Executive MBA (London)

Healthcare Specialism

This specialism will appeal to both clinical and healthcare management professionals across the healthcare sector, who are looking to develop both their general leadership capabilities, and their sector-specific understanding.

Whether you’re a clinician on the frontline under increasing pressure to deliver effective results for patients, or a manager required to deliver efficient services under tight budget pressures, our Executive MBA with Healthcare Specialism could be the next step in your career, and give you the skills and confidence you need to take on a leadership role.

The programme is offered at The Shard, London, or at our University of Warwick campus. Participants will initially study eight required modules, which are then followed by three elective healthcare modules designed to tailor your knowledge to your personal career needs and the demands of your industry. Participants may also undertake a consultancy project which will have a healthcare focus, supervised by an appropriate member of faculty.

Specialist modules:

Strategic Leadership in Healthcare - Consolidate and develop knowledge of theories around health systems and apply critical thinking to strategic issues related to health organisations. Review and reflect on global contemporary leadership challenges in the healthcare industry.

Digital Innovation in the Healthcare Industry - Explore theories, concepts and research findings to broaden your understanding of the growth in digital innovation in healthcare whilst considering the key factors impacting on digital healthcare solutions.

Healthcare Improvement - Extend your understanding of the theoretical issues at play in healthcare improvement, across international contexts. Integrating theory with real-life case studies will develop your understanding of healthcare improvement strategies which can be applied to your own organisational context.

Networking opportunities

Join an existing network of more than 500 Warwick Life Sciences and Healthcare Professional Network (LSHPN) members on LinkedIn.

Finance Specialism

This specialism is designed for senior management and executives who are likely to have significant exposure to financial issues; typically those progressing to board level in public or private businesses, or taking responsibilities which include managing financial or accounting professionals.

Board level positions typically require an understanding of financing and analysis beyond that which can be gained through short courses. Our modules are designed to improve technical understanding and develop your ability to ask the right questions and understand the answers.

The programme is offered at The Shard, London, or at our University of Warwick campus. Participants will initially study eight required modules, including Accounting & Financial Management. You will then take two of your four elective modules within the field of finance and accounting. Participants will also undertake a consultancy project which will have a finance focus, supervised by an appropriate member of faculty.

Specialist modules:

• Corporate Finance
• Advanced Corporate Finance
• Financial Analysis
• Investment and Risk Management
• Entrepreneurial Finance
• Psychology of Investing and Financial Decisions

Networking opportunities

Join an existing network of more than 2000 Warwick Finance Network (WFN) members on LinkedIn.

Entrepreneurship Specialism

Are you looking to launch your own business, create innovation or implement transformational change within your organisation? 

Our specialism will equip you with the innovative skills to find creative solutions to real business issues facing your organisation. We know entrepreneurship is not only about new ventures, small or early-stage businesses, or exclusively about for-profit business, rather it is a method of creative problem-solving and a logic for taking action in a variety of settings.

You will be taught by leading research active academics and Professors of Practice who are C-Suite practitioners, providing a rich learning experience where you can utilise academic research and real life case studies.

You will:

• Develop your entrepreneurial mindset, attitude and skills to enable creative problem solving in business
• Understand the main conceptual frameworks that have shaped research and practice on innovation and creativity
• Review the financial, control and investment opportunities faced by rapidly growing companies in entrepreneurial settings
• Implement intrapreneurial changes within your business environment
• Discover how to launch a real business into the UK market and gain access to financial support
• Learn from practitioners with real business experience and guest speakers from a range sectors
• Access cutting-edge research from our Enterprise Research Centre that you can apply within your role
• Participate in drop-in clinics to meet practitioners to nurture your ideas, businesses and corporate projects.

Specialist modules

You will focus 50% of your MBA on entrepreneurship, while the other 50% will be spent studying core MBA content with participants from diverse industries, functions and backgrounds.

You will study eight required modules, including a module in Innovation and Creativity in Organisations, which will introduce you to the conceptual frameworks that have shaped research and practice on innovation and creativity. You will then take two of your four elective modules within the field of entrepreneurship. The elective modules for this specialism are:

Entrepreneurial Finance - Review the financial, control and investment opportunities faced by rapidly growing companies in entrepreneurial settings. You will improve your business building skills and be equipped with the knowledge to be able to consider and select appropriate financing vehicles. 

Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation – Develop your entrepreneurial mindset, attitude and skills, the hallmarks of successful value creators, to enable creative problem solving in business. The way you think about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship will be challenged to help you engage more effectively with a world in which entrepreneurship is a key driver of change.

