Israel not a favoured business location

[newyorican]

Folk prefer Vietnam

WHEN LONDON BASED research company TNS asked the question: "Which countries around the world are perceived as good places in which to do business?" Israel came 24th out of 40, below Vietnam, Belgium and Norway, but above Japan which rated 27th.

The UK found itself as the 11th most desirable place to do business, just after India. The USA was top, Poland bottom.

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[7th_Sephiroth]

1. you mean

they forgot poland?

[Radio_Rick]

2. A bit misleading on methodology and results

My read is that residents of each country were only questioned as to the country, and thatv a country's reputation was based on interviews with its own citizens.

This is implied in the report:

"The stated reputation of the country as a 'Business Location' by its citizens is a good description of the internal perception of the countries' current economic situation and the peoples' expectations about their own future economic development.

The results are interesting:

Reputation levels in Israel (Overview) as rated by general public in Israel

Country Base: 500 Interviews

Israel, when compared to the global averages receives significantly lower index scores regarding political parties and banks, slightly lower index scores for Israel as a business location and is similar to the global average for supermarkets. Its index for health services, telephone and mail providers are higher than global average.

The highest absolute index scores were received for main supermarket, mail and phone providers. Israel offers a wide variety of supermarket chains providing high quality products and services which may explain the similarity to the global average. Though mail services are provided by a monopoly, the services provided are efficient. Moreover, people in Israel do not attribute high importance to mail services. Landline phone services which are also provided by a monopoly are rated relatively higher than expected probably due to the very high penetration and usage rates of cell phones which may have improved the perception towards the main phone provider and probably motivated the main phone company to improve the quality of its services and products.

Israel as a business location – Israel has the potential to be perceived as a good business location (derived from a high level of human resources and high-tech abilities)*, but due to instability in the area** in the last couple of years it is now perceived as less attractive compared to global results.

The most important bank – Israel’s banking system is quite centralised and is controlled by three main banks. The lack of actual competition in this area creates a lot of frustration and dissatisfaction.

Health services in Israel – the absolute index is not high because people always expect to get more services but being higher than the global average is understandable because the level of health services in Israel is definitely adequate and probably better in absolute terms than in other countries.

Political parties – The Israeli society is multicultural and the political system allows for many parties. Consequently, coalitions are unstable leading to frequent elections. In addition, people in Israel are very emotionally involved in politics which keeps the subject alive and is a constant source of public debate


* Which is the experience and reputation of most customers of Israel's IT, technology, and pharmaceutical industries.

** Which is also a factor with all non-petroleum industries in the area.