Eighty students of the Guilford
Glazer Faculty of Business and Management GGFBM MBA Executive Program participated last Thursday (December 27, 2018) in the "Executive Club" meeting with special guest lecturer Idan Zu-Aretz, SodaStream's VP of Global Operations, and a graduate of the GGFBM MBA Executive Program, 2006.
Idan has over 20 years of management and leadership experience in Israel and overseas having held a number of positions at Intel, and since May 2017, Idan has been serving as the Global Operations Director of Sodastream. In that capacity, Idan has been leading the entire firm's production line to unprecedented growth.
The meeting also included special guest speakers Nir Rekhev, Global Information Systems Manager at SodaStream and Executive Program MBA alum from 2012, as well as Vivi Blum coordinator of the SodaStream Global Operations Activity and Personal Assistant of the Idan.
The lecture entitled "Changing Strategy Out of Crisis or out of Power?" - described the story of SodaStream's success - the growth and transformation from a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy into a dazzling success story. The lecture presented key strategic changes the company made in positioning its product in response to global and market changes, accompanied by examples from the marketing campaign that accompanied each strategic change.
Idan emphasized that the company is a proud Israeli company, based in the Negev, with most of its customers being international clients. And also Idan talked about the company's operating system, videos, financial data, a bit of Idan's belief in employee management and management practices, management strategies.
Prof. Yotam Luria, the Academic Director of the Executive Programs, thanked Idan for his fascinating lecture through which the Executive Program students get to connect with the business and daily strategic decisions of a leading Israeli company.
The students in the program, expressed interest, asked questions, and actively participated in the course of the lecture, student Tamar Eliyahu noted "translating words into actions .., this is the feeling I came out with from Idan's excellent lecture which touched on so many theoretical terms we learned on last semester. The Executive Club lecture leaves a taste for more."
The Executive Club of the GGFBM MBA Executive Programs, now in its eighth year, is a lecture and discussion meeting with industry leaders and executives. An important component of the meetings is the social networking time after the lecture, with the lecturer and guests.
