problem IS Israeli work ethic, arrogance and culture. Israelis don't know how to work or fit into the rest of the world. Levin will do fine.

Whatever happened to the concept of " Best man for the job ????" or is the critical criteria for success is that the Boss be a sabra ?

I am valuable Lol

Takes foreign CEOs a while to grasp that Israeli companies could really be that back-ass-ward -- and insist on staying so. Such provincialism will bite you in exports and foreign trade. So keep your heads where they are and enjoy it will it sinks.

years of injustices and a lot of people suffer because of that insurmountable obstacle. It is an inbred "GRRR" in the soul that bites those who try to help. I have suffered from that predjudice and so have many others who have tried to help. On YNET, for years, you cannot imagine the viciousness of posters toward me when I was trying to help. It is like wild dogs attacking because they were beaten so badly for so long that they growl and bite anyone who tries to help, not knowing when to become gentle and helpful toward others who come to help. But the people whose heritage and bloodline gave the world the Messiah (Yehoshua of Nazareth ben Elohim) have earned patience from me, because of what some of their ancestors did in giving the world the Holy Scriptures, too, on instructions from Elohim. But it is hard at times to go on trying to help those who are born and bred angry and with just cause to be so.

For those of you who howl daily like wolves for all Jews to 'return' to Israel- being Jewish is not enough to live in Israel. The people are rude and lack all etiquette and manners and workplaces disorganized and inefficient. I was transferred here on a project and looked forward to my experience living in Israel- never again. It may be most 'Westernized' country in Middle East but by no means is it western and democratic like US and Canada.

Israeli society is too inbred ,too afraid of the foreigner. The pity of the matter is that Israel can not take advantage of foreign expertise and experience.

Maybe this should be added to the article

and it's a slow-acting disaster

Show me any country in the world where this isn't true.

He did not fit in and that is fine. You cannot accommodate everyone. Israel is wonderful the way it is. It is advanced and great because of the way it is.

If the person is able to work with the raw materials afforded him in Israel, meaning the culture and persona of our population, he certainly can make it. But if he gets crazy into making a company like US then he stands to lose it. ' We are Israelis, like it or leave. We have our culture, like it or leave. We have our work standard, like it or leave. Basically anyone can make it here unless they can not be flexible enough to realize that we have our way of life and to weave this into the company's way or leave...

This should be a mandatory business case study for every Israeli management student and company. What went wrong? TEVA should have no doubt assigned someone to address cultural issues with Levin as part of the on-boarding or job offer stages. Levin should have no doubt checked himself and thought about what challenges this new situation presented and how he was going to deal with those. In this situation everyone loses -- the point is to figure it out to make it run better next time. If you want to hire a local CEO, the lessons learned from this episode will be very valuable.

Apart from the fact that I don't think Levin was doing a great job but this is an incestuous society, where without being a member of the club there's nowhere to go. People like Levin will experience the witch-hunt I've personally send over and over again with overseas appointees. There would be so much for businesses here to learn about corporate responsibility, providing incentives. Instead they get a workforce struggling to make ends meet and what's the last job spec I saw just today? "We expect loyalty to the company and willingness to work long hours". For minimum or just above wage, you have got to be kidding. Jeremy Levin will, for all that, get a fantastic job somewhere else. Teva will at some stage will fail to keep up with the rest of the world because there's no telling Israelis anything; they know better than anyone. Not.

All of you who are so quick to criticize ANYTHING Israel please notice: Teva was already a successful company, with lots of overseas business. Don't just jump on us in Israel as if the anti-Semites are indeed correct that we are a substandard species. I have seen Jews from America and elsewhere who have done well in successful Israel export businesses, and some not, A Jew is hardly a foreigner here just because he comes from the Diaspora. Or are we truly in a post-Zionist era? Anti-Israeli Jews bitter about Israel not being America? or What is this?

#4 expresses the problem most accurately Immigrants either allow natives with protektzia to take severe advantage of them and get along, or insist on adapting to the world... and get the boot because it might rock the world of natives with protektzia. Only a few manage to own their own companies and deal mostly internationally.

