New Article: Golan-Nadir & Cohen, The Role of Individual Agents in Promoting Peace Processes

Golan-Nadir, Niva, and Nissim Cohen. “The Role of Individual Agents in Promoting Peace Processes: Business People and Policy Entrepreneurship in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict.” Policy Studies (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2016.1161181

 

Abstract

Are individual businesspeople who operate as policy entrepreneurs willing and able to influence peace processes in conflict areas? The literature on businesspeople as policy agents shifts when talking about peace processes, focusing on group level activities and ignoring the effect of individual agents. We argue that rather than regarding businesspeople as a traditional interest group, we should consider the approaches to promoting change that strongly motivated individuals adopt as policy entrepreneurs. Based on interviews with senior Israeli businesspeople and decision-makers, we demonstrate how strongly motivated Israeli businesspeople promote peace as policy entrepreneurs. We identify their motivations, goals, challenges, and the strategies they use. The findings indicate that although motivated by economic profits, businesspeople undertake activities that may prove very beneficial to both themselves and society as a whole.

 

 

 

New Article: Shneor & Efrat, The Influence of Market Intelligence on Israeli Born Globals

Shneor, Rotem, and Kalanit Efrat. “The Influence of Market Intelligence and Marketing Mix Adaptation Efforts on the Performance of Israeli Born Globals.” In Handbook of Research on International Entrepreneurship Strategy. Improving SME Performance Globally (ed. Pervez N. Ghauri and V. H. Manek Kirpalani; Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA: Elgar, 2015): 45ff.

 

 

Extract

The chapter first provides an overview of studies at the intersection of BG internationalization, international marketing and firm performance. This is further extended to the standardization-localization dilemma in particular, and concludes with a list of hypotheses linking localization of marketing mix elements and BG performance. Next, methodology and analysis are presented, and findings are highlighted. Finally, the chapter will conclude with revisiting the main insights emerging from the study, as well as suggested implications for research and practice.

 

 

New Article: Sofer & Saada, Women Entrepreneurs in the Rural Space in Israel

Sofer, Michael, and Tzipi Saada. “Women Entrepreneurs in the Rural Space in Israel: Catalysts and Obstacles to Enterprise Development.” Sociologia Ruralis (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/soru.12125

 

Abstract

This article examines 100 women and their enterprises in moshav-type cooperative rural settlements in the rural-urban fringe of Tel-Aviv metropolitan area, Israel, and analyses the catalysts and obstacles to development and expansion of such enterprises. Most of the businesses are small, in the personal and service sector, and based on experience in past employment. The majority are located in homes or unused farming structures and constitute the major source of household income. Major catalysts of development include the search for alternatives to waning farming income, self-fulfilment, and professional development; main obstacles are shortage of capital and lack of self-confidence in the ability to manage a business. The location is advantageous for fulfilling family obligations and saving costs, but problematic because of distance from central markets and intense local competition. The businesses play a crucial role in the survival strategy of rural households and help improve the quality of life and wellbeing in the region.

 

 

 

New Article: Edom et al, Privatization Processes of the Industrial Activity of Israeli Kibbutzim

Edom, Sara, Ram Edur, and Yoram Kroll. “Motives, Expectations and Results of the 2000–2009 M&A Privatization Processes of the Industrial Activity of Israeli Kibbutzim.” Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management (early view; online first).

 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcom.2015.11.006
 
Abstract

In the 20th century, almost all of the 350 kibbutzim’s industrial plants were solely owned by the kibbutzim, which were managed like family communal cooperatives. In 2011, almost all of these cooperative-like firms were privatized and started to employ a public type of management. More than 50% of them went public by IPOs or underwent an M&A process. Questioning those who were involved in the above process as well as the details of financial reports before and after the IPO and M&A events, reveal that in contrast to the expectations and incentives, the IPOs and the M&As harmed the profitability of the acquired industrial firms compared with the industrial firms that remained fully owned by the communal cooperatives of the kibbutzim.

