Global Entrepreneurship MBA
GEMBA Program | Class 2012
PROGRAM
STRUCTURE
OVERVIEW
Below you will find a description of the GEMBA program.
The document consists of a list of courses & the academic credit for
each course. It is followed by a course description, a time line and a
program calendar.
GEMBA is a very intensive program. Our courses take place in addition
to the regular GMBA courses on Sundays & Fridays. Our additional
courses will usually take place on Thursdays, and at times, on other
days, subject to campus and general program limitations. Exact dates
will be provided as they become available.
COURSE
LIST
Entrepreneurship 101
Dr. Avi Mazor / 2 course credit
Practicum in Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Prof. Ronen Israel & Mr. Moshe Elias / 3 course credit
*Communication in the Business World
Mrs. Michelle Stein Teer / 1 course credit
Entrepreneurs' Tales
Prof. Ronen Israel / 2 course credit
Bringing Business to Life
Prof. Ronen Israel & Prof. Elazar Berkovitch / 5 course credit
Entrepreneurial Finance
Prof. Ronen Israel / 1 course credit
*These courses
are open to
GMBA students
*Intellectual Property Rights
Dr. Neil Wilkof / 1 course credit
*Sustainability
Dr. Mark Schwartz / 1 course credit
Course description
ENTREPRENEURSHIP 101
Dr. Avi Mazor
This course is designed to give students the utmost hands on experience in starting up new
companies. This includes innovation strategy, structured process for choosing the most likely
winning business ideas, business viability check and derived action plan for the new business,
capital raise, management of the new company's processes and most essential resources,
management of an effective sales effort, management of the board's work and leveraging the
value - add of the company's investors.
PRACTICUM IN SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Prof. Ronen Israel & Mr. Moshe Elias
This course provides the students their first steps in practical entrepreneurship within the GEMBA
program and presents an opportunity for the students to apply their entrepreneurial, team and
leadership skills in three real projects. Each project will deal with a different aspect of
sustainability; social, environmental and business from conception to execution. The projects will
be challenging in nature and the students will work in circumstances of uncertainty that resemble
the environment they will face as entrepreneurs. The course team includes experienced business
people and senior organizational consultants. Preceding the course we will attend a leadership
and team building workshop on a boat in Eilat bay, instructed by ODYSSEY - Team &
Management Development LTD.
2-3
COMMUNICATION IN THE BUSINESS WORLD
Mrs. Michelle Stein Teer
This course provides students with tools that improve their communication in front of an
audience and the camera. Implementing these practical tools will lead the students to
successful self presentations, powerful business talks and productive management of
discussions both in the real and in the virtual spheres.
The students will learn how to deliver their verbal messages in a short and clear manner,
while using their non-verbal messages effectively, convincingly and emotionally. They will
master these tools in a manner that will enable them to succeed even when the time they
have is extremely short and the audience is skeptical.
Each session includes hands-on practice of various communication situations derived from
the business world. We will work simultaneously in front of an audience and the camera,
utilizing all the tools necessary to overcome the various fears that arise in stressful situations.
ENTREPRENEURS’ TALES
Prof. Ronen Israel
This course is a significant part of the GEMBA program. It consists of regular meetings with
entrepreneurs, professionals and senior members of the business community in which a
variety of topics related to entrepreneurship are discussed in an informal atmosphere. The
variety of experiences shared by the guest speakers exposes the students to the many
aspects of creating and doing business, in a unique way, and enriches the students learning
experience beyond the traditional course-based studies.
