International Business: Theory and Practice

Ehud Menipaz, currently a visiting scholar at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, is the Solomon & Abraham Krok Chaired Professor of Entrepreneurial Management and the Founding Chair of the Ira Center for Business, Technology & Society at Ben Gurion University, Israel. He is a former senior partner with Ernst & Young International, engaged with assignments in the private and public sectors. Menipaz specializes in international business management and functional derivatives. He holds a BSc in industrial engineering and management, an MSc in operations research, an MBA in finance, and a PhD in management. His articles have appeared in The European Journal of Operations Research, International Journal of Production Research, International Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Transactions, Journal of Productivity and Quality, International Journal of Computers and Simulation, Management Decisions, Journal of Global Marketing, and International Journal of Business Performance Management. His interest in operational systems has led to several manuscripts in that area, including Essentials of Production and Operations Management, published concurrently in the USA, England, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore. He has addressed students, faculty, and executives in the USA, Canada, the Far East, Europe, South America, and Africa. He has been involved in conceiving, and has been a member of the organizing committee and the chairman of several international scientific conferences, including “The First Regional Conference on Forging Regional Cooperation in the Mediterranean Basin” and “The International Conference of Innovation and Logistics,” all resulting in published proceedings. He serves as a referee and an associate editor for a number of international scientific journals, including the International Journal of Corporate Governance, and he is a national team leader of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research program. He is a member of the Strategic Management Society, the Academy of Management, and the Association of International Business. Combining scientific work with community involvement, Menipaz sponsors entrepreneurship education programs associated with the Junior Achievement Award worldwide and has served as a director and CEO of several organizations. He is married, has three children and four grandchildren, and enjoys piano playing, downhill skiing, and tennis

Amit Menipaz, currently Vice President, Structured Data, eBay, has spent over 20 years as an Entrepreneur, Consultant, Strategy & Product Manager, Country Manager, and Corporate Executive for technology companies across North America, Western Europe, China, and Israel in the fields of web content management, telecommunications, consumer electronics, eCommerce, and big data. At eBay he led innovations in social commerce, mobile selling, online stores, and big data analytics. Menipaz currently leads eBay’s structured data vision, strategy and teams, builds the world’s most comprehensive inventory graph of everything that can be bought or sold globally and its relative value. In addition, he serves on the GS1 Board of Governors, in both the US and Global Board, and has lectured at several academic institutions including Stanford, Berkeley, and New York University on product strategy and innovation. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Canada, in industrial engineering and management, he holds an MBA from European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD), Fontainebleau, France. As a management consultant he has worked for both Deloitte Touche and A.T. Kearney in North America and Western Europe. In this capacity he worked with multinational enterprises on benchmarking, reengineering, knowledge management, systems selection, and merger and acquisition planning across North America. He oversaw the launch of a number of hi-tech and telecommunication start-ups across Western Europe during the Internet boom at the turn of the century. For six years Menipaz ran a partnership with Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong, leveraging Israeli technologies together with European designers and Chinese manufacturers to develop innovative consumer electronics and telecommunications products for markets in Europe and the USA. Having worked at both the headquarters and overseas subsidiaries of multinational enterprises, managing the opening and closing of regional and country headquarters, and launching both consumer and Internet products in various geographic markets—he brings a unique blend of experience, practical insights, and contemporary examples that help link business theories with the hands-on practice of managing day-to-day international business. Menipaz is married, has two children, and enjoys traveling, learning new languages, music, reading, tennis, skiing, and Latin dancing.