Full-time MBA, Accelerated
Thunderbird’s Full-time MBA is offered in an accelerated track for students with undergraduate business backgrounds or advanced work-experience qualifications. Entering the program with a foundation in accounting, data analysis, statistics, finance and management allows you to waive certain core courses and progress more quickly into concentration area classes and optional language offerings.
Program at a glance |
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Learn about program tuition and financing options available to you.
Global studies opportunities
Thunderbird offers you a full immersion in global business with hands-on, study-abroad opportunities around the world. Students in the accelerated MBA program are eligible to participate in
- Winterims/summerims
- Global internships
- Thunderbird Emerging Markets Laboratories
- Summer language abroad programs
Read more about these global studies opportunities.
Accelerated MBA Curriculum
In our accelerated MBA program, you may choose to focus your studies in one of the following concentration areas:
- Global Development
- Global Entrepreneurship
- Global Finance
- Global Management
- Global Marketing
Sample course descriptions
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Course Number: GM-4505Credit Hours: 3.00
This course provides a managerial orientation to the topic of global marketing in today?s complex, rapidly changing international business environment. A key focus is developing competitive advantage by creating customer value. Course participants will gain a fundamental understanding of marketing strategy and marketing analysis (i.e., customer, competitor, and company analysis) as well as an appreciation of the basic strategic issues involved in market segmentation, market targeting, and market positioning in the international arena.
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Course Number: GF-4508Credit Hours: 1.50
This course covers all the managerial aspects of a well integrated marketing communication plan as it impacts brand building. Students will learn how to design and evaluate integrated communication strategies and programs in a global context. The influence of different cultures is stressed throughout the course as it impacts all the elements of an integrated marketing communication plan, but the course specifically uses advertising as the main vehicle to demonstrate these cultural issues.
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Course Number: GM-4502Credit Hours: 1.50
This course provides a managerial orientation to the topic of global marketing implementation in today?s complex and rapidly-changing business environment. The primary tactics/tools?product development, pricing strategies, marketing communications, distribution management?used by global marketers to create customer value and competitive advantage in international markets are examined. Throughout the course, an emphasis is placed on developing skills for entering new markets and sustaining or growing current markets.
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Course Number: GF-4531Credit Hours: 1.50
This course focuses on the use of marketing
research techniques for competitive advantage in a global business context. Critical assessment of the need for market information, and of its potential value, is an important part
of this course. Students will develop the necessary skills to implement real-world market research, including research
design, data collection, data analysis and reporting the results. -
Course Number: GM-4501Credit Hours: 1.50
This course provides a managerial orientation to the topic of global marketing analysis in today?s complex and rapidly-changing business environment. Course participants will gain a framework for analyzing major risks and opportunities in foreign markets based on market analysis and an understanding of key marketing relationships (i.e., customer, competitor, value-chain and company). In addition, the primary strategic issues involved in global marketing?segmentation, market targeting, and market positioning?are developed.
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Course Number: ST-4434Credit Hours: 1.50
Globalization is becoming a key factor in the competitive advantage of companies today. Therefore, understanding culture, cross cultural differences and similarities, the characteristics of the global work context, and working in multicultural teams across boarders using technology, are necessary for becoming successful leaders in global organizations. An important aspect of this course is the opportunity to work on a team project as a member of a virtual, multi-cultural team, consisting of four members from MBA classes in four different cultures.
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Course Number: GM-4801Credit Hours: 1.50
This course will focus on the introduction of negotiating in the global context. Students will participate in a variety of hands on activities, such as scenario-driven discussions, case study and student-to-student negotiation.
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Course Number: GM-4000Credit Hours: 3.00
This course offers an introduction to the fundamentals of the international business environment and its three major aspects: (1) the institutional framework and policy management of international economic relations, (2) risk assessment and strategic analysis of nation-states, and (3) the operational and organizational concerns of the transnational enterprise.
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Course Number: GF-5273Credit Hours: 3.00
This course is concerned with the theory and practice
of optimally combining securities into portfolios (portfolio analysis) and with asset allocation decision making.