Some of the topics to be discussed include: Personal & Business Stories | The role
of the CEO | VC`s – How & When? | Angels – How & When? | Entrepreneurship in
Clean Tech | Developing a sales team
Course description
BRINGING BUSINESS TO LIFE
Prof. Ronen Israel & Prof. Elazar Berkovitch
This course provides students with a live platform for creating a new business or social
enterprise during the program itself. The platform to create a new business is the central
component of the GEMBA program and is designed to give students the utmost hands on
experience in starting up new companies. It enables teams of two to three business partners
- the students – to start and develop their new business venture or social enterprise, from the
inception of an idea to the fruition of a company producing economic or social value. The
program’s core advisors, course instructor and teaching assistant are all experienced
business people, each specializing in an area or discipline that will help the teams through the
process of building a successful business. As part of the process, each business will have a
management team, comprised of the students, and a Board of Directors to whom
management will report progress and consult with on a regular basis. The board of directors
is composed of Prof. Ronen Israel or Prof. Elazar Berkovitch or Mr. Moshe Elias, a member
of the program’s core advisors, two external directors with relevance to the enterprise’s
subject matter and the student CEO. The Board of Directors should be viewed as both a
guiding / advising and an approving body. The core advisors are viewed as managing
partners of a Venture Capital Fund that invests time in the students’ start-ups. All businesses
will present the business case and progress to panels comprised of members of the business
community and will have access to a variety of advisors who work with the Entrepreneurship
Center at IDC Herzliya.
4-5
ENTREPRENEURIAL FINANCE
Prof. Ronen Israel
This course is a combination of case discussions and lectures on entrepreneurial finance.
The course target is promising entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. It focuses on two
important aspects of Entrepreneurial Finance:
* Business Valuation: The students will
* Deal Structure: The students will
develop some tools and techniques to
highlight the main ways that
value early stage businesses. Afterwards
entrepreneurs are financed. Also, they
the DCF valuation method will be
will analyze the role of financial
reviewed, and then the students will
contracts in addressing information and
introduce the venture capital valuation method.
incentive problems in uncertain environments.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Neil Wilkof, PhD
The creation, exploitation and protection of intellectual property assets have become central
features of contemporary business life, ranging from start-ups to multi-national corporations.
This course will explore the unique characters of intellectual property assets and the
implications for business decision-making. The course will first provide a brief overview of
each of the major intellectual property rights: patents, trade secrets, copyright, and
trademarks. It will then consider the various ways that such rights are created and
commercialized, including in-house development, collaboration, licensing-in and licensing-out,
and outright acquisition. Special emphasis will be placed on the issues of ownership and
rights of use. The course will consider exemplars of how intellectual property assets are
created and exploited in different industries.
Course description
SUSTAINABILITY
Dr. Mark Schwartz
This course introduces students to the relevance and importance of social responsibility and
sustainability in business. Important learning objectives are to increase students’ awareness and
understanding of how to better balance the firm’s economic and legal obligations with their
ethical, social, environmental, and philanthropic obligations.  Whether as an entrepreneur in a
small start-up firm, or as a manager in a large multinational corporation, students will better
understand how firms can achieve greater legitimacy as good corporate citizens while acting in a
sustainable manner anywhere in the world. Some of the conceptual tools and frameworks to be
discussed throughout the course include:
* Corporate Social Responsibility Theory
* Stakeholder Theory
* Corporate Sustainability
* The Triple Bottom Line (i.e., economic, social, environmental)
* Social Investment and Auditing Criteria
The course will apply these conceptual tools and frameworks to the treatment by business of their
communities in terms of community assistance and corporate philanthropy, as well as the natural
environment.  The course concludes with a discussion of the recent phenomenon and growth of
social investment as well as social reporting by firms.
6-7
Prof. Elazar Berkovitch is the former dean of the Arison School of Business and the
director of its MBA Program. He has been a professor at the University of Michigan and
at the School of Business Administration at Tel Aviv University and served as a member
of the editorial board of the Review of Financial Studies and the European Financial
Review. The primary focus of Prof. Berkovitch’s research is corporate finance, mergers
and acquisitions, bankruptcy and firm reorganization. Prof. Berkovitch holds a PhD in
Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences from Kellogg School of Management at
Northwestern University.
