Introduction
The Executive MBA is designed for high-potential managers, executives, and entrepreneurs who want to boost their careers. The program delivers an intense and transformative experience that maximizes participant’s leadership, decision-making, and entrepreneurial capabilities to enhance their personal development and prepare them for any challenge they will face in their careers.
Why choose the IESE EMBA?
To be good at something, you have to be good at everything.
We want to accompany you on one of the most important journeys of your life: the path toward personal growth and professional fulfillment. The formula is simple: high-quality faculty, high-quality students, and a high degree of rigor. We will put you to the test, so that you may reach your full potential.
Give us 18 months. We’ll give you a lifetime of impact.
The Executive MBA prepares you to face challenges in any business scenario.
1. General management overview
You will gain a profound comprehensive vision of the company from a general management standpoint. That will allow you to understand the uniqueness of different operational areas, how they’re interrelated, and how your decisions affect them.
2. Expert decision-making
To be an exceptional leader, you must become an expert at making difficult decisions. By examining more than 300 business cases, you will hone your ability to analyze challenging situations, justify your strategy and decide on the best course of action.
3. Entrepreneurial spirit
You will discover your inner entrepreneur. You will learn to detect new opportunities and acquire the knowledge and tools to make the most of them, both inside and outside your organization.
4. Effective leadership
You will boost your ability to engage your team and manage diverse personal profiles and motivations to align them around a common objective. You will become a leader committed to professionalism, integrity, and a spirit of service.
5. Global reach
You will gain a heightened awareness of the trends and opportunities shaping today’s global business arena, thanks to high-impact content, faculty guidance, and intensive weeks in three global venues.
6. Self-knowledge
You will work toward a deeper sense of self-awareness and discovery of your strengths and areas for growth. You will emerge better equipped to face any leadership challenge.
“The Executive MBA is a catalyst for personal growth and the development of management skills. It inspired me to overhaul my business methods, refine my leadership style and expand my vision of management. Above all, it changed my perspective on the world.”
Camila Ferreira (EMBA’ 14)Global Director of Merchant Services and Merchant Research Groupon
Ranking
A lifetime of impact
Eighteen months, 300 cases, 3 international weeks, and 1,500 hours of individual and teamwork will widen your worldview and forever change the way you look at leadership.
When you join the EMBA, you’ll enter a world-class ecosystem of learning and discovery. IESE’s 60+ years of experience and innovation will help you discover your strengths, transform your abilities and expand your perspectives. Upgrade everything from your strategic decision-making to your soft skills, leaving you ready for your next career step.
The first year lays the academic foundation for the program. You will acquire a stronger grasp of core management areas and a holistic management outlook to lead across areas of the organization.
In the second year, you will reinforce core leadership competencies, participate in a platform-based executive simulation and customize the program with two learning electives.
Program content
First Year
The second year of the Executive MBA enables you to tailor your learning journey to your unique objectives. Core courses provide the structure around which you will build your specialized knowledge and transformational leadership.
Competing Through Operations
Corporate Communications
Corporate Strategy and International
Management of Small and Medium-sized Companies
Marketing of Experiences, Innovative Concepts, and Media
Negotiation
Quantitative Methods for Management
Self Management
Strategic Leadership: Getting Things Done
(TFM) Business Plan
Transforming Organizations and Markets with ICT's
The first academic year lays the foundation of the program. It is designed to equip you with a general-management vision of the entire company, plus the critical skills required for successful leadership.
Analysis of Business Problems
Business Ethics
Capital Budgeting, Operational Finance
Competitive Strategy
Corporate Finance
Decision Analysis
Economics
Entrepreneurship
Financial Accounting
Human Resource Management
Managerial Accounting
Managing People in Organizations
Marketing Management
Marketing Planning and Implementation
Operations Management
Precourse Accounting
Second Year
The second year of the Executive MBA enables you to tailor your learning journey to your unique objectives. Core courses provide the structure around which you will build your specialized knowledge and transformational leadership.
Competing Through Operations
Corporate Communications
Corporate Strategy and International
Management of Small and Medium-sized Companies
Marketing of Experiences, Innovative Concepts, and Media
Negotiation
Quantitative Methods for Management
Self Management
Strategic Leadership: Getting Things Done
(TFM) Business Plan
Transforming Organizations and Markets with ICT's
Methodology
A way to learn
For IESE professors, rich, engaging discussions and debates are the flashpoint of leadership development. From case studies to team-based projects and business simulations, they dynamically combine diverse learning methodologies to spark these vital interactions.
Professors serve on corporate boards and lead frontline research on the most critical trends in global management. With extensive global experience, they are able to cultivate an invigorating interchange of ideas by harnessing the cohort’s collective expertise.
Mentoring
A personal mentor will offer continuous feedback and career advice throughout the program to ensure you get the most out of the experience and reach your fullest potential.
Peer-to-peer learning
The EMBA gathers successful managers from an array of industries, companies, and professional profiles. The cohort’s diversity will enrich your professional network and open your eyes to new perspectives and practices outside your corporate sphere.
