The first-ever survey of Israeli multinational enterprises (MNEs) is being released today. It was conducted by a joint team composed of the Manufacturers Association of Israel, Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University and the ValeColumbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC) in New York.
Its principal findings include Israel's Top 15 MNEs – ranked by foreign assets – have US$7.5bn assets abroad (table 1), have over US$21bn in foreign sales (including exports) and employ nearly 63,000 persons abroad. Foreign sales and employment each have increased by 40% since 2004 (table 2). Four firms, Amdocs, Teva, Ormat and Israel Chemicals, together account for 77% of total foreign assets of the Top 15.
“Israeli firms invest abroad to have access to skilled labor and be close to foreign markets, as these are increasingly important as a source of their international competitiveness”, notes Dr. Seev Hirsch of Tel Aviv University and head of the Israel ranking project. “In addition, Israeli MNEs use foreign locations to source capital and as a venue for production and/or research and development.” Adds Dr. Karl P. Sauvant, Executive Director of the Vale Columbia Center: “Israel demonstrates that a relatively small economy can give rise to dynamically expanding and internationally competitive multinational enterprises.”
The three organizations in Israel and the Vale Columbia Center, a joint Columbia Law School – Earth Institute venture at Columbia University, collaborated on this project involving the ranking of Israeli MNEs. This exercise is part of a global effort to rank