A perfect blend of international relations & management
Your full-time Master of Arts in Global Affairs and Management is designed to provide you with the political, economic and cultural training to thrive in international affairs and global relations. The MA in Global Affairs and Management features coursework in international relations, political economy and area studies taught by world-class multinational faculty members. The curriculum also includes accounting, finance, marketing, management and entrepreneurship – all from a global perspective – with a breadth of additional global affairs electives for specialization.
Your studies begin with Foundations Week, an interactive and engaging course covering key aspects of leadership, team-building, motivation, ethics, cross-cultural communication, self-assessment, professional development and career-management strategies. You will also have the opportunity to participate in Global Professional Development Seminars presented by our Career Management Center – completing coursework in topics such as business presentations, public speaking, cross-cultural teambuilding and networking, business report writing and business etiquette in global settings.
Economics bootcampsDepending on your undergraduate background, you may be required to take an online economics bootcamp prior to beginning the program. Read more. |
English proficiencyDepending on your TOEFL, IELTS or PTE score (if applicable), you may be required to take “Business English Communications” course(s) prior to beginning the program. |
Sample course descriptions
Note: Not all courses shown here are taught at all times. This listing represents a sample of the courses available at Thunderbird, but is not meant to be all-inclusive. Please speak with an admissions representative to discuss the specific classes being offered in the next term.
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Course Number: ML-4020Credit Hours: 0.00
In recent years, the business world has become increasingly sensitized to the presence of institutional governance and defining the culture of a corporation and its core values. Stated explicitly or not, these issues not only impact the reputation of the venture or corporation, but also its sustainability and financial bottom line.
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Course Number: GF-5412Credit Hours: 3.00
This course will (1) increase your understanding of the nature of organizational change (through conceptual frameworks, readings and discussions), (2) increase your skill in managing change (through a project) and (3) enhance your sensitivity to the contribution and consequences of the human element as related to change. As a pivotal requirement of this course, you will create and manage a change project. This project will be the platform through which you will apply the issues and concepts that we cover in this course.
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Course Number: ST-4432Credit Hours: 1.50
This course covers the critical legal issues every entrepreneur and manager need to know in conducting global business. The topics include organizational structure, financial issues at startup and expansion, domestic and international tax issues, intellectual property issues, employment law issues, and transactional law issues. Each session will be covered by a lawyer expert in the topic area under the direction of a Thunderbird faculty member.
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Course Number: GF-4803Credit Hours: 3.00
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Course Number: GM-4102Credit Hours: 1.50
This course covers the development and use of managerial accounting information, including both financial and non-financial performance measures, in making long- and short-run decisions. Topics include cost-profit-volume analysis, cost behavior, relevant costs, job-order and processes costing, activity based cost management and the analysis of customer profitability.
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Course Number: GF-4623Credit Hours: 3.00
This course follows the evolution of the European business environment created by the enlargement of the European Union. It focuses on how businesses are managing their operations in the enlarging European Single Market, a Market which will expand again with the access ion of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union in 2007. The course addresses the challenges and opportunities facing companies in the dynamic environment of the ?new? evolving European Union.
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Course Number: MGT-4001Credit Hours: 1.50
This course explores the mix of organizational practices and people that can be the basis of sustainable competitive advantage in the contemporary global business environment. Topics covered include cross-cultural issues in managing people; traditional and emerging models of organizations; organizational culture; leadership; employee skills and motivation; reward systems; and change management.
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Course Number: GF-4390Credit Hours: 1.50
This course focuses on project planning, monitoring
and control for the management of complex projects in a global context. Use of project management software will be integrated throughout the course. Discussions will include cases and experiences from past projects. -
Course Number: GF-5424Credit Hours: 3.00
This course will explore and analyze family business continuity challenges and best management, family and governance practices for the effective leadership of family-owned businesses. Since the focus is on pragmatic, action-oriented, management, governance and family/business leadership skills, the course will be taught primarily through live and written cases, discussions, lectures and a study/consultation experience with a family business.
