Coursework Takes Engineer to Global Level

Bruce Dingeman '03 applied his global experiences and MBA knowledge to the international oil and gas industry.

Additional Information

The curriculum is specifically designed for senior executives with roles that are increasingly international. It is 15 months and has 5 terms during which you will complete at 11 courses, including:

8 Core Modules: Cover all functional areas of business and include advanced elective-like material
3 Multi-term Courses: Deep dive into global and leadership content

Optional elective courses, concentrations, and a certificate are also available to allow you to sharpen your skills in a particular discipline or broaden your knowledge in a functional area.

For more detailed curriculum information, explore the tabs below:

Curriculum by Term
Core Courses
Multi-term Courses
Electives & Concentrations

Term 1: Durham (Accounting and Economics)

Term 2: St. Petersburg (Management) and London (Decision Sciences)

Term 3: Dubai (Strategy) and New Delhi (Operations)

Term 4: Shanghai/Kunshan (Finance) and Bangkok (Marketing)

Term 5: Durham (Capstone Leadership Project)

Multi-Term Courses:

Culture, Civilization, and Leadership
Global Markets and Institutions
Leadership for the Global Executive

Program at a glance

Learn more about your Core Courses

Eight deep core courses, called modules, add advanced, elective-like material to the standard MBA curriculum creating a robust, intentional set of classes that are uniquely relevant for senior executives. Think of these as “super courses” where instead of being Fuqua’s traditional 3-credit hour course, they are 4.5-credit hour courses.

Taken two at a time, these courses span the functional areas in business:

Accounting
Economics
Management
Decision Sciences
Strategy
Operations
Finance
Marketing

Term I - Durham

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Financial Reporting and Managerial Accounting in a Global Environment

This course has two complementary objectives linked to the use of accounting information to support decision-making, planning, and control. The first objective is to increase your understanding of how the financial reporting process communicates decision-useful information to investors, creditors, and other users of financial reports. The second objective is to improve your understanding of how accounting and non-accounting information is used to support the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of a successful global strategy. The course introduces the basics of financial reporting, including both American and international standards, and the basics of managerial accounting, including cost management, control, and performance evaluation. The focus is on concepts and applications, including the measurement and reporting to parties external to the firm of financial position, financial performance and cash flows, and the use by parties internal to the firm of information about the costs of products and services and the performance evaluation of organizational units and those who manage them. The perspective taken is that of a user of accounting information. The course is taught using a combination of readings, class discussion and case analyses.
Global Managerial Economics

This course examines market behavior and the actions and reactions of business firms and consumers in a variety of market environments. The impact of different market structures (including perfect competition, monopoly, and oligopoly) on production and consumption is analyzed. Specific topics include the logic of interventions by national governments, and the evaluation of implications for market efficiency; international trade, including free trade issues and the competitive effects of global trade and industrial policies; empirical demand analysis as a basis for global entry and pricing decisions; price discrimination strategies by firms with market power to maximize profits in different environments; pricing, entry, and regulatory issues with application to the pharmaceuticals industry; game theory, and tools for the analysis of strategic interactions among large players; cartels and anti-trust in the world economy; comparative analysis of competition and regulation policy in the U.S. and Europe.

Term II - St. Petersburg and London

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Management for the Global Executive

This course addresses the human side of management, with special emphasis on what makes a manager effective in a global business environment. Readings, case analysis, experiential exercises, and intensive discussion (in class, class bulletin boards, and chat rooms) build students' understanding and skill in managing people. The course explores both basic issues in management that arise in all business settings and special issues that arise when management has to reach across cultural and national boundaries. The course will focus on three inter-related skill sets that are essential to being an effective manager. The first is making good decisions. Many managers rely heavily on intuition to make decisions. We will discuss the pros and cons of intuition, and ways to benefit from intuition without succumbing to the pitfalls. We also discuss ethical management, with attention to ethics in a global business context. The second skill set includes skills and knowledge needed to manage people and relationships. For example, the effective manager is an able negotiator, knows how to successfully navigate the network of informal relationships, and understands what motivates people. The third skill set involves understanding how teams and organizations work, and how effective organizational change can be designed and implemented. This skill set requires knowledge of organizational design, team dynamics, positive and negative influences on learning and change, and power and politics in organizations.
Statistical Models for the Global Executive

In the global economy, there is much uncertainty and a great deal of information is available. To make informed decisions, executives must be able to make sense of key uncertainties and the associated risks. This includes learning to choose, analyze, and understand data concerning relevant variables and relationships; to make inferences and predictions on the basis of such data; and to use this information effectively in decision making. This course sharpens quantitative and analytical skills and develops tools for interpreting data and making forecasts.

