Yogurt Technologies

During our trip in Istanbul, we had the distinct pleasure to meet with Yogurt Technologies, Inc. They are the first company in Turkey to receive venture capital funding. This start up company is at the cutting edge of the gaming world and is sure to also be a game changer in the industry.

We were greeted by the CEO, Cemil Türün, who became our most generous host. Yogurt provided us with a coach bus to their office as well as provided us with a wonderful lunch.

However, the real generosity came from the education we received in learning about the company. Yogurt is creating a virtual world engine that will be the first of its kind. It is so unique that it made for a very interesting exchange of questions and answers between the students and our host. We all left the meeting astonished and excited for Yogurt’s future.

Yogurt participated in the 2010 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this March, so we were able to reunite with Cemil and seven of his colleagues. We had a delightful dinner at Tsunami where we introduced some of Turkish friends to sushi for the first time.

Our professor, Nicholas Imparato, and Cemil talked some very important business and Nicholas was able to arrange a meeting for Cemil with a very important colleague that may prove to be an excellent connection for Yogurt. We were so proud that the University of San Francisco was able to give something back to our gracious host!

Jennifer Smith (MBA '10) & Cemil Türün, CEO Yogurt Technologies	Dinner in San Francisco

We believe the meeting with Yogurt Technologies and USF was not only fruitful in our trip to Istanbul, but was the beginning of a relationship that will be fruitful for years to come. This is a company to watch, just you wait and see!!

Jennifer Smith, MBA '10

Boeing

Our visit with Boeing on Wednesday, January 13 went beyond just talking about airplanes. Fakher Daghestani, Communications Director, began the presentation with an overview of the Middle Eastern business climate, spanning northern Africa to Iran.


Many of us were surprised to hear that the term "Middle East" is a relatively new concept. Not too long ago it was not uncommon to hear the region referred to as the "Arab world." We also learned about the opportunities and challenges facing the area. Though the Middle East is experiencing rapid economic diversification and regional integration, it is still experiencing a high rate of unemployment.

As they did in 2009, Boeing presented a thought provoking survey of issues. Once again, students raved about their hospitality and generosity.

Thanks to Tae Sung Hyon (Full-Time MBA '10) for working with Boeing to get this meeting scheduled and for an excellent presentation to prepare us for the meeting. Check out the presentation from one of our pre-trip class meetings below the video players.

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Boeing Company Presentation

View more presentations from the trip by clicking here.

Sabanci Holdings

Today we turn our attention back to Turkey and our meeting with Sabanci Holding, organized by Lock Bingham (Full Time MBA '11).

Sabanci Holding, as quoted from it's website, "is composed of 69 companies, many of which are recognized as market leaders in their respective sectors. Sabancı Holding’s main business units include financial services, automotive, tire and tire reinforcement materials, retail, cement and energy. Listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE), Sabancı Holding has controlling interests in 11 companies also listed on the ISE."

And as a special treat, we've uploaded the slideshow that Lock put together as a presentation before the trip to get students familiar with the company. Enjoy and we'll see you next week!

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Slideshow

Sabanci Holdings[1] Final Version

Foreign Direct Investment in Turkey

My name is Jennifer Smith and I am a part-time MBA student who will be traveling to Dubai and Istanbul. My classmates Cheryl, Sabeen, and I did research on Foreign Direct Investment in Turkey. Our research demonstrated that Istanbul is an up and coming city. Turkey is moving quickly towards being an economic world power as a member of the G20. This is definitely a country that you want to monitor closely when identifying future investments and business ventures.

Turkey has made investment much more attractive to foreigners in recent years. If you look at Turkey’s location, especially Istanbul, you will see that it is in the center of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and close to Africa. It is a perfect spot for countries to build manufacturing facilities and run sales operations in order to gain access to different world markets.

The relationship between China and Turkey is one to watch. Trade volume between the two countries has increased 1554% between 1996 and 2006 and has continued to sky rocket. If this rate continues, China will more than double Turkey’s trade with the US and EU. This relationship could reshape the composition of the trade routes across the Asian Continent to the Mediterranean aka “The Silk Road.” China has four motives for investing in Turkey; market seeking, resource seeking, asset seeking, and efficiency seeking. These reasons are applicable to most foreign companies.

Major companies have been lured to Turkey. For example, Coca-Cola runs almost two-fifths of its operations out of Istanbul. GE consolidated its Healthcare international operations units to Istanbul as well. Most businesses in Turkey are within wholesale, retail trade, manufacturing, and real estate. Turkey has offered tax advantages and investment incentives to attract foreign investors. I think it is great that so many opportunities are available in Turkey!

President of Turkey's Investment and Trade Agency Visits USF

On Wednesday, November 18, Alpaslan Korkmaz, president of Turkey’s Investment and Trade Agency, visited USF and delivered an informative presentation about Turkey and the opportunities for investment and trade. Nearly 50 MBA and undergraduate business students packed the classroom to listen to Mr. Korkmaz’s dynamic presentation.

Mr. Korkmaz spoke about Turkey’s burgeoning economy and its recent accession to the G20. I, personally, was surprised to learn that Turkey has the largest youth population in the European Union and is the 15^th largest economy in the world. Over the last decade, much of the focus has been on the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries and their rapidly emerging economies. After hearing Mr. Korkmaz’s presentation, I certainly think Turkey will presents itself as a leader of the next generation of attractive FDI candidates.

We are appreciative of Mr. Korkmaz’s generosity, time and effort. We look forward to seeing him again in his hometown.

- Courtney Ewing, MBA '10

Mr. Korkmaz speaking with students after presentation as
Prof. Nick Imparato looks on

First Posting

Welcome to the world of the USF MBA's Academic Global Immersion Program!

This is the first blog post for USF’s AGI study tour to Dubai/Abu Dhabi and Istanbul; under the leadership of professors Nick Imparato and Mouwafac Sidaoui.

I’m Darcy Villere (MBA '10), one of the two TA’s, along with Courtney Ewing (MBA '10), am your humble host/editor for the blog about this year’s trip. We’ve got a jam packed schedule, from January 8th to the 22nd, when we will be visiting approximately 25 companies scheduled by students and faculty.

We’re doing a lot of prep work for this trip, including a group session we had this past Sunday where the students gave presentations on the following topics:

Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
Technology Development

Dubai
State of Banking and the Financial Industry
Immigration/Foreign Workers
Investment Risks and Opportunities

Istanbul
The Role of Key Families in Turkey's Economy and Politics
Inward FDI; China FDI
Turkey's Policies/Positions in G20
Turkey's Intellectual Capital (universities, technology)

I’m hoping in the next few weeks to post some of the discoveries the MBA students made in their research as well as the companies we'll be visiting on our trip.

So please follow us as I work to keep you up on our activities. Check out the side bar links as I add maps of our tour, video and photos.