Decrease font Decrease font
Decrease font Decrease font
Enlarge font Enlarge font
Enlarge font Enlarge font

Your Thunderbird Executive MBA is like no other. Global business considerations – whether economic, political or cultural – are carefully integrated into all coursework and every learning opportunity. Our world-focus is unlike any other top-tier MBA program. All of which, combined with traditional MBA core courses, prepare you for a truly global career.


Core Curriculum

International Course of Study

The following is an example of the types of courses offered through the Executive MBA - Arizona program. There may be modifications to the 2009-2011 course offerings.

GM-8464 Competing Through People

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.

GM-8486 Global Leadership

This course provides practical insights into those factors, both external and internal, which impact leadership effectiveness. Topics covered include the achievements of leaders, characteristics of leaders, leading across cultures, leading change and relationship between leaders and followers.

PD-1005 Personal and Professional Development Program

Thunderbird’s Personal and Professional Development Program is designed to enhance each participant’s leadership attributes and skills. The Program opens with assessment of learning preferences so that participants can optimize their educational experiences throughout the program. In the earliest stages of the Program directed introspection, self-assessment and reflection will help participants discover and articulate their short- and long-term goals and tie those goals to a specific personal and professional development plan. Additionally, through feedback from corporate and EMBA colleagues, participants will identify strengths and areas in need of improvement to further their ascent in leadership. Throughout the Executive MBA experience, the Personal and Professional Development Program will expose participants to theme-based ‘touch points’ to optimize their individual potential, stretch their leadership capabilities and build a program of life-long learning. Varied methods of achieving this range from 360 feedback to role playing, videos/movies, virtual and in-person team support, leader-level reading, simulations, guided journaling (during international expeditions), as well as scenario and case-based discussions.

GM-8121 Cross Cultural Communication

This dynamic and interactive course provides managers with an effective framework for achieving their goals in competitive global business settings. The course will assist students to prepare for and execute time-tested strategies for achieving communication competence with persons from different cultures. It will not only examine theories of culture and communication, but will also place students in an experiential situation to gain valuable skills for overcoming obstacles in global management environments. Through use of cases, multicultural team exercises, and simulations, this course will equip the global manager with tools to solve problems and take advantage of opportunities in a multicultural world.

GM-8131 Cross Cultural Negotiations

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.

GM-8210 Global Economics

This course investigates the nature of foreign exchange markets and hedging instruments; international financial markets and the transmission of funds; balance of payments; alternative international monetary arrangements and institutions; and the respective adjustment mechanisms in response to fiscal and monetary policy changes. The course also examines how countries grow successfully and the causes of economic crisis.

GM-8000 Global Political Economy

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. The purpose of the course is to provide the international manager with (a) an informed perspective on the institutions and policy processes that shape economic relations between international and national factors and among economic blocs as a foundation for further study in the Thunderbird program, and (b) the substantive base and analytical tools necessary for acquiring an informed perspective.

GM-8311 Financial Accounting and Analysis

The first half of this course introduces accrual accounting concepts including revenue recognition, matching, and asset and liability valuation. Topics covered include the recognition and measurement of accounting events, the preparation and analysis of financial statements (balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows), the use of international financial statements and as introduction to intercorporate investments.

The second half of the course will cover the application of accounting models to the measurement of assets, liabilities, and stockholders’ equity. Topics covered include, marketable securities, receivable and inventory valuation, fixed and intangible assets, bonds, leases, dividends, stock buybacks, stock splits and foreign currency translation. The emphasis of the course is on the evaluation of corporate financial reporting policy and the usefulness of financial reports for decision making. U.S. and international accounting standards are covered.

GM-8545 Managerial Decision Making

This course covers the process of creating and using accounting information for long-and-short-run decision making. Topics include cost allocations and their uses, cost behavior, relevant costs, and decision making, strategic cost analysis, management control systems, budgeting, and control of foreign operations.

GM-8202 Financial Management

This course introduces participants to the fundatmental theories and current issues of fianance and equips them with the necessary tools to make corporate financial decisions within a market-oriented framework. The emphasis of the course is on practical applications with the method of instruction combining case discussions and lectures.

