Japan Management (Non-Thesis): Global Strategy and Leadership (M.B.A.) (57 credits)
Offered by: Management (Desautels Faculty of Management)
Degree: Master of Business Admin
Program credit weight: 57
Program Description
**This program is no longer accepting new students.**
The McGill MBA Japan program of the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University is the leading MBA program in Japan, and one of the leading weekend programs in Asia. Designed for working people with several years of experience, the McGill MBA Japan program allows you to complete a Master of Business Administration program on weekends, without leaving employment.
Based on McGill’s world-leading Integrative MBA Curriculum, the MBA Japan program allows you to complete a full MBA by studying two weekends per month in as little as 20 months. Taught by world-leading professors from McGill’s home campus, the MBA Japan attracts highly qualified students from Japan and around the globe.
The Global Strategy and Leadership Concentration prepares students for the challenges posed by a globalizing marketplace. The approach is cross-disciplinary and includes courses in strategy, organizational behavior, and international business. Students will consider questions such as: What issues will the leaders of tomorrow face and how can they best tackle them? How to take a firm international? How to manage a multi-cultural workforce? How to launch a new venture? How to promote sustainable development? Students will develop skills valued by employers in consulting, business development, project management, and related fields.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Core Courses (21 credits)
All M.B.A. students must complete the following core courses:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MGCR 629 | Healthcare Leadership. | 1 |
Healthcare Leadership. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to the leadership challenges of the 21st century in a rapidly changing global environment at the intersection of business and society. | ||
| MGCR 650 | Business Tools. | 2 |
Business Tools. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to the practical usage of standard business tools and frameworks. | ||
| MGCR 651 | Managing Resources. | 4 |
Managing Resources. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to the challenges of acquiring and developing various resources in the firm, including financial capital, human talent, and information technology. | ||
| MGCR 652 | Value Creation. | 4 |
Value Creation. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Offers a comprehensive overview of the value creation process in business sectors by exploring the inter-relationships among the partners in the value chain. | ||
| MGCR 653 | Markets and Globalization. | 4 |
Markets and Globalization. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A review of macro-environment in which firms compete, and the linkages which exist between the domestic and global economies. Topics such as trade, fiscal and monetary policy, interest rates, exchange rates, and balance of payments will be covered. | ||
| MGCR 661 | International Study Experience. | 6 |
International Study Experience. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The process of internationalization as well as managing an enterprise/organization in an international setting. Students will participate in an organized study trip outside of Canada, to a city with significant international business. | ||
Required Concentration Courses (6 credits)
Students choosing the Global Strategy and Leadership concentration must complete these required courses:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MGPO 683 | International Business Policy. | 3 |
International Business Policy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Development and application of conceptual approaches to general management policy and strategy formulation in multinational enterprises. Alternative forms of international business involvement (licenses, contractual arrangements, turnkey projects, joint ventures, full direct investment); formulation and implementation of international, multinational and transnational competitive strategies; technology transfer; ownership strategy; international collaborative arrangements. A combination of conceptual readings and applied case analyses. | ||
| ORGB 685 | Cross Cultural Management. | 3 |
Cross Cultural Management. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Cross-cultural awareness and communication skills necessary to manage in multicultural organizations. The focus of the course is on the relationship between cultural values and communication styles as they affect inter-and-intra cultural communication of managers, personnel and clients of multinational and multicultural corporations and organizations. | ||
Complementary Courses (30 credits)
9 credits selected from the following courses toward the concentration:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| BUSA 660 | CEO Insights. | 3 |
CEO Insights. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Interaction with CEOs of global MNEs, SMEs and family businesses. We hear the narrative of the CEO's life and times and then, using academic literature as a base, discuss issues faced by CEOs. | ||
| BUSA 690 | Advanced Topics in Management 1. | 3 |
Advanced Topics in Management 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Current topics in management. | ||
| MGPO 615 | Consulting for Change. | 3 |
Consulting for Change. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Consultation in the area of assisting firms to introduce strategic change including approaches that are used to assess, understand and advise firms whose status quo is no longer considered satisfactory. | ||
| MGPO 630 | Managing Strategy and Innovation. | 3 |
Managing Strategy and Innovation. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Activities from company start-ups and turnarounds to implementing mergers and acquisitions. Examination of how strategic change works in practice and how the strategic transitions faced by organizations of all types can be addressed. | ||
| MGPO 640 | Strategies for Sustainable Development. | 3 |
Strategies for Sustainable Development. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course aims to produce new knowledge about the multidimensional nature of sustainable development; develop skills required to formulate and implement policies that integrate economic progress with quality of life and the preservation of the biosphere. | ||
| MGPO 645 | Strategy in Context. | 3 |
Strategy in Context. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Exploration of how different environments enable some competitive modes and maneuvers while constraining others. Analysis of industry structure and competitive dynamics and how they evolve; the strategic positioning of firms; how opportunities get constructed and how firm capabilities get linked to them; how competitive advantage is developed and sustained. Introduction to the theories and frameworks will also be critiqued in light of empirical evidence and practitioner experience. | ||
| MGPO 651 | Strategic Management: Developing Countries. | 3 |
Strategic Management: Developing Countries. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The course examines strategic management challenges in developing countries using lectures and discussion of readings and cases. Topics include economic policy management (national development strategies, structural adjustment, privatization), economic cost/benefit analysis, technology choice and transfer, negotiations between multinational firms and host governments, and strategic management for public enterprise, family-owned firms, economic groups, and developmental organizations. | ||
| MGPO 669 | Managing Globalization. | 3 |
Managing Globalization. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. M.B.A.s need to understand international competitive issues, such as: forces for industry globalization, a firm's international expansion process, and international competitive strategies. Many types of firms will be analyzed, from small U.S. and Canadian firms beginning to explore internationally to large multinationals that are managing investments around the world. | ||
| ORGB 633 | Managerial Negotiations. | 3 |
Managerial Negotiations. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Negotiating is a critical managerial skill. The purpose of this course is to allow students to learn to be more effective negotiators. The class environment used to accomplish this goal includes many exercises, personality inventories, and cases. The focus of the course will be on the processes of bargaining and the emphasis is "hands on" learning, although theories of negotiation and research examining negotiation will also be covered. Each student will have a great deal of control over how much he or she will develop into a better negotiator as a result of participating in this course. | ||
| ORGB 640 | The Art of Leadership. | 3 |
The Art of Leadership. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Influence of personality, situational and cultural factors on strategic decision making. The role of power and political behaviour in organizational life. Topics include: managerial style, superior-subordinate relationships, organizational stress, entrepreneurial behaviour patterns, power and politics in decision making. | ||
The remaining 15 credits of courses are chosen from 500- and 600-level courses offered by the Faculty.
6 credits from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| BUSA 650 | Internship. | 6 |
Internship. Terms offered: Summer 2025 An on-the-job experience in a corporation or organization supervised by an academic faculty member. | ||
| BUSA 651 | Practicum. | 6 |
Practicum. Terms offered: Summer 2025 A practical project which provides an opportunity to explore and recommend solutions to a business issue within a corporation or organization. | ||