MBA in a Box: Practical Ideas from the Best Brains in Business [Hardcover]

Joel Kurtzman (Author), Glenn Rifkin (Author), Victoria Griffith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2004

The best minds in business—at your service

MBA in a Box brings together some of the best brains in business who show how the core curriculum of an MBA program works in the real world. People like Michael Porter, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Adrian J. Slywotzky, Warren Bennis, and Bill George give you a box full of ideas and tools that can boost your career and help you add value to your organization. For example:

• Why finance is not just about manipulating numbers but of immense importance in sustaining growth, building widespread wealth, and creating jobs.
• The profit zone and how to tell if a business is in one.
• The skill of turning an idea or invention into a product that solves a problem for a market.
• Merging the need of business to produce and grow with the environment so they are both sustained.
• The latest thinking in marketing about branding, pricing, reversing a product’s life cycle, and turning what has become a commodity into a specialty.
• And much more.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This practical guidebook to business concepts is appropriately straightforward in its approach. Kurtzman, a former New York Times reporter and editor of the Harvard Business Review, explains that the volume is "organized to reflect the way normal people do and think about business." Kurtzman identifies "big ideas" as concepts that... reduce the fog of complexity into something simple, solid, tangible, and most of all workable." Not so much a nuts-and-bolts guide to business, this volume focuses on ideas and takes readers through the process of innovation, the fundamentals of sustainability, finance and accounting, and the intricacies of strategy and management. Kurtzman explains that his book can be read either from cover to cover or thumbed through whenever answers to questions about a creative concept are needed. The book addresses such topics as human resources, leadership, marketing, communication and learning from slip-ups (both one's own and those of others). Lending extra credibility to the volume is an impressive roster of contributors, including Michael Milken, 3Com founder Bob Metcalfe, Segway inventor Dean Kamen and Harvard Business School dean Kim Clark, each writing about his or her area of expertise. In keeping with Kurtzman's philosophy of business (it's "one of life's great games, and it is exhilarating"), the book makes for a refreshing and often humorous read. Whether the book's marketing concept (the "box" of the title is actually a slip-case) and high price point will attract readers is left to be seen.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Former New York Times reporter Kurtzman, who has written seven previous books on the markets, big business, currencies, and the economy, is also founding editor of Strategy and Business and editor of Harvard Business Review. Here he has assembled some thoughts from the best minds in business into a practical resource for solving problems and generating new ideas. The more than 35 contributors include Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway human transportation device, who talks about how new technology becomes significant only when it turns into the Big Idea, which happens when people start doing something they've never done before and find they can't live without it. The 1980s bond king Michael Milken discusses how corporate finance is more an art than a science; journalist Victoria Griffith has two articles--one discusses how biotechnology companies innovate, the other the implications of electronic communication within organizations; and, finally, Sam Hill brings his unique perspective on branding to the table. All the pieces are both pointed and concise. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Crown Business (May 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609610880
• ISBN-13: 978-0609610886
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 1.6 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,333,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Business Information & Diversity of Perspectives, June 1, 2004

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: MBA in a Box: Practical Ideas from the Best Brains in Business (Hardcover)

In recent years, there have been several excellent books which cover much of the same material found in this volume. For example, Steven Silbiger's The Ten-Day MBA: A Step-By-Step Guide To Mastering The Skills Taught In America's Top Business Schools and Milo Sobel's 12 Hour MBA Program. (Both Silbiger and Sobel know it's impossible to gain the knowledge-equivalent of an MBA degree in 10-12 months, much less in 12 hours.) Each of the their books is worthy of consideration as is this book. In fact, at least to business students and to relatively inexperienced executives, I presume to suggest that all three be purchased and then kept near at hand for frequent consultation.

