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The Portable MBA
Robert F. Bruner, Mark R. Eaker, R. Edward Freeman, Robert E. Spekman, Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg, and S. Venkataraman
The ultimate guide to modern business
For over ten years, business leaders have relied on The Portable MBA to guide them through the cutting-edge business theories and practices taught in today's top MBA programs. This completely revised edition of the classic volume incorporates the lessons learned from the dot-com craze, explores the challenges of managing a global work force and of working in an economic decline, and integrates such recent trends as entrepreneurial thinking in large corporations.
The ultimate guide to modern business
For over ten years, business leaders have relied on The Portable MBA to guide them through the cutting-edge business theories and practices taught in today's top MBA programs. This completely revised edition of the classic volume incorporates the lessons learned from the dot-com craze, explores the challenges of managing a global work force and of working in an economic decline, and integrates such recent trends as entrepreneurial thinking in large corporations.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 31, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 30, 2008
This is a much maligned book in the other Goodreads reviews. The negative reviews are a consequence of the book being poorly titled. It is titled The Portable MBA, and misleads buyers that it is MBA content. In reality this is the introduction to the Portable MBA series of books. The content of this book is better described as an overview of business for non-business people, similar to the material you get in pre-requisites for an MBA program.
There are actually some very useful chapters in the book. The reviewers have focused on the weakness of the Accounting and Finance chapters. It is silly to expect all of Accounting and Finance to be addressed in two 20 page chapters, There are separate 400+ page volumes in the series on those topics.
The sections on positioning and competitive analysis (in the strategy chapter), strategic alliances, and identifying macrotrends and developing scenarios for the future of a market are very useful to the novice manager.
Other reviewers have complained that the book is written for an 8th grader. That is unfair to the authors. The language is college level. Don't confuse clarity with simplicity. It just happens to be a good example of quality business writing that is easy to read (good paragraph construction, jargon is minimized, declarative sentences). It definitely doesn't read like most turgid academic writing that strives to be "scholarly."
There are actually some very useful chapters in the book. The reviewers have focused on the weakness of the Accounting and Finance chapters. It is silly to expect all of Accounting and Finance to be addressed in two 20 page chapters, There are separate 400+ page volumes in the series on those topics.
The sections on positioning and competitive analysis (in the strategy chapter), strategic alliances, and identifying macrotrends and developing scenarios for the future of a market are very useful to the novice manager.
Other reviewers have complained that the book is written for an 8th grader. That is unfair to the authors. The language is college level. Don't confuse clarity with simplicity. It just happens to be a good example of quality business writing that is easy to read (good paragraph construction, jargon is minimized, declarative sentences). It definitely doesn't read like most turgid academic writing that strives to be "scholarly."
December 28, 2008
I thought an MBA was like a grad school program.
The material in this book is so basic it is more like
a high school introduction.
Having been in the stock market for a number of years,
I looked first at the accounting & finance chapters.
The material is presented as if the reader didn't
know what accounting or finance are,
let alone broadening a person's understanding of the subjects.
That was enough, this book is not worth wasting time on.
The material in this book is so basic it is more like
a high school introduction.
Having been in the stock market for a number of years,
I looked first at the accounting & finance chapters.
The material is presented as if the reader didn't
know what accounting or finance are,
let alone broadening a person's understanding of the subjects.
That was enough, this book is not worth wasting time on.
February 12, 2013
An excellent companion piece to my textbook during my studies for my MBA. A good refresher and quick reference piece.
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January 21, 2016Recommended for poeple who care about using professional business tools!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews