Executive MBA Curriculum
The Leeds Executive MBA program is delivered in a cohort model that provides a shared learning experience with rich collaboration among classmates. This cohort model allows students to cultivate a professional and personal network throughout the program. Courses are delivered over two semesters each academic year. Each semester begins with asynchronous enhanced virtual instruction to provide flexibility so that you can focus on your work and personal lives as well as school. During the asynchronous weeks, you will continue to meet with your teams and your faculty periodically, leveraging technology for engagement. Toward the end of the semester, you will attend an intensive, one-week residency where you collaborate with your faculty and classmates and apply the lessons learned.
The EMBA curriculum begins with a first year of rigorous business fundamentals. Leadership is spread throughout the program with themes around inclusion, executive and ethical responsibilities, and how to effectively negotiate. During the second year, students will learn advanced topics in marketing, finance, and strategy as well as innovative business practices and how an entrepreneurial mindset can be leveraged even inside a corporate structure. Academic enrichment workshops will be offered throughout on topics such as board governance, digital marketing, crisis communication, emerging technologies, and many more.
Scroll down to see course descriptions. All courses are subject to change.
Course Descriptions
Fall Year 1
This course familiarizes students with statistical techniques commonly found in the workplace, with the goal of making them better consumers of data. It focuses on inference and regression analysis. Among the topics are how to make inferences with sample data, how to effectively communicate findings, and how to interpret and ask appropriate questions about the analyses of others. Students learn not just how to get the "right" answer, but also how to defend and understand the implications of their work.
This course focuses on three key components of managerial decision-making. The pricing component addresses basic tools of price-setting; the price forecasting component teaches skills for predicting the direction of prices in more competitive markets; and the macroeconomics component explores the macroeconomy and how to forecast the evolution of GDP, exchange rates, and interest rates in response to policy changes or economic shocks. All topics are analyzed through basic theory, data-based examples of theory-in-action, and contemporaneous news and events in the economy.
This class examines the requisite skills for organizational leadership, including communication, teamwork, leading change, and strategic leadership. Topics include stakeholder management, organizational change, organizational alignment, mission, vision, values, strategy, balanced scorecard, and leadership pipeline.
The fundamental question of strategy is how firms can attain and sustain competitive advantage. In this strategic management course, students analyze the sources of competitive success among firms and develop the requisite skills and knowledge to be an effective strategy analyst. The course takes the perspective of managers who make decisions that cut across the functional areas in the firm (e.g., marketing, finance, operations, etc.), as well as that of entrepreneurs and consultants.
In this course, students apply strategic marketing tools to better identify, reach, persuade, and satisfy their organization鈥檚 customers. By understanding the fundamentals of marketing strategy, managers can create value for customers in all types of organizations鈥攂oth large and small, both product and service-based firms, and in both for-profit and non-profit entities.
This course introduces the basic concepts and practices of the financial reporting system used by companies to convey the results of their operations to stakeholders. It addresses the complexity of accounting due to inherent discretion and judgment required by the financial reporting process. By the end of course, students will understand how financial statements are prepared and have the ability to read and interpret real-world financial statements.
Spring Year 1
This course focuses on how to lead in a way that increases inclusion and maximizes the value of diversity. By understanding what it means to feel included and examining evidence-based practices shown to enhance diversity and inclusion, students will learn how to lead diverse and inclusive teams and organizations. Among the topics are empathy, fair work practices, transparency and creating culture.
In this course, students apply strategic marketing tools to better identify, reach, persuade, and satisfy their organization鈥檚 customers. By understanding the fundamentals of marketing strategy, managers can create value for customers in all types of organizations鈥攂oth large and small, both product and service-based firms, and in both for-profit and non-profit entities.
This course introduces the basic concepts and practices of the financial reporting system used by companies to convey the results of their operations to stakeholders. It addresses the complexity of accounting due to inherent discretion and judgment required by the financial reporting process. By the end of course, students will understand how financial statements are prepared and have the ability to read and interpret real-world financial statements.
This course focuses on how to use innovation to generate value for businesses and their customers. Participants will leave this course with (1) a strong foundational knowledge of innovation frameworks and processes, and (2) a toolkit of practical skills for bringing innovation to one鈥檚 team, functional area, and organization. Because managers can innovate in every aspect of a business, the course explores how world-class organizations add value through creative and novel offerings in services, business models, and customer experiences.
This course presents the foundational concepts of corporate finance and investments, addressing equity, debt, and derivatives markets. Students get a chance to practice discounting cash flows, measuring risks and returns, and demonstrating the benefit of diversification. By the end of the course, students gain an understanding of modern financial institutions and instruments, and their role in the modern economy.