Mr. Moshe Elias, Program Director, is the Country Manager for CheckPoint Israel
and a sales, marketing and business development professional in the area of Information
Technology. Prior to CheckPoint, Mr. Elias was involved with two Start- Ups and worked
as a freelance consultant. In the past, Mr. Elias worked for NCC, Cisco, and Qumranet
(acquired by Red Hat). At Cisco he held managerial roles both local and international in the
areas of engineering, sales and business development. Mr. Elias holds a BSc in Electrical
Engineering from the Technion - Cum Laude (1989) and is a graduate of the GEMBA
program at IDC - Cum Laude (2009).
Prof. Ronen Israel, Academic Director & Head of Program, is a Finance Professor
and the director of the Entrepreneurship Center at IDC Herzliya. Prof. Israel is a visiting
Professor at the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business. Prof. Israel
held faculty positions at Carnegie Melon University and at the University of Michigan
Business School and taught at the Kellogg School of Management, Columbia University
Business School, London Business School and Duke University. In 1984, he received
his B.A. in Economics from Haifa University, Israel and in 1989 his PhD in Finance
from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Prof. Israel published
articles in leading finance journals in the area of corporate finance. He was awarded
the excellence in teaching award by the 1996 graduating Executive MBA class at Duke
University and by the 2003 Executive MBA class at the University of Chicago. Prof. Israel served
as a Director on the Board of Bank Hapoalim between the years 2007-2010 and currently
serves as a faculty member in the McKinsey & Company’s MMBA program and as a Director on
the Board of Mivtah-Shamir Holdings.
Faculty
Dr. Avi Mazor has 18 years of experience in international business development,
strategic management, and venture capital. Dr. Mazor has extensive experience in seeding
and investing in new companies, helping their business grow, penetrate world markets,
and generating profitable exits. Dr. Mazor is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of G&M
International Inc. Dr. Mazor’s record includes Managing Director of Telesoft Partners- a
silicon valley based venture capital; Managing Director of Motorola Ventures-the strategic
investment arm of Motorola Inc.,USA; Co-Founder of startup companies; Senior Business
Development Manager at RDC – an investment holding company jointly owned by Rafael,
Discount Investment Group, and Elron Enterprises ; Senior Researcher at Los Alamos
National Laboratories-USA. Dr. Mazor holds a PhD in Solid State Physics from the
Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
Dr. Mark S. Schwartz MBA, LLB, PhD is Associate Professor of Governance, Law
and Ethics at York University (Toronto, Canada). Dr. Schwartz has also taught at The
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania as well as in Israel at Tel Aviv University,
Bar Ilan University, and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. Dr. Schwartz is a Research
Fellow of the Center for Business Ethics, Bentley College as well as the Business Ethics
Center of Jerusalem. He is the author of articles in such publications as the Journal of
Business Ethics, Business & Society, Business Ethics Quarterly, Corporate Governance:
An International Review, and Business and Society Review, and is a co-author of the
textbook Business Ethics: Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality (McGraw Hill). Dr.
Schwartz has appeared in numerous media outlets providing commentary on business
ethics-related topics such as the Financial Times of London, the Associated Press, the
New York Times, Globes (Israel), and the National Post (Canada), and has consulted to a
number of companies and governments around the world on issues related to corporate
compliance and business ethics. His major research interests include: codes of ethics,
corporate social responsibility, ethical leadership, ethical investment, and Jewish business
ethics.
8-9
Faculty
Mrs. Michelle Stein Teer is a Communication and Media Trainer and an expert in
helping people become great speakers in front of a camera or an audience. Mrs. Stein
Teer teaches communication students and faculty members of all fields at: Bar Ilan, Tel Aviv
and Ben Gurion Universities; Seminar Ha’Kibbutzim; Beit Berl College and Tel Aviv Jaffa
Academic College. She works with executives at: Israeli Parliament; Ministry of Foreign
Affairs; Israeli Police; IDF; Ministries of Health, Tourism and the State Comptroller; High
tech and medical companies such as Teva, HP and Oracle. Since April 2004 she presents
the Television program ’Beyond Words’, produced by the Knesset Channel and Channel 2.
