Curriculum

International MBA

The Moore School offers an innovative process in which candidates are completely immersed in a rigorous MBA curriculum, enrolled in intensive language courses, and then challenged to apply all the concepts they have learned to the successful implementation of an extensive corporate consulting project abroad. The goal is not merely to prepare candidates to succeed as business leaders in one country or region but rather to develop global leaders who are as successful at headquarters as they are on any continent.

The Moore School’s IMBA curriculum is the first in the world to focus on a dynamic understanding of the impact of foreign sociocultural, economic and political factors on multinational business. Working with faculty who are thought-leaders in their fields, candidates develop an understanding of ethnographic methods by which to analyze cross-national differences. As a result, candidates learn the art of localization and the science of strategy—the best of both worlds.

The program’s intense immersive international experiences give IMBA graduates a uniquely in-depth understanding of all the factors that shape the international business environment, allowing them to analyze cross-national and comparative institutional differences to determine successful strategies in any context.

The International MBA Core

Global Functional Core

These courses focus on best practices across traditional business functions: Decision Analysis, Global Economics or Financial Accounting, Global Finance, Global Marketing, and Global Operations. The courses integrate functional and international expertise to prepare each candidate to advance into the contextually-driven core.

International Business Core

Each candidate completes an advanced treatment of the management of business activities in and across international locations, incorporating techniques such as institutional analysis, in the advanced core:

• Global Strategy develops a fundamental understanding of strategic and comparative management issues faced by organizations around the world. Students engage in analysis of different industry structures, country-based competitive advantages, and the distinctive competencies that global organizations have as they participate in various economic systems.

• Managing the Multinational Enterprise (MNE) reviews the context in which the MNE operates, including economic and political conditions in different countries, and analyzes the impact those variables have on the management of various forms of strategy. In addition, the course explores challenges such as global leadership, cross-cultural motivation, organizational transformation, sustainability, ethics and knowledge management, which are faced by MNEs.

• Comparative Institutional Systems focuses on analyzing cross-national variations, state regulation and control, the organization of capital and labor, and management processes within national institution-based systems. This provides an overall framework for candidates to structure questions, observations and negotiations when they conduct business in new countries.

• Rapid Ethnography principals are introduced to the candidates so that they can drive global and standardized strategies across institutional environments.  Introduction to this methodology also prepares candidates for the overseas consulting project.

Language Immersion

International MBA students pursue a second, third or fourth language in order to lead teams in strategy, tactics and implementation following local principles where it is pragmatic to do so, and to drive global and “best practice” operations across institutional environments, where it is more profitable to do so.

Introductory Phase: After completing a one-month intensive language module, candidates are enrolled in language courses based on the country or region of their interest.

Immersion Phase: Each candidate is enrolled in intensive language training programs abroad for four months to a year, based upon the language track. This aspect of the program is designed to advance language fluency as well as the candidate’s familiarity with regional business issues.

Overseas Corporate Consulting Project

All candidates complete a six-month international corporate consulting project, which is undertaken within the country or region of the candidate’s language track, as specified by Moore School regional directors leading each track. During this project, candidates apply institutional assessment and rapid ethnography techniques to their specific country and organization.

Thematic Specialization

International MBA candidates will choose from a variety of electives, allowing them to customize an individual program of study in a specific functional area, such as finance, supply chain management or marketing. Candidates may also pursue cross-functional specializations in areas such as general management, innovation, economic development and enterprise risk management.

Curriculum Timeline