Complete MBA
FOR
DUMmIES
2ND
‰
EDITION
by Kathleen Allen, PhD,
USC Marshall Business School
and Peter Economy
Coauthor, Managing For Dummies, 2nd Edition, and
Building Your Own Home For Dummies
Complete MBA For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
Published by
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Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2007941221
ISBN: 978-0-470-19429-4
Manufactured in the United States of America
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About the Authors
Kathleen R. Allen, PhD, is the author of Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Management, 3rd Ed., Launching New Ventures, 5th Ed., Bringing New Technology
to Market, and Growing and Managing an Entrepreneurial Business, as well as
several other trade books. As a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Lloyd
Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, based in the Marshall School of
Business at the University of Southern California, Allen has helped hundreds
of entrepreneurs start their ventures. At USC, she’s also director of the Marshall
Center for Technology Commercialization, where she works with scientists
and engineers to help bring their inventions to market. As an entrepreneur
herself, Allen has co-founded four companies and is presently the co-founder
and president of N2TEC Institute, which is dedicated to technology-based
economic development in rural areas of the United States (www.n2tec.org).
Allen holds a PhD from USC, an MBA, and a master’s degree in Romance
Languages.
Peter Economy (La Jolla, CA) is Associate Editor for the Apex Award–winning
magazine Leader to Leader, a member of the National Advisory Council of the
Creativity Connection of the Arts and Business Council of Americans for the
Arts, a member of the board of directors of SPORTS for Exceptional Athletes
(www.s4ea.org), and bestselling co-author of The SAIC Solution: How We
Built an $8 Billion Employee-Owned Technology Company. He has also worked
on more than 30 other books, including Managing For Dummies, 2nd Ed., The
Management Bible, Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs,
and Writing Children’s Books For Dummies. Peter invites you to visit him at his
Web site: www.petereconomy.com.
Dedication
To the visionary business people who are infusing the entrepreneurial spirit
into organizations –– here, and around the world.
Authors’ Acknowledgments
We would like to give our sincere thanks and appreciation to our talented
publishing team at Wiley –– particularly Joyce Pepple, Stacy Kennedy, Chad
Sievers, and Josh Dials. Kathleen would like to thank her husband John and
kids Rob, Jaime, and Greg, who have always been champs about putting up
with an author in the house. Peter would like to thank his wife Jan and kids
Peter, Sky, and Jackson, for being a constant source of wonder, love, and
amusement, as well as his mother Betty Economy for helping to pay for his
MBA courses. Will the circle be unbroken?
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration
form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media
Development
Project Editor: Chad R. Sievers
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees
Acquisitions Editor: Stacy Kennedy
Layout and Graphics: Reuben W. Davis,
Melissa K. Jester, Barbara Moore,
Christine Williams
Copy Editor: Josh Dials
Anniversary Logo Design: Richard Pacifico
(Previous Edition: Tina Sims)
Proofreader: Tricia Liebig
Editorial Program Coordinator:
Erin Calligan Mooney
Indexer: Broccoli Information Management
(Previous Edition: Tim Gallan)
Technical Editor: Matthew Will, PhD, MBA
Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker
Editorial Assistants: Joe Niesen,
LeeAnn Harney
Cartoons: Rich Tennant
(www.the5thwave.com)
Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies
Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies
Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies
Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel
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Publishing for Technology Dummies
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Composition Services
Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Contents at a Glance
Introduction .................................................................1
Part I: The New, Improved World of Business..................7
Chapter 1: The MBA in a Nutshell ....................................................................................9
Chapter 2: Today’s Hottest Business Trends................................................................19
Chapter 3: Entrepreneurship for Everyone...................................................................31
Chapter 4: Global Business: Fun and Profit in Katmandu ...........................................51
Chapter 5: Polish Your Crystal Ball for Some Strategic Planning...............................69
Part II: Managing a Business in the New World ............91
Chapter 6: Managing Is Hard; Leading Is Even Harder ................................................93
Chapter 7: Carrots and Sticks: The ABCs of Motivating Employees........................113
Chapter 8: Hiring and Firing: How to Get Good Employees and Keep Them .........131
Chapter 9: One for All and All for One: Building Teams That Really Work .............151
Part III: Money: What You Don’t Know Will Hurt You....167
Chapter 10: All You Ever Wanted to Know about Accounting ..................................169
Chapter 11: Working Your Way through Financial Statements .................................191
Chapter 12: Deciphering the Mysteries of Financial Planning and Analysis ..........203
Chapter 13: Understanding Stocks and Bonds ...........................................................225
Chapter 14: It Takes Money to Make Money ...............................................................243
Part IV: Marketing in the New World .........................261
Chapter 15: You Are Nothing without a Customer.....................................................263
Chapter 16: Getting Noticed with Advertising and Promotion.................................285
Chapter 17: Navigating the New World of Selling.......................................................299
Part V: Other Important Stuff ....................................315
Chapter 18: Manufacturing and Distribution: It’s a Brave New World.....................317
Chapter 19: The Ins and Outs of Risk Management ...................................................335
Chapter 20: In Business, Everything Is Negotiation...................................................351
Chapter 21: Econ 101: The Basics of Economics........................................................365
Part VI: The Part of Tens ...........................................377
Chapter 22: Ten Biggest Mistakes Managers Make ....................................................379
Chapter 23: Ten Effective Ways to Market Your Products and Services .................385
Chapter 24: Ten (Or So) Steps to Improve Your Cash Flow ......................................391
Index .......................................................................395
Table of Contents
