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Thunderbird students may refine their business skills and knowledge by selecting one of five focus areas listed below. This specialization — a mandatory 12-hours of coursework in a selected area — allows you to position yourself for the career of your choice.


Focus Area and Electives

  • Global Marketing - real-world exposure to international brand management, customer relationship management (CRM) and global pricing.
  • Global Finance - in-depth preparation for global careers in finance, economics and accounting.
  • Global Development - focus on functional analytical skills needed to advance global economic and social development.
  • Global Management - skill development in areas that address global management issues such as corporate strategies, change management and consulting.
  • Customized Focus - an opportunity to select courses from any of the specialties: Global Finance, Global Marketing, Global Development or Global Management to fill functional gaps or supplement professional experience.

Focus Area Courses:

GF-4110 Corporate Financial Reporting

This course provides an in-depth analysis of corporate financial reporting as a vehicle for communicating information to the firm’s stakeholders. Topics covered include revenue and expense recognition, quality of earnings issues, analysis of cash flows, foreign currency translation, the valuation of debt instruments, derivatives, and executive stock compensation.

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GF-4390 Managing Projects

This course focuses on initiation planning, execution and control of complex projects in a global context. Some use of project management software (MS Project) will be integrated throughout the course. This course fulfills educational requirements for the Project Management Professional Certification exam. This course is not offered every trimester.

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GF-4402 Corporate Strategy

This course focuses on issues that define the scope of the firm and its competitive environment. Organization scope is impacted by a variety of factors such as ownership structure, country context, and firm-specific resource endowments. Consequently, this course will explore these influences within a multi-disciplinary perspective, drawing on research and practice from areas such as finance, industrial organization economics, organizational behavior, and organization theory. The objective is to provide students with a rigorous and practical course that offers a deeper understanding of several key management areas, including diversification, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and corporate restructuring.

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GF-4425 Risk Management for Entrepreneurs

This is a practically oriented course that provides participants with a number of tools necessary for the successful operation of a business. The course begins with a brief introduction to the risk management process and to commercial insurance concepts. After the introduction, nine specific topics will be addressed. Each topic will require participants to read materials and to access the Internet for additional information. Internet resources will be emphasized not only because of their ease of use but also to identify Web sites that can be used for years to come.

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GF-4506 Global Customer Analysis

This course focuses on consumer behavior from a cross-cultural perspective. Topics include the cognitive processes underlying consumer choice (needs, perceptions and attitudes); descriptive consumer characteristics (demographics, psychographics, VALS); and environmental influences on behavior (culture, family, situation). Emphasis is placed on the implications of consumer behavior for global marketing strategy. Course assignments emphasize the application of these concepts to real marketing problems.

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GF-4508 Global Marketing Communications

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. Students will gain an in-depth understanding of the latest developments in the field of marketing communications, using current case studies and team projects to develop real world solutions.

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GF-4510 Global Channel Management

The effective management of channel relationships is essential to the marketing manager’s ability to create value for customers through the efficient delivery of goods and services. This course provides the knowledge and skills required to manage channel relationships effectively. Specifically, the course facilitates an understanding of: (1) alternative channel structures; (2) roles played by channel members in strategy and logistics; (3) effective methods for negotiating with channel members, and (4) technologies that enable the channel system.

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GF-4513 Global Sales Management

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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GF-4517 Global Product Development

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.

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GF-4518 Strategic Services Marketing

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.

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GF-4523 Customer Relationship Management

The increasing availability of detailed customer information makes it possible for marketers to add value and instill loyalty by personalizing offerings to individual customers. This course focuses on using computerized techniques to acquire new customers, enhance the profitability of existing customers, and retain profitable customers.

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GF-4531 Global Marketing Research

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.

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GF-4701 Export/Import Management

This course covers in detail the techniques and procedures involved in successfully carrying out export and import transactions. Topics include the language of international trade, INCO terms, payment terms, trade barriers, export licensing, pricing, order handling, insurance, international collections, and international transportation. Documentation requirements of export and import operations are examined in detail. Import and customs clearance procedures are studied along with their relation to foreign product sourcing and international purchasing. The functions and operations of Foreign Trade Zones are illustrated, and the important area of counter-trade is introduced.

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GF-4790 Regional Economics Agreements

The European Union, NAFTA, APEC, and other regional economic agreements offer important opportunities and challenges for global managers, policy makers, and global development practitioners. This course examines such issues as the origins, objectives, stages, strategies, and future of regional agreements and their implications in such areas as trade, finance, labor, development, environmental and other business regulations.

