Global Studies Courses 2010-11

BUSI788I/BUSI798I
Doing Business in Israel: Examining the Start-Up Nation

Cities Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa
Faculty Dr. Brent Goldfarb
Dates Abroad Depart December 30 to arrive December 31, 2010. Return January 8, 2011.
Pre-departure Meetings Sunday, November 14, 2010 - Noon to 6 p.m. - Baltimore
Sunday, December 12, 2010 - Noon to 6 p.m. - Washington DC
Register Register for this class on Testudo at the same time as your other courses.
 

Israel provides for a broad range of learning opportunities within a contained environment. Tel Aviv is one of top 10 VC markets in the world; ICQ created instant messaging, and launched into the stratosphere when it sold to AOL for over $400 million. The Israel dot com boom rivaled the US in intensity, and few places in the world rival the R&D talent. Many of the top 100 technology companies worldwide have offices in Israel including, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun and the list goes on.

There are other well know companies that have come from Israel. Iscar, a machine tooling company, was majority purchased by Warren Buffet in his first Berkshire investment out of the US, and Teva the largest generic pharma producer in the world. Project Better Place, the effort to launch an electric car on a mass scale is deploying initially in Israel.

You will also visit Jerusalem and learn about the tumultuous history of one of the oldest continuous cities in the world offers holy sites for different faiths. This too brings a variety of challenges and opportunities. The Israeli defense industry is one of the most sophisticated in the world. The UAV was created by Israel Aircraft Industries. Secure networking was born in the army where service is compulsory and many of the bonds developed form the basis of a lifetime friendship and in many cases business associate.

Testimonials

Global Leadership Development: The Israeli Perspective

"A critical component of the Israel trip is the depth of contacts made available to students during the trip. While all foreign studies trips will offer students the opportunity to meet business leaders in a new country, we met the pre-eminent Israeli angel investor, the managing partner of Israel’s largest cleantech venture capital firm, and the CEOs of the Israeli divisions of several American companies."

- Bryan Towns
 

"It was amazing to learn about Israel's entrepreneurial focus. Due to the size of the country, Israeli companies are unable to target directly to its domestic market, therefore having to employ a global perspective from the onset of its business. This course allows you to experience that process firsthand."

- Sae Kim
 

"Our Israel trip was the perfect blend of rich cultural experiences, hands-on learning and global business exposure. There is no comparison with other trips, Israel has it all. The effort that went into planning the trip was evident, given the wide variety and caliber of our business meetings and activities. I came away inspired and motivated to apply all that I learned from those 10 days."

- Kate Slonaker
 

"The opportunity to interact with the Israeli MBA students at the Technion was a great experience. Both groups of students were equally interested in each other's cultural differences, and it was really interesting to gain to compare and contrast the different perspectives that were revealed during various class discussions. I believe that the we were able to learn so much more through our direct interaction than we would have been able to by merely reading a book or attending a lecture on cultural differences."

- Phil Rogoff 
Note:
Course is confirmed and students are advised by UMD Education Abroad to purchase refundable airline tickets.
There is a $500 penalty if you drop the course after the end of the drop/add period, September 14th.
Please do not purchase any airline tickets until enrollment for the class is confirmed, after September 15th.