Strategic Curriculum

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 With Impact (LWI)
Leading with Impact is the capstone module for the Executive MBA curriculum.  In the course the students are asked to synthesize what they have learned over the previous 20 months and connect those insights with the values that they hold most deeply.  To facilitate this integration, during the module week student teams will work with the leadership of local not-for-profit to solve a pressing problem faced by that organization.  The problems will vary with the organization in question and students are free to draw on any skills and capabilities that might be appropriate.  The only requirement for the course is that the student teams make a positive difference in their focal organization. On the module’s final day, we will all reflect on what it means to be a principled innovative leader who improves the world.

Electives
During the three electives periods (January ’19, January ’20, and Spring ’20), 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 Labs. In Global Labs, you will work as part of a tight-knit team of advisors helping the leaders of a company solve a demanding issue relating to innovation, global management, or global social challenges. This can include one week at 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.