Introduction..................................................................1
About This Book...............................................................................................1
Conventions Used in This Book .....................................................................2
What You’re Not to Read.................................................................................2
Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................3
How This Book Is Organized...........................................................................3
Part I: The New, Improved World of Business ....................................3
Part II: Managing a Business in the New World ..................................4
Part III: Money: What You Don’t Know Will Hurt You ........................4
Part IV: Marketing in the New World....................................................4
Part V: Other Important Stuff................................................................4
Part VI: The Part of Tens .......................................................................5
Icons Used in This Book..................................................................................5
Where to Go from Here....................................................................................5
Part I: The New, Improved World of Business ..................7
Chapter 1: The MBA in a Nutshell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Do You Really Need an MBA?........................................................................10
Exploring the New World of Business .........................................................11
What’s so great about change?...........................................................12
Making an entrepreneurial mindset part of your toolkit.................12
. . . And a global perspective wouldn’t hurt......................................14
Managing and Motivating an Engaged Workforce......................................14
One Part of Business Hasn’t Changed: Money ...........................................15
Reaching Out to Customers..........................................................................16
The Rest of Your MBA Syllabus ....................................................................17
Chapter 2: Today’s Hottest Business Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
The World Really Is Flat!................................................................................19
From outsourcing to insourcing: Listing the flattening factors......20
Hello, neighbor: When did China move in next door?.....................21
Googlevision: Searching everywhere for Waldo...............................21
Turnabout: When little businesses get big businesses
to work for them ...............................................................................22
Do It Yourself: User-Generated Everything .................................................23
Tapping the new opinion leaders .......................................................24
Amateurs compete with experts online and over the airwaves......25
Do It for Others: Becoming Socially Responsible ......................................25
Doing good is good business ..............................................................26
It’s not easy being green ......................................................................26
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The Changing Workforce: Harnessing the Power of the Millennials .......27
The Millennials: Understanding the age of entitlement ..................28
Motivating new Millennial employees ...............................................29
Chapter 3: Entrepreneurship for Everyone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Understanding the Importance of Entrepreneurship ................................32
Entrepreneurs contribute to economic growth................................32
Entrepreneurship gives birth to new industries ..............................32
Entrepreneurs create new jobs...........................................................33
Thinking as an Entrepreneur ........................................................................33
Understanding entrepreneurial thinking...........................................34
Testing your entrepreneurial mindset ...............................................34
Beginning to think like an entrepreneur............................................35
Finding an Opportunity .................................................................................37
Identifying the barriers to creativity..................................................38
Removing the barriers to creativity...................................................39
Testing a New Business Idea.........................................................................40
Develop a business concept ...............................................................41
Conduct a feasibility study .................................................................43
Drawing conclusions............................................................................47
Even with all the planning, sometimes businesses fail ...................47
Corporate Venturing: An Oxymoron? ..........................................................48
Learning from corporate entrepreneurship models ........................48
Surviving as an entrepreneur in a large company ...........................49
Chapter 4: Global Business: Fun and Profit in Katmandu . . . . . . . . . . .51
Going Global Is No Longer a Choice ............................................................51
Understanding the appeal of being global ........................................52
Determining whether your business has
what it takes to go global.................................................................52
Figuring out when to go global ...........................................................53
Spinning the Globe: Where to Begin? ..........................................................54
China: Possible, but not always easy.................................................54
India: Outsourcing heaven ..................................................................57
The European Union: Finding common selling ground ...................57
Mexico: Doing business with a neighbor...........................................58
Understanding the Role of Foreign Agents
and Other International Types .................................................................59
Choosing your intermediary...............................................................60
Putting your agreement in writing .....................................................61
Avoid headaches: Using a freight forwarder.....................................62
Considering the Price of Global Growth .....................................................63
Getting a letter of credit ......................................................................63
When it’s time to make a sale .............................................................65
Knowing Where to Go for Help.....................................................................65
Hitting the road: Trade shows and trade missions..........................66
