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814408397
• ISBN-13: 978-0814408391
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,160,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Showing Fear the Door, November 9, 2004

By 

M. Seely (Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business Under Fire: How Israeli Companies Are Succeeding in the Face of Terror -- and What We Can Learn from Them (Hardcover)

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.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, May 5, 2005

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business Under Fire: How Israeli Companies Are Succeeding in the Face of Terror -- and What We Can Learn from Them (Hardcover)

Author Dan Carrison deserves credit for writing an insightful book about an ongoing modern tragedy. The Palestinian terrorist attacks, which resumed in Israel in 2000, present a critical lesson for all twenty-first century businesses. Working through terrorist attacks aimed at killing civilians and disrupting normal life actually has forced Israeli executives to learn new ways of operating their businesses. Carrison interviewed leaders in various industries (airlines, hotels, high tech, advertising) who have worked to keep their businesses open, their employees safe and their customers satisfied. He actually found that many companies were revitalized. While the topic of living with danger is daunting, many Israelis have adopted better business tactics as a result of economic and physical terrorism. Oddly enough, this extreme situation leads to an uplifting business story. As a result, we recommend this very interesting book to CEOs, business owners and corporate strategists, especially in the hospitality and service industries. It will put your troubles in perspective and will help you prepare to cope with any type of crisis.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to thrive in the new world of terrorism, October 29, 2004

By 

Adam Friedman "change agent" (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business Under Fire: How Israeli Companies Are Succeeding in the Face of Terror -- and What We Can Learn from Them (Hardcover)

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.