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RESIDENCIES
The GW Executive MBA program integrates three Residency
Courses into the curriculum to provide an environment that enables
non-traditional educational approaches. A residency presents an
opportunity to address subject matter intensively over an extended
period while located at a site away from campus and the students’
places of business. An entirely different mode of learning is
experienced . . .
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Multiple faculty
lead discussions; students interact as teams; dialogue with faculty
and guests extends to informal settings.
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Topics flow beyond
the constraints of a single lecture period, allowing complex
multidimensional problems to be addressed.
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Competitive
simulations are played out over several days; strategic analyses are
aided by in-residence executives and experts.
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Interwoven periods
for socialization build strong linkages among students and between
students and faculty.
Executive MBA classes participate in two one-week,
domestic residencies and one two-week, multi-city, international
residency.
Residency A: Executive
Leadership Development
The Leadership Residency opens the GW Executive MBA
program and fulfills the dual objectives of introducing the
fundamentals of leadership development and effective team management,
while accomplishing team building among study team members meeting for
the first time. The overarching goal of this residency is to encourage
participants to carefully examine their leadership qualities as they
pertain to managing others within organizations, and to create an
opportunity for introspection, interaction, and skill development
around competencies that are highly prized in the executive realm.
Some of GW's best-known faculty collaborate in teaching this course,
while using a number of imaginative gaming methods and behavioral
instruments to bring the challenging topics of leadership and working
relationships down to a personal level. Follow-on projects ask
participants to apply the knowledge and insight gained from the
residency to their own organizations, often delivering near-term
on-the-job benefits.
RESIDENCY B: International Business
Strategy and Practice
The International Residency is one of the most
memorable and educationally significant experiences of the Program.
Each year this two-week, multi-city residency is held in different
international locations. The residency is designed to permit direct
observation and discussion contrasting the international business
practices in an economically advanced nation with those in a
developing economy. Continuing the integrative emphasis in the
Program, visits to corporate sites and discussions with key executives
in many industries are interspersed with lectures and cases addressing
international financial matters and operations of firms, markets, and
governments. Policymakers also offer their perspectives. Cultural
experiences are an integral part of these residencies. Recent
international residencies have centered around these country pairs:
Ireland and Belgium; Hungary and Switzerland; Chile and Argentina;
South Korea and China; Singapore and Hong Kong; and Hungary and
France.
RESIDENCY C: Strategy Formulation and
Implementation
The Strategy Residency, the final residency of the
Program and also the final course, is the capstone for the Executive
MBA experience. Students apply the many concepts, tools, and insights
they have by now mastered in exploring the strategic framework of an
organization. Business
strategy is concerned with creating an attractive value proposition,
i.e. creating competitive advantage in one line of business. Industry
strategy is concerned with positioning the business for competitive
success within its industry by using the analysis of economic and
policy forces that drive industry profitability. Corporate strategy is
concerned with creating value across the firm's lines of business,
i.e. corporate advantage. EMBAs analyze their own organizations within
these strategy frameworks so that they understand the current strategy
positioning of their firm and can focus on future strategic decisions
that will improve the firm’s competitiveness and enhance its overall
strategy formulation. Lectures during the residency assist
participants in organizing their ideas, and the practical application
of these skills within the participants’ professional spheres
constitutes a significant final learning experience for the class.
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