Executive MBA

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• Mr. Al Razick
• Director, MBA Admissions
• 202.994.1212
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Academic Program

Classes in the Executive MBA Program are limited to 25-30 experienced individuals who form a cohort, taking all classes together. Participants work cooperatively in study teams, while developing skills and knowledge individually. The Program stresses participation in class discussion, and vigorous dialogue among students and faculty offers a rich experience for students and instructors alike.

The Core

The Executive MBA curriculum emphasizes a general management approach, spanning the full range of MBA disciplines that must be mastered for effective business leadership today. The core subjects are interwoven with cases reflecting real-world management decision-making. These subjects include Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Marketing Management, Financial Concepts and Markets, Strategic Management and Leadership, Managerial Economics, Operations Management, Quantitative Analysis and Decision Making, Information Technology, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management.

Advanced Topics

The program also explores fields of continuing and emerging importance in which GW faculty play leading roles. These advanced topics may include Business and Public Policy, International Business, Management of Technology and Innovation, Legal Environment of Business, Mergers and Acquisitions, Ethics and Corporate Governance, Controllership and Financial Statement Analysis, Negotiations and Decision-Support Systems. Electives are added to the program based on the preferences of each Executive MBA class.

The sequencing of courses is carefully planned to allow new topics to build upon prior courses. The integrated, lockstep Executive MBA approach offers much more efficient use of class time by instructors. The curriculum is reviewed on an annual basis, allowing for course substitutions and the introduction of new topics. This constant revision ensures that the program remains at the cutting edge of executive education.

Residencies

The program includes three Residency Courses. Each presents an opportunity to address subject matter intensively over an extended period while located at a site away from campus and the student’s places of business. An entirely different mode of learning is experienced.

Executive MBA classes participate in two one-week domestic residencies and a two-week multi-city international residency.

Residency A: Executive Leadership Development

The Leadership Residency opens the GW Executive MBA program, introducing the fundamentals of leadership development while promoting team building among study team members meeting for the first time. The overarching goal of this residency is to encourage participants to carefully examine their leadership qualities, with opportunities for introspection, interaction, and executive skill development. Some of GW's best-known faculty collaborate in teaching this course, using imaginative gaming methods and behavioral instruments to bring the challenging topics down to a personal level. In follow-on projects, participants apply insights gained from the residency to their own organizations, often delivering near-term on-the-job benefits.

Residency B: International Business Strategy and Practice

The International Residency is one of the most memorable and educationally significant experiences of the program. Each year this two-week, multi-city residency is held in different international locations. Although the residency varies each year, it always focuses on a global region of great relevance. Visits to corporate sites and discussions with key executives in varied industries are interspersed with lectures and cases on international financial matters and operations of firms, markets and governments. Policymakers also offer their perspectives. Cultural experiences are an integral part of these residencies. Recent international residencies have been located in Ireland, Belgium, Hungary, Switzerland, Chile, Argentina, South Korea, Singapore, France, and China.

Residency C: Strategy Formulation and Implementation

The Strategy Residency, the final residency of the Program and also the final course, is the capstone for the Executive MBA experience. Students apply the many concepts, tool, and insights they have by now mastered in exploring the strategic framework of an organization. Business strategy is concerned with creating an attractive value proposition, that is a competitive advantage in one line of business. Industry strategy is concerned with positioning the business for competitive success by using the analysis of economic and policy forces that drive industry profitability. Corporate strategy is concerned with creating value across the firm's lines of business, i.e. corporate advantage. EMBAs analyze their own organizations within each of these strategy frameworks. Lectures during the residency assist participants in organizing their ideas, and the practical application of these skills within the participants’ professional spheres constitutes a significant final learning experience for the class.

Program Format

The Executive MBA degree is earned over 21 months (18 months of instruction with a summer break between the first and second years). Participants attend class one full day each week (8 hours) on alternating Fridays and Saturdays. Unlike traditional semester-long courses, the program utilizes a condensed delivery mechanism whereby different topics are explored in segments of varying lengths (from 4 to 8 weeks). No more than two segments are delivered at any one time and, whenever possible, segments are coupled in such a way so as to combine quantitative skills with qualitative subject matter. Two one-week, domestic residencies and one two-week, multi-city, international residency are scheduled throughout the Program.

Opening Residency

Core Courses

Summer International Residency

Advanced Topics

Closing Residency