Doing Business in Israel

Doing Business in Israel (DBI) introduces international MBA students from partner schools to Israel's high-tech and entrepreneurship sectors. Participants learn about the dynamics of the Israeli economy and business environment through an intense immersive experience in Israel including:

Academic lectures on Israel's macroeconomic setting and economic/business sectors

Case studies on Israeli companies at different lifecycle stages, e.g., Babylon, Given Imaging and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems

Guest lectures and panels with executives, serial entrepreneurs, and government officials

Company and startup visits

More than 500 students a year from leading business schools, such as UCLA, NYU, ESADE, HKUST and Ross, have taken part in the program, either in customized programs for specific schools or open DBIs with students from different institutions.

The DBI Model:

Academic Lectures

DBI classes, held by Coller School of Management lecturers specializing in different aspects of macroeconomics, strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship, introduce participants into the strategic setting of the Israeli economy and provide them with a broad understanding of its structure, dynamics and related cultural and social aspects.

Lectures will present the Israeli macroeconomic environment through different features and parameters: the banking and finance systems; high-tech corporations: their corporate culture and position in the Israeli market; the dynamics of the advanced technological sectors: technology transfers and commercialization, M&A's; funding channels and alternatives: government support and investment, the VC perspective, startup financing.

Business Case Studies

DBI introduces students to the dynamics of the Israeli entrepreneurial environment by analyzing Israeli corporations representing different sectors and industries, differing in size and stage of development. The cases allow students to acquire an understanding of strategic issues and corporate culture in high-tech corporations, by taking a top management perspective and formulating a competitive business-level strategy for their assigned cases.

The ventures and corporations presented and analyzed within the framework of the seminar includes high-tech, pharmaceuticals and retail exporters, security industries, producers of advanced technological devices and solutions and innovative startups: Teva, Makhteshim-Agan, Strauss-Elite, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Designs, Tefron, Given Imaging, Kaiima and Applied Cognitive Engineering (ACE).

Guest Lectures and Panels with Practitioners

DBI master classes introduce the seminar's participants to the perspective of entrepreneurs, CEOs, investors and government officials involved in policymaking, funding and business processes taking place in the Israeli high-tech and entrepreneurship scenes. Through these talks and encounters, DBI participants come to appreciate the diversity of professional considerations associated with innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as the challenges to be tackled.

Company & Starup Visits

The industrial field trips held within the framework of the Seminar allow participants to learn about entrepreneurship, innovation and high-tech in their actual scene of occurrence, exposing them to the actual processes of production. Visits take place to a diversity of ventures, locations and production sites, demonstrating the multifaceted nature of the Israeli entrepreneurship and high-tech.

Learn more about the Israeli business ecosystem and the DBI program from the Academic Director, Udi Aharoni.

Join us for our next open-call DBI program!

Spring 2025: TBA

Accommodation for 8 nights: Check-in and check-out of the hotel are a day before the program begins and a day after it concludes.

Registration Fees

Students from PIM or bilateral partner-schools: