EMBA Metro NY Curriculum

Leadership & High Performance Teams focuses on the theory and practice of high performance in task-performing groups. The aim of this first course in the EMBA Metro NY program is to provide information and experiences that are useful during your time at Johnson as you work in your study teams and in your current role—course learnings are directly applicable to the teams you participate in and lead at work.

Managerial Statistics develops your skills in decision making and communicating under conditions of uncertainty and risk. Topics include introduction to data analysis, probability and discrete random variables and decision analysis, continuous random variables and portfolio analysis, sampling theory and confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, simple regression, and multiple regression.

In Managing and Leading in Organizations, you will spend time examining what it is that managers and leaders actually spend their time doing and what factors lead to more effective performance. The course focuses on three leadership competencies that are crucial for your success: 1) critical thinking and decision making, 2) smart collaborating with an eye toward creativity and change, and 3) the ability to motivate, influence, and inspire.

Microeconomics for Management provides a broad range of basic microeconomics models that are first applied to a wide range of general applications and then to business and management. Topics include opportunity cost, supply and demand, benefits and costs of government intervention in the market, the model of perfect competition, monopolies and pricing strategies, oligopoly, and game theory.

The goal of this course is to introduce you to the fundamental concepts of financial accounting. Financial accounting information is commonly used by current and potential investors to make investment decisions. The focus of this course will be on training you to be a knowledgeable consumer of accounting information for business decisions, rather than a producer of such information. In particular, the emphasis will be on the uses and limitations of financial accounting information.

This course is based on the simple, essential proposition that leading well requires thinking well. Succeeding in any business leadership role requires you to think critically and make quality decisions with, and on behalf of, organizational stakeholders, even in the face of challenges such as imperfect/incomplete information, changing and unforeseen circumstances, and human nature in all of its complexity and unpredictability.

Major content themes focus on constructing a persuasive argument and deconstructing arguments made by others; approaching business problems systematically and thoroughly; and producing a problem solution that is well-reasoned, likely to be well-received by ultimate decision-makers; and able to be implemented successfully. You will be introduced to, and then practice using, analytical frameworks that you can apply to organizational challenges and opportunities in order to solve problems and communicate your proposed solutions effectively and persuasively. These are not only indispensable leadership skills (although they are certainly that), they are indispensable life skills.

You will complete three electives of your choice. Elective options are reviewed annually and are subject to change. Recent options include:

• AI Applications for Business  
• Analytics for Marketing Strategy
• Business Strategy in a World of AI
• Core Leadership Skills for a VUCA World
• Courageous Communication
• Data Analytics with AI
• Designing and Building AI Solutions 
• Design Thinking 
• Digital Transformation, AI, and Innovation
• Disruptive Innovators from China & Other Emerging Markets
• Entrepreneurship of Physical Products
• Financial Analysis & Equity Investing
• Intro to FinTech, Finnovation, and Finalytics
• Management Presentations
• Negotiations

Managing operations examines the management of processes—operations that convert inputs into outputs. Topics include process improvement, queuing theory, productivity, constrained optimization, inventory management, quality management, service operations, supply chain management, and the role of manufacturing in the firm.

Using modern, economics-based theories of markets and firms as a foundation, you will study a multitude of real-world strategic business situations. In Business Strategy, you’ll learn about a wide variety of industries using both class readings and student experiences as you gain a set of analytic tools that can be applied to many business circumstances and provide further confidence in day-to-day strategic decision making. The course includes reading, lecture, and, most importantly, in-class discussion.

Managerial Finance introduces the basic principles of finance. Topics in the course are relevant to day-to-day life as well as financial managers. You’ll learn to make better decisions on your own financial matters, understand how corporations make financial decisions and how capital markets work, and develop a good foundation for more advanced finance courses.

Marketing Management examines how managers make marketing decisions in complex and competitive environments. Topics include consumer behavior, promotion and advertising, channels of distribution, international and competitive strategy, new product development, marketing of services, segmentation, and pricing strategies.

Investment Banking Essentials is structured to provide Executive MBA students with “real-world” investment banking experience in an academic environment. Working individually and in teams, you will play the role of investment bankers throughout the semester. You will be introduced to the capital raising, leveraged buyout, and merger and acquisition processes.

