Timeline & courses
The Executive MBA curriculum and program structure
Advance your career to the next level with the Executive MBA from ESMT Berlin. Build upon your existing senior leadership experience with new perspectives, skills, and insights that will help you steer your organization with clarity, conviction, and measurable impact.
-
The program runs for 18 months.
-
Spread over these 18 months are eight in-person modules that each last six days.
-
The modules foster a learning experience that takes on a “corporate retreat” style setting.
-
Six modules take place in Berlin, Germany, while the other two take place abroad, in cities that are hubs for global business.
-
Between modules, students can pursue independent study, which includes pre-and post-module reading, assignments, case studies, group work, and the final report.
Curriculum and course availability are subject to change at any time.
What makes the Executive MBA experience so powerful is not only the academic rigor, but the global exposure
What makes the Executive MBA experience so powerful is not only the academic rigor, but the global exposure. By bringing us face-to-face with realities in places like the Amazon and Cape Town, it pushes us out of our comfort zones.
It forces us to question assumptions, engage with complexity, and see leadership not just as strategy or profit – but as impact and responsibility.
Read Joscha's blog about his international EMBA experiences
EMBA program timeline
Our Executive MBA is designed for senior leaders who want to keep growing their careers while studying.
To that end, we have designed the program as a series of modules built to fit around busy lives. In each module, you'll explore a critical business domain from multiple angles. You can then take what you have learned and apply to real-life business cases between modules, resulting in immediate impact throughout the program.
Location: Berlin
Look inward to clarify how you think, decide, and influence. Six interconnected courses help you examine what it means to lead responsibly and sustain high performance.
Courses include:
- Introduction to General Management
- Leading through Networks
- Leadership in Practice (outdoor day)
- Executive Presence and Communication
- Human Wellbeing and Career Crucibles
- Being a Responsible Leader
- Learning Journal Introduction
- Learning Journal Reflections and Action Items
Location: Berlin.
Sharpen how you think under pressure and develop a disciplined approach to decision making that creates conviction and confidence amid uncertainty.
- Data Analytics for Responsible Leaders
- Introduction to Economic Thinking
- Managerial Analysis and Decision Making
- Leadership in Practice (Coaching Day)
Coaching Day
This is an interactive day facilitated by a professional executive coach. Alongside your study group, you will have the opportunity to reflect upon leadership challenges you may face and to discuss the feedback you received.
Location: Berlin.
Learn how operations and finance come together to shape performance and resilience. Analyze costs and performance metrics to design efficient, ethical supply chains.
- Management Accounting and Sustainable Business Finance
- Financial Management and Corporate Finance
- Operations and Sustainable Supply Chain
Location: Berlin.
Build your capacity to think systematically, lead strategically, and deliver with purpose. Connect customer insight to business value, and align vision with execution.
- Marketing Management
- Business Strategy
- Strategic Sensitivity or Foresight
- Geopolitics
Location: Abroad.
Step beyond ESMT and into the classrooms of our international partners within the Global Network for Advanced Management.
Take part in a one-week exchange with one of the more than 20 schools offering exchanges at the same time as ESMT. Access more information on the Network Week, including a complete list of participating schools and sample exchange curricula.
Short exchanges through the network are available at no additional tuition cost. Students should budget enough for travel and housing during the exchange. Please note that places at certain exchange partners are limited.
Location: Berlin
Explore how creativity, strategy, and technology intersect to create lasting value. Learn about the intersection of AI and entrepreneurship, and how to embed innovation in every decision.
- Strategic Entrepreneurship
- Management and Strategy of AI
- Creating Value with AI
- Strategy Execution
Location: Berlin
Deepen your understanding of how to inspire, engage, and empower those you lead. Navigate the human side of leadership to create environments where people thrive.
- Organizational Behavior
- Structure and Status
- Intercultural Competencies
- Leadership in Practice (Coaching Day)
Coaching Day
This is an interactive day facilitated by a professional executive coach. Alongside your study group, you will have the opportunity to reflect upon leadership challenges you may face and to discuss the feedback you received.
Location: Abroad
Take an opportunity to apply a global mindset as you experience leadership challenges in diverse countries and cultures.
The IFS will challenge you and your fellow participants to experience leading international projects inside the offices of global companies on other continents.
Recent seminars took EMBA classes in Japan, China, Brazil, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Argentina.
Company visits included multinationals such as Allianz, Mercedes Benz, DHL Global Forwarding, Siemens, Fujitsu and KPMG.
Leadership in Practice workshops are conducted throughout the program.
Coaching: Three group coaching sessions are held during the program, two online and one in person. Individual coaching sessions are offered and can play a huge role helping you progress academically and professionally.
Between modules students pursue independent study. which includes pre- and post-module reading, assignments, case studies, group work. and the final report.
How you will learn
Analyze and debate
Analyze business cases and complex dilemmas, debate solutions, and frame problems in ways that reveal new opportunities.
Turn theory into action
Move from classroom theory to workplace application by designing and implementing micro-experiments that deepen understanding and turn insights into action.
Collaborate and challenge
Collaborate in diverse, rotating teams that mirror executive life, challenge assumptions, and build your ability to lead across contexts.
Demonstrate tangible progress
Demonstrate progress through varied assessment formats like simulations, exams, or reflections, tailored by faculty to each subject’s needs.
Paid educational leave (Bildungsurlaub)
If your employer is registered in Germany, it may be possible to take advantage of educational leave (Bildungsurlaub), which grants employees extra time off work in addition to their usual vacation allowance. These can then be spent attending the program’s in-person residencies.