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Course Number: GF-5414Credit Hours: 1.50
This course covers concepts and skills essential to managing work relationships in organizations of increasing cross-cultural complexity. Relationships examined include those with your direct reports, your boss, and your peers. Concepts and skills associated with self-management, interpersonal, one-on-one management and group/team management are covered and practiced. The course will use discussion, self-reflection, experiential exercises and lecture to help build hands-on self-awareness and relationship management competencies.
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Course Number: MKT-4000Credit Hours: 3.00
This course is designed to provide students with the basic principles of marketing management i.e. marketing mix, segmentation, target marketing, and positioning, a toolkit required to conduct quantitative analysis as a marketing manager, the ability to conduct an analysis of consumers, competitors and channels, frameworks to evaluate the similarities and differences between domestic and global marketing and marketing ethics and cross-cultural nuances to enable the student to successfully implement marketing strategies in international markets.
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Course Number: MKT-4001Credit Hours: 1.50
This course focuses on developing competitive advantage by creating customer value. An understanding of customer relationships and their strategic implications is developed within the context of competitor and value-chain relationships. Emphasis is placed on developing an understanding of the analytical and managerial decision tools for creating competitive advantage, and on understanding the similarities and the differences in domestic and global marketing.
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Course Number: GF-4509Credit Hours: 3.00
Place marketing is an important field of study and practice which has emerged in the past 15 years. Place Marketing includes ?Destination Marketing? (tourism), Nation Branding (the concept of a country as a brand), as well as the marketing of cities and states. This course is designed to include all these components of place marketing.
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Course Number: GF-4424Credit Hours: 3.00
This course will focus on microfinance and its potential as a tool for economic development within the political, business and cultural context of Northern India. Students will learn from practitioners across the entire breadth of the industry including financing banks, MFI head-offices, field-offices and loan group meetings.
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Course Number: MKT-4002Credit Hours: 1.50
This course focuses on marketing planning and implementation. It develops a practical knowledge of the marketing management system and its key components, including marketing planning, control and coordination, integrated marketing communications, product development, pricing and distribution channels. Emphasis is placed on developing skills for entering new markets and sustaining or growing current markets.
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Course Number: PO-4100Credit Hours: 3.00
This course familiarizes the students with the current peculiarities of the Brazilian Market, in terms of taxes, banking operations, imports & exports, interest rates in order to prepare future international managers to do business in/with Brazil.
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Course Number: PO-4050Credit Hours: 3.00
This course is designed for native speakers of Spanish or for those who can master the language in an intermediate to high level. At the end of the course, students will have acquired conversational & colloquial skills of the language, as well as cultural and economic concepts of the countries where Portuguese is spoken, with emphasis on Brazil, which is one of the most important markets in today's economy.
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Course Number: PO-4015Credit Hours: 3.00
This is an introductory course for beginning language learners. No prior knowledge is required. Students study language fundamentals such as pronunciations, vocabulary and grammar. The emphases are: a) establishing a solid foundation in pronunciations; b) building up vocabulary and sentence patterns in communicative contexts; c) introducing writing systems and preparing students to read characters. In addition, cultural and social information that go along with language use are also included in the teaching.
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Course Number: PO-4021Credit Hours: 3.00
This course is a continuation of Fundamentals I. It aims to help students further develop communicative skills in listening and speaking, with an additional emphasis on reading texts. The emphases of this course are: a) building up more vocabulary and grammatical structures for communications purposes, b) integrating the linguistic and cultural knowledge acquired in Fundamentals I with the new knowledge, c) introducing business content and terminology in instructions and activities.
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Course Number: XM-1004Credit Hours: 0.00
The goal of this seminar is to challenge future global leaders, whether headed to business, government or the social sector, to reflect critically about their role in creating a more just, inclusive and sustainable world economy. The seminar will encourage participants to question their fundamental assumptions about the human condition, their personal values, and their understanding of leadership.
