Program duration
Language of instruction
Next Intake
Tuition Fee
15 ECTS
Format
Leading Across Functions, Executing With Impact
The General Management Program is a focused executive program designed for professionals in operations-intensive industries who are stepping into broader leadership roles. Develop the ability to translate strategy into execution and deliver measurable results in complex environments.
Designed for logistics, manufacturing, energy, retail, pharma & more, and built around real business challenges, this program accelerates your leadership growth in a fast, focused, and purposeful way, and in a low-disruption format made for working professionals.
This Program Is For
- Functional managers moving toward cross-functional responsibility,
- High potentials who need to understand and steer value chains,
- Operations leaders moving into cross-functional roles,
- 3-8 years’ experience regardless of academic background.
From Functional Expert to General Manager
You have mastered your function and are moving towards leading performance across complex organizations, supply chains, and global value chains. With this GMP you’ll be leveling up your skills by:
- Making strategic decisions under real-world constraints, balancing cost, service, speed, resilience, and growth.
- Translating strategy into resource allocation, organizational design, and execution.
- Learning to interpret financial data from an operator’s perspective to support decision-making.
- Aligning stakeholders across functions, sites, and organizations, including in high-pressure and conflict situations.
- Improving processes and implementing change to increase organizational resilience.
- Developing an Operations Mindset – integrating strategic thinking, human-centered leadership, and effective execution to deliver measurable results.
- Applying your learning directly through a Learning Application Project, creating an implementation-ready roadmap with KPIs and stakeholder-ready outputs.
What Makes This Program Different
KLU offers a unique edge in business and management through its Operations Mindset, focusing on execution, real decisions, and getting things done.
The program concentrates on concepts that are relevant and applicable in practice, bypassing the overload of outdated or impractical theory.
- Built for execution, cut unnecessary theory: Work on real constraints, trade-offs, and decisions.
- Designed for operations-intensive industries: intentionally tailored to sectors where execution makes the difference (like logistics, manufacturing, energy, retail, maritime, pharma, and industrial services)
- Low disruption, high impact format: short, intensive modules combined with guided online work, enabling immediate application alongside a full-time role.
- Learning Application Project: apply everything directly to a real business challenge from your organization.
- Pathway to a Part-Time MBA: The program can be credited toward KLU’s MBA in Leadership & Supply Chain Management (subject to academic approval).
Program Overview
Duration: 3 months
Format: 15 in-person days + guided online work
Timeline: 4 weekends (Friday to Monday) over 4 months
Courses: 4 modules, 8 courses
Credits: 15 ECTS
Language: English
Completion: KLU Executive Education Certificate
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Learning Application Project (LAP)
The LAP is a central element of the program. In addition to active participation and module-level assignments, you will complete a structured, practice-based Application Log that links each GMP course directly to a real challenge in your current role. After each course, you will answer a short application question and capture the implications for your context: your strategic choices, stakeholder approach, KPI logic, and execution priorities.
At the end of the program, you will synthesize these entries into a concise final slide deck and present your action plan. The result is a clear, executive-ready narrative of what you learned, how it applies, and what you will do next, which creates immediate value for you and your organization.
The LAP translates the knowledge of the program into tangible results.
Curriculum
Four Modules. 15 Days. Real-World Impact
The GMP draws on the Part-Time MBA course portfolio and combines core general management topics with KLU’s strength in operations, supply chains, and execution.
Duration: 4 days
Focus: Build a clear strategic point of view on how your organization creates value and competes under real constraints.
Learning Objectives:
- Develop and defend competitive strategies for global business environments
- Sharpen customer and market logic for strategic positioning
- Understand of the conceptual underpinnings of win/lose and win/win negotiations
- Analyze negotiation dynamics and devise an appropriate negotiation strategy
- Select and use tactics and counter-tactics at the negotiation table
- Harness (against) psychological forces in negotiations
- Steer negotiations with communicative techniques from positions to preferences
- Analyze competition and constraints in order to develop strategies for their organizations to compete globally
- Which factors must be considered for the successful development of competitive strategies
- Under which constraints a firm operates
- How a firm can reach its goals
Course Units:
- Competitive Strategy in a World of Constraints (2 days)
- Mastering Win/Lose and Win/Win Negotiations (2 days)
Duration: 4 days
Focus: Learn to read financial statements with an operator's eye and translate strategy into resource allocation.
