Executive MBA Curriculum

Leadership

Innovation

Inclusion

Fundamentals

Course Descriptions

Fall Year 1

Data and Uncertainty

This course familiarizes students with statistical techniques commonly found in the workplace, with the goal of making them better consumers of data. It focuses on inference and regression analysis. Among the topics are how to make inferences with sample data, how to effectively communicate findings, and how to interpret and ask appropriate questions about the analyses of others. Students learn not just how to get the "right" answer, but also how to defend and understand the implications of their work.

The Economics of Pricing, Price Forecasting, and the Macroeconomy (Econ)

This course focuses on three key components of managerial decision-making. The pricing component addresses basic tools of price-setting; the price forecasting component teaches skills for predicting the direction of prices in more competitive markets; and the macroeconomics component explores the macroeconomy and how to forecast the evolution of GDP, exchange rates, and interest rates in response to policy changes or economic shocks. All topics are analyzed through basic theory, data-based examples of theory-in-action, and contemporaneous news and events in the economy.

Executive Leadership

This class examines the requisite skills for organizational leadership, including communication, teamwork, leading change, and strategic leadership. Topics include stakeholder management, organizational change, organizational alignment, mission, vision, values, strategy, balanced scorecard, and leadership pipeline.

Executive Level Strategy

The fundamental question of strategy is how firms can attain and sustain competitive advantage. In this strategic management course, students analyze the sources of competitive success among firms and develop the requisite skills and knowledge to be an effective strategy analyst. The course takes the perspective of managers who make decisions that cut across the functional areas in the firm (e.g., marketing, finance, operations, etc.), as well as that of entrepreneurs and consultants.

Strategic Marketing I

In this course, students apply strategic marketing tools to better identify, reach, persuade, and satisfy their organization’s customers. By understanding the fundamentals of marketing strategy, managers can create value for customers in all types of organizations—both large and small, both product and service-based firms, and in both for-profit and non-profit entities.

Financial Accounting I

This course introduces the basic concepts and practices of the financial reporting system used by companies to convey the results of their operations to stakeholders. It addresses the complexity of accounting due to inherent discretion and judgment required by the financial reporting process. By the end of course, students will understand how financial statements are prepared and have the ability to read and interpret real-world financial statements.

Spring Year 1

Inclusive Leadership

This course focuses on how to lead in a way that increases inclusion and maximizes the value of diversity. By understanding what it means to feel included and examining evidence-based practices shown to enhance diversity and inclusion, students will learn how to lead diverse and inclusive teams and organizations. Among the topics are empathy, fair work practices, transparency and creating culture.

Strategic Marketing II

Financial Accounting II

Creating Value Through Innovation

This course focuses on how to use innovation to generate value for businesses and their customers. Participants will leave this course with (1) a strong foundational knowledge of innovation frameworks and processes, and (2) a toolkit of practical skills for bringing innovation to one’s team, functional area, and organization. Because managers can innovate in every aspect of a business, the course explores how world-class organizations add value through creative and novel offerings in services, business models, and customer experiences.

Business Finance

This course presents the foundational concepts of corporate finance and investments, addressing equity, debt, and derivatives markets. Students get a chance to practice discounting cash flows, measuring risks and returns, and demonstrating the benefit of diversification. By the end of the course, students gain an understanding of modern financial institutions and instruments, and their role in the modern economy.

Aligning People with Business Strategy I

This course focuses on how to align human capital with business strategy in order to create long-term prosperity in organizations. It explores the unique position of business leaders to capitalize on their employees’ desire to be a part of something larger than themselves, to work for more than just a paycheck. Among the topics are organizational culture, DE&I, talent acquisition and development, employee and labor relations, total rewards, employee engagement, and HR operations and planning.

Fall Year 2

Aligning People with Business Strategy II

Operations Management

This course addresses the interface between a firm’s operations and its overarching strategy. It explores such topics as designing operating models, selecting performance measures, building organizational capabilities, and managing uncertainty. Students will learn about processes at the system level. They will gain insight into how to align these processes with an organization’s goals, strategies and supply chains, and how to recognize factors that limit productivity.

Entrepreneurship

This course focuses how to grow a business into a complex enterprise. The first part examines opportunity evaluation, business plan and model development, and financing. The second part explores the strategic challenges of managing growth and realizing value. Focusing on “adolescent” firms—i.e., those that have moved beyond the initial start-up stage but have not yet evolved into mature businesses—students will investigate growth-related stumbling blocks and discuss alternative strategies that may be used to overcome these obstacles.

Applied Financial Management I

This applied course provides a toolkit for decision-makers to answer three fundamental questions in finance: Is this a good business project? How should it be financed? How much funding is required? The tools include financial statement forecasting, growth-financing requirements, working capital management, debt versus equity optimal capital structure, the determination of cash retention and payout ratios, and valuation techniques using discounted cash flows and peer price multiples. Students analyze topics through various case studies.

Ethics I

Throughout this course, students consider the interconnectedness of law, ethics, values, public policy, regulation, and personal leadership. In addition, they are asked to consider alternative views of the role of business in our global society, and to reflect on how personal values shape our leadership and business conduct. The course allows students to consider the relationship between law and ethics in the broader social context, which is necessary to successfully navigate an increasingly complex, global business environment.

Spring Year 2

M&A and Corporate Development

This course focuses on mergers and acquisitions as key instruments of corporate strategy. It explores how firms use these investment vehicles to obtain economies of scope, cross-selling advantages, and other benefits such as corporate renewal and innovation. Students learn about the risks and challenges of these deals, which have failure rates as high as one-half to two-thirds, according to many studies. They also examine various deal-making pitfalls and post-acquisition management problems, as well as effective integration planning and post-merger integration.

Applied Financial Management II

Ethics II

Digital Strategy

This course focuses on what it means to be an information-based organization. It explores how digital-enabled processes are used to create and capture value for organizations. Through case studies, research reports, practical exercises, and interactive discussions, participants learn the how to do the following: align digital technology with an organization’s business goals, and communicate those goals; set business and technology priorities based on those goals; apply concepts, tools and techniques to design appropriate digital business models; analyze and evaluate innovation initiatives in the digital space; and evaluate digital transformation strategies.

Negotiations

This course addresses the strategies and tactics of negotiations in a variety of contexts. It examines—through the eyes of leadership—power and conflict in organizations, addressing concepts that help improve personal negotiating skills. Students examine the sources, uses, and misuses of executive power in organizations, as well as strategies for managing conflict effectively.

Risk Management

This course provides a framework for identifying risks faced by organizations, and for developing risk mitigation plans to manage uncertainty. It explores how corporations face a multitude of risks beyond their control that affect the bottom line—those that are financial in nature, those that are associated with operational decisions, and those that impact reputation. It also addresses new technologies and the need for strong cyber resilience to combat security risks.

Global Business Experience

This course is designed to provide graduating students with a meaningful international experience. An integrative capstone for the two-year program, it is an international trip designed to give students a better understanding of how business is conducted elsewhere in the world. The course dovetails with other advanced courses in the second-year curriculum that require the integration of business insights. The goal of the course is to help students understand the characteristics of intercultural business relationships that lead to intercultural synergy and synergistic decision-making.