Six second-year MBAs returned from a week in Israel as part of an entrepreneurial project for Corporate Strategy 515/517. The trip marked the first time a team of students have been sent abroad for this particular class taught by Professor Andrew Lawlor. The project was developed in conjunction with the nationwide iniative, Partnership 2000, where specific regions of the US are paired with specific regions of Israel with the goal of promoting economic and social development.

The MBA team's project was stemmed from a relationship between the Jewish Federation of Detroit and the Yozmut Halmek Technological Incubator located in the Upper Galilee region of Israel. The technological incubator is a place where Israeli and Russian scientists develop new products. The MBA team's assignment was to create a business plan to bring one of these products to market in the US. Team members explained that the scientists have the skills to develop the product, but lack the marketing expertise to launch their products.

Team member Scott Dougal commentated that although the team members did not speak Russian or Hebrew, they worked through translators. He could not imagine a better experience "given the scope of the project." "The scientists at the Techological Incubator were impressed with the level of skill sets we had, " remarked John Stein, MBA2.

"They did not expect us to have done such a thorough analysis before getting there and were pleased with our work." "It was a terrific experience," said Jeff Camiener. "It brought the group closer together."

Another group member, Brad Adamczyk, described the trip as a "win-win situation." "We did a market analysis that they couldn't do because they don't have access to all the resources we have at the business school. At the same time, I learned more in those six days in Israel than I did in six weeks of MAP." Brad expounded upon how valuable a learning process it was to "take the new product and market it versus the OM fix-it type process MAP emphasized."

Team members were proud to serve as ambassadors for the business school in this first trip to Israel, describing this assignment as equally important to their class project assigment. They have now paved the way for Richard Bateman, MBA1 and David Barrus, MBA1, who will be leaving for Israel next week to work on an IMAP project at the same site. They will be developing a marketing plan for a different product.

  March 1996