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GF-5112 Financial Statement Analysis

This course focuses on analyzing financial statement information in a variety of global decision contexts including security valuation, credit decisions, strategy and competitive analysis, mergers & acquisitions, and litigation support. Financial analysis uses cash flows and ratio measures of a company’s operating, financing and investing performance for comparison to past historical performance or with competitors. Accounting analysis uses an understanding of how a company’s business and its operating strategy are represented by accounting rules and develops procedures for adjusting accounting measures of performance. Prospective analysis develops forecasts of financial statements to make estimates of a company’s equity valuation.

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GF-5211 Investment Banking

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.

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GF-5250 Multinational Corporate Finance (FORAD)

This course applies the theories of managerial and international finance to the problems of multinational treasury management. Topics include issues and techniques in multinational funds transfers; identifying and measuring foreign exchange and interest rate risk; multinational tax planning; managing foreign exchange and interest rate risk; hedging instruments, including forward contracts, options, and swaps; and financially engineered synthetics. Students also manage the financial functions of a computer-simulated multinational corporation, construct a biennial report summarizing their management results, and present oral reports to a board of directors consisting of professors and invited business professionals. This course is not offered every trimester. Successful completion of this course will satisfy the TIE II graduation requirement.

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GF-5260 Financial Engineering & Derivative Products

This course provides the foundation for derivative products used throughout finance. The first part introduces the basics of value and risk used throughout the course. Topics covered include futures, forwards, swaps, options, introductory bond pricing concepts, such as yield-curve, duration, immunization and hedge ratios. The concepts are applied to problems in asset, liability and portfolio management. Students also manage the risk management function of a computer-simulated multinational corporation. This course is highly mathematical.

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GF-5271 Global Securities Investment

This course surveys the investment management landscape and delivers the theory and technology attendant to intellectual and/or career pursuit in this area. Topics explored include the domestic and international aspects of portfolio optimization, emerging markets and global asset allocation, security analysis and selection, stock sorting and screening algorithms, mutual fund performance decomposition and benchmarking, fixed income analytics and metrics, earnings quality, the franchise factor, distress prediction models, behavioral finance models, and financial derivatives from a portfolio management perspective. A respectable floor of numeracy is advisable; a CFAAE emphasis prevails.

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GF-5273 Global Portfolio Management

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.

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GF-5274 Global Supply Chain Leadership

This course offers a strategic approach to competitive global supply chains and networks. It covers supply chain management and strategic sourcing/supply. Chains are analyzed using four essential underpinnings: physical, financial, information, and relationships for their fit with the firm’s competitive business models. Tools will be presented for successful diagnoses, implementation and management. How can and do companies and not-for-profits take leadership roles to compete globally with their supply chains/networks and through the use of strategic sourcing and supply? What are the most appropriate network designs, systems, and processes for specific firms and organizations? This course is offered in the fall and spring. Successful completion of this course will satisfy the TIE II graduation requirement.

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GF-5290 Advanced Topics in Finance

This course provides an overview of the private equity industry globally, its role in economy, its participants, its operations, and its recent development. It covers different phases of the private equity investment process and the players involved at each stage. The phases include: setting up a fund, selection and screening of investments, exploring valuation techniques, structuring a deal, managing and exiting investments. Emphasis will be on the practical aspects of private equity transactions through case studies and interactions with private equity professionals.

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GF-5401 Strategic Management of Technology & Innovation

This course is an overview of the process of the management of technology and innovation including the strategic, managerial, and organizational structure variables that influence its success or failure. Topics include the impact of new technologies on industries, dominant designs and platform leadership, incremental and transformational innovations, lifecycle dynamics, technology transfer, entrepreneurship, critical success factors in managing innovative projects and managing innovation professions in co-located and virtual environments. Tools include technology audits, technology portfolios, technology road maps, make versus buy decisions, scenario planning and technology forecasting.

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GF-5408 Organizational Consulting

This is an introductory applications course exploring the profession and practice of management consulting. The narrow view of consulting is limited to the field of private sector management consulting and those firms that are dedicated to the practice. A broader view acknowledges that mastery of the skills and practices required in planning, executing, and delivering a consulting project is useful to anyone considering a career in management, whether in the private, public, or NGO sectors. The goal of this course is to provide students with an introduction to consulting as it is practiced worldwide and across sectors. Students will achieve this goal by undertaking a consulting engagement for a real-world client. Effort will be placed on developing proficiencies in a range of skills required to practice consulting. Students will be provided an opportunity to become familiar with the typical phases in a consulting project: selling a project, entering the client firm, gathering data, diagnosing issues, implementing solutions, and leaving. The overall objectives of the course are to: 1) provide an overview of the world of management consulting; 2) provide a direct application experience; and 3) provide participants an opportunity to develop a set of skills that will add value and depth to their personal and professional capabilities. This course is not offered every trimester. Successful completion of this course will satisfy the TIE II graduation requirement. Faculty permission required.