Throughout history, all of the the most effective people were/are life-long learners. They fully appreciate the importance of knowing what they need to know; also the importance of knowing what they think they know...but don't. As a result of all manner of new/better technologies, we now have access to more information than ever before...and both the quantity and quality of that information seem certain to increase faster than ever before. What we know as well as knowing what we don't know are critically important. I am reminded of Derek Bok's response to irate parents after a tuition increase at Harvard: "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

In collaboration with Glenn Rifkin and Victoria Griffith, Kurtzman takes a different approach to various subjects than do Silbiger and Sobel. They provide a specific course of self-directed sequential study whereas Kurtzman provides a series of separate but related chapters, each of which focuses on fewer specific subjects but in greater depth and from several different perspectives. Although I recommend that Kurtzman's book be read sequentially the first time, its greater value may derive -- for many readers -- from its discrete coverage of those subjects of most immediate relevance. Obviously, completing an M.B.A. degree program requires a much greater investment of time, concentration, energy, and (yes) money than does reading one or even several books. Even an excellent volume such as Kurtzman's cannot replace that program, nor does he assert or even imply such a claim.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Silbiger's and Sobel's books as well as Business: the Ultimate Resource, Stuart Crainer's The Management Century as well as his The Ultimate Business Library: The Greatest Books That Made Management, Des Dearlove's The Ultimate Book of Business Thinking: Harnessing the Power of the World's Greatest Business Ideas, Daniel A. Wren and Ronald G. Greenwood's Management Innovators: The People and Ideas That Have Shaped Modern Business, Daniel A. Wren's The Evolution of Management Thought, (4th Edition), and The Leader's Companion: Insights on Leadership Through the Ages (Thomas Wren, (Editor). In fact, every organization should have an in-house lending and/or reference library and these are among the titles which should be included.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Inadequate, April 11, 2006

By 

Clovis (Chicago, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MBA in a Box: Practical Ideas from the Best Brains in Business (Hardcover)

I acquired this book as a referesher subsequent to completing my MBA program. It is a suprising disappointment, and I do NOT believe it is an "MBA in a BOX" by any stretch of the imagination. I am somewhat reluctant and uncomfortable to speak negatively about any book I have read, and I have read plenty of books and review a fraction of them on Amazon.com. Nevertheless, I have a sense of obligation to tell people that this book will most-likely not provide them the information they are perhaps looking for in terms of MBA material. To try to be perhaps fair, I am going to highlight some important aspects in this book.


Innovation
--
The concept, from Clayton M. Christensen's THE INNOVATOR'S DILEMMA, "that companies fail not because managers are dumb but because the system doesn't allow them to succeed" is very important as it touches on empowerment, organizational learning, and team building (and learning).


Strategy
--
Yes, I agree that strategic thinking involves intuition and creativity. I am very happy that the balanced scorecard was covered in this book, which is an excellent tool for organizations to measure performance.


Management
--
Encourage entrepreneurial behavior and thinking. Ensure your team is actually empowered to make decisions, take action. Otherwise, how can you possibly encourage entrepreneurial behavior and thinking in an organization?


Human Resources
--
The importance of retaining and motivating the "knowledge worker" is covered, which is a concept from Peter Drucker. Organizations must appreciate, recognize, and understand a knowledge worker's extensive knowledge. Further, an organization must also provide opportunities for the knowledge worker to expand her/his knowledge, thereby adding value for the organization.


Marketing
--
I enjoyed reading about customer relationships management (CRP), allowing the customer to frame and shape the relationship between the organization and her/himself.


CONCLUSION
--
As I mentioned, this book did not meet my expectations and was somewhat disappointing. I think the title is not appropriate and perhaps even misleading. Nevertheless, if you want to obtain some highlights on certain subjects and prominent business personalities, this book can be useful.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Badly written book, good packaging, June 27, 2006

By 

Y. Vorobyev - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MBA in a Box: Practical Ideas from the Best Brains in Business (Hardcover)

After reading 100+ pages, my knowledge of MBA programs and MBA practices has not increased at all. This is a random collection of essays with little practical use. This is not a "How-To" book or a "Cookbook" by any means. This book is very light on practical advice, and I doubt that it would help anyone learn about MBAs. Although it was written by people who have MBAs, their writing has almost nothing to do with getting an MBA yourself.

I was pretty disappointed with the quality of writing. There are better MBA books out there.