Case method
Case studies are based on real-world business scenarios, which are often subject to intense pressures, incomplete information, and conflicting data. Working both individually and in teams, you will assume the role of a chief decision-maker and outline a course of action among a pool of equally plausible solutions, honing your critical thinking and strategic capabilities in the process.
Team-based projects
Teamwork will provide an authentic forum for exchanging and contrasting knowledge among peers and bolster your ability to align opposing perspectives.
Business simulations
You will take your key knowledge to a new level and advance your executive and communication skills in a realistic test environment, complete with time constraints and opposing power sources.
International weeks
The EMBA organizes international weeks in Nairobi, New York, São Paulo, and Shanghai that deliver frontline insights on global business ecosystems and fresh perspectives on global and transcultural management.
Learn more about the international weeks here.
Nairobi
Kenya’s capital and one of Africa’s most dynamic economic and cultural centers.
New York
The most densely populated U.S. city and an international financial, cultural, and media epicenter.
São Paulo
A vibrant financial center and regional base for numerous multinationals.
Shanghai
China’s largest city and a major economic hub.
EXSIM by IESE
The Executive-Management Simulation Program (EXSIM) is a dynamic business simulation exercise that puts you in the role of a company board member. It’s an opportunity to apply everything you learn during the first year of the Executive MBA.
Over an exciting and intense week, you’ll enhance your strategic thinking by analyzing real-life business situations and defending your recommendations before a board of directors comprised of professors and industry experts.
Learning Journeys
The program includes several journeys to equip you with an in-depth understanding of the frontline challenges affecting today’s corporate leaders, including digital disruption, innovation, entrepreneurship, and internationalization. Using business simulations and current, real-life case studies on trailblazing global organizations, you will hone your strategic, decision-making, and leadership competencies.
Beyond Digital Trends
New Frontiers
Digital Transformation
Implications for Marketing
Entrepreneurial
Business Plan
Entrepreneurship Club
Venture Hub
Entrepreneurial Mindset
WeGrow Mentoring
Leadership
Governance Series
Strategic Mindset
Self-Management
Career Development
Women in Business
Executive Simulation
Multicultural
International Modules
3 Continents
Faculty from
31 Countries
Global Business Focus
Global Leadership Series
The Global Leadership Series features quarterly summits with renowned CEOs, entrepreneurs, and top-tier executives, who share their frontline experiences and leadership insights garnered throughout their careers. You will discover the secrets behind their success and strategies to ensure their organization’s long-term sustainability.
New Frontiers Series
Every quarter includes a deep-dive session on a specific management trend led by faculty members with expertise in each field. Technological disruption, the role of artificial intelligence in human resources and global business systems, digital supply networks, and the future of global real estate are among the topics explored.
In-Company Project
Working in teams, you will participate in projects with leading companies to apply your newfound knowledge to real-life business challenges.
Career Management
Career Management sessions will help you better understand the job market and successfully take control of your own career development. Activities include:
Salary Negotiations
Prepare to earn what you deserve.
High-Impact Interviews
Position your personal brand and stand out in a competitive marketplace.
Employment Search 2.0
Leverage social media when job hunting.
Career Plan
Plot your path under the guidance of a professional headhunter.
Powerhouse Résumés
Write a CV tailored to your target market.
A Headhunter’s View
Headhunters channel approximately 40% of career changes. Discover the qualities they’re looking for.
Admission Process
1. Application
The admissions process begins when you submit your online application.
2. Academic certificate + recommendation letters
Along with your online application, or later on via email, you should also send:
Your Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) or Executive Assessment (EA) results, unless you opt to take the IESE Test.
Candidates must submit one of the following certificates so we can assess their English language skills:
TOEFL: Minimum score required: 95
TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) 4 skills: Minimum scores required: Listening & Reading: 850; Speaking: 150; Writing: 150.
IELTS (International English Language Testing System): Minimum score required: 6.5
CAE (Cambridge English: Advanced) or above: Minimum score required: C
PTE Academic: Minimum score required: 68
Candidates don’t need to submit a certificate if:
English is your native language.
All of your university courses have been taught in English.
You can demonstrate you have lived and worked in an English-speaking country for at least two consecutive years.
Letter of support from your current employer, in which they refer to your intention to enroll in IESE’s Executive MBA.
Two letters of recommendation
Degree and academic experience including grades. Later on, you will need to provide IESE with the originals.
Photocopy of your national ID document or passport
Passport-sized photograph
Payment receipt for the application fee (€145) and, where applicable, the fee for the IESE Test (€145)
3. Admissions interview
Once you have submitted your application and passed the admissions requirements, you’ll meet with one of our program managers for a personal interview.
4. Admissions tests
The admissions tests for the IESE Executive MBA are designed to assess whether you would be able to gain the maximum benefit from the program.
You can choose to take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), Executive Assessment (EA) or IESE Test.
5. English test
The Admissions Committee will evaluate your application and communicate their decision by post or email.