Learning Objectives:
- Develop an understanding of the relevance of international financial accounting in a changing economic, social, and technological environment
- To better understand the language of business (i.e., accounting) and its imperfections
- Evaluate international financial accounting policies and practices and their impact on managerial decision making
- Use of accounting analysis tools and key performance indicators to evaluate the financial health of companies
- Explain key concepts in finance and manage their finances accordingly
- Turn their strategies into appropriate organizational structures that not only can implement the strategy but can create long-term, sustainable value for all stakeholders
- What the strengths and weaknesses of different organizational structures are
- What the principles and influence factors of organizational design are
- Respond appropriately to leadership issues in professional environments
Course Units:
- Finance & Accounting Across Borders (2 days)
- Global Organization Design (2 days)
Duration: 4 days
Focus: Dive into the AI and automation hype to focus on what creates business value.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify customer-oriented value requirements and respond to these requirements in a socially and environmentally responsible manner
- Assess and apply strategies to properly structure the marketing mix
- Manage customer relations appropriately
- Be able to answer the two guiding questions: "What do these customers want? And do we want these customers?"
- Develop a basic understanding of data science life cycle, supervised and unsupervised learning, natural language processing and process mining
- Understand how data science can be used to make better decisions
- Develop data science strategy for the organization
- Identify relevant areas where data science can help
- Identify common data quality issues
Course Units:
- Voice of Customer-Driven Marketing and Sales (2 days)
- Intelligent Business Process Automation (2 days)
Duration: 3 days
Focus: Execution is a leadership discipline. Design organizations that deliver, lead change, and build cultures of continuous improvement.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain how contemporary supply chains are designed and managed
- Discuss sustainability issues as they relate to supply chains
- Name and discuss relevant laws and regulations around supply chain sustainability
- Identify and assess sustainability hotspots in a supply chain
- Devise measures to monitor and certify sustainability standards
- Explain the critical role of supply chains to achieve a circular economy
- Analyze how a supply chain can be transformed towards closing the material loop
- Describe how competencies can be built in organizations
- Understand learning processes in organizations
- Discuss how knowledge and processes can be continuously updated in organizations
- Describe learning cultures
- Foster growth mindsets and error management
- Create and foster feedback cultures
Course Units:
- Supply Chain Design (2 days)
- Learning organizations (1 day)
Learn From Excellence
Faculty
The GMP is taught by KLU’s resident professors, AACSB-accredited researchers with active consulting practices, working alongside senior industry practitioners from logistics, manufacturing, and operations-intensive sectors.
- Every concept is stress-tested against real business constraints, not just academic frameworks. Participants don’t just learn what general management theory says — they work through how it plays out in their industries, with people who have made those calls.
Associate Professor of Management Practice
Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Associate Professor of Management & Academic Director of Executive Education
Associate Professor of Management Accounting & Dean of Programs
Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Professor of Marketing and Innovation
Associate Professor of Human Resource Management, Academic Director PhD Program
Professor of Supply Chain and Operations Management
Professor of Data Science and Business Intelligence & Head of Department of Operations and Technology
Note: Final faculty allocation and module sequencing may vary by cohort, calendar, and program customization.
How to Apply
Admissions
Eligibility Criteria
Recommended Profile:
- English proficiency
- Functional managers preparing for broader cross-functional responsibility, and high-potential professionals nominated by their organizations.
