Executive MBA

This integrative and interdisciplinary course introduces EMBA participants to the challenges of general management. The overall purpose of the course is to harmonize the knowledge and understanding of management functions of firms, public services, NGOs and institutions alike. The course builds heavily on the different professional experiences of the participants to cross-fertilize them and achieve a “higher”, top management understanding of complex management tasks and challenges.

This module introduces students to the essential issues and concepts of the global economy and macroeconomic policy. This up-to-date and practical module is based on the assumption that understanding and applying the global macroeconomic environment and policies are important for the decisions of senior managers. Strategic business decisions must take long-term growth trends, as well as short-term business cycle movements including economic policy changes into account.

Competitive strategy enables a firm to gain and sustain a competitive advantage in a given industry. This module introduces you to a coherent framework of Value Creation and Value Capture and develops related concepts that are used to analyse the competitive environment of a firm and its internal strengths and weaknesses.

Together with General Management, this course sets the stage for the entire EMBA program. As marketplaces are changing rapidly, entrepreneurial skills – both outside and inside corporations – have become a critical success factor. The course provides students with an introduction to entrepreneurship, from the development of an idea through opportunity recognition and start up to the stage when external financing is needed. The lectures, readings and case discussions will help to identify the skills generally considered necessary for success in an entrepreneurial venture.

Emerging technologies are driving a significant part of business growth. The capability to understand and adopt these new technologies will shape competition and success on a global scale. This module will provide an overview over the most important new technologies and shape participants’ mindsets, allowing them to explore their potential. Topics covered are artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics, Blockchain technology, data-driven decision making, and the impact of technologies on work and society.

A firm's success largely depends on a well-chosen strategy that is based on a thorough understanding of customer needs. This module emphasises customer’s needs and behaviour, and how firms and brands can reach more informed decisions to address customer needs. These decisions include, but are not limited to, pricing, branding, positioning, and promotional strategies. The module promotes a broader, more holistic perspective in aligning these decisions, including the impact of changes in the marketplace and the digital future.

This module focuses on corporate financial decision making. In order to maximise the value of the firm, managers at all levels face the question 'What investments should the firm make and how should these invesments be financed?' The finance part of the module provides a hands-on approach to management’s financial tools for valuing projects, firms and financial securities. Participants learn to use estimated future cash flows from investments, gain knowledge on their risks and learn how to put a value on them, thus deciding which projects the firm should choose. On the financing side, the capital structure (leverage) which is appropriate for funding the firm’s business needs and characteristics of different sources of financing need to be understood. The module also deals with the impact of different capital structures on the firm’s value.

Executive leadership and strategic change are inseparable in practice. Building an ethos of entrepreneurial leadership implies leadership capability at the top as well as the wisdom needed to make strategic choices.

The involvement and mobilisation of multiple levels in the organisation requires a participative and transformational approach. This module enables you to understand your own leadership style in the context of the senior management arena and how it impacts the willingness of employees to support and initiate change. The impact of leadership and employee involvement is illustrated using theories, case studies and problems.The emphasis is on an interactive dialogue which translates theory into practice. 

This module explores the entire process of developing new products, from conception through to market launch, together with all associated activities. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of customer needs as a prerequisite for product development, and the module focuses on innovative products in particular.

Participants work with case studies in order to familiarise themselves with the core concepts of innovation management. In addition to learning how to carry out a critical analysis of these concepts, they learn how to apply their new knowledge in a corporate context.

This module familiarises students with the key roles and uses of accounting information in management. It builds on the pre-course foundation and expands it into the qualitative issues of financial accounting. The module also introduces managerial accounting, i.e. the use of accounting information by managers in a variety of settings for tactical, operational and strategic decisions about the business and the firm.

The Organisational Behaviour course is designed to introduce students to key concepts and issues associated with behaviour in work organisations. It focuses initially on the responsibilities of executive leadership including motivation, engagement and team performance. In the second half of the course, we focus on issues of managing and leading, using power, reforming corporate culture and managing across borders.