Term III - Dubai and New Delhi

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Dynamic Strategy in Global Environments

This class is designed for globally-oriented senior executives who regularly make strategic decisions that affect the long-term viability of their firms and their careers. We start from the premise that successful firms seek combinations of three types of competitive advantage-based on cost, differentiation, and innovation-that lead to strong performance. The discussion of strategic management is framed around the need to develop a clear vision for how your firm will create value for existing and potential customers. We systematically analyze key elements of the competitive environment, with the dual goal of identifying threats to your current positions as well as opportunities to create profitable new positions addressing emergent customer demands and segments, which often require developing a new vision for your business. We then turn to ways in which firms can build on their existing technological and organizational capabilities to take advantage of opportunities related to their existing value proposition and, more importantly, create new capabilities to take advantage of new opportunities that emerge in competitive and customer space. Throughout the discussion, we emphasize the importance of strategic leadership at both the senior management and operating levels of your firm. Our focus is explicitly international. We study firms and opportunities in the traditional "developed" markets of North America, Europe, the Antipodes, and East Asia, while comparing and contrasting strategic challenges in "emerging" markets throughout the world. The core principles of strategic management apply in all settings. At the same time, key differences in the intensity and application of these principles arise in settings with different market infrastructure and competitive environments. You'll learn skills to manage effectively in a wide range of environments.
Operations Management in a Global Environment

Operations management involves planning and controlling the processes used to produce goods and deliver services to customers. In essence, it is the management of all activities related to doing the actual work of the organization. In a global environment, product and service supply chains have become more complex and decentralized: Firms can utilize resources from different countries, markets are composed of customers with different cultures and diversified preferences, supply chains involve many independent organizations spanning various countries. Managed well, an organization's operations can be a key source of competitive advantage. They can play a critical role in facilitating an organization's overall strategy, and they can enable an organization to deliver its products or services with high quality at low cost. Some of the topics that will be covered in this course include: process analysis, capacity and response time analysis, process-product matrix, mass customization, analysis of systems with variability, operations in service organizations, inventory management, design of global supply chains to achieve speed and flexibility, and operations strategy. These topics will be introduced using a variety of cases, problem sets, and in-class and online simulations that facilitate on-hands experience with the management of operations in organizations.

Term IV - Shanghai/Kunshan and Bangkok

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Global Capital Markets

Managing a successful global business requires a sophisticated understanding of capital markets, both in terms of how capital markets operate and in terms of how they shape internal corporate financial decision-making. This course is designed to equip managers with both sets of tools. Thus, the course covers the fundamentals of asset pricing in global capital markets, which includes a description of the types of securities that trade around the globe and an analysis of the economic factors that help to determine the prices at which they trade. The course then studies how these same factors affect capital budgeting, financing growth, and related financial decisions that top managers face inside the firm.
Global Marketing: Strategies and Tactics

Success in the global marketplace requires managing existing businesses profitably in mature developed economies while expanding into high-growth emerging markets. This course will help students formulate global marketing strategies and tactics required for meeting these dual challenges. The course will adopt a strategic, corporate level perspective. The course will examine methods to obtain customer insights and competitive intelligence for marketing decisions. These include qualitative frameworks as well as quantitative marketing research methods such as conjoint analysis and perceptual mapping. The course will teach students how to use the information from market analysis to develop local innovations that create value for the customers in each geography and yet leverage the global strengths of the company. The course will also cover topics such as market entry and exit, management of brand portfolio across geographic markets, segmentation, targeting, and marketing mix design. The course will end with a framework for preparing and evaluating marketing plans.

Next, learn about your 3 multi-term courses.

