A Culture of Innovation and Economic Success

Oct 13, 2010 - by Joel Lessem

Recently I finished reading Daniel Senor’s and Saul Singer’s book Start-up Nation:  The Story of Isreal’s Economic Miracle.  The book describes how Israel--a country of 7.1 million people, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources--produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  Those start-up companies attract more venture capital than all of Western Europe.  Israel has more companies on the NASDAQ than those from all of Europe, Korea, Japan, Singapore, China, and India combined.  Why? Three key takeaways:

1. Agile Decision Making: Like the Israeli Army, Israeli companies give their staff a lot of latitude to make critical decisions without having to get approvals.  This environment motivates staff to be innovative and drive the business forward rapidly.  The success or failure of an initiative – can be explained after the fact.
2. Failure is an Acceptable Outcome:  Failure is much more acceptable is Israel than in the US or certainly more than places like Japan. An Israeli venture-capitalist will fund an entrepreneur on his second try. It gives Israelis the freedom to take risks and drive innovation.
3. Be Constructively Critical:  Israeli’s argue.  They are not afraid to openly criticize their boss or each other’s ideas.  It keeps everyone honest and on their toes.  It also tends to nip wrong-headed strategies and plans early on.

Promising Signs for Life Sciences M&A Activity in April

May 3, 2012 - by Debbie Stephenson

April proved to be a big month for M&A activity in the Life Sciences industry as companies announced more than $29 billion in agreed upon transactions, the bulk of which occurred during the final week. This stood in stark contrast to the IPO market, which saw no completed Life Sciences offerings in U.S. markets during the month.