Consultancy project

The culmination of your studies is your consultancy project. This is your opportunity to dive deeply into a new business idea, tackle an existing issue or use the opportunity to help launch your own venture.

Networking opportunities

In addition to the networking opportunities offered as part of the MBA you'll also receive invitations to events where you can network with potential partners, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and business angels. The Warwick Enterprise Pathway newsletter will allow you to stay up to date with all Entrepreneurial activity across the University of Warwick.

You can also join our Warwick Entrepreneurship Professional Network (WEPN) consisting of more 1,500 members on LinkedIn. 

On graduation, in addition to your MBA qualification, you will gain a letter of acknowledgement from the Dean of Warwick Business School to confirm your success in this specialised study area.

Download the Entrepreneurship Specialism brochure.

Strategic Leadership Specialism 

The specialism provides the essential skills needed to springboard you into a senior leadership career. The specialism exclusively combines business-focused education and highly advanced research.

You will learn from internationally recognised faculty including Professors Dimitrios Spyridonidis, John Colley, Loizos Heracleous, Hari Tsoukas, Christian Stadler, Chengwei Liu and others. 

The philosophy of this specialism is grounded in the view that leadership is complex and contextual and there is no one simple, single model or answer to leading strategic change challenges. The specialism provides a unique combination of deep experiential learning combined with personal reflection, group exercises and external guest speakers (experts in strategic leadership development in successful organisation including Diageo, Deloitte, Rolls Royce, Jaguar Land Rover, Airbus, Barclays, NHS etc). The programme members will be encouraged to explore classical, current and emerging leadership theory, models and concepts and develop a critical approach to both strategic thinking and change.  A core component of the programme is putting leadership knowledge into practice of strategy and the programme offers a range of opportunities for programme members to practise, develop and reflect on their leadership skills, with particular attention to strategic thinking and change.

Together through a personal reflection, group exercises and external guest speakers and projects, you will learn how to put the latest academic thinking and business strategies into practice using real-life case studies, develop a strategic mind-set, enhance your leadership and strategic capabilities to lead transformational change and transform your organisation

Specialist modules:

The Strategic Leadership specialism consists of eight required modules that encompass the whole business function, including Leadership and Strategic Advantage where you will be introduced to the field of leadership, the concept of strategic advantage and how both are essential for an organisation to be successful. You will then take two of your four elective modules within the field of strategic leadership

Two electives out of three strategic leadership electives:

• Strategy & Practice – Explore the characteristics of the implementation process, and the opportunities and difficulties that arise from putting strategy into practice. Learn how to think strategically by developing both in-sight and foresight to increase competitive advantage from efficiency gains.
• Leadership & the Art of Judgement – You will draw on great plays, certain philosophical writings and strands of psychology to obtain insights into the complexity of human beings, their motives, choices and actions to understand how to make wiser choices of judgement.
• Strategic Leadership Development –  Is an advanced leadership module that looks critically at strategic leadership development, that is, how do individuals and organisations build capacity for leadership. It examines the complex processes of leadership development and how each of these can influence leadership effectiveness in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world.

As well as the core modules of the MBA, the elective modules, leadership events delivered throughout the year will be open to the strategic leadership students to meet practitioners to nurture their ideas, businesses and corporate projects. The aim is to create a vibrant interactive MBA course where not only students will attain a MBA, but leadership ideas, materials, business models and contacts to support lifelong learning and development.

Benefits of studying the specialism

• Develop and master your leadership capabilities
• Understand the opportunities and difficulties in implementing strategy
• Utilise a variety of learning techniques; such as case studies, drama, business simulation software and role play on different modules during the specialism
• Develop clear understanding of how to lead with clear sense of purpose and direction
• Understand how to engage the team in a strategic vision
• Develop leadership strategy aligned with the strategic objectives of the organisation
• Develop the ability to align people, information, processes, and culture to deliver the strategic objectives of the organisation
• Develop the confidence and skills to implement change management initiatives needed to deliver a strategic plan.

Networking opportunities

• Join an existing network of more than 3,500 Warwick Strategy and Consulting Professional Network members on LinkedIn.
• Guest industry speakers – such as Sally Clark, Chief Internal Auditor, Barclays Internal Audit and Martin Reeves, Head of the BCG Henderson Institute
• Attend specially arranged leadership seminars where inspirational leaders share their unique leadership journeys and how they overcame strategic challenges and threats.