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GF-5412 Leading Change & Transformation

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. Project efforts and analyses will include (1) the nature of the change agreement, (2) the goals of the change, (3) the identification and management of key stakeholders, (4) the challenges faced as change agents, (5) your own and you’re a client’s assessment of the relative success and failure of the change, and (6) the lessons learned in completing this leading change project.

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GF-5414 Managing Work Relations

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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GF-5421 Entrepreneuship: Valuation of the Private Firm

This course is for entrepreneurs and venture financiers who desire to learn how non-public firms are valued. The course consists of lectures, in-class presentations by guest experts, in-class presentations by students, written examinations, team projects, and various assigned readings. Lectures will cover a review of financial theory and analytical techniques as they relate to valuation, a review of the various types of valuations mandated by law, and circumstance and the identification of the appropriate valuation techniques to apply in each circumstance. Students will be required to develop an understanding of the importance of the firm’s qualitative characteristics and the contribution qualitative firm characteristics make to firm value such as: firm strategy; firm management; the firm’s product and/or technology; and the firm’s ability to execute  its strategy. Students will prepare a team generated valuation report and will learn how to value a firm by observing and valuing different relevant components of value. These components are: (1) the value of free cash flow (i.e., the value of an on going operating business); (2) the value of any control discounts or premiums; (3) the magnitude of any marketability or size discounts; and (4) the value of intellectual property or technology. Overall, the student should become more competent in using financial techniques to analyze a firm’s value and the student should develop a strong sense as to how qualitative aspects of a firm’s operation and performance can and should be considered when assessing firm value.

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GF-5422 The Global Business Plan

The guiding framework for a global enterprise and an essential tool for the global entrepreneur is a well-developed, comprehensive business plan. The process of creating a business plan provides an in-depth view of the complex inter-dependency of the functional elements of a viable organization: marketing, finance, management & leadership and systems & operations. This course, via classroom lecture, case study, guest presentations by practitioners (venture capitalists, intellectual property attorneys, angel investors, marketing professionals) provides a capstone global learning experience to synthesize and apply fundamental concepts and principles from across a wide graduate business education spectrum. The main course deliverable is a fully-formed business plan that represents both a productive planning tool for the student entrepreneur-to-be as well as a robust learning experience to tie together many important elements of a graduate business experience. This course is not offered every trimester. Successful completion of this course will satisfy the TIE II graduation requirement.

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GF-5424 Global Family Business

This course will explore and analyze family business continuity challenges and best management, family, and governance practices for the effective leadership of the family-owned business. 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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GF-5425 Entrepreneurial Finance & Forecasting

This course focuses on finance concepts as applied in the real world by entrepreneurs. From the firm perspective, the course covers topics relevant to entrepreneurial finance, including financial statements, forecasting of key financial variables, funding plans and venture capital. The course will prepare prospective general managers of entrepreneurial companies on how to make the financial decisions involved with building high-risk, high-growth enterprises. It prepares business-minded students for careers focused on entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship. Through the use of case study analysis, combined with readings from assigned sources and exercises, students will come to understand aspects in finance that are critical to the entrepreneurial venture. Students will be prepared to deal with the various financing and forecasting issues pertinent to closely held non-public firms. These skills are aimed at preparing the student to better deal with venture capitalists, angel investors, investment bankers, and other financial stakeholders.

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GF-5426 Social Entrepreneurship & Enterprise

The goal of this course is to offer a variety of opportunities for students to learn about social entrepreneurship and engage students in learning the contributors to high performing social enterprises. Students will explore stories of established social enterprises through books and case studies to uncover common themes and approaches. In additional, students will engage in experience exercises and class discussions for full emersion into the mindset of socially oriented business and activities. The objective is to acquire needed skills and knowledge for building and leading social enterprises. Students will apply their knowledge learned in other global MBA courses in a creative and interdisciplinary way by evaluating other social efforts made by existing organizations, and by testing the feasibility of a new social enterprise idea. This course will attract students who are contemplating leading a social enterprise, interested in consulting to social enterprises, planning to serve as an advisor or volunteer in an organization, or funding social efforts or nonprofit organizations.

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GF-5460 The Global Energy Industry: Business & Management

This course examines in detail the business, economics, and politics associated with the global energy industry. The course, while not exclusively focused on hydrocarbon energy sources, devotes a large amount of time to this area because of its current energy role. The depth and breadth of material includes history, culture, politics, and involves some of the largest, most profitable, most valued, and most influential multinational firms in the world.