 

 

 

New Article: Schnell et al, Entrepreneurship in the Periphery and Local Growth: The Case of Northern Israel

Schnell, Izhak, Zeev Greenberg, Sara Arnon, and Shmuel Shamai. “Entrepreneurship in the Periphery and Local Growth: The Case of Northern Israel.” GeoJournal (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10708-015-9676-9

 

Abstract

Entrepreneurship in the northern periphery in Israel should be viewed as a response to the crisis in rural agriculture during the 1980’s. Most entrepreneurs left their farms for salaried employment for a few years and they took professional courses in order to learn necessary skills before they opened their enterprises. They have developed new small entreprizes using local resources at times informally as means to reduce risks and they specialize mainly in internal tourism and construction related branches. While Jewish entrepreneurs develop mainly tourism activities oriented toward the national market, Arab entrepreneurs develop mainly construction related branches to local and home regional markets. Both represent two styles of peripheral activities. It seems that both styles has only limited potential to overcome their marginality.

 

 

New Article: Bijaoui & Regev, Entrepreneurship and Viral Development in Rural Western Negev in Israel

Bijaoui, Ilan, and David Regev. “Entrepreneurship and Viral Development in Rural Western Negev in Israel.” Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship 17.1 (2015): 54-66.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JRME-09-2014-0023

 

Abstract

Purpose
This paper aims to focus on two main and related issues: evaluating whether the required entrepreneurial capabilities are present according to Gladwell’s law of the few in the Western Negev region of Israel and identifying the economic development model that can generate a viral development.

Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, McClelland’s classification was used to evaluate the level of motivation in the region and Gladwell’s law of the few classification was used to understand the potentially positive effect of each entrepreneur on the others and on economic development in general. To evaluate the personal and business capabilities of each entrepreneur, two groups of parameters, one describing the personal profile and the other describing the business behavior of the entrepreneurs, were used.

Findings
Most entrepreneurs are ready to cooperate with the open incubator and to contribute to generating common business interest, but mavens and connectors have few of the required personal characteristics and business attitudes. Only the salesmen have the required personal profile, but they lack the necessary business attitude. Highly motivated entrepreneurs, at need-for-power level, have both the required personal profile and business attitude. They are the ones who could generate growth, and a portion of them have the characteristics to become mavens, connectors and salesmen.

Practical implications
The willingness to cooperate with a neutral organization and generate common economic interest is present in the Western Negev, but the following actions are required to achieve viral development: persuade and support entrepreneurs at the highest level of motivation to be a part of the few, i.e. mavens, connectors and salesmen; improve the business attitude of mavens, connectors and salesmen; and plan the work program of the open incubator in cooperation with entrepreneurs at the need-for-power level: mavens, connectors and salesmen.

Originality/value
Viral economic development can occur if the few mavens, connectors and salesmen in a given sector or region have the required positive personal profile and business attitude, and if most of the entrepreneurs are ready to cooperate with a neutral organization, the open incubator and join efforts with others to generate new common business interests.

 

 

New Article: Waichman et al, Reciprocity in Labor Market Relationships

Waichman, Israel, Ch’ng Kean Siang, Till Requate, Aric P. Shafran, Eva Camacho-Cuena, Yoshio Iida, and Shosh Shahrabani. “Reciprocity in Labor Market Relationships: Evidence from an Experiment across High-Income OECD Countries.” Games 6.4 (2015): 473-94.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/g6040473

 

Abstract

We study differences in behavior across countries in a labor market context. To this end, we conducted a bilateral gift-exchange experiment comparing the behavior of subjects from five high-income OECD countries: Germany, Spain, Israel, Japan and the USA. We observe that in all countries, effort levels are increasing while rejection rates are decreasing in wage offers. However, we also find considerable differences in behavior across countries in both one-shot and repeated relationships, the most striking between Germany and Spain. We also discuss the influence of socio-economic indicators and the implications of our findings.

