Courtesy : Executive Masters in Business Administration (EMBA)
Content
In general, MBA programs are structured around core courses — an essentially standard curriculum— and elective courses that (may) allow for a subject specialty or concentration. Thus, in the program’s first year (or part), students acquire both a working knowledge of management functions and the analytical skills required for these, while in the second year (part), students pursue elective courses, which may count towards a specialization. (Topics in business ethics may be included at the generalist or specialist level.) After the first year, many full-time students seek internships. The degree culminates with coursework in business strategy, the program capstone. A dissertation or major project is usually a degree requirement after the completion of coursework. Many MBA programs end with a comprehensive exit examination; see below.
For Executive MBA programs, the core curriculum is generally similar, but may seek to leverage the strengths associated with the more seasoned and professional profile of the student body, emphasizing leadership, and drawing more from the specific experience of the individual students.
Programs are designed such that students gain exposure to theory and practice alike. Courses include lectures, case studies, and team projects; the mix though, will differ by schooland by format. Theory is covered in the classroom setting by academic faculty, and is reinforced through the case method, placing the student in the role of the decision maker. Similar to real world business situations, cases include both constraints and incomplete information. Practical learning (field immersion) often comprises consulting projects with real clients, and is generally undertaken in teams (or “syndicates”).The practical elements (as well as the case studies) often involve external practitioners—sometimes business executives—supporting the teaching from academic faculty. (See Business school#Use of case studies and #Other approaches; and Business education#Postgraduate education generally.)
# ISO certification in India
| MBA Course Structure | ||
| Core | ||
| Analytical | Accounting, economics for management, organizational behavior, quantitative analysis (operations research and business statistics). | |
| Functional | Financial management, human resource management, marketing management, operations management. | |
| Ethics | Business ethics, corporate social responsibility, corporate governance. | |
| Electives | Common broad electives include: entrepreneurship, international business, management information systems, business law, market research, organizational design, negotiations, international finance, project management, managing non-profits and real estate investing. Additionally, many other elective options of a more specialized nature are offered by various institutions. | |
| Capstone | Strategy | Strategic management and business leadership. |
| Research | Research methodology and dissertation/major project. |
| Common MBA Specializations/Concentrations |
| Accounting, entrepreneurship, finance (including corporate finance and investment management), international business, healthcare administration, human resources, management information systems, management science, marketing, operations management, organizational design, project management, real estate, risk management and strategy, among others. |
As above, courses begin with underlying topicsand then progress to more advanced functional topics where these are applied; see aside.
The analytic skills required for management are usually covered initially. The accounting course(s) may treat financial and management accounting separately or in one hybrid course. Financial accounting deals mainly in the interpretation (and preparation) of financial statements while management accounting deals mainly in the analysis of internal results. The economics course covers managerial economics, a technical course that mainly focuses on product pricing as influenced by microeconomic theory, and aggregate-or macroeconomics, which deals with topics like the banking system, the money supply, and inflation. Operations Research and statistics are sometimes combined as “Managerial Decision-Making” or “Quantitative Decision-Making”; organizational behavior and human resource management may similarly be combined. In many programs, applicants with appropriate background may be exempt from various analytical courses.
# ISO certification in India
As regards the functional courses, some programs treat the curricula here in two parts: the first course provides an overview, while the second revisits the subject in-depth (perhaps as specializations); alternatively, the first addresses short-term, tactical problems, while the second addresses long-term, strategic problems (e.g., “Financial Management I” might cover working capital management, while part II covers capital investment decisions). An Information systems / technology course is increasingly included as a core functional course rather than an elective. Ethics training is often delivered with coursework in corporate social responsibility and corporate governance. Note that courses here, although technical in the content are, ultimately, oriented toward corporate management. (For example, the principal finance course may cover the technicalities of financial instrument valuation and capital raising, but is in fact focused on managerial finance and financial management.) Technically-oriented courses, if offered, will be via a specialization.
Programs may also include (coursework-based) training in the skills needed at senior levels of management: soft skills, such as (general) leadership and negotiation; hard skills, such as spreadsheets and project management; thinking skills such as innovation and creativity. Training in areas such as multiculturalism and corporate social responsibility is similarly included. Company visits (including overseas travel), and guest lectures or seminars with CEOs and management personalities may also be included. These, with the core subjects, provide the graduate with breadth, while the specialty courses provide depth.# ISO certification in India
For the business strategy component, the degree capstone, the focus is on finding competitive advantage and the long-term positioning and management of the entity as a whole. Here, the key functional areas are thus synthesized to an overall view; the strategy course depicts how the various sub-disciplines integrate to tell one continuous story, with each discipline complementing the others. Corresponding training in business leadership may also be scheduled and participation in a business simulation or game is also a common degree requirement. “Strategy” may be offered as a sequence of courses, beginning in the first part (formulation) and culminating in the second (execution), or as a single intensive course, offered during the second part. Some programs offer a specialization in “strategy”, others in management consulting which substantially addresses the same issues.
The MBA dissertation (or thesis in some universities) will, in general, comprise the following in some combination: a discussion of the literature, providing a critical review and structuring of what is known on a given topic, to address a specific problem; a case study that goes beyond simple description, containing the analysis of hitherto unpublished material; a test of the application or limitations of some known principle or technique in a particular situation, and/or suggested modifications. As an alternative to the dissertation, some programs instead allow for a major project. Here (part-time) students will address a problem current in their organization; particularly in programs with an action learning orientation, these may be practically oriented.Most MBA programs require additional course work in research methodology, preceding the dissertation or project. Some programs allow that the research component as a whole may be substituted with additional elective coursework.