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GF-5520 Global Brand Management

This course provides a managerial orientation to the topic of global brand management. It is designed to prepare students for a career in global brand and/or product management. Students will learn how to: (1) understand the roles and responsibilities (and career paths) of brand management in the contemporary domestic and global contexts; (2) understand the meaning of a brand and be able to develop plans to create, maintain, grow and/or revitalize a brand and its equity; and (3) appreciate the major types of marketing problems faced by brand managers with an emphasis on developing sound strategic approaches for decisions and solutions.

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GF-5524 Analysis for Strategic Marketing

This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the key marketing issues through an examination of various marketing decisions. This course complements other marketing courses by adopting a more hands-on and practical approach to strategic market planning. Specifically the course objectives are to: help students develop an understanding of the role that analytical techniques and computer models can play in enhancing marketing decision-making in modern enterprises; improve students’ skill in viewing marketing processes and relationships systematically and analytically; and provide students with the operational skills required to apply the methods and models to solve real marketing decision problems. This course is not offered every trimester. Successful completion of this course will satisfy the TIE II graduation requirement.

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GF-5542 Global Business Marketing

This course focuses on the strategic and tactical development of business plans for marketers whose customers include other businesses, the government, and institutions, as opposed to consumers. The course places emphasis on (a) business market processes, strategies and their tactical execution, (b) management of B2B relationships and account management strategies, (c) leveraging of Web 2.0 tools in market strategies and tactics, (d) all taking into consideration the implications and opportunities of globalization. Students will learn how successful companies operate in business networks and how solid long-term partnerships may leverage their position in the market place to deliver better profitability. The development of a comprehensive Web audit and the preparation of a Web marketing plan are the unifying elements of the course.

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GF-5700 Global Risk Management

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 others. Emphasis is on the practical application of Risk Management tools to everyday operations of international organizations.

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GF-5701 Global Competitiveness in High-Performance Economies

This course focuses on the economic growth and market opportunities in high-performance economies such as Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and other economies in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. Sources of rapid growth are analyzed including market liberalization, investment incentives, export promotion, infrastructural investments, and technology development. Roles of business, government, and global markets are examined.

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GF-5703 Country Risk Management 

Global managers must be concerned with the risks to their businesses posed by political, social, and financial forces at work internationally and in specific regions and countries. This course is centered on state-of-the-art assessment models used by businesses and foreign investors. Issues include methods of measuring and forecasting risk; and methods of mitigating risk such as political risk insurance.

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GF-5712 Business Intelligence

This course examines the role that business and competitive intelligence—the systematic collection, synthesis, and analysis of information on a company’s external operating environment—should play in strengthening corporate strategies and decision-making. Through lecture cases and a client-sponsored competitive assessment or project(s), the course has two goals: to help students understand this management tool and to train them to utilize it for competitive advantage. Students work in teams on real world competitive assessment consulting engagements for sponsoring companies. Findings are delivered “live” in a 2-4 hour interactive presentation to clients, whose evaluations also play a role. This course also addresses the related issues of corporate/industrial espionage and information security. Successful completion of this course will satisfy the TIE II graduation requirement.

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GF-5804 Conflict Management & Social Change

Economic development and social change can offer tremendous business opportunities for global managers. At the same time, the development process can lead to social, cultural, economic, and political conflicts. This course explores the roots of such conflicts, and methods of conflict management such as negotiations and multicultural communications. The course can also have a mediation certification component for those interested in official mediation recognition for their career options.

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GF-5884 Corporate Social Responsibility

As business enters the 21st century, a radical shift in thinking about business’ role in society is underway. Society’s demands for social and environmental responsibility are growing dramatically and few managers have the requisite skills to respond effectively. This course is designed to give future business leaders the knowledge and tools needed to develop an effective CSR strategy that creates value, not only for society and the environment, but also competitive and financial value for the company. Participants will gain tools for proactively engaging stakeholders in a process of mutual value creation, as well as strategies for profiting in the emerging marketplace for sustainability solutions.

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GST-5000 Strategies in Global Development

This course examines development prospects and policy in less developed and transition economies. Issues include trade, investment, foreign aid, international debt, technology transfer, poverty, environment, social development, and sustainable development. The roles of international and regional organizations, government policy, and domestic and foreign corporations are explored. This course is not offered every trimester.

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GST-5430 Technology Policy &  Entrepreneuship

Innovation has become a major source of competitive advantage for nations as well as companies. This course analyzes the innovation process highlighting the interaction between universities, government technology policies, corporate research and development, start-ups, and venture capital. This course draws upon international comparisons, country case studies, and technology-specific cases including information technology. This course is not offered every trimester. Successful completion of this course will satisfy the TIE II graduation requirement.

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