MIT EMBA Program Curriculum

MIT Executive MBA students tap into MIT’s deep roots in innovation and management, learning from faculty who are world-renowned experts in their fields.

Our curriculum integrates data-driven analytical methods and the fundamentals of business management with an Action Learning-based approach to executive-level management education. Through this scientific approach to management, students learn research-based tools and acquire the skills and the credibility to lead change across their organization and across their industry.

Weekend Sessions

There are 26 weekend sessions (spaced two-to-three weeks apart) that meet all-day Friday and Saturday. These sessions provide iterative engagement with the program courses and an opportunity for students to collaborate with classmates from a diversity of backgrounds and industries.

Executive Modules

The four executive modules each run for six to nine days  every six months. These modules offer an immersive experience during which students realize the benefits of being a full-time student at MIT. The executive modules combine intensive classwork, collaboration with classmates on projects, and evening events and speakers that link EMBA students to the MIT community as they build tight bonds within their class.

Module 1: Leadership and Integrative Management (LIM)
Students explore the sustainability strategy of a multinational organization, collaborating to evaluate sustainability through various lenses, including shareholder, marketing, operations, strategy, employee, and global perspectives. The module culminates with student teams’ recommendations for the organization and its senior leaders. Students develop a new perspective on creating, capturing, and conserving value.

Module 2: Innovative-Driven Entrepreneurial Advantage (IDEA)
During IDEA-week, students take an integrated look at innovation and entrepreneurship from the perspective of both startups and large firms. The module combines projects as well as panels and speakers from across MIT to deepen students’ relationships with the MIT ecosystem. Students develop an understanding of the mechanics and practices of new product innovation, entrepreneurial strategy, and developing an entrepreneurial advantage.

Module 3: Leading in a Global Context (LGC)
Students study global markets and how firms adapt their strategy to capitalize on the opportunities of globalization and avoid the risks. The course covers macroeconomics, global markets, national policies, and international strategy. Students develop an understanding of how firms can take advantage of the opportunities presented by different countries, institutions, and the macroeconomic trends shaping the world of business.

Module 4: Leading With Impact (LWI)
Leading with Impact is the capstone module for the Executive MBA curriculum in which students are asked to synthesize what they have learned over the previous 20 months and connect those insights with their own values.  During the module week, student teams work with the leadership of local not-for-profits to apply what they have learned to solve a pressing problem for that organization.On the final day, students reflect on what it means to be a principled innovative leader who improves the world.

Action Learning

In Action Learning experiences, students apply the program’s methodologies and frameworks both to their organization and to team challenges focusing on other enterprises and industries of interest. Midway through the program, students take Organizations Lab (O-Lab), which is an opportunity to use their coursework so far—particularly in system dynamics and operations management – to fix a process in their own organization. 

In the final spring semester, students take Action Learning project,  Executive Labs. In Executive Labs, they work as part of a tight-knit team of advisors helping the leaders of a company solve a demanding issue relating to innovation, global management, or global social challenges. This can include one week at multiple company sites worldwide for field research and immersion in the company’s challenges.

Electives

During the three electives periods (January ’24, January ’25, and Spring ’25), students have an opportunity to deeply explore specific areas of interest. Each January, they choose to take one or two electives. In their final Spring semester, they take two electives chosen by the class. Electives vary from year to year and include advanced topics and cutting-edge research. MIT EMBA students may also take advantage of full cross-registration privileges at Harvard and in MIT’s full-time programs.