McDonough School of Business
McDonough School of Business

Executive MBA Course Listings

The Georgetown Executive MBA program is uniquely positioned to prepare students as leaders who understand the existing complexities of today’s business challenges at the nexus of commerce, government, and policy. Our program is differentiated by an inspiring curriculum steeped in global management and the understanding of external factors such as government and international institutions and organizations that influence global markets. Our belief that business can be used as a force for positive change in the world underscores our distinctive approach to the teaching of ethical leadership, and our choice of 10 electives offers greater flexibility for students to customize their professional skill-set in today’s global marketplace. 

Our two-century presence in Washington, D.C., combined with the widely acknowledged expertise in other Georgetown schools, bring a level of knowledge, distinctiveness, and interdisciplinary focus that differentiates the McDonough EMBA program and can only be revealed on our campus and in the Georgetown Community.

Core Courses

During the core courses students develop a common understanding of fundamental business theory and practice.

Opening Residency: Problem Solving & Communications

This introduction to the program provides an in-depth, live case experience, focused on ethical business decision-making and teamwork. Students apply a high-level view of finance, marketing, strategy, and other fundamental business areas to global companies facing real challenges in today’s competitive international marketplace. Students collaborate to produce a final presentation at the conclusion of the week. 

Decision Analytics

Students will gain a prefatory yet comprehensive perspective on quantitative concepts, techniques and methods used extensively in business decision-making activities. The course draws from concepts and applied techniques in statistics and management science, aiming to develop competence in the interpretation and analysis of data and development of quantitative models. Topical issues and specific techniques covered include: concepts in probability distribution; inferential statistics; quality and statistical process control; simple and multiple regression analysis; inventory control techniques and network-based project management methods.

Marketing

This course offers a strategic perspective to developing, implementing, and reviewing marketing strategy. Students are asked to be consultants as they take on the role “marketing strategist” to review companies’ design, implementation, and modification of marketing strategies. The course focuses on the strategic building blocks required to be an effective marketer. This entails analyzing the customer as the most critical input in marketing strategy development, as well as testing the feasibility of the strategy by analyzing the company and competitive environment.

Firm Analysis and Strategy

Firm Analysis and Strategy equips managers with tools to make sound business decisions and create competitive advantages. The course covers market demand and supply, economic costs, pricing strategies, and game theory, linking these to strategic issues like market attractiveness and firm positioning. It also explores advanced topics such as horizontal and vertical integration and the nonmarket environment, with students taking on decision-maker roles to tackle challenges related to competitive advantage.

Finance

Designed for forward-thinking executives in the dynamic financial arena, this course explores critical decisions of global enterprises, from mergers to debt strategies, using insightful resources to highlight their impact on shareholder value and corporate direction. Students will engage with the nuances of investing and financing decisions and how they impact business value, exploring crucial financial instruments like stocks, bonds, derivatives, and forex. Central to our approach is guiding students in determining optimal investments and their financing to maximize firm value. 

Global Operations

The ultimate goal in this course is to give students a new lens for looking at business problems and opportunities, a a lens that focuses on how organizations design, produce and deliver their products and services. The course covers a wide range of topics, from key concepts, models and tools to managerial issues and current trends in global spread of production and supply chains. Specific topics include process analysis, lean production, capacity, inventory, quality management, impact of new technologies on operations and supply chains (e.g., Industry 4.0, Blockchain, 3D Printing, Big Data), and outsourcing and offshoring.

Residency: Structure of Global Industries

This on-campus residency offers an integrated framework to study and practice concepts in international trade and investment, trade policy, economic growth, and monetary and fiscal policy. Teaching and learning takes place partly through lectures and principally through practicums supported by team meetings. The practicums require original, creative work by the teams of students who create a business, determine the locations of production and markets, and recommend adjustments to shocks in the business environment. 

Accounting for Executives

Executives are responsible for effectively communicating financial information to external stakeholders and ensuring that high-quality financial and operational data is used internally to make informed strategic decisions. Throughout this course, we will cover three main areas: why financial statements take the form they do; how financial information can be used to evaluate performance; and how successful organizations design systems that help employees obtain and use financial resources to achieve the organization’s strategic objectives.

Organizational Behavior and Leadership

At the heart of this course is a focus on the human element of organizations – how people interact, lead, and contribute to their environments. We will address the challenges of leadership in an era marked by rapid technological development and globalization – recognizing that leadership is about relationships and behavior, rather than position. Through engaging with the latest research and case studies, you will learn not only to manage or lead but to innovate and inspire.

Residency: Global Business Experience

Explore a pressing business problem facing a real international company in this global consulting project. Meet remotely with your client, then travel abroad to deliver recommendations to senior leadership of the organization. 

New Business Ventures

Transform a promising corporate innovation opportunity into an innovation venture concept proposal, and launch it as a new innovation concept. Learn the key steps in the venture creation process, including customer discovery, feasibility analysis, product development, marketing and internal stakeholder support and fundraising.

Ethics for Business

As a leader, you will be confronted with challenging situations in which you may have to step up, and take action to “do the right thing.” The response you choose in the face of challenging circumstances is at the core of ethical leadership. One objective of this course is to explain and help you understand the essential and central role that values and moral character play in effective leadership, and how being perceived as lacking in moral character can undermine your ability to lead.

Global Capstone

Through student-designed, in-country field research-based projects, student teams will integrate the EMBA curriculum as they explore and investigate practical challenges of global strategy through analysis of global industries and environments. The course consists of on-campus classes and team meetings, non-classroom library research, experiential field research conducted in a variety of locations around the world, and concluding presentations in the knowledge-sharing symposium.

Elective Courses

Second-year EMBA students customize their program by taking seven electives. Note, electives may vary based on the composition of the cohort, faculty recommendations, and key business issues of the time.

Here is a list of electives offered recently:

Georgetown University reserves the right to modify the requirements for admission and/or graduation, the program curricula, tuition, fees, and other regulations affecting the student body.