There are 8 corecourses in the IMBA programme and 10 seminar courses. All of these courses are required.

 The Economic Environment for Opportunities

The economic environment is divided into the macro and micro settings. The aim of macroeconomic component of the course is to provide participants with an understanding of the logic of open national economies : the role of firms in wealth creation, exchange rates and current accounts, fiscal and monetary policies, imbalances (inflation and unemployment) and ways of correcting them.
The microeconomic component provides a foundation in the economic principles that affect business practice. Simple models applied to stylised managerial examples are studied in order to enhance understanding of complex real-world issues (including the market mechanism, production, costs, competition and monopoly, strategic interdependence).

 Financial Accounting
 
This course aims to build the foundations for understanding and using financial information, introducing participants to the fundamental concepts, terminology and tools of financial accounting. It is concerned with topics like income statements and cost structure, balance sheets and capital employment, and, via the use of cash-flow statements, with the relationship between cash and profit. 

 Fundamentals and Tools for Measuring/Managing Value 

The course provides participants with a series of tools to assess a companies' financial position and to build an accurate financial scenario for its development. It covers topics and concepts such as measuring and analysing profitability (Return on Capital Employed, Return on Equity), investment decisions, planning, budgeting and cash-flow forecasting.

 Foundations of Strategic Thinking
 
This course aims to develop participants' understanding and know-how in the areas of strategic analysis and strategy formulation at both divisional and corporate levels. Models of strategic reflection develop a multi-disciplinary and integrated view of company functioning intended for the senior management team, heads of business units and for product managers, marketing and project managers . The teaching approach helps participants to define, analyse and resolve complex problems in general management.

 Managing Operations and Systems 

Behind value creation are key support structures to increase efficiency and facilitate the value creation process. Moving value across the value chain (from supply chain to demand chain) is essential.  This course aims at helping participants understand the fundamentals of both the information systems and the operations management principles required to effectively and efficiently facilitate value creation.

 Managing People to Create Value
  
In the context of today's global market, the effective management of a companys' human resources is recognised as being a key success factor. This course provides an in-depth analysis of the major components of the HRM function (selection, performance and competency appraisal, training, compensation) within the organization and stresses the impact of HRM approaches on strategic change implementation. This course also provides some theoretical starting points from the social sciences for understanding how organisations function : the role of individuals, of groups, the management of organisational change, motivation .

 Principles of Marketing Management 

Marketing is concerned with designing, implementing and maximising exchange. No organisation can achieve its objectives without supplying goods or services whose value is recognised by the market. The main course contents include : marketing concepts and perspectives , customer behaviour, segmentation, targeting and positioning, brand strategy, pricing strategies, distribution policy, the sales force, marketing communication, marketing information and marketing planning.

 Strategic Decision Making 

The objective of this course, which complements the Foundations course outlined above, is to develop participants' understanding of the processes involved in managing strategic change. Models and frameworks for implementing change help senior managers to define the business priorities and processes necessary to translate their decisions into co-ordinated actions.

 
Management Seminars

There are 10 seminar courses in the IMBA programme.  Participants must complete and validate all seminars.

 The Art of Management
 
This seminar brings together companies and leading thinkers to debate and discuss issues of Social responsibility.  Participants are active participants and organizers of the events, working closely with speakers, synthesizing content and providing thought provoking exchanges.

 Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Using a range of approaches : entrepreneurial, strategic, sociological… you will learn how to undertake a systematic company audit.  Participants will analyze business plans of new companies to better understand the overall operations and strategy of a company.

 Identifying Entrepreneurial Opportunities

 This seminar will require you to think fast and learn how to identify business opportunities. The course helps you understand what an opportunity is and how best to identify potential opportunities (a key competency of business leaders). By the end of the seminar, you should also have a good idea of the work expected in developing a business plan as well as the essential components one expects to find in a business plan.

 Implementing Intrapreneurial Opportunities  

Intrapreneurs build entrepreneurial value for the organization.  They must learn to work across organizational barriers and boundaries, evaluate and progress through the organization’s intrapreneurial maze and help identify actions to improve the intrapreneurial climate.

 Leadership Development 

This 3-day seminar focuses on how individuals can bring to the fore their projects and increase their managerial skills, including a preliminary work and the use of a 360°Leadership questionnaire.

 Managing Marketing Operations   

This simulation, conducted in teams, demands that you demonstrate your ability to apply the marketing process and use your leadership skills in order to survive. It will help you : define a coherent long-term strategy that takes into account the attractiveness of the market and the firm's position, . build a medium-term offer that enables the firm to reach a significant market share, with maximum profitability, develop a short-term leading position against direct competitors, through an optimal marketing mix, organise an efficient marketing team, with a good information system.

 Personal Development 

This 3-day seminar is centred on self-knowledge and the development of relationship skills including a preliminary work and the use of TMS Questionnaire.

 Pigmalyon (business game)  

This is a computer based business game, developed by EM LYON faculty, which involves groups of participants managing a small company.  In direct competition with other groups, you will thus have the opportunity of testing the consequences of your decisions both in terms of economic results you obtain and in terms of the social climate you create in your company.

 Strategic Change Management  

This is the last seminar in the programme.  Using a highly practical approach, it enables you to learn how to pilot change processes effectively.

 Business Statistics

This applied course in business statistics, whixh coversthe essential quantitative skills that will be required of you throughout the programme, allows you to build these skills using everyday business computer applications like Excel.