This course focuses on how to align human capital with business strategy in order to create long-term prosperity in organizations. It explores the unique position of business leaders to capitalize on their employees鈥 desire to be a part of something larger than themselves, to work for more than just a paycheck. Among the topics are organizational culture, DE&I, talent acquisition and development, employee and labor relations, total rewards, employee engagement, and HR operations and planning.
Fall Year 2
This course focuses on how to align human capital with business strategy in order to create long-term prosperity in organizations. It explores the unique position of business leaders to capitalize on their employees鈥 desire to be a part of something larger than themselves, to work for more than just a paycheck. Among the topics are organizational culture, DE&I, talent acquisition and development, employee and labor relations, total rewards, employee engagement, and HR operations and planning.
This course addresses the interface between a firm鈥檚 operations and its overarching strategy. It explores such topics as designing operating models, selecting performance measures, building organizational capabilities, and managing uncertainty. Students will learn about processes at the system level. They will gain insight into how to align these processes with an organization鈥檚 goals, strategies and supply chains, and how to recognize factors that limit productivity.
This course focuses how to grow a business into a complex enterprise. The first part examines opportunity evaluation, business plan and model development, and financing. The second part explores the strategic challenges of managing growth and realizing value. Focusing on 鈥渁dolescent鈥 firms鈥攊.e., those that have moved beyond the initial start-up stage but have not yet evolved into mature businesses鈥攕tudents will investigate growth-related stumbling blocks and discuss alternative strategies that may be used to overcome these obstacles.
This applied course provides a toolkit for decision-makers to answer three fundamental questions in finance: Is this a good business project? How should it be financed? How much funding is required? The tools include financial statement forecasting, growth-financing requirements, working capital management, debt versus equity optimal capital structure, the determination of cash retention and payout ratios, and valuation techniques using discounted cash flows and peer price multiples. Students analyze topics through various case studies.
Focuses upon individual leadership and personal ethics. Students will reflect on how personal values shape their approach to leadership and business decision-making. Students will develop individual decision-making frameworks for use in their careers as they earn increasing responsibility and decision-making authority. Topics covered will include values-driven leadership, stakeholder theory, normative ethics and moral psychology.
Spring Year 2
This is a course about how to grow a business. The course will focus on businesses that are not small by design, but on those businesses that with hard work and good luck can be expected to develop into complex enterprises. Explores the initial decisions that set a foundation for business growth, the pros and cons of alternative growth strategies, organizational scaling tactics, and the keys to realizing value. Studying 鈥渁dolescent鈥 firms that are past the initial start-up stage but haven't evolved into mature businesses, students will focus on key choices founders face in scaling their businesses, investigating growth-related stumbling blocks and discussing alternative strategies that may be used to overcome these obstacles.
This applied course provides a toolkit for decision-makers to answer three fundamental questions in finance: Is this a good business project? How should it be financed? How much funding is required? The tools include financial statement forecasting, growth-financing requirements, working capital management, debt versus equity optimal capital structure, the determination of cash retention and payout ratios, and valuation techniques using discounted cash flows and peer price multiples. Students analyze topics through various case studies.
Focuses on the overlap between organizational leadership and business ethics. Students consider the interconnectedness of law, ethics, values, public policy, regulation, and organization leadership/culture, with opportunity to reflect on how organizational and societal values shape our organizational decision-making processes and actions. Topics covered will include Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) issues, corporate governance, public policy (lobbying, collective action, regulation, etc.), and community relations/corporate social responsibility (CSR).
This course focuses on what it means to be an information-based organization. It explores how digital-enabled processes are used to create and capture value for organizations. Through case studies, research reports, practical exercises, and interactive discussions, participants learn the how to do the following: align digital technology with an organization鈥檚 business goals, and communicate those goals; set business and technology priorities based on those goals; apply concepts, tools and techniques to design appropriate digital business models; analyze and evaluate innovation initiatives in the digital space; and evaluate digital transformation strategies.
This course addresses the strategies and tactics of negotiations in a variety of contexts. It examines鈥攖hrough the eyes of leadership鈥攑ower and conflict in organizations, addressing concepts that help improve personal negotiating skills. Students examine the sources, uses, and misuses of executive power in organizations, as well as strategies for managing conflict effectively.
This course provides a framework for identifying risks faced by organizations, and for developing risk mitigation plans to manage uncertainty. It explores how corporations face a multitude of risks beyond their control that affect the bottom line鈥攖hose that are financial in nature, those that are associated with operational decisions, and those that impact reputation. It also addresses new technologies and the need for strong cyber resilience to combat security risks.
This course is designed to provide graduating students with a meaningful international experience. An integrative capstone for the two-year program, it is an international trip designed to give students a better understanding of how business is conducted elsewhere in the world. The course dovetails with other advanced courses in the second-year curriculum that require the integration of business insights. The goal of the course is to help students understand the characteristics of intercultural business relationships that lead to intercultural synergy and synergistic decision-making.
I Want To