Замученные бюрократией и отсутсвием должной поддержки от своего правительства, бизнесмены  из Израиля постепенно переезжают в США.  Самое полулярное место для их переезда, как оказыватся, наша Северная Каролина.  15 израильских компаний базируются в нашем штате.

В свою очередь, Северная Каролина пытается привлечь еще больше израильских бизнесов.  С 6 по 10 ноября, официальная делегация из штата находится в Израеле.

Israeli enclave in North Carolina

15 Israeli companies have quietly set up operations in North Carolina in recent years.

Golan Fridenfeld    7 Nov 05   17:32

But some industrialists have chosen otherwise, and decided to set up shop in the US. Where? Apparently, scattered across the US are quite a few Israeli-owned factories, but Israelis have become particularly enamored of one location: North Carolina.

In recent years, North Carolina has turned into an Israeli enclave with no less than 15 companies.

Companies seeking to develop target markets do not encounter bureaucracy in North Carolina. On the contrary. State officials consider these companies as valued customers, and do whatever they can so they will set up factories locally. Bureaucracy is slight, there is access to one of the world’s largest consumer markets, and all that remains to do is accept the challenge made by North Carolina’s governor to the Israeli companies.

A delegation of North Carolina officials is visiting Israel on November 6-10, in order to encourage other companies to invest in building factories in the state. If the visiting officials’ interests coincide with those of Israeli companies, it is very likely that we’ll see the Israeli enclave in the state develop and grow in the coming years. One problem, however, could undermine this optimal marriage of Israeli industry and North Carolinian bureaucracy: culture clash.

Synergy owner Kobi Rasner has been traveling between Israel and the US for years. He is a multicultural business development consultant, and knows US culture inside out. He has already advised several companies. “US business culture is fundamentally different from Israeli business culture. Where we’re fast, improvisational, and break norms, Americans are precisely the opposite slow and methodical,” he says. “Americans work by the MacDonald’s method. If you’re responsible for ketchup, focus on that, and don’t deal with mustard and chips. Work according to procedure, and don’t deviate. This is exactly the opposite of Israelis. Not everyone understands this when the set up a factory in the US. Negotiations are also handled differently. Where Israelis start at half the price they’ll ultimately agree to pay for a product, in order to get it for 20% less, an American will consider this an insult and unprofessional, and is liable to call off the negotiations.”

Rasner says that quite a few Israeli managers visiting the US, who are used to dealing with Israeli bureaucracy, are truly afraid of repeating the nightmare in a foreign country. “When they discover that setting up a factory is much easier than they thought, they’re certain that someone screwed them somehow. They’re convinced that if they didn’t go through the seven circles of purgatory to set up a factory or tricked by someone, they’re liable to simply destroy the system of trust that is so important in the American business culture. It’s true that Americans are slick businesspersons, but when talking about Americans, people are referring to the 60 million who live in the big cities, and ignore the simple people who comprise the bulk of the US’s population of 290 million, and with them, there’s no second chance. You blow it once, and you’re out. North Carolina is a pure example of this, which is why someone who learns its business culture can do business there quite easily.”

Anti-union legislation

The South is a popular area for setting up factories in the US, including Virginia and North and South Carolina. North Carolina was a center of the textile and furniture industries, but they lost their markets to Chinese and Indian manufacturers, the state became mired in high unemployment and abandoned buildings. North Carolina did not despair, and sought to attract high-tech, biotechnology, and other industrial companies. North Carolina and other Southern states have good weather, cheap labor, breaks on property and local taxes and electricity rates, and no less important “right to work” laws, designed to keep out unions, which normally try hard to block the establishment of factories that will compete against unionized firms.

“For example, labor can cost up to $15 (per hour) in the Northeast, whereas in the South it is $9-10 (per hour),” says Rasner. While this is more expensive than labor in Israel, proximity to the target market significantly cuts transportation and shipping costs, offsetting the cost of labor.

Just as important is that the cost of land for factories is very cheap, and bureaucracy is minimal. “Each state in the US sets its own business policies,” says Rasner. “Moreover, each state is divided into counties, each of which provides business incentives at it sees fit. There is real competition among counties for setting up factories, and they show immense responsibility and commitment for each deal.

“When a company decides to invest in North Carolina, it meets the state’s investment committee, which gives it star treatment. In one case, the governor provided his private helicopter for a location tour to select the company’s preferred site. The pilot arrived with a helicopter filled with food and drinks, and together with a state representative, we toured to choose the preferred site for a company to set up a factory. Afterwards, each county chosen by the company made a presentation to show the advantages it could offer.

”The idea is to identify which county can help the company, and which can’t, and to try and maximize the grants each factory can obtain. Since Americans go by the book and will not deviate from it, it’s necessary to know which localities you can bargain with, and which are simply a waste of time. If an American tells you that this isn’t a good idea, that means ‘No’, and someone who doesn’t know its code of behavior is liable to miss the goal. In the second stage, the company shows the county a business plan for the factory. This plan should be long-term for at least five years in order to interest them.

“In the next stage, the town council convenes to review the project’s presentation and hold a vote. There’s a lot of politics here, which you have to know in order for the project to succeed. It’s necessary to understand that benefits can reach $6-7 million, depending on the size of the investment, and no elected alderman wants to sign a loss-making project. Ultimately, this is about taxes paid by alderman’s friends with whom he drinks beer in the evening.”

Rasner says, “The profile of companies that set up factories in the US is usually not labor-intensive, but highly automated, and their products are intended for marketing on the US East Coast. But even when this profile is suitable and there’s an apparent marriage, it’s necessary to know how to continue to act vis-а-vis the county and state in which the factory is located. There are no shortcuts in the US; planning is scrupulous and done once. Afterwards, it’s very hard to change plans, which is why operational and cultural compatibility are necessary.”

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