This module provides insights into participants' own work behaviour, motivations, experience of work groups, teams and organisational environments. We will acquaint participants with theories, concepts and methods relating to how individuals and groups are affected by organisational contexts, and how organisational choices affect how businesses functioning. Through cases and classroom experiences, we explore how insight and knowledge can be translated into business problem-solving.

Organisational managment is a regular theme for any leader because organisations are constantly faced with challenges that require change and development. These challenges can include designing 'leaderless' organisations capable of operating in dynamic environments, incorporating artificial intelligence into existing operations, managing global enterprises and changing a toxic corporate culture. In the module particpants will learn how to deal with and overcome such challenges.

The course Organizational Governance builds broadly on the foundations previously acquired in the EMBA program. Drawing on current academic thinking and management practice, it builds a bridge between the external perspective of strategy – how to compete and win in markets – and its internal perspective – how to organize resources and information for competing and winning. We cover in depth the formal mechanisms that executives use to drive strategy into the organization and assure everyday performance, which are organizational structure, incentives, performance measurement (accounting numbers and other performance indicators), and corporate culture.

The primary focus of the module is presentating the concepts of negotiations and an overview of the theoretical body of knowledge, executed through interactive cases, negotiation exercises and simulations. These exercises have a dual purpose. First, they will give you hands-on experience on negotiation. You will learn by analysing cases and then actually negotiating, stepping back and comparing your approach and results with those of your classmates. You can test your analytic skills and experiment with new techniques. Special preparation and follow-up assignments will encourage you to draw practical lessons from your personal experience. Secondly, the exercises also illustrate the key elements of cultural dimensions and of a systematic preparation approach to negotiation analysis. Cases will introduce cultural dimensions and simulations will involve a two-party, price-focused negotiation. We will then move on to progressively more complex situations involving a broader range of issues, multiple parties, and internal-external relationships.

The thesis is an integrative project that is based on original research, relies on mostly independent and self-managed work, and results in a written document. It requires EMBA students to holistically draw on the knowledge, skills and competences that they have acquired and developed during the programme and to complete a comprehensive, self-contained piece of work about a relevant management issue. Students can choose between three alternative options to complete the thesis, a Traditional Research Thesis, a Group Consultancy Project, and an Entrepreneurial Business Plan.

During their studies, participants will be prepared in different workshops on writing their thesis.

Operations Management is about organizing, managing and improving the processes of transforming inputs (materials, labor, etc.) into outputs (goods and services) and distributing these outputs in the right amount and quality, to the right place, at the right time, and at the right cost. Doing so requires the effective management not only of these processes, but also of productive capacity, inventories, and information. The essential strategic issue of operations is to balance resources and capacity with demand.

Managing operations is, therefore, central to the success of any organization in manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, trade, financial services, hotel, hospitals, and so on. And excellence in designing and managing processes is a key driver of keeping cost down and revenues up, e.g. better processes result in outputs with higher quality, more timely delivery, and greater availability, all of which influence pricing and demand. Operational excellence is difficult to achieve and even more difficult to copy – which means that it is a possible source of sustainable competitive advantage and superior profitability.

A wide variety of approaches and initiatives are embraced by concepts such as business ethics, corporate citizenship and social responsibility (CSR). Over the last few years, these ideas have changed corporate agendas and the way we think about corporate actions and objectives. These concepts share a common aim: clarifying and establishing the values governing corporate practices that meet the expectations of society. This trend towards CSR can be seen in a host of initiatives undertaken by a broad range of companies, consumers, investors, and public administrations. The European Commission’s green paper, the GRI, the UN Global Compact and other documents point to a growing interest.

The capstone module will draw on the insights from prior EMBA courses to revisit the General Management module and dive deep into a discussion of the challenges of strategy formulation, alignment, and execution from the holistic perspective of the top management team.