Globes: The dynamics of a start-up: Is luck a significant motif on the road to success?

Originally found at Globes, by James Dennin

The Academy of Management (AOM) and the Hurvitz Institute for Strategic Management at Tel Aviv University’s Koller School of Management held the opening event of the conference on management at the Tel Aviv University, under the name “Start-Up for a Large Company: Coping with Organizational Challenges in a Dynamic Business Environment.”

Prof. Moshe Zviran, dean of the faculty, delivered the opening remarks. The keynote speaker at the conference was Professor Kathleen Eisenhart of Stanford University. Eisenhart noted, among other things, that in Israel she believes that there is a great deal of focus on technology, and it is worth examining why large companies such as Starbucks and Netflix are not developing here. She participated in a panel moderated by journalist Dana Weiss, in which both entrepreneur and investor Yossi Vardi participated, along with Aharon Aharon, CEO of the Innovation Authority, Prof. Yitzhak Ben-Israel, head of the Cyber Center at Tel Aviv University, and Prof. Miriam Erez, Director of the Innovation Knowledge Center at the Technion.

Vardi noted in the discussion that the constraints of the Israeli market should be recognized in relation to the development of large companies. He warned that about one third of start-ups fail in the first year because they do not get along. The main factors for success include “entrepreneurial talent, motivation and strong desire to succeed, organizational culture and the ability to work together.” Ben-Israel added that luck is also part of the issue. “You can not emulate successful companies and it’s hard to predict who will succeed, and that’s what I call luck.”