So if you needed a reason to learn Hebrew online, recently released book entitled Startup Nation: The Miracle of Israel’s Economic Miracle may give you the reason. The book reveals the amazing story and transformation of the Israeli economy from a government controlled, socialist economic system to a free market capitalist model which has resulted in an incredible change in the Israeli economy.
The evidence of the transformation lies in the tremendous upsurge of Israeli high tech companies which now form the second largest group of companies on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The surprising amount of venture capital flowing to Israel is only matched in amazement by the number of high tech US companies working in conjunction with their Israeli counterparts in a number of different areas ranging from microprocessors to cellular telephony.
The crux of the argument is fairly simple. The change from a centrally controlled model in which most major services and manufacturing were government owned to privately owned ventures and an openness to encourage entrepreneurialism among its citizens has given a tiny nation with no natural resources, other than a very highly educated workforce, an no serious trade with any of its immediate neighbors, the ability to innovate and manufacture wide ranging technology products on the cutting edge of their respective fields.
The authors Dan Senor and Paul Singer go as far as to argue that the process of opening a start up venture is in many ways much simpler in Israel than in the United States at present. A few years ago this would have been unthinkable, and should serve as a challenge and encouragement for the United States to martial its unique resources and creative past to recreate or revitalize itself as the world’s undisputed leader in business creativity.