Global Management (Sustainability Solutions), MGM
Global, International Management, Management, Solutions, Sustainability, Sustainability Management, Sustainable Business, global leadership, global management, international leadership
As sustainability gains importance worldwide, global organizations need expert leaders and managers who can transform sustainability practices. Tailor your experience with powerful new strategies and tactics for making sustainability a driver of organizational engagement, cost savings and innovation.
Solutions for the planet and industry
The Thunderbird MGM program with a concentration in sustainability solutions prepares students for the professions of the future. In this concentration, students earn a degree that benefits their career and the planet. There is an accelerating demand for leaders with a global mindset who possess expertise in sustainability, understand how to apply its principles and technology in approaching problems, and know how to work with and draw from different disciplines to develop practical solutions to the world's most urgent sustainability challenges.
The World Economic Forum reports that empathy and collaboration are two critical abilities for global manager success. These are equally critical for those seeking careers in sustainability solutions. These abilities rely on the development of social capital. This program is designed to develop a student's social capital through field-based action learning, team-based projects and stretch assignments. Students gain the ability to build sustainable trusting relationships --- the basis of social capital --- with others from diverse parts of the world by learning techniques and methods of developing intercultural empathy, how to have interpersonal impact, and ways to act with diplomacy when influencing others.
This concentration is offered in collaboration with ASU's School of Sustainability.
Thunderbird School of Global Management has produced unique leaders for over 75 years --- leaders in every sector capable of tackling the world's greatest challenges. The alumni network comprises 45,000 graduates and 170 chapters around the globe.
- College/school:
Thunderbird School of Global Management
- Location: Downtown Phoenix
Acceptance to the graduate program requires a separate application. Students typically receive approval to pursue the accelerated master’s during the junior year of their bachelor's degree program. Interested students can learn about eligibility requirements and how to apply.
49 credit hours including a foreign language exam and the required capstone course (TGM 597)
Required Core (3 credit hours) Concentration (12 credit hours) Electives (12 credit hours) Other Requirements (21 credit hours) Culminating Experience (1 credit hour) Additional Curriculum Information Electives are approved by the academic unit. Except for TGM 596 and the foreign language requirement, other requirement courses may be substituted with approval of the academic unit. Proficiency in a second language is required for graduation from the MGM degree program. Students whose native language is not English who meet the admission requirements for the Master of Global Management program satisfy the language requirement. Students whose native language is English must satisfy the graduation requirement for language proficiency by waiving this requirement through an oral proficiency interview administered by a third-party vendor or by successfully completing six credit hours of 400-level or higher foreign language coursework as part of the program electives.
TAM 582 Communicating and Negotiating in a Dynamic Global World (3) or
TGM 506 Communicating and Negotiating Across Cultures (3)
SOS 508 Pathways to Sustainability (3)
SOS 509 Leading Sustainability Transitions (3)
Students choose two courses from the following list, for a total of 6 credit hours:
EMS 522 Mastering the Global Sustainability Context (3)
EMS 523 Strategic Sustainability and Leadership (3)
EMS 524 Sustainability Storytelling and Communications (3)
EMS 525 Essentials for Transformative Leadership in Sustainability (3)
SOS 514 Human Dimensions of Sustainability (3)
SOS 545 Creating Sustainable Organizations (3)
SOS 548 Transformational Sustainability Entrepreneurship (3)
TGM 585 Corporate Social Responsibility in a Global Context (1-3)
TGM 598 Circular Economy (3)
TGM 598 Smart and Resilient Communities (3)
foreign language
TGM 515 Navigating Global and Regional Business Environments (3)
TGM 517 Global Accounting and Financial Management (3)
TGM 545 Global Leadership and Strategy (3)
TGM 557 Global Marketing and Data Analytics (3)
TGM 586 Global Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Business (3)
TGM 596 Thunderbird Experiential Practicum (6)
TGM 597 Thunderbird Personal Leadership Development (1)
For concentration coursework, SOS 508 and 509 are required. The remaining six credit hours required for the student's concentration are to be selected from the approved course list, available from the academic unit.
