Program Overview

Introduction to the Smith Executive MBA Americas Program

The Smith Executive MBA Americas curriculum has been designed as a highly integrated series of courses and experiences that provide a solid grounding in management fundamentals and a thorough understanding of how management decisions can have an impact across an organization.

Program Curriculum

The Americas curriculum provides a solid foundation in:

• Management fundamentals
• Global business
• Strategic thinking
• Creativity, innovation & entrepreneurship
• Corporate social responsibility
• Leadership

Because these themes are woven throughout the curriculum, students will leave the program with the ability to approach issues from a multidisciplinary perspective—the way the world works.

Typical Course Sequence and Descriptions

The program begins with an on-site session, followed by class weekends, and concludes with a final on-site session.

June: Opening On-Site Session

The four courses below begin during the first on-site session on the Cornell and Queen's campuses.

• Leadership and High Performance Teams: Enhances skills in building and managing teams.
• Managing and Leading Organizations: Introduces major ideas and findings in the field of managing and leading in contemporary organizations.
• Role of the General Manager: Provides a general management perspective on how to manage a business.
• Negotiations: Examines how to build positive working relationships and ways to move from confrontation to problem solving.

July-November: Class Weekends

Students complete the four classes below over the next five months during class weekends.

• Financial Accounting: Introduces foundational concepts and mechanics of accounting.
• Business Decision Models: Examines quantitative tools used to improve the quality of management decisions.
• Economics and Industry Analysis (Micro): Enhances management decision making through the application of microeconomic theory.
• Marketing: Prepares business managers to formulate and communicate solutions to commonly faced marketing problems.

December: On-Site Session 2

The following course is featured during a five-day on-site session at the Queen's Toronto facility.

• New Venture Management: Covers the entrepreneurial thinking and know-how required to create and sustain a thriving new venture ecosystem.

January-March: Class Weekends

The two courses below are taught during the next block of class weekends.

• Finance: Addresses the two kinds of financial decisions made by corporations.
• Management Accounting: Provides students with the tools and information needed to interpret performance measures generated by managerial reporting systems.

April: On-Site Session 3

Held on the Cornell Tech Campus in NYC, the third on-site session features the two courses listed below.

• Strategy: Uses modern, economics-based theories of markets and firms as a foundation.
• Economics and Industry Analysis (Macro): Enhances management decision making through the application of macroeconomic theory.

April-November: Class Weekends

The six courses below are taught during the final set of class weekends.

• Valuation Principles: Provides the knowledge necessary to value companies using an economic framework.
• Operations Management: Deals with the delivery of products and services in an organization.
• Management Information Systems: Analyzes and reviews global information industry trends and their implications for business.
• Marketing Strategy: Covers the key frameworks, best practices, and approaches used effectively by strategic marketers.
• Corporate Financial Policy: Develops the framework for evaluating the gains, costs, and risks of managing firms' financial assets and liabilities.
• Global Strategy: Emphasizes global, strategic, and operational themes.

November: Closing On-Site Session

The remaining courses in the Americas program are completed during the closing on-site session.

• Two Electives: Students complete two electives of their choice, with options reviewed annually.
• Transformational Leadership: Dives into transformational and charismatic leadership.
• Cornell Management Simulation: A business simulation course where student teams manage a manufacturing company.

Major Projects

Participants in the program are required to complete two major projects:

• Global Business Project: A team project providing real-world international business experience.
• Either the New Venture Project or the Management Consulting Project: Individual projects that apply management concepts and tools to create a business plan or analyze a business challenge.

Global Business Project

The Global Business Project is a team project that provides real-world international business experience. Students complete a comprehensive analysis of a real global business issue or opportunity, traveling to an international location to conduct field research.

New Venture Project

The objective of this individual project is to create a comprehensive business plan for a new stand-alone business or a new line of business within an existing organization.

Management Consulting Project

The objective of this individual project is to analyze a business challenge and develop a comprehensive set of recommendations and implementation plans to address it. Students are given a wide scope in the nature of the project, typically focusing on performance improvements in operating processes, supply chain management, customer service, information systems, profit margin improvement, or the business planning process.