Calling on Uncle Sam............................................................................67
Table of Contents
Chapter 5: Polish Your Crystal Ball for Some Strategic Planning . . . .69
Comparing Strategy and Tactics ..................................................................70
Strategic goals.......................................................................................70
Tactical goals ........................................................................................71
Operational goals .................................................................................72
Scanning the New Business Horizon ...........................................................73
Do you really know your customers? ................................................73
Riding the market rollercoaster..........................................................74
Keeping up with the changing competition ......................................74
Designing Your Strategy Right the First Time.............................................76
Something New: Strategic Improvising........................................................76
Keep your head up ...............................................................................77
Power to the people.............................................................................78
Employing a SWOT Analysis.........................................................................79
Examining your company’s strengths ...............................................81
Evaluating your company’s weaknesses ...........................................81
Recognizing your company’s opportunities and threats ................82
Putting your company through a test................................................83
Planning for Success with Operational Innovation....................................84
What operational innovation is all about..........................................85
Making process innovation work .......................................................85
Measuring Strategic Planning Success ........................................................86
Creating clear objectives.....................................................................86
Determining your metrics for success ..............................................87
Measuring during and after operations.............................................88
Figuring out how to juggle...................................................................89
Part II: Managing a Business in the New World.............91
Chapter 6: Managing Is Hard; Leading Is Even Harder . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
Understanding What Managers Do ..............................................................93
The different levels of management...................................................94
Planning .................................................................................................95
Organizing .............................................................................................95
Leading ..................................................................................................96
Controlling.............................................................................................96
Highlighting the Differences between Managers and Leaders .................97
Getting Work Done through Others .............................................................98
Power and influence.............................................................................98
Responsibility, authority, and accountability...................................99
Delegation..............................................................................................99
Goals ....................................................................................................101
Designing a Better Organization.................................................................101
Division of labor .................................................................................101
Departmentalization and cellular manufacturing ..........................102
Span of control....................................................................................103
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Creating a Culture of Innovation ................................................................104
Recognizing why innovation is important ......................................104
Four keys to a more creative (and innovative) workplace ...........106
Ethics: Following Your Business Compass ...............................................107
Understanding what’s right and wrong ...........................................107
Setting an example for others to follow ..........................................108
Examining Management Trends in Business Today ................................109
Corporate transparency ....................................................................109
Entrepreneurial leadership ...............................................................110
Work–life balance ...............................................................................111
Chapter 7: Carrots and Sticks: The ABCs
of Motivating Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Grasping the Theories of Motivation.........................................................114
Eyeing content theories of motivation ............................................115
Identifying process theories of motivation .....................................119
You Get What You Reward ..........................................................................124
The good and bad news about rewards ..........................................124
The four keys to effective rewards and recognition programs ....125
Informal rewards and recognition....................................................126
Formal rewards and recognition ......................................................127
Be careful what you reward ..............................................................129
Chapter 8: Hiring and Firing: How to Get
Good Employees and Keep Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Hiring and Keeping the Very Best Employees ..........................................131
Defining the available job..................................................................132
Paying employees what they’re worth ............................................133
Understanding the hiring process....................................................134
Structuring your new employee’s first day at work.......................141
Disciplining (and Perhaps Terminating) Deserving Employees.............142
The first resort: Discipline ................................................................143
The last resort: Termination .............................................................145
I Fought the Law (and the Law Won).........................................................148
Chapter 9: One for All and All for One:
Building Teams That Really Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
The Construction and Evolution of the Team ..........................................152
Eyeing the different kinds of teams..................................................152