Applicants must fulfill the requirements of both the Graduate College and the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Applicants are eligible to apply to the program if they have earned a bachelor's or master's degree in any subject or related field from a regionally accredited institution.
Applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in the last 60 hours of their first bachelor's degree program, or applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in an applicable master's degree program.
Applicants are required to submit:
- graduate admission application and application fee
- official transcripts
- resume
- essay response to application question
- one professional or academic reference
- interview
- proof of English proficiency
Additional Application Information
An applicant whose native language is not English must provide proof of English proficiency regardless of their current residency.
The resume should demonstrate the applicant's professional and academic history.
An interview is required. Final applicants may be asked to complete an additional interview.
Program learning outcomes identify what a student will learn or be able to do upon completion of their program. This program has the following program outcomes:
- Develop the ability to build sustainable and trusting relationships with others from diverse parts of the world.
- Develop the ability to effectively analyze a sustainability problem in an organization or community.
- Develop the ability to inspire others in a global world.
Students in Thunderbird's Master of Global Management program have unique opportunities to apply and hone their learning in international settings. Experiential learning exposes students to actual problems faced by leaders of multinational businesses and governmental or nonprofit organizations that operate on an international level. Working with Thunderbird professors, their fellow students, alumni and corporate partners, students master and apply global management principles and concepts to meet real business challenges through special courses, labs and projects. Thunderbird offers a wide variety of experiential learning engagements, giving students the ability to solve real-world challenges by collaborating with the school's corporate partners around the world. Some options include:
Global Field Seminars
This one- or two-week seminar exposes students to the dynamics and nuances of doing business in a focused region of the world. Teams of students go on company site visits and attend high-level meetings and presentations with business, government and cultural leaders as well as with Thunderbird alumni. Students gain invaluable hands-on experience while expanding their global business skills, enabling them to become major assets to any organization they join after graduating.
Thunderbird Global Challenge Laboratories
This is a client-facing, project-based course built on a six- to seven-week immersion assignment in a key emerging or advanced market. Projects take students to destinations all over the world. They are tailored to the business needs of the client and challenge students to provide sophisticated data and market analysis, strategy recommendations, and plans for sustained growth that are both practical and effective. For more information, students should visit the Thunderbird Global Challenge Lab website.
Doing well by doing good with a specialized master's degree
Research conducted by McKinsey in 2021 indicates that one of the top five priorities for CEOs in the next normal is to center strategy on sustainability. In a 2021 survey, McKinsey found that 40% of respondents expect their companies to generate value from sustainability, and 57% indicated that sustainability is part of their corporate culture.
Governments are also increasingly recognizing the importance of sustainability. This has led the United Nations to outline sustainable development goals for 2030, an effort that many multinational corporations, nonprofit organizations and state entities have pledged to join.
As sustainability gains more traction, knowledge and management expertise in this area will become increasingly attractive to employers. Graduates of the sustainability solutions concentration are prepared for these new organizational norms and to capitalize on the need for expert leadership in this rapidly growing profession.
Career examples include:
- business continuity planner
- environmental economist
- environmental restoration planner
- quality control systems manager
- sustainability specialist
- urban and regional planner
- water resource specialist
Thunderbird School of Global Management
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TGHB 209
admissions.tbird@asu.edu
602-496-7100
3 year programs
These programs allow students to fast-track their studies after admission and earn a bachelor's degree in three years or fewer while participating in the same high-quality educational experience of a 4-year option. Students should talk to their academic advisor to get started.
Accelerated master's
These programs allow students to accelerate their studies to earn a bachelor's plus a master's degree in as few as five years (for some programs).
Each program has requirements students must meet to be eligible for consideration. Acceptance to the graduate program requires a separate application. Students typically receive approval to pursue the accelerated master’s during the junior year of their bachelor's degree program. Interested students can learn about eligibility requirements and how to apply.
