Skema Business School Global Executive MBA Program

Although SKEMA is one of the largest French business schools, with over 8,500 students and 45,000 alumni in 145 countries, its blended Global Executive MBA is a very selective program, with each cohort consisting of only 20-25 people. Two cohorts a year take the program, with courses kicking off in February and September.

The Global Executive MBA is a truly international experience, but it is designed to be manageable for busy execs — it takes participants out of their offices and to different parts of the world, yes, but only for 30 days over the 18 months of taught courses. During this time, participants experience an extraordinary flavor of the global economy, and they broaden their business and cultural horizons. After the courses, participants focus on their capstone projects and graduate after a total of 24 months.

Participants spend three weeks on SKEMA’s French campuses — in Lille, in the Euralille district, the city’s business center, in Paris’s La Défense business district, and in the Sophia Antipolis technology park, France’s largest, located near Nice in the southern Cote d’Azur region. Three weeks are spent in other global locations. A South American leg takes place in the Brazilian tech hub of Belo Horizonte, in the campus of Fundação Dom Cabral, one of the top business schools in Latin America, where participants study global business issues such as innovation and competitiveness, macro- and micro-economics, and corporate governance.

The other locations are Suzhou, China, half an hour from Shanghai, a city known as the “Venice of China,” an ancient trading hub that has been one of the world’s fastest-growing business centers in recent decades. There, participants get a first-hand look at the…

Although SKEMA is one of the largest French business schools, with over 8,500 students and 45,000 alumni in 145 countries, its blended Global Executive MBA is a very selective program, with each cohort consisting of only 20-25 people. Two cohorts a year take the program, with courses kicking off in February and September.

The Global Executive MBA is a truly international experience, but it is designed to be manageable for busy execs — it takes participants out of their offices and to different parts of the world, yes, but only for 30 days over the 18 months of taught courses. During this time, participants experience an extraordinary flavor of the global economy, and they broaden their business and cultural horizons. After the courses, participants focus on their capstone projects and graduate after a total of 24 months.

Participants spend three weeks on SKEMA’s French campuses — in Lille, in the Euralille district, the city’s business center, in Paris’s La Défense business district, and in the Sophia Antipolis technology park, France’s largest, located near Nice in the southern Cote d’Azur region. Three weeks are spent in other global locations. A South American leg takes place in the Brazilian tech hub of Belo Horizonte, in the campus of Fundação Dom Cabral, one of the top business schools in Latin America, where participants study global business issues such as innovation and competitiveness, macro- and micro-economics, and corporate governance.

The other locations are Suzhou, China, half an hour from Shanghai, a city known as the “Venice of China,” an ancient trading hub that has been one of the world’s fastest-growing business centers in recent decades. There, participants get a first-hand look at the workings of modern supply chain operations. SKEMA’s Raleigh campus in North Carolina (USA) focuses on new business realities such as the impact of digital transformation on business processes. Participants entering the program from fall 2021 will also be able to visit SKEMA’s newest campus in Cape Town, South Africa.

“The Global Executive MBA is anchored in the SKEMA DNA, which is all about operating within the framework of globalization,” says Anke Middelmann, Director of SKEMA’s Global Executive MBA. “One of the things that make the program vibrate is the global approach. It is a hugely international program, at all levels. The participants are from all over the world, and we take them to our campuses around the globe during the 18 months of study. Also, we have a faculty that comes from many countries.”

The numerous trips involve company visits, of course, conferences and visits from guest speakers, and cultural immersion that all aim to create global leaders. Participants also spend time in the classroom for some of their core courses, closely linked to the business strengths and priorities of the country visited. Additional core courses in classic and fundamental MBA subjects (such as finance, accounting, business strategy, marketing, and organizational dynamics) are delivered in a virtual format. All courses are taught using a modular approach, being grouped together and delivered in what SKEMA considers the most appropriate location.

In addition to the core courses, students take one of two specializations: Project Management or the recently added Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The introduction of the latter was sparked by participants’ increasing interest in starting up their own businesses but also using entrepreneurial skills inside businesses. “For a lot of people, innovation is the future, either in their current business or outside it,” Middelmann says. For those who do take the plunge into a new business, the new SKEMA Ventures unit helps startups, acting as accelerators or incubators.

Given that participants spend only 30 days working face-to-face, the online element of the SKEMA Global Executive MBA is vitally important, and this is delivered using state-of-the-art techniques. “We have webinars that people can link from anywhere in the world, led by a teacher. Within some webinars, participants work both in whole-group and small-group virtual settings, where the teacher provides information and sets specific tasks, which participants then take further during the webinar, that they then feedback to the group. Despite its virtual nature, the class is dynamic and interactive,” Middelmann says.

Who is this Global Executive MBA for? The class is curated to be as diverse as possible: “We have people from Southeast Asia, all parts of Europe, North and Central Africa; it is a real mix. As well as nationalities, we make sure we have diversity in terms of backgrounds, such as professional sectors, departments they work in” says Darya Leshchenko, director of development on the Global Executive MBA at SKEMA.

“We are looking for people with proven managerial progression, who have managed budgets, projects, and complex teams, who can prove they are good at it but who want to improve and are motivated by the desire to work with people from different backgrounds, cultures, nationalities, and sectors,” Leshchenko adds. “Successful candidates have often had global exposure — they have maybe worked or studied abroad, or have managed global teams.” At the same time, an international background is not a requirement; some participants want to develop precisely the skills to help them become global players. An interesting or unusual background also helps, to ensure participants will learn from each other and the classroom is a fertile environment. 

