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Business Under Fire: How Israeli Companies Are Succeeding in the Face of Terror -- and What We Can Learn from Them
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Sales rank 1,544,706
Customers rating (based on 8 reviews)
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American companies steeling themselves against the threat of terrorism can learn a lot from Israel's experience. Despite facing the constant grim reality of terrorism, the Israeli economy is surprisingly robust. How do businesses in Israel stay viable in a chaotic environment, and how do they rebuild in the wake of destruction? Based on in-depth personal interviews conducted in Israel by the author, Business Under Fire offers inspirational and instructive stories about the techniques Israeli companies have used to thrive in the face of extraordinary adversity.Readers will learn how to: * prepare for the worst * find new markets and customer bases * motivate in a stressful, uncertain environment * make a profit under previously unimaginable conditions * make quick, intuitive decisions * build flexibility into long-term plansPacked with fascinating first-person accounts from CEOs, managers, and in-the-trenches employees who have been through it all, Business Under Fire contains hard-won insights every business can learn from.
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| Publisher | AMACOM | | Release date | 11/2004 | | Availability | Usually ships in 24 hours | | Edition | Hardcover |
| | List price | $24.95 | | Our price | $24.95 | | Used price | from $0.01 |
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 Business Under Fire
Packed with information and interviews never before available. Great. This book offers an entirely new perspective on the tragedy of terrorism. Chapter 2 alone is worth its purchase price, revealing just how devastating violence is to an economy and how rewarding it can be to rise to the challenge. Kudos to Carrison for an excellent read and tutelage.
 Insights from a media war
Here is what I got from the book:
1. Don't use 'Good Morning America' to make business decisions. 'Terrorism' is the longest running 'reality show', and makes the networks big bucks. Tragedy sells. Don't be fooled into thinking it has much to do with reality.
2. Army officers make good managers, especially when the probablity of 'made for TV' violence is somewhat higher than the average chance of a fatal highway accident.
3. There is always opportunity when the consensus says there isn't any.
4. If 'made for TV' violence makes it impossible to communicate with your customers using mass media ads, use the Internet.
5. Be honest about violence, the investors and customers you want are resiliant.
6. Use the crisis to cement solidarity among your team.
7. Be realistic about your opportunities, and avoid thoughtless attachment to outdated standards.
8. Practice crisis response regularly. Don't expect to make wise spontaneous decisions while under fire. Practice, practice, practice.
9. During a crisis, providing leadership pays dividends.
This is too important a topic to let Mr. Carrison's vacuous presentation style get a passing grade. I didn't really care how he dreamt up the book, set up his interviews, or what the taxi drivers said. I don't need to read interview transcripts. Please, Mr. Carrison, find an editor!
Insightful, Educational, Inspirational
When the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001, America was changed forever. Wherever they were, people who could scurried home to be with family. The question of the day was whether the attacks were over. A whole new sense of vulnerability spread across the land like a flu virus.
Corporate executives caught the bug-fear flu. Is it over? Will it happen again? How vulnerable are we-as a nation, but also as our company? As paranoia set in, business leaders slowed plans for research and development, the building of new facilities, and the growth and development of their employees. It became more difficult to plan for the future, not knowing how the market-and each company's marketplace-would respond.
Trying to run a business-any kind of business-under the threat of terrorism was a whole new experience for the domestic operations of global American companies. With the threat hanging over their heads, at least psychologically, corporate leaders struggled to cope. Ignorance was rampant; most executives had never operated under crisis or potential crisis...and this field of leadership is certainly not taught in our business schools. Confusion reigned and many organizations became less productive, more cautious, and less profitable.
Dan Carrison observed this shift in American leadership. As a consultant, speaker, and former journalist, he realized that he was equipped-through background and skill-to create a guide to help leaders understand their new environment and how to excel under these new circumstances. So, he went to Israel to get answers. The story is more complicated than that, but you'll read about the process of Carrison's collection of information and advice.
Carrison interviewed executives in a number of fields-face-to-face-in Israel. He learned first-hand how they function in a world that is much different than what we have known in the United States. Numerous interviews are reported, with commentary. A summary list of lessons learned adds value at the end of each chapter.
Prepare to learn about creativity in a new way. Resilience, defiance, and resolute leadership make things work-"Goliath in assets, David in attitude." Carrison points out several times that just about everyone in Israel knows a victim of terrorism. This volume takes the concept of contingency management to a whole new level.
 Insightful!
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.
Managers across the world! Read this book!
Regardless of the type of attack an business might experience, this book deals with how to recover and make the best of a bad situation. This is not a politically motivated book, rather an insightful look at the best managers in the world today. What businesses can learn from Israeli management skills is that emergencies can occur naturally or unaturally. When they do occur, business might know how to survive the storm and rebuild.
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