Acquire Advanced Management Capabilities

Program components
Courses

The MIT Executive MBA curriculum integrates data-driven analytical methods and the fundamentals of business management with an action learning-based approach to executive-level management education. Through this scientific approach to management you learn research-based tools and acquire the skills and the credibility to lead change across your organization and across your industry.

Program components

Weekend sessions
There are 26 weekend sessions that meet all day Friday and Saturday and are spaced about three weeks apart. These sessions provide iterative engagement with the program courses and an opportunity for you to collaborate with classmates and build on one another’s experiences.

Executive modules
The four executive modules are six to nine days long and spread six months apart. These modules offer an immersive experience during which you realize the benefits of being a full-time student at MIT. The executive modules combine intensive classwork, collaboration with classmates on projects, and evening events and speakers that link you to the MIT community as you build tight bonds within your MIT EMBA class.

Module 1: Leadership and Integrative Management (LIM)
Deep dive into the sustainability strategy of a multinational organization. Students collaborate with their learning team to evaluate sustainability through various lenses, including shareholder, marketing, operations, strategy, employee, and global perspectives. The module culminates with teams’ recommendations for the organization and its senior leaders. Students develop a new perspective on creating, capturing, and conserving value.

Module 2: Innovation Driven Entrepreneurial Advantage (IDEA)
Integrated look at innovation and entrepreneurship from the perspective of both start ups and large firms. The module combines projects as well as panels and speakers from across MIT to deepen the student relationship with the MIT ecosystem. Students develop an understanding of the mechanics and practices of new product innovation, entrepreneurial strategy, and developing an entrepreneurial advantage.

Module 3: Leading in a Global Context (LGC)
A study of global markets and how firms adapt their strategy to capitalize on the opportunities of globalization and avoid the risks. The course covers macroeconomics, global markets, national policies, and international strategy. Students develop an understanding of how firms can take advantage of the opportunities presented by different countries, institutions, and the macroeconomic trends shaping the world of business.

Module 4: Leading Complex Organizations (LCO)
Capstone module in which students bring together everything they have learned to identify and plan their next organizational initiatives. The course features a range of senior leaders as guest speakers, and a particular focus on the role of the general manager. Students integrate business fundamentals and analytical frameworks to reflect and plan changes that will shape the future of their organization.

Electives
During the three electives periods (January '14, January '15, and Spring '15), you have an opportunity to explore more deeply specific areas of interest. Each January, you may choose to take one or two electives. Then in your final Spring semester you will take two electives chosen by the class. Electives vary from year to year and include advanced topics and cutting-edge research. MIT EMBA students may also take advantage of full cross-registration privileges at Harvard and in MIT's full-time programs.

Applied learning
In action learning experiences, you apply the program’s methodologies and frameworks both to your company and to team challenges focusing on other enterprises and industries of interest. Midway through the program comes Organizations Lab (O-Lab), an opportunity to use your coursework so far – particularly in system dynamics and operations management – to fix a process in your own organization.  In your final spring semester comes the capstone action learning project, Global Organizations Lab (GO-Lab). In GO-Lab, you work as part of a small EMBA team for an international company to help them solve a global integration issue. This includes a one-week project trip to multiple company sites worldwide for field research and immersion in the company’s challenges.

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Courses

Course titles and sample topics are below. For the detailed course sequence, please refer to the Program Schedule.

Integrated and Action Learning Courses
• Leadership and Integrative Management
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  Sample Topics:

  Perspectives on Creating, Capturing, and Conserving Value

  Deep Dive on the Challenges of a Multinational Organization
• Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurial Advantage (IDEA)
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  Sample Topics:

  New Product Innovation

  Entrepreneurial Strategy
• Organizations Lab (O-Lab)
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  Sample Topics:

  Organizational Analysis for Change Initiatives

  Implementation amid Organizational Resistance

  Features full-semester in-company project
• Leading in a Global Context
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  Sample Topics:

  Macroeconomics: Countries and Regions

  Global Markets and Strategy
• Global Organizations Lab (GO-Lab)
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  Sample Topics:

  Global Management and Global Integration

  Strategic Analysis of Global Challenges

  Features full-semester in-company project with one-week international project trip
• Leading Complex Organizations
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  Sample Topics:

  Putting It All Together: General Management as Integration and Intervention

  Your Next Change Initiative

Analytical Frameworks
• Applied Economics for Managers
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  Sample Topics:

  Microeconomics: Firms and Markets

  Economic Analysis of Corporate and Policy Decisions
• Organizational Processes
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  Sample Topics:

  Organizational Behavior: The Three Lenses
  Behavioral Perspectives on Organizational Management
• Data, Models, and Decisions
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  Sample Topics:

  Driving the Business through Best-practice Quantitative Methods

  Industry Perspectives and Applications
• Introduction to System Dynamics
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  Sample Topics:

  Systems Thinking and Modeling

  Organizational Design and Management in a Dynamic World

Business Essentials
• Competitive Strategy
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  Sample Topics:

  Strategies for Competitive Advantage

  Modern Strategic Management
• Financial Accounting
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  Sample Topics:

  Using Accounting Information for Corporate and Investment Assessment

  Financial Statement Analysis
• Financial Management
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  Sample Topics:

  Corporate Finance and Capital Markets

  Risk Measurement and Risk Management
• Leading Organizations
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  Sample Topics:

  Organizational Settings and Dynamics

  Change Leadership for the Rising Executive
• Operations Management
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  Sample Topics:

  Global Operations Strategies

  Supply Chain Management
• Marketing Management
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  Sample Topics:

  Market Segmentation

  Marketing Strategy

Advanced Courses (Sample)
• Topics in Corporate Finance
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  Sample Topics:

  Complex Valuations

  Static and Dynamic Capital Structure
• Risk Management
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  Sample Topics:

  Financial, Operational, and Other Sources of Risk

  Identifying, Modeling, Analyzing, and Managing Risk
• Power, Influence, and Negotiation
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  Sample Topics:

  Distributive and Integrative Bargaining

  Multi-party Decision Making
• Marketing Strategy
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  Sample Topics:

  Firm-wide Marketing Mix

  Customer-based Sources of Competitive Advantage
• Law and Strategy for the Senior Executive
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  Sample Topics:

  Law-sensitive Strategic Decisions

  Issues of Liability, IP, Contracts, etc.
• Business Analysis Using Financial Statements
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  Sample Topics:

  Analysis of Corporate Profit and Riskiness

  Investor, Analyst, and Finance Manager Perspectives
• The Analytical Edge
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  Sample Topics:

  Advanced Methods in Analytics, Optimization, and Data Mining

  Industry Applications (Healthcare, Finance, Energy, etc.)
• Technology Strategy
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  Sample Topics:

  Managing Innovation in High-technology Industries