Executive presence and leadership communication skills are essential for career success. They allow senior leaders to engage effectively in different contexts because they are the basis for building trusting relationships, convincing tough stakeholders, and showing confidence at a senior level. Business leaders must demonstrate high-level competence, inspire confidence, and lead with a presence that AI simply cannot emulate. Through real-time practice and peer feedback, this course will enable you to use your communication skills to convey leadership potential, connect across diverse audiences, and navigate a globally dynamic environment.

Technology Strategy arms you will frameworks to navigate today’s technical landscape, which is changing at breakneck speed. We start with creating & capturing value via disruptive technologies, including the limits of “tech push” and loopholes in intellectual property protection. Then we do a deep dive into AI, learning how large language models work, why is so hard for LLMs not to hallucinate, and managing strategic AI deployment costs and risks.

This project course focuses on the development of a business plan. Key topics in entrepreneurship are covered, including idea generation, identifying and screening opportunities, conducting customer development and market research, delivering an elevator pitch, and forming a management team. Over the course of the term, you and your team will generate a business plan and receive feedback from faculty. At the end of the term, teams present their plan to a panel of professional and angel investors, entrepreneurs, class members, and professors.

Advanced Strategic Analysis will help you develop your strategic thinking, strategy formulation, and execution skills. It will use a series of cases involving companies in different strategic situations, such as in an emerging industry, mature industry, transforming industry, etc. You will engage in developing and/or evaluating appropriate strategies in these varied situations.

Investment Banking: Valuation and Transactions combines corporate finance theory with real world corporate transaction experience in an academic environment. Executive MBA students, working individually and in teams, will learn the theory of intrinsic and relative corporate valuation. Students will then apply that theory as they play the role of investment bankers, working on all aspects of the capital raising, leveraged buyout, and merger & acquisition processes.

You will complete three electives of your choice. Elective options are reviewed annually and are subject to change. Recent options include:

• Analytics for Marketing Strategy
• Core Leadership Skills for a VUCA World
• Courageous Communication
• Data Analytics with AI
• Designing and Building AI Solutions
• Design Thinking
• Digital Transformation, AI, and Innovation
• Disruptive Innovative Companies from China & Other Emerging Markets
• Entrepreneurship of Physical Products
• Financial Analysis & Equity Investing
• Intro to Fintech, Finnovation, and Finalytics
• Management Presentations
• Negotiations

The Cornell Management Simulation is a business simulation course in which you will work as part of a team to manage a manufacturing company. Each team is responsible for making yearly decisions in four broad areas: sales, marketing, operations, and finance. Teams will all start in the same position, competing with one another to gain market share, generate revenue, and increase profitability.

In the final term of the program, students choose from two to three destination offerings and participate in faculty-led Global Business Study trips, which are one-week immersions in a global market. The location and theme of these studies vary each year. Recent destinations have included the UAE, India, Israel, China, Japan, and Brazil. The week is packed with business meetings, site visits, and cultural immersion opportunities.

AI is no longer a technical curiosity—it is a leadership imperative. This course provides executives with the frameworks and tools to harness data science, machine learning, and AI for strategic advantage. Starting from business challenges rather than technical details, we introduce a decision-making framework that unites diverse use cases into a coherent approach for growth, efficiency, and innovation.

Drawing on real-world applications from startups to the Fortune 500 and the instructor’s experience as both a researcher and entrepreneur, participants will engage with case studies, practical datasets, and real-world solutions.  

A central goal of the course is to prepare executives not just for today’s applications, but for the emerging agentic future—where AI systems act as collaborators, decision-support partners, and drivers of organizational transformation.

Managerial Reporting will introduce you to the science of designing, deploying, and defending managerial reporting systems that help organizations achieve their goals. Topics include balanced scorecards, incentive compensation, budgeting, decentralization, outsourcing, job design, behavioral biases, gaming and occupational fraud, budgeting, job order and process costing, variable costing, absorption costing, activity-based costing, capacity costing, and standard costing.

The first part of this course focuses on tools and techniques associated with formulating successful new product strategies. You will cover topics such as business innovation, blue oceans, disruptive technologies, and product line design. In the second part of this course,  you’ll examine the foundations of brand management and will focus on the tools and techniques needed to create a meaningful brand, position a brand, promote a brand, leverage brand equity, and communicate brand meaning via traditional and digital media.