Core courses

Quantitative Methods

Using quantitative tools to analyze business information and to develop a company’s strategy is a requirement for business leaders. This course covers an introduction to probability, statistics, optimization, all used in understanding business trends and improving efficiency.

Accounting
This course provides the necessary information and tools to understand financial accounting requirements and reporting. In addition, it offers an introduction to the useful concepts and frameworks that form the basis of managerial accounting.

Economics
How does the current economic climate affect companies? This course provides an understanding of the newest insights from micro-economics and game theory. It also explains the influence of macro economics on the business environment.

Organizational Behavior and Leadership
How do individuals, groups and organizations learn? Why do some groups perform well while other don’t? What is leadership and how can you become a leader? These are the type of questions that will be discussed in OB.

Marketing
Without a market, is there any point in having a product? Understanding consumers, competitors and product development is critical to most businesses. Moreover, in today’s increasingly global market branding takes on a new dimension. Finally, this course looks at the channels and new tools available for product promotion.

Human Resources Management
Hiring is critical for most organizations, but how do you get it right? What is performance and how do you evaluate it? How do you create the right incentives for your valued employees? This course looks at all these aspects of managing employees.

Finance
Understanding the finances of a company is essential. This course teaches the logic underlying the firm’s financial decisions: investment, financing, and payout policies.

Strategy
How can a company compete effectively in its market? Using conceptual frameworks to better understand the external environment – competition and barriers – as well as internal drivers for a sustainable competitive advantage are the focus of this course.

Operations Management
How can you develop reliable yet flexible supply chains? Where is the best location for production? How and why would you introduce quality systems in your organization? These are some of the issues dealt with in this course.

Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship
Creating new enterprises is vital for the economy, and so are the processes inside organizations for creating innovative products and services. In this course the discussion will be around creation of new companies as well as ways in which existing organizations can stay or become entrepreneurial again.

Negotiation
The negotiation process is a part of every manager’s day-to-day activities with people inside and outside the organization, people whose cooperation is essential to attain your goals. Negotiation for an executive, for a leader and for an entrepreneur is not a choice; it’s an obligation.

Advanced courses
While the core courses are the cornerstone of the program, the advanced courses, offered towards the end of the 18-month period, give participants the opportunity to take a more in-depth view on selected topics and issues. Using their negotiation and leadership skills, the Executive MBA students will have the chance to exert their influence on the choice of the advanced courses. The list of advanced courses proposed by internal and external professors consists of:

• International Business
• Business Law
• Business Analytics (included Risk Management)
• Lean Six Sigma (included Agile Management)
• Project Management
• Managerial Decision Making
• Strategic Communication
• Innovation and Creativity
• Change Management
• Problem Solving & Decision Making at Board Level
• M&A

Cross Cultural Diversity and Negotiations in Dubai

The aim of the course is to understand how negotiations get affected in a multi-cultural setting.
Cultural Diversity
Strategic Decision Making in a multi-cultural setting
How to cope: excellent practices.

Keystone project

Once the core-curriculum has been completed, the participants, with the help of the relevant professors, finalize their project focus. The 3-month keystone project is generally done inside the EMBA participant’s company. An integral part of the advanced management learning experience, the project positions the participant as a consultant. Using their new skills and professional experience, the participants will then work on a strategic issue for their company under the guidance of a USI Professor.

Seminars, conferences and workshop
In the last few years we have been organizing seminars with senior managers from different industries, such as chemical, banking, pharmaceutical, fashion or the telecom industry. These University seminars will be open to the program participants in addition to the special seminars and talks organized with international and local speakers.