And what are these high-flying professionals looking for? “A lot of them want a turbo-boost. They feel that they have hit a ceiling; often they have been specialized in a certain way and they want to break through a barrier. To do that, they need strategic vision and a global approach,” says Middelmann. In terms of specific career development goals, broadly speaking, participants fall into one of three profiles. “One group is the people who are working on their own business plan and are involved in entrepreneurship,” Leshchenko says. “The second is people who are working for a company and want to continue working for that company. Then the third is those who would like to make a career move, perhaps across the industry. Those are the ones the careers service most work with.”

Some might worry that, with its limited facetime and quantities of online content, SKEMA’s Global Executive MBA might skimp on the soft skills side of business education, which is increasingly in demand from participants. SKEMA has addressed this concern by setting up its Leadership Lab. “We put an emphasis on participants’ leadership development, with reference to their leadership capabilities,” says Middelmann. “That is why we launched the Leadership Lab course. We called it that because it gives participants the opportunity to figure themselves out: things like self-awareness, and other-awareness. How to work in teams, and how to develop those soft skills that many of them say they need and many say that they don’t have.” 

This element of the program runs throughout the 18 months and is addressed in every semester. “It is about practical leadership capabilities and skills,” Middelmann adds. “We try to give them these as well as global mindset skills and competencies. So we put a real emphasis on that sort of skill development, alongside the classic courses.”

The Leadership Lab helps participants understand their own strengths and leadership styles, and is complemented by a course called Developing Global Mindset. This sets out to give Global Executive MBA participants the “global leadership toolkit” that they need to succeed. This course communicates an understanding of geopolitical, social, and economic developments, and at the same time heightens multicultural awareness and sensitivity to help participants thrive in multinational environments, through team-building exercises, multicultural group work, and personal development via one-to-one coaching.

A good MBA is always evolving, so what themes can future participants expect to see pop up more in the SKEMA Global Executive MBA? “For a start, leadership skills need to change with the times,” says Anke Middelmann. Participants on the Global Executive MBA are mostly in their late thirties or early forties (the average age is 39), but the people they recruit and manage are from a different generation: in their early-to-mid-20s. “Those generations think very differently, so managers have to understand changing attitudes and how to manage them,” Leshchenko says. Articulating a vision for the business, for instance, is increasingly important.

The changing nature of globalization, too, is a key fact. “Globalization is here to stay, although, with the many associated challenges and paradoxes, it is important to learn how to navigate them,” Middelmann says. Also, sustainability is ever-more important, she says, adding: “We are going to be embracing that in a big way.”

SKEMA GLOBAL EXECUTIVE MBA
Design your path in the global world

The Global Executive MBA is tailored for executives who want to optimize learning while maintaining a balance between personal and professional life. It is delivered in a blended format, combining advanced e-learning courses and challenging, highly interactive face-to-face workshops led by qualified faculty. Virtual sessions are run through the learning portal; whereas the six face-to-face international residential weeks are located in well-known business centers or technology parks across four continents (France, Brazil, China, and the USA). This global positioning offers participants exceptional personal development opportunities and career perspectives. The blended-learning approach provides unique flexibility in studying and vital skills for all work situations, both at the national and international levels.

In addition to the core courses, the SKEMA Global Executive MBA offers two specializations: in Project Management and in Entrepreneurship & Innovation. The program offers a unique opportunity to develop leadership skills and strategic vision that participants need to progress professionally, either within their current organizations or for a professional change; some of them join with a specific aim of starting their own companies. SKEMA Ventures is aimed to support, coach, incubate and accelerate these projects, not only during the participation in the program but long after completion. Corporate partner companies also form a core component of the programme by offering case studies, as well as on-site presentations and visits during the residential weeks.

These objectives are seamlessly aligned with SKEMA’s DNA, which focuses on three…

SKEMA GLOBAL EXECUTIVE MBA
Design your path in the global world

The Global Executive MBA is tailored for executives who want to optimize learning while maintaining a balance between personal and professional life. It is delivered in a blended format, combining advanced e-learning courses and challenging, highly interactive face-to-face workshops led by qualified faculty. Virtual sessions are run through the learning portal; whereas the six face-to-face international residential weeks are located in well-known business centers or technology parks across four continents (France, Brazil, China, and the USA). This global positioning offers participants exceptional personal development opportunities and career perspectives. The blended-learning approach provides unique flexibility in studying and vital skills for all work situations, both at the national and international levels.

In addition to the core courses, the SKEMA Global Executive MBA offers two specializations: in Project Management and in Entrepreneurship & Innovation. The program offers a unique opportunity to develop leadership skills and strategic vision that participants need to progress professionally, either within their current organizations or for a professional change; some of them join with a specific aim of starting their own companies. SKEMA Ventures is aimed to support, coach, incubate and accelerate these projects, not only during the participation in the program but long after completion. Corporate partner companies also form a core component of the programme by offering case studies, as well as on-site presentations and visits during the residential weeks.

These objectives are seamlessly aligned with SKEMA’s DNA, which focuses on three key strands: Digitalization, Innovation, and Globalisation.

To learn more about the program, visit: https://www.skema.edu/programmes/executive-mba/overview

YOUR PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

– Duration of 18 or 24 months
– Blended format
– 2 specializations: in Project Management and in Innovation & Entrepreneurship
– Residential weeks in France, China, Brazil, and the USA
– Only 30 days out of the office
– Starting date in February or September

Download the brochure: https://www.skema.edu/programmes/executive-mba/brochure-executive-mba

IN THE RANKINGS

The Financial Times 2019: 61st best worldwide Executive Education

Forbes 2019: ranked among the 12 best Executive MBAs

CONTACT THE ADMISSIONS TEAM

+33 (0)1 41 16 75 14
executive.mba@skema.edu