A Kibbutz Plant "Swims" Against the Stream
Abstract
In the last two decades a breaking wave of M&A (Merging & Acquisitions) impacts kibbutz industry. Nearly 40% of the 350 plants affiliated to Kibbutz Industry Association have been sold since 2000. What happens in kibbutz industry? Under its traditional structure, the Israeli kibbutz was an alternative to capitalism, a model of participative democracy, and kibbutz industry was an advanced form of industrial democracy. Under conjugated pressures of neo-liberal ideology and global market dynamics, kibbutz underwent crisis in the late 20th century followed by a privatization process. This process resulted in adoption of neo-liberal standards, an increased hierarchy and a more bureaucratic organizational culture spread among kibbutz plants, but its most outstanding development in the last decade is the breaking wave of M&A (Merging &Acquisitions).
Despite its privatized structure adopted in 2007 and its economic success, Naaleh industry and its owner, kibbutz Nadiv, provide a counter-example to the normative behavior in the kibbutz sector. Kibbuz Nadiv refuses to sell and conform to the M&A's wave in the kibbutz industry. Instead, Nadiv chooses to strongly invest, develop, and extend its factory into the kibbutz yard. What can explain this paradoxical behavior and Nadiv opposition to the neo-liberal trend? What are the conditions in Naaleh which allow keeping at least a much more humanist and democratic work organization than that in numerous other kibbutz plants?
Focusing on a comparison between Naaleh and other kibbutz plants, the purpose of this paper is to sketch a theory on kibbutz industry today in terms of ownership, governance, management, and succession. Such theory could contribute to a better understanding of the necessary resources for a more human workplace and alternative to capitalism.
