Raphael H. Cohen

Raphael H Cohen is a Swiss professor, lecturer, author, serial entrepreneur and former business angel. He has a PhD in economics from University of Geneva, Switzerland.

He is the owner and managing director of Getratex SA, as well as academic co-director of the Entrepreneurial Leadership and business development specialization of the eMBA at the University of Geneva since 2001.

Cohen conceived the IpOp Model, an approach to innovation and corporate entrepreneurship. This model is one of several attempting to help companies in their innovation management.

Cohen started his career at Getratex SA in 1975, where his first intrapreneurial opportunity was to create a new business unit to sell clothing. This unit obtained Disney licenses for clothes. To reduce his exposure to the fashion industry, in 1980 he initiated a diversification, which led him to invest in several startups. Since he became a business angel Cohen has been involved in many businesses including tourist attractions, theming of public areas, surface treatments, financial derivatives, internet marketing, software, skin treatments, retail, real estate, construction and high-tech projects. As a trusted advisor for several large corporations he became an expert in corporate innovation and intrapreneurship.

Management Boosters

Cohen started Management Boosters in 2001, as a division of Getratex SA, to provide executive education, mentoring and lecturing services to business schools and corporations on innovation, intrapreneurship and leadership.

University of Geneva

Since 2001, Cohen has been the academic co-director of the entrepreneurship specialization of the eMBA of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, an MBA focusing on innovation, entrepreneurship and business development.

IpOp Model

Cohen developed the IpOp Model as a roadmap for the pre-project/ideation stage ofopportunity or project analysis. The model is meant to help innovators analyze and mature their idea to produce an opportunity case or a business plan to convince themselves as well as decision-makers, such as investors or management, of the merits of the opportunity. It has been used by a number of companies for innovative projects including Nestlé, Oracle, Bühler, SICPA and the French Post.

MicroMBA MB

To help organizations benefit from the innovative ability of their employees Cohen has designed and implemented the MicroMBA MB program. Combining the IpOp Model with the fundamentals taught in an executive MBA, the MicroMBA MB enables middle managersto become proactive agents of change. Participants in the program must identify and implement a real project that supports the strategy of their employer. These projects translate into a measurable return of investment for the organization, turning training into a profit center.

Fair and Caring Leadership

Cohen has been one of the first to talk about benevolent (or caring) leadership in an article published in 2013. His additional analysis of the importance of enforcing rules in organizations led him to develop the concept of Fair and Caring Leadership that he teaches in business school and executive education seminars.

• 1975 Licence en Sciences Commerciales et Industrielles - Université de Genève
• 1982 Doctorat en Sciences Economiques (Ph.D.), University of Geneva
• 1988 Diploma of the Institute of Real-estate Studies - post graduate degree in real estate, Geneva