President and founder of the Business Science Institute
University Professor Emeritus
IAE Lyon, Jean-Moulin Lyon 3 University
In this interview, Michel Kalika, Emeritus Professor at the IAE Lyon School of Management and founding president of the Business Science Institute, conducts a strategic analysis of the mistakes made by Benjamin Netanyahu.
He begins by emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between the human response to tragedies and the analysis of managerial and strategic errors, stating that the latter in no way justify the actions taken.
Professor Kalika identifies four main errors made by the Israeli Prime Minister:
Governance Error: Netanyahu confused his personal interests with those of the state, leading to a reform of the fundamental laws and allying with far-right parties. This approach significantly weakened Israeli society more than ever before.
Strategic Error: There was an absence of a long-term vision to resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict, which has persisted since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. This lack of a long-term strategy is seen as a major shortfall.
Operational Error: Poor allocation of resources, especially in terms of security. The focus on certain alliances led to a neglect of security in critical areas, such as the border with Gaza.
Cognitive Error: Michel Kalika refers to the work of Daniel Kahneman, highlighting perception biases, such as overconfidence and excessive trust in technology, which prevented the proper perception of warning signals, typical in situations of severe crisis.
Professor Kalika concludes by noting that, although strategy does not guarantee success, it increases its probability. Conversely, strategic mistakes can lead directly to tragedies, using Netanyahu's case as an example of how management errors can have serious consequences.