 

 

New Article: Markelevich et al, The Israeli XBRL Adoption Experience

Markelevich, Ariel, Lewis Shaw, and Hagit Weihs. “The Israeli XBRL Adoption Experience.” Accounting Perspectives 14.2 (2015): 117-33.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.12044

 

Abstract

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data which is revolutionizing business reporting around the world. It is a tool to bridge potential language barriers and unify financial reporting. This has appeal to foreign investors, among others, who can rely on information in XBRL-tagged financial reports to make investment decisions without having to translate financial statements from local language. In 2008, Israel required most public companies to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for financial reporting and to use XBRL-tagged reporting format, as part of an aggressive effort to make its capital markets more transparent and attractive for foreign investors. In this paper, we study all Israeli public companies and analyze the accuracy and reliability of their XBRL-tagged financial statements that are available on MAGNA, the Israel Securities Authority’s electronic system. We describe the process by which the XBRL-based data were collected and reported. We document, categorize, and analyze deficiencies in the XBRL-tagged filings, and inconsistencies between them and the Hebrew-based annual reports. We observe pervasive data entry errors resulting in inaccurate XBRL-generated financial reports, which went undetected for over one year. Further, first year XBRL reporting (in conjunction with IFRS adoption) did not increase foreign investment in the Israeli capital markets. This analysis allows us to better understand the benefits and challenges of the adoption of XBRL.

New Book: Halperin, Babel in Zion

Halperin, Liora R. Babel in Zion. Jews, Nationalism, and Language Diversity in Palestine, 1920-1948. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.

 

 

The promotion and vernacularization of Hebrew, traditionally a language of Jewish liturgy and study, was a central accomplishment of the Zionist movement in Palestine in the years following World War I. Viewing twentieth-century history through the lens of language, author Liora Halperin questions the accepted scholarly narrative of a Zionist move away from multilingualism, demonstrating how Jews in Palestine remained connected linguistically by both preference and necessity to a world outside the boundaries of the pro-Hebrew community even as it promoted Hebrew and achieved that language’s dominance. The story of language encounters in Jewish Palestine is a fascinating tale of shifting power relationships, both locally and globally. Halperin’s absorbing study explores how a young national community was compelled to modify the dictates of Hebrew exclusivity as it negotiated its relationships with its Jewish population, Palestinian Arabs, the British, and others outside the margins of the national project and ultimately came to terms with the limitations of its hegemony in an interconnected world.

Table of Contents

Note on transliteration and translation

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Babel in Zion

Languages of Leisure in the Home, the Coffeehouse, and the Cinema

Peddlers, Traders, and the Languages of Commerce

Clerks, Translators, and the Languages of Bureaucracy

Zion in Babel: The Yishuv in Its Arabic-Speaking Context

Hebrew Education between East and West: Foreign-Language Instruction in Zionist Schools

Conclusion: The Persistence of Babel

Notes

Bibliography

Index

 

Cite: Lachover, Feminist Discourse in Women’s Business Magazines

Lachover, Einat. “Influential Women: Feminist Discourse in Women’s Business Magazines—The Case of Israel.” Communication, Culture & Critique 6.1 (2013): 121-41.

 

URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cccr.12005/

 

Abstract

The study seeks to analyze how a major Israeli business magazine aimed at women—Lady Globes—defines a successful “career woman.” Characterizing this discourse enables us to identify the gendered and social ideology embedded in the magazine. The study concentrates on the magazine’s major projects, the choice of the “50 Most Influential Women” in Israel. The study indicates that the discourse in Lady Globes’s project is an expression of “career feminism.” The project seeks to empower the individual woman and it does not echo the call of liberal feminism for a collective fight for a change in social policy. The dominance of the business and financial sector reflects the magazine contribution to the discursive legitimation of neoliberalism.