GM-8203 Global Financial Management

The second module of Finance picks up where the Financial Management course leaves off. It examines corporate finance issues from managerial and strategic perspectives, and extends the concepts covered in the previous module to cross border settings. Topics addressed include: capital structure, dividend policy, financial derivatives such as options, forwards and futures; real options; risk management; cross border valuation; and initial public offerings.

GM-8505 Global Marketing Management

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. The major tactics/tools used by global marketers to facilitate the management of their international marketing plans (i.e., product development, pricing strategies, marketing communications, distribution management) are also examined. Throughout the course, an emphasis is placed on developing skills for entering new markets and sustaining or growing current markets.

GM-8518 Services and Relationship Management

This course provides an understanding of the unique aspects of the strategic marketing of services at a global level. Key topics are: the growing role of services in the global economy and the differences between the strategic marketing of products and services.

GM-8319 Operations Management

This course provides an overview of the design, control, and improvement of manufacturing and service productions systems. Topics include operations strategy, product design and process selection, quality management and statistical process control, materials requirements planning, lean thinking, theory of constraints, service delivery and service quality, and global supply chain management.

GM-8390 Project Management

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.

GM-8424 Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship

This course provides an understanding of entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurial process, and corporate venturing in a global setting with special emphasis on new venture creation and growth.

GM-8468 Competitive Strategy

This foundation course in strategy covers a range of Core concepts and analytical techniques relating to competitive advantage in global organizations. It deals with both classical and contemporary issues of importance such as industry analysis, Core competence of organizations, top management teams and corporate governance, product/market scope decisions, and value chain analysis. The emphasis is on the application analytical tools and frameworks to understand complex strategy issues.

GM-8470 Global Strategy

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.

GM-8603 Contemporary Business in Asia

The Contemporary Business in Asia course deals with the political and social context in which business activities take place. This includes consideration of eight factors that shape or reflect the operational realities of management and business, including: patterns of historical development cover political, social and economic events and structures; geographic environment involves human and economic geography, covering population and natural resource distributions, regional financial and trade centers, and transportation systems; political environment includes government structure, state role, interest groups, political parties and the policy-making process; cultural traditions cover religious traditions and sociocultural dimensions that have a direct impact on business operations; international environment includes regional organizations, regional political and economic trends, regional peace and conflicts, and the place of the region in the global system; for economic environment, economic policies, current economy patterns, and major industries are discussed; under legal environment, major regional trade barriers, investment policies, and intellectual property protection issues are covered. There are also discussions on major current issues.

GM-8624 Contemporary Business in Europe

The Contemporary Business in Europe course deals with the political and social context in which business activities take place. This includes consideration of eight factors that shape or reflect the operational realities of management and business, including: patterns of historical development covers political, social and economic events and structures; geographic environment involves human and economic geography, covering population and natural resource distributions, regional financial and trade centers, and transportation systems; political environment includes government structure, state role, interest groups, political parties and the policy-making process; cultural traditions cover religious traditions and sociocultural dimensions that have a direct impact on business operations; international environment includes regional organizations, regional political and economic trends, regional peace and conflicts, and the place of the region in the global system; for economic environment, economic policies, current economy patterns, and major industries are discussed; under legal environment, major regional trade barriers, investment policies, and intellectual property protection issues are covered. There are also discussions on major current issues.

GM-8645 Contemporary Business in Latin America

The Contemporary Business in Latin America course deals with the political and social context in which business activities take place. This includes consideration of eight factors that shape or reflect the operational realities of management and business, including: patterns of historical development cover political, social and economic events and structures; geographic environment involves human and economic geography, covering population and natural resource distributions, regional financial and trade centers, and transportation systems; political environment includes government structure, state role, interest groups, political parties and the policy-making process; cultural traditions cover religious traditions and sociocultural dimensions that have a direct impact on business operations; international environment includes regional organizations, regional political and economic trends, regional peace and conflicts, and the place of the region in the global system; for economic environment, economic policies, current economy patterns, and major industries are discussed; under legal environment, major regional trade barriers, investment policies, and intellectual property protection issues are covered. There are also discussions on major current issues.