Spanning the stages of team growth................................................155
Empowering Employees ..............................................................................157
Setting Goals and Monitoring Progress.....................................................158
Setting goals ........................................................................................158
Monitoring progress toward goals ...................................................160
Conducting Better Business Meetings.......................................................162
The good (and bad) news about meetings .....................................162
Eight surefire ways to make your meetings better ........................164
Table of Contents
Part III: Money: What You Don’t Know Will Hurt You ....167
Chapter 10: All You Ever Wanted to Know about Accounting . . . . . .169
Grasping the Basics of Accounting ............................................................169
The accounting cycle.........................................................................170
The accounting equation...................................................................171
Double-entry bookkeeping ................................................................174
Inventory .............................................................................................175
Depreciation........................................................................................175
Understanding Budgets and Estimates .....................................................179
Perusing different kinds of budgets .................................................180
Creating a budget ...............................................................................181
Utilizing budget tricks of the trade ..................................................183
Keeping Your Eye on the Numbers ............................................................184
Variance analysis ................................................................................184
Audits...................................................................................................185
The Lowdown on Sarbanes-Oxley..............................................................186
The good news....................................................................................186
The bad news......................................................................................187
Chapter 11: Working Your Way through Financial Statements . . . . .191
Financial Statements Are Your Friends .....................................................192
Who reads financial statements? .....................................................192
What do financial statements tell you? ...........................................193
Taking a Snapshot: The Balance Sheet......................................................194
Making Money: The Income Statement .....................................................196
Keeping Your Business Afloat: The Cash-Flow Statement ......................200
Chapter 12: Deciphering the Mysteries of Financial
Planning and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203
Manage Your Finances (Before They Manage You!) ................................204
Preparing accurate forecasts ............................................................204
Developing and executing budgets ..................................................208
Establishing financial controls .........................................................209
Identifying Financial Tricks of the Trade ..................................................211
Liquidity ratios: Measuring solvency ..............................................211
Activity ratios: Can you raise the cash? ..........................................212
Debt (or leverage) ratios: Avoiding the borrowing blues .............213
Profitability ratios: The return of return .........................................214
Analyzing Investment Risk ..........................................................................216
Net present value (NPV)....................................................................216
Internal rate of return (IRR) ..............................................................218
Payback period ...................................................................................219
Profitability index ...............................................................................219
Reading an Annual Report: A How-To .......................................................220
The nine parts of the annual report.................................................220
Analyzing the annual report..............................................................222
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Chapter 13: Understanding Stocks and Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225
Grasping the Secondary Market.................................................................226
Stock exchanges .................................................................................227
Over-the-counter markets .................................................................227
The NASDAQ market..........................................................................228
Understanding Stocks..................................................................................228
Types of stock.....................................................................................228
Stock quotes........................................................................................229
Investing in Stocks .......................................................................................231
Bargain hunter: Value investing........................................................231
Dividend growth hunters...................................................................232
Investing in companies you like .......................................................232
Joining Forces: Mutual Funds .....................................................................233
Bonds: When Debt Makes Sense ................................................................235
U.S. government bonds......................................................................235
Corporate bonds ................................................................................236
Municipal bonds .................................................................................236
How bonds are valued .......................................................................237
How bonds are rated..........................................................................238
Why bonds may be good for you . . . ...............................................239
. . . And why bonds may not be good for you .................................239
Should I Get Investment Help? ...................................................................239
Hiring a broker....................................................................................240
Going it alone (if you absolutely, positively must) ........................241
Chapter 14: It Takes Money to Make Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
How Much Money Do You Really Need?