One of the many unique characteristics of the Global Executive curriculum is the inclusion of three multi-term courses. These required courses provide one-of-a-kind, cumulative, and tailored experiences.

The first two courses draw their content from the regions to which you travel for residencies. You will understand the implications of leading a global firm because you will study, discuss, and experience the way in which region-specific institutions, markets, cultures, and civilizations both enhance and hinder international commerce.

The third multi-term course addresses the unique leadership and personal development issues facing senior executives, such as developing skills to effectively manage your time, build teams, and negotiate business deals. After individual assessments, you will work on a personal opportunity to apply classroom constructs to your unique work situation. An executive coach will advise you throughout the course.

The Three Multi-Term Courses:

Culture, Civilization, and Leadership
This course provides a context for understanding the critical cultural and civilizational differences and similarities across countries and applying them to the understanding of the management challenges unique to running a global firm. Click here and learn what's unique about this course.

Global Markets and Institutions
This course studies the role of markets and institutions in shaping national and international commerce. Click here and learn what's unique about this course.

Leadership for the Global Executive
Together with Management for the Global Executive, this leadership course addresses the science and art of directing, influencing, and inspiring people. Click here and learn what's unique about this course.

Next, learn about optional electives and concentrations.

Optional electives, concentrations, and certificates provide an opportunity to specialize in one function or industry and help to sharpen and/or broaden your business knowledge.

Tuition: Additional fees apply to electives, concentrations, and certificates. Learn more on the Costs & Financial Aid page.

Electives

If you choose to enroll in electives, you will participate in a 2-week residency in Durham, which is followed by 10 weeks of distance learning. This optional Term 6 occurs after graduation, from September to December. To facilitate networking across programs, you will be in class with students from our Weekend Executive and Cross Continent MBA programs.

Elective course offerings vary from year to year, but those listed below are representative of what you might expect:

Corporate Finance
Investments
Real Estate Finance
Entrepreneurship & New Venture Management
Negotiation
Market Intelligence
Marketing of Innovations
Financial Statement Analysis

Service Operations or Supply Chain
Valuation & Fundamental Analysis
Competitive Analysis
Emerging Markets
Leadership
Health Sector Management
Energy and the Environment

Concentrations

You have the option to earn a concentration or certificate in various areas of business management to customize your experience and to gain knowledge for practical application. No matter your career path, your grounding in the principles and practices of general management coupled with a specialization will expand your career opportunities. Taking electives can lead to completing a concentration.

Concentrations include:

Energy and Environment
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Finance
Marketing
Strategy

Concentration Requirements:

2 electives in Term 6 from an approved list
Secure approval to engage in an independent elective project, which is worth the equivalent of 2 courses

The independent project is completed in the optional Term 7

Using Business to Impact Public Health

While at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kim Lane '07, created better processes for distributing vaccines nationwide. If you're interested in the health industry, consider our HSM Certificate.

Read about how Kim used her MBA in public health.

Certificate

The Health Sector Management (HSM) Certificate offers insight into the interaction and interdependencies of health-related industries and organizations.

Certificate Requirements:

Fundamentals of HSM: A Global Perspective (online seminar series)
Economics and Strategy of HSM (completed in Term 6)
HSM Project Course (completed in optional Term 7)
Health Care in the 21st Century (can be taken during the Term 6 schedule or after graduation)
2 HSM elective courses

Learn more about the HSM certificate available for Global Executive MBA students.

Global Executive MBA

Why Global Executive?

Program Format

Academics

Curriculum

Culture, Civilizations, and Leadership

Leadership for the Global Executive

Global Markets & Institutions

Faculty

Learning Environment

Academic Preparation

2012 - 2013 Calendar

2013 - 2014 Calendar

Student Life

Career Management

Admissions

Employer Support

FAQs

Curriculum

Additional Information

For more detailed curriculum information, explore the tabs below:

Financial Reporting and Managerial Accounting in a Global Environment

Global Managerial Economics

Management for the Global Executive

Statistical Models for the Global Executive

Dynamic Strategy in Global Environments

Operations Management in a Global Environment

Global Capital Markets

Global Marketing: Strategies and Tactics

The Three Multi-Term Courses:

Electives

Concentrations

Certificate

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