Application Process
- Step 1: Submit Registration
Complete the registration form (include CV, copy of qualifications, proof of years of experience – employer reference) - Step 2: Get-to-know call (if applicable)
Discussion with admissions team about goals, experience, and program expectations. - Step 3: Confirmation
Receive confirmation and enrollment information. - Step 4: Program Onboarding
Complete pre-program questionnaire and review joining instructions.
Tuition Fee
13.400 EUR
What’s included:
- All teaching materials, cases, and online resources.
- KLU Executive Education Certificate.
- Action Project coaching and feedback.
- Coffee, tea, and refreshments during module days.
- Welcome reception and graduation ceremony.
- Access to KLU library and digital resources during the program.
- Access to the KLU Executive Alumni Network.
What you organize:
- Accommodation in Hamburg.
- Meals (lunches and dinners on teaching days).
- Travel to and from Hamburg.
Value Proposition
For Participants
- Balance cost, service, speed, resilience and growth under constraints.
- Finance for non-finance managers: read and steer KPIs.
- Lead cross-functionally across stakeholders, regions and partners.
- Greater confidence in escalation & interface situations.
For HR & Talent Development
- Standardizable development format for high potentials and functional managers.
- Measurable competency development aligned with a clearly defined general management profile.
- Option for a corporate cohort and direct invoicing.
For Line Managers
- Less escalation through better cross-functional translation.
- Stronger ownership beyond individual functional boundaries.
- Minimal work absence — weekend-centered format.
Taking the Next Step
Your Road to MBA
Upon completion, participants receive a KLU Executive Education Certificate in General Management (15 ECTS), recognizing their achievement and strengthening their professional profile.
Beyond the certificate, participants leave the program with a Learning Application Project: a structured, implementation-ready solution developed around a real business challenge, including clear KPIs and actionable next steps.
The program also opens pathways for continued development. Participants may be eligible to apply their earned credits toward KLU’s Part-Time MBA in Leadership & Supply Chain Management, subject to academic approval and admission.
In addition, participants gain access to KLU’s executive education network, connecting them with a community of professionals across industries and functions.
Become the leader who turns decisions into results and drives performance across operations and value chains.
FAQ
KLU’s Part-time MBA is a 18 months degree program covering all business disciplines in depth. The GMP is a focused 3-month certificate program designed for professionals who need core general management capabilities quickly and efficiently, with minimal disruption to their careers.
The GMP provides MBA-quality teaching on critical topics with KLU's distinctive operations focus. Upon completion, the GMP can serve as a pathway into KLU's Part-Time MBA, with potential ECTS credit recognition (subject to academic approval).
Yes. The modular format (3-4 day blocks approximately monthly) allows you to maintain your full-time career. Most participants take 1-2 vacation days per module. The program is specifically designed for working professionals.
The program is designed for professionals typically with 3–8 years of work experience who are stepping into or preparing for broader general management or operations leadership roles. Candidates with less experience but strong leadership exposure and clear developmental goals are welcome to apply; admissions decisions are based on overall leadership potential, responsibilities, and fit with the learning community rather than on years alone.
No. We welcome professionals from all academic backgrounds. Many participants bring valuable perspectives from engineering, sciences, and other non-business disciplines.
The program is taught entirely in English. German business context is integrated where relevant, but all instruction, materials, and discussions are in English.
Yes. Many participants are company-sponsored. We provide material to support your internal approval process and can invoice organizations directly. We also offer group discounts and customized corporate cohorts.
You receive a KLU Executive Education Certificate upon successful completion of all modules and the Action Project. The program may also carry ECTS credit recognition applicable towards KLU's Part-Time MBA, subject to academic approval.
You will be sharing the class with other GMP participants as well as the part time MBA students. The cohort includes professionals from diverse industries (logistics, manufacturing, FMCG, pharma, maritime, retail, e-commerce, energy), functions, and organizational backgrounds. This diversity enriches peer learning and networking.
Yes. We welcome campus visits and information sessions. Contact us to arrange a visit or join an upcoming open house event.
Professional development expenses may be tax-deductible in Germany. Please consult with your tax advisor for your specific situation.
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