Setting Up Your Funding Plan .................................................................244
Acquiring First-Stage Money.......................................................................246
Debt ......................................................................................................247
Equity ...................................................................................................249
Choosing between debt and equity .................................................250
Finding Second-Stage (or Expansion) Financing......................................251
Getting an angel on your side ...........................................................251
Taking the fast track with venture capitalists
(at your own risk) ...........................................................................253
Considering a public offering............................................................256
Forming a Strategic Partnership to Access Growth Capital ...................259
Part IV: Marketing in the New World ..........................261
Chapter 15: You Are Nothing without a Customer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263
Identifying Your Customers and Their Needs ..........................................264
The customer is the person who pays you.....................................264
Table of Contents
Customers want benefits, not products ..........................................265
Eyeing Key Trends in Marketing ................................................................266
Grabbing the long tail ........................................................................266
Understanding media convergence .................................................268
Customers doing their own marketing — oh my! ..........................268
Creating a Marketing Plan ...........................................................................269
Prepare to do the plan .......................................................................270
Create a plan in one paragraph ........................................................271
Defining Your Target Market .......................................................................271
Hopefully you have more than one customer:
Target the first customer! ..............................................................272
Do some research on the target customer......................................273
Market Research Made Easy and Fun........................................................274
What information do you need? .......................................................275
How do you find that information? ..................................................275
How do you figure out how much you’ll sell?.................................278
You Can’t Be an MBA without Knowing the Five Ps ................................279
Products include features and benefits...........................................279
Pricing requires many considerations.............................................280
Place is more than location...............................................................283
Promote, promote, promote .............................................................283
Chapter 16: Getting Noticed with Advertising and Promotion . . . . .285
Eyeing the Basics of Advertising................................................................286
Running a successful ad campaign ..................................................286
Locating the best place to advertise ...............................................288
Keeping your ads honest...................................................................290
Publicizing and Promoting Your Products and Services ........................291
Publicity: Getting noticed..................................................................291
Promotion: Conveying information..................................................294
Guerrilla marketing ............................................................................295
Grabbing Consumers’ Attention with Special Events and Premiums ...296
Giving customers a hands-on experience: Special events ............296
Giving away useful items with a message: Premiums....................297
Chapter 17: Navigating the New World of Selling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .299
Build Relationships: Forget the Hard Sell .................................................299
Telemarketing: Dialing for Dollars .............................................................301
Inbound telemarketing ......................................................................301
Outbound telemarketing ...................................................................302
Selling on the Web........................................................................................303
Online retailing and wholesaling for businessto-business transactions................................................................303
Online advertising: Replacing click-throughs
with search-engine marketing .......................................................304
Doing Business with Other Businesses .....................................................306
The need for speed (and accuracy): Electronic
data interchange .............................................................................306
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Choosing your partners: Vendor-managed inventory ...................307
CRM: Getting a Handle on Your Contacts .................................................308
Keeping Your Best Customers ....................................................................309
Identifying your best customers ......................................................310
Rewarding and keeping your best customers ................................311
A win-win strategy for great long-term customer relationships...312
Getting rid of bad customers ............................................................313
Part V: Other Important Stuff .....................................315
Chapter 18: Manufacturing and Distribution:
It’s a Brave New World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .317
Manufacturing Today Is a New Game ........................................................318
Using technology to make things fly................................................319
Outsourcing: The “make versus buy” decision ..............................320
Purchasing: When, Where, and How Much...............................................321
Managing Materials and Scheduling Production .....................................322
Grasping the importance of inventory ............................................323
Making wise management decisions with a Gantt chart ...............324
Scheduling with a PERT chart ..........................................................325
Production: Building the Product ..............................................................327
Quality: It Isn’t Right Until It’s Right ..........................................................327
Build quality into your processes ....................................................328
ISO 9000: Passing the ultimate test ..................................................328
Other quality measurements ............................................................328
Process/Equipment Maintenance: Keeping the System
Running Smoothly ....................................................................................329
Maintaining processes and equipment............................................329
Designing an after-sale service and warranty program.................330
Distribution and Logistics: A Great Way to Compete ..............................331
Eyeing some new distribution strategies ........................................331
Nailing down logistics: Head ’em up and move ’em out................332
Chapter 19: The Ins and Outs of Risk Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .335
The 4-1-1 on Risk Management...................................................................336
Managing Risk (Before It Manages You)....................................................337
Developing a risk management process..........................................337
Conducting a vulnerability analysis.................................................338
Taking action.......................................................................................343
Purchasing Insurance to Shift the Risk......................................................344