Mrs. Teer produced, directed and photographed the 52’ documentary film ’Kleiner Rudy’
(2005); wrote the book ’Acting in front of a Camera’ based on the teaching of Ruth Deiches
(2003) and the Biography ’Ralph Klein The Coach’ (2000). Mrs. Stein Teer holds a BA in
Political Science from Tel Aviv University, an MA in Communication from the New York Institute of
Technology and is currently a PhD student at the Center for International Communications at Bar Ilan
University.
Dr. Neil Wilkof is a partner and head of the intellectual property and information
technology department of the law firm of Herzog Fox & Neeman, Tel-Aviv, Israel. Wilkof
has served as an adjunct lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, the University of Haifa, Tel-Aviv
University and the ITT Chicago Kent School of Law. He also serves as a consultant of
the Entrepreneurship Program at the IDC. Wilkof is the author of the first edition and is
co-author with Daniel Burkitt of the second edition of Trade Mark Licensing (Sweet and
Maxwell). He is a co-editor of Intellectual Property in the Global Marketplace (John Wiley).
Wilkof published numerous articles in the area of intellectual property and information
technology law. He is a member of the editorial board of the European Trade Mark Reports,
European Copyright and Design Reports and the Oxford Journal of Intellectual Property Law
& Practice. He writes a monthly column on licensing issues for the BNA World Intellectual
Property Law Reporter. Wilkof was special counsel to the Israel Copyright Revision
Committee and was a member of the Israel Trademark Revision Committee. He served as
a Special Counsel for the Israel delegation at the 1996 WIPO Diplomatic Conference on
Copyright. Mr. Wilkof has a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. and a J.D. from the University of
Chicago and a Ph.D from the University of Illinois.
GEMBA – Core Advisors
Esther Barak Landes has 16 years of experience in business development, strategic
management, and venture capital as well as being a commercial and corporate attorney.
Esther is currently managing a private investment company of Igal Ahouvi concentrating
mainly in high-tech investments. Prior to that, Esther was involved in the high-tech industry
as a Partner in Israel-Angels, a General Partner in Valulink Investments, and as a senior
executive in charge of Business Development and Strategic Alliances at Cash-U Mobile
Technologies. Esther serves as a Director on the Boards of several Israeli companies.
Esther was an attorney with the prestigious Kantor, Elhanni, Tal and Co. Law Firm for 10
years, dealt with a wide range of Israeli and international commercial clients. Esther is also
involved in several non-profitable groups. Esther holds an LL.B from Tel-Aviv University
and an MBA from IDC.
Mr. Shai Beilis is the Managing Partner of Tamarix Capital, the GP and the
Management Company of Tamarix Ventures I. Mr. Beilis founded Formula Ventures (within
the Formula Group) in 1998 and was the Chairman of the Board since its inception.
Formula Ventures Ltd. is the advisor and General Partner of two capital venture funds:
Formula Ventures I and Formula Ventures II. Mr. Beilis is also the Chairman of Formula
Vertex UK Ltd., which was the advisor for the European Technology Venture Portfolio of
UBS Capital. He was member of the board of directors of the Formula Systems Ltd., the
holding company of the Formula Group. Mr. Beilis joined the Formula Group in 1995 as
CEO of Argotec, its investment arm, which delivered an IRR of 100%.
Prior to the Formula Group, Mr. Beilis was CEO of Clal Computers and Technology, an
Israeli IT holding company traded in the Tel-Aviv stock exchange. From 1987 to 1993 Mr.
Beilis was Vice President at Digital Equipment Corporation Israel. From 1979 to 1986 he
was CEO of Yael Software and Services, a company that he had built to become a leading
software services group in Israel. Mr. Beilis has served as Director or Chairman of over
sixty Israeli high tech companies (including 4 NASDAQ listed companies).
