With the economic struggles worldwide, leaders point to innovation and entrepreneurship as answer for growth and new opportunities. How can still developing economies, such as China, and even other players, including Israel, foster global innovation that can help grow the economy here at home?

In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, reporter Charles Robinson accompanies executives on a tour of the Gettysburg battlefield as they learn how leadership lessons from the historic battle translate to business leadership lessons for today.

Comcast Center was full of good cheer as the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business celebrated the commencement of 175 undergraduates, 187 MBA and MS students, 36 EMBA students, and 1 PhD student on Dec. 22, 2011.

Comcast Center was full of good cheer as the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business celebrated the commencement of 175 undergraduates, 187 MBA and MS students, 36 EMBA students, and 1 PhD student on Dec. 22, 2011.

While Occupy Wall Street has attracted growing numbers of college students with encampments emerging on several campuses, its economic-reform motive has prompted a radically different action by undergrads in a Robert H. Smith School of Business finance class at the University of Maryland. The resulting 'New' New Deal: A Pragmatic Approach for Stabilizing an Ailing Economy is a 15-page white paper to reduce the near $15 trillion federal deficit.

Great leaders can be great role models, but another way to learn about leadership is through the mistakes of others. Some leaders who rise up the ranks start believing they are beyond reproach and that, for them, the rules don’t apply.

Project of the Year Team: (from left):  Dr. Leora Morgenstern, Senior Research Scientist and Principal Investigator at SAIC, with students Shiran Beroukhim, Jason Felder, Jeff Jacobs, Ryan Murphy, Avi Prince, and faculty advisor Bruce Golden, France-Merrick Chair in Management Science at the Smith School.

A selection of Robert H. Smith School of Business marketing undergrads and art design-major counterparts at the University of Maryland recently tested their skills under the scrutiny of major-company executives. Three five-member teams competing as "ad agencies" presented branding and promotional strategies for a furniture rental company looking to bolster its recent venture into the college student market.

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is gearing up to host the seventh annual China Business Plan Competition in Beijing on Jan. 5, 2012. Teams of up to four Smith MBA students will compete against their counterparts in China for $10,000 in cash prizes for the best business plan pitch.