Every country has its' social mores. By definition these are different but not necessary better or worse than the social mores of a different country. Teva, formed to be an Israel company, with an Israeli gestalt isn't going to bend to accommodate a CEO who attempts to impose an American more. Rivkah--get off your fantasy island. Your solution to Israel is to become Christian or accept Jesus while remaining Jewish ( oxymoron) Comparing yourself to TEVA is pure idiocy.

As though you all have really made and know from experience. In Israel, firing people is not automatic like elsewhere. It is emotional. immoral and unwanted. Israel has proved many times that we have excellent work ethics, work hard and have many accomplishments. Shame for saying otherwise. Petty and even racist.

Israel is a country brought up on socialist values, zionism itself was originaally based on Marxist thinking, then there was the kibbutz an institution that has never existed anywhere else in the world. Some sectors are starting to embrace the market economies of the modern world which is something foreign CEOS have always understood and worked along the model of. Israel still has an all powerful Histradrut, there are alot of socialists in the Knesset or at least people who don't want to see Israel become a mini America where big business rules. Unfortunately they are hiding from the reality of the modern world and where its easy for a big company to close down in Israel move to China or India if they feel government is intervening to much in the way they can run their business. Government must treat big business as a partner rather than being an institution to dictate terms to. Teva are a private company and if they want to lay off 600 people well yes its a problem for the individuals but Teva are entitled to do it without government intervention or being told by the Histadrut we will not allow you to do this.

First, "racist" - any idea what the word means? Israeli is no more a RACE than American or Spanish. Get a life. It's getting way to easy to shoot down criticism by screaming racism. It's freedom of speech dear. Look it up. Second, yes we do know from experience. And there most certainly is automatic firing these days - plenty of it! You get an SMS these days, telling you you've been fired. I suggest you read the Hebrew papers, for the English version is geared to overseas readers and they don't want too much stuff to put them off immigration ($$$). As for work ethics, of course there are a FEW with these - they're the ones almost all other Israelis call "fraiers".

I have to say one thing as a non Israeli Jew. There is a saying: "In Rome you do as the Romans do." Therefore, any foreign executive coming to Israel should forget his native country's habits, way of doing business, communications with employees, political correctness and try to adopt. After all, when one look s at Israel, the success is tremendous, no need to for the Israeli's to flock themself needlessly. I admire Israel as it is. No other country in the world had to endure so many obstacles , just to survive and the struggle is not over yet. Be proud about your achievement...of course there is always room for betterment, but I believe that the Israelis are capable of doing so.

the article about Dr Jeremy Levin is nonsense-on his own he would have been a success but he had to bow to pressure from the US board of directors

Yo. don't try to make it ,yo just got to fake it ,half bake it , it's too late ,to intergrate ,in to israeli so-ci-e-ty ,with their piety , aint my cup of tea, a different men-ta-li-ty; from both you and me, there aint no "ABRA -CADABRA" to be a native born Sabra ...

No " Foreigner " can make it in Israel .It is too difficult a task ,sadly.

You'll make it anywhere ,it's up to you....

...donkeys are succesfully harnessed and put to work thousands of times a day. If Jeremy Levin had been a smooth operator with some game, he could have out-maneuvered the local yokels. Go look at the way ONE Japanese manager controls a factory of thousands of Filipinos in Philippines. & the Flips make the Sabra'im look like angels.

I wonder on which planet the author of this article is living. What is the percentage of sales and employees in Israel in comparison with the rest of the world? Well, the answer is obvious! The lack of comprehension of the global market - at a time where everything is global on Earth - will be a strategic detriment for any global company, including Teva. The "village" tone of the article is astoninshingly disapointing.

Teva can be compared to a train speeding along on tracks which are no longer safe. Something like an accident waiting to happen. Before blaming the situation on Israeli work ethics or foreign CEOs read up about Teva. Capaxone the company's only licenced drug, was developed at the Weitzman Institute 30 years ago and from May 2014 other companies will be free to sell generic versions of the drug at a much cheaper price. Shlomo Yanai and Eli Makov before him purchased many Pharmaceutical giants at the cost of billions of Dollars. The problem is that none of them had a product to match the profitability of Copaxone. The board, headed by American Billionare Philip Frost has been demanding a cutback of 10% of the work force. (There are almost 50,000 wordwide)