Mr. Beilis holds a M.Sc. in Computer Science from the Weizmann Institute of Science in
Rehovot, Israel, and a B.Sc., cum laude, in Mathematics and Economics from the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, Israel.
10 - 11
GEMBA – Core Advisors
Mr. Orey Gilliam was the Head of AOL Messaging (AIM) and CEO of ICQ, with
a worldwide reach of over 75 million users. Mr. Gilliam is a seasoned executive and
leader with international experience in establishing and building global businesses.  He
has a proven track record with over 25 years of experience (including 11 years of
working experience in the US) in business, technical and operations management in a
variety of environments ranging from startups to Fortune 50 companies in the Internet,
telecommunication and software fields.
Mr. Gilliam led a turnaround of the ICQ brand and company worldwide while dramatically
increasing top line and bringing the company to profitability.  He established strategic
partnerships in more than 10 countries worldwide and made ICQ a global company with
business activities in over 20 countries.
Prior to AOL and ICQ, Mr. Gilliam served in various senior management positions with Gilat
Satellite Networks and its affiliates. Gilat is a world leader in satellite networking products
that provides services and solutions in 85 countries. Gilat provides broadband data,
Internet, voice and video solutions to enterprises, governments, carriers and consumers.
Mr. Shai Scharf is an accomplished software entrepreneur for almost 20 years
who currently spends the majority of his time working and mentoring students and
entrepreneurs. Mr. Scharf was a co-founder and CEO of Onaro Inc. where he was
responsible for driving the overall financial performance of the company, as well as
recruiting, leading and motivating employees to enhance productivity. Prior to Onaro,
Mr. Scharf was the founder and chairman of Composit Communications, a leader in
customer interaction management software solutions that was acquired by Tadiran
Telecommunication in 2003. Mr. Scharf founded Composit in 1997 in conjunction with
a technological and marketing alliance with Tandem Computers. From 1986-1997, Mr.
Scharf led Missing Link, a U.S.-based software company he founded that specialized in
interactive voice response (IVR) and computer telephony integration (CTI) products for
call centers. Missing Link realized a positive cash flow after its first year of operation. The
company generated revenues from OEM agreements with IBM and VARs, and direct sales to
Fortune 500 customers including Eastman Kodak, Union Carbide, ARCO, GTE, Alitalia Airlines,
and others. Mr. Scharf holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Tulane University.
GEMBA – Core Advisors
Mr. Shai Onn is the Country Manager for CA Israel, has over 20 years of international
management, sales, business development, corporate & private equity investment
experience. During his career, Mr. Onn founded several Hi-Tech operations in Israel and
abroad, headed businesses as a CEO and President, led establishments of JV entities and
served on various companies boards as a chairman and director.
Between 2001 to 2007, Mr. Onn was part of Ness Technologies Inc. (an 8,000
employees IT services provider) top executive team and was responsible for defining,
establishing and managing Ness` international business expansion. Amongst his key
achievement was the execution of an aggressive M&A plan, resulting with Ness acquiring
businesses in an excess of $80 million and penetrating 16 territories across Europe,
Asia and the USA. Between 2007-2008 Mr. Onn founded and managed a private equity
investment firm, “Shaked Global”, focusing on Environmental technologies and solutions.
During this time he led investments of circa. $20M in water, alternative energy and
environmental services operations. His extensive track record includes involvement with
software, internet security, telecomm, IT services and CleanTech businesses. Mr. Onn is a
Computer Science & Economics graduate with an MBA from Tel Aviv University.
Mr. Udi Shamai is a compulsive entrepreneur in the trade space and has gained vast
experience in international trade, including the Far East, Europe and U.S.A.
Mr. Shamai has extensive experience in marketing global international brands, in general,
as well as a vertical expertise in the Retail market. Mr. Shamai`s past experience includes
different management positions in international trade companies and retail companies.