Considerable emphasis is placed on computer-based simulation and optimization. Students are required to simulate the optimization of multi-asset portfolio. This course is highly
mathematical and requires excellent computer skills. -
Course Number: GF-4524Credit Hours: 1.50
The objective of this course is to gain an in-depth knowledge of the field of global pricing, covering the psychology, economics and tactics of pricing for a business enterprise, product or service. Better pricing knowledge usually converts to better bottom-line results, yet pricing is often overlooked as a tool to strengthen brands and overall profitability. Students will learn pricing theory and tactics as well as develop hands-on pricing skills, all aimed at improving profitability.
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Course Number: GF-4507Credit Hours: 3.00
Pricing presents managers with one of their most powerful levers for maximizing profits and shareholder value. However, this value often lies untapped within many organizations, with managers lacking a clear understanding of how to improve pricing practices within their companies and industries.
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Course Number: GF-4517Credit Hours: 1.50
This course examines how an organization can
identify, develop and manage products for global markets.
Issues include the product development cycle, the innovation
charter, and the management of barriers to product development. -
Course Number: GF-4513Credit Hours: 1.50
The primary objective of this course is to expand the students? understanding of the process of managing the customer interface. After completion of this course the student should have a basic understanding of sales management, including cross-cultural dimensions of sales force recruitment, selection, training, evaluation and compensation; sales territory design; and the interface between marketing and sales. Students learn from discussions centered on cases, assigned readings; lectures; and interaction with guest speakers as well as an applied project.
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Course Number: GM-5470Credit Hours: 1.50
This capstone course in global strategy focuses on the inherent tensions that global organizations encounter in formulating and implementing strategy such as localization v. standardization, and centralization v. decentralization. The treatment of issues transcends the typical multi-domestic or international template to address concerns of a transnational nature. Within framework, contemporary developments in joint ventures, strategic alliances, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and the management of the globally diversified organization will be addressed.
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Course Number: IF-5914Credit Hours: 3.00
The learning program of this internship is largely supported by the sponsoring organization with some faculty involvement. Since academic credit is granted, it is required for the student to coordinate with the Faculty Advisor who facilitates the learning process throughout the internship. The student must discuss with the Faculty Advisor, regarding the academic paper (minimum 4-5 pages of a special internship topic) and the progress of the work during the internship (at least one session during the trimester).
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Course Number: IF-5911Credit Hours: 0.00
This Internship is structured as an independent study Internship and requires a close working relationship with the Faculty Advisor. The 3.0 credit Internship paper (minimum 15 ? 20 pages) includes a detailed assessment plan and conference with the Faculty Advisor (minimum 3 sessions per trimester). It should be organized as a field studies paper or a consulting paper.
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Course Number: GF-5541Credit Hours: 3.00
This course focuses on the managerial and technological
issues related to the design and implementation of
business-to-business marketing strategies. The course places
emphasis on the management of long-term relationships with
end-users and distributors within a value creation framework.
The creation and maximization of value are central concepts,
both from an end user as well as from a supplier perspective. The emphasis throughout the course is on the management of the marketing function and the use of marketing techniques -
Course Number: GF-5700Credit Hours: 3.00
This course explores the risk exposures of international
organizations. Generally dealing with accidental loss situations,
the course uses case studies developed by the instructor
(World Trade Center, Volcanic Eruption Disasters, Dupont
Hotel, and others) to enhance the learning process. Topics
include: emergency and disaster planning; environmental risk auditing; political risk management; cyber risk exposures; loss control and financing; risks associated with mergers and
acquisitions; ocean transportation risks; expatriate risks; and -
Course Number: GF-5271Credit Hours: 3.00
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Course Number: GF-5211Credit Hours: 3.00
This course imparts a basic understanding of the
investment banking business as an intermediary in the capital and merger markets and demonstrates how it serves both its issuing clients and investing customers by focusing on several services it provides, how client relationships are established
and maintained, and several analytical techniques for solving problems. It is not intended to be vocational and is presented from the perspectives of senior managers and senior investment bankers.