Training Employees to Minimize Risk .......................................................346
New Technology, New Risks: Internet and E-mail Threats......................347
Viruses, Trojan horses, worms, and other strange
beings of risk ...................................................................................348
Dealing with threats to your information technology ...................349
Table of Contents
Chapter 20: In Business, Everything Is Negotiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .351
Ready to Rumble: Negotiation 101.............................................................352
Matching your strategy with the type of negotiation:
Is winning everything? ...................................................................352
Preparing for a negotiation: What you need to ask yourself ........354
Understanding the ethical side of negotiation ...............................355
Sizing Up Any Deal’s Critical Elements......................................................356
Power is a good thing ........................................................................356
Time is on your side...........................................................................358
Information is the key ........................................................................359
Let’s Make a Deal: How to Play the Game .................................................359
Following the natural sequence .......................................................360
Knowing what you want before you play the game .......................361
Making sure you end up with a good deal ......................................362
Some do’s and don’ts of negotiations..............................................363
Chapter 21: Econ 101: The Basics of Economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365
Why Adam Smith Knew What He Was Talking About..............................366
Classic versus neoclassic: Almost as good as pro wrestling ........367
And in this corner, we have the Austrian point of view ................368
And the winner is . . . .........................................................................368
Poring Over Fundamental Economic Questions ......................................369
The lowdown on economic systems................................................369
The law of supply and demand: You can’t build it
and expect them to come ..............................................................370
The law of scarcity: You can’t have it all .........................................370
The law of diminishing returns: That last bite of apple pie ..........371
The knowledge economy: It defies the scarcity principle ............371
What Some Key Economic Concepts Mean to You ..................................372
Riding the rollercoaster of economic cycles ..................................372
Measuring the health of the economy .............................................374
Part VI: The Part of Tens ............................................377
Chapter 22: Ten Biggest Mistakes Managers Make . . . . . . . . . . . . . .379
Taking Employees for Granted ...................................................................379
Taking Customers for Granted ...................................................................380
Failing to Lead ..............................................................................................380
Not Setting Clear Goals with Employees...................................................381
Forgetting What It’s Like to Be a Worker...................................................381
Stealing the Spotlight...................................................................................382
Sidestepping Opportunities to Delegate ...................................................382
Communicating Too Little, Too Late .........................................................383
Hiring Too Fast (And Firing Too Slow) ......................................................383
Forgetting to Have Fun ................................................................................384
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Complete MBA For Dummies, 2nd Edition
Chapter 23: Ten Effective Ways to Market
Your Products and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .385
Build Trust with Your Customers ..............................................................385
Tell an Interesting Story ..............................................................................386
Become Effective at Web Content ..............................................................386
Utilize Affiliate Marketing............................................................................387
Consider Mobile Marketing.........................................................................387
Give Your Product Away..............................................................................388
Make Customers Your Marketing Stars .....................................................388
Build Relationships, Not Sales....................................................................389
Get Your Customers Emotionally Involved...............................................389
Go Local in a Global World..........................................................................390
Chapter 24: Ten (Or So) Steps to Improve Your Cash Flow . . . . . . . . .391
Manage Your Accounts Receivable............................................................391
Require Instant (Or Advance) Payment ....................................................391
Accept and Encourage Credit Card Use ....................................................392
Hold Onto Your Money................................................................................392
Make Sure Your Invoices Are Correct........................................................393
Give Prompt-Payment Discounts ...............................................................393
Follow Up on Late Payments ......................................................................394
Keep Track of Your Expenses .....................................................................394
Index........................................................................395
Introduction
W
hether you work for a corporation, a nonprofit organization, or for
the government, chances are you’ve considered getting — or have
already obtained — a Masters of Business Administration degree, an MBA.
Why? Because if you want to get ahead in your organization — or just to do
a better job of managing or leading — obtaining an MBA is the best ticket in
town. Studies show that MBA graduates — particularly those from the top
business schools — are offered significantly higher starting salaries than their
counterparts who don’t have MBAs. And that effect carries on throughout the
careers of these MBAs.
But is it the degree that makes the difference, or is something else at
work here? Although that piece of paper with your name and the words
“Masters of Business Administration” would mean a lot, what is even more
important are the things you’d learn during the course of your MBA studies.
Complete MBA For Dummies, 2nd Edition, presents and explains some of the
same information that you’d encounter in a typical MBA program in any highquality business school. Strategic planning, management, accounting,
finance, marketing, negotiation — you’ll find the key points here.
As you browse this book, keep one thing in mind: There isn’t a monopoly of
business skill and talent at the top levels of an organization. Indeed, employees
at all levels can (and today are often expected to) play active roles in running
their organizations. You can find engaged businesspeople in every part of
today’s dynamic organization.
The bottom line: This book provides you with the very best ideas, concepts,
and tools taught in today’s top business schools. If you apply them, we’re sure
that you’ll see a noticeable difference in your everyday business dealings — a
difference that will make you and your business partners even more successful
in the future.
About This Book
Complete MBA For Dummies, 2nd Edition, is full of useful information, tips,
and checklists that will help anyone who aspires to lead, manage, or
participate in a business at a high level of competence. Your current level
of leadership and management experience doesn’t matter. For a fraction of
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