These include: CEO of UDI International (part of The Israel Corporation and The Eisenberg
Group), CEO of Dominos Pizza, and the Chairman and a share holder in Pizza Hut and
KFC in Israel. In his recent position, Mr. Shamai was VP Business Development for Inspire
Investment Group. Since 2008 he has acquired in full the ownership over Pizza Hut, which
is now held by Tabasco Holdings - a privately owned company. Mr. Shamai holds a BA in
Economics from Tel Aviv University.
12 - 13
GEMBA – Core Advisors
Mr. Ofer Shoshan is the founder and CEO of One Hour Translation, one of the leading
professional translation services in the world. Mr. Shoshan has over 18 years of experience
starting and managing high-tech companies in Israel, Europe and the US. Prior to One
Hour Translation, Mr. Shoshan was the founder and CEO of Qlusters, the #1 opensource systems management solution. Prior to Qlusters he was the founder and CEO
of Coretech, a company that made a life-saving cardiological device. Mr. Shoshan also
initiated several Internet and community related operations including PeerHunters, SoCool
and others. In addition, Mr. Shoshan worked as VP Business Development at RichFX, an
Internet technology company, and VP Marketing and Business Development of Comsec
Information Security (TASE: CMSC). He had also been retained as a strategic consultant
by many major corporations including CheckPoint (CHKP) and others. Currently, Mr.
Shoshan serves as a board member of the MIT Enterprise forum of Israel. Mr. Shoshan
served in multiple command roles as an officer in Israel Defense Force (IDF) and holds an
MBA from INSEAD.
Udi Ziv is a prominent figure in the enterprise software industry and is involved with
several of the most promising Israeli start-ups in this market. Mr. Ziv serves as an active
Chairman and Board member in several of these companies, leveraging his 20 years of
experience toward successful growth of the companies. During the years 2001-2007,
Mr. Ziv held several senior executive positions with SAP AG, the leading global enterprise
software company. These positions included: General Manager of SAP’s Small Business
Solutions Product and Technology Unit; Managing Director of SAP Labs Israel, the fourth
largest research and development center of SAP; Vice President responsible for the
research & development of the SAP Portal product, etc. Prior to joining SAP, Mr. Ziv was
one of the original members and the head of the global R&D activities of TopTier Software,
a leading enterprise portal company. In 2001 SAP acquired TopTier software, which led
to Mr. Ziv’s successful tenure at SAP. Previous to his employment at TopTier, Mr. Ziv
served as a senior computer engineer in the Israeli Army Intelligence and holds the rank of
Captain. He graduated with honors from Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, where he
received a B.S. in computer engineering.
TIME LINE | PROGRAM CALENDAR
Mini 1
Communication in the Business World
Mini 2-4 Entrepreneurship 101
Practicum in Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Mini 4
Mini 5-9
Intellectual Property Rights
Entrepreneurs' Tales
Bringing Business to Life
Mini 7
Entrepreneurial Finance
Mini 8
Entrepreneurial Finance
Mini 9
Sustainability
* The time table for Mini 6-9 is tentative and may be subjected to change
Mini Semester 1 October 3rd, 2010 - November 12th, 2010
Mini Semester 2 November 28th, 2010 - January 7th, 2011
Mini Semester 3 January 23rd, 2011 - March 4th, 2011
Mini Semester 4 March 27th, 2011 – May 20th, 2011
Mini Semester 5 June 5th, 2011 - July 15th, 2011
Study Trip -
August 1st, 2011 – August 12th, 2011
Mini Semester 6 August 14th, 2011 - September 23rd, 2011
Mini Semester 7 October 23rd, 2011 – December 2nd, 2011
Mini Semester 8 December 18th, 2011 - January 27th, 2012
Mini Semester 9 February 12th, 2012 - March 23rd, 2012
14 - 15
The Global MBA Program benefits from the generous support
of the Ted Arison Family Foundation
Contact Us:
Admissions Department | Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya
Kanfei Nesharim St. | P.O.Box 167 | Herzliya 46150, Israel
Tel: +972-9-960-2818 | Fax: +972-9-956-7392
MBArishum@idc.ac.il