Customer Reviews

The Portable MBA (Portable MBA Series)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I purchased this text as an introduction to basic fundamentals of an MBA education. It met that purpose by providing succinct overviews of the functional areas. If a reader wants a more in-depth look at specific functional areas, this is not the book to buy. I will also comment that I was confused on a case discussion in the finance section and one of the Authors, was very helpful and answered my questions on NPV, through an e-mail. That is why Darden is known as having the best MBA professors.

This is a good BASIC LEVEL reference book for MBA studies. It shows the basic theories e.g. in strategy, finance, accounting etc. If you need deeper & focused knowledge of any of those areas, maybe you should buy another book (e.g. Portable MBA in Stretegy).

The rage nowadays seems to be how you can circumvent the B school process, save 100,000 dollars, and still come out on top with all the knowledge free.

I got news for you.

It won't happen.

But there are activities and materials you can procure in order to sharpen your business acumen and critical reasoning skills.

This post comes as a result from a recent seminar I attended where deans from top MBA programs in NYC were convened to talk about the admissions process.

There were 5 up there - 3 of them agreed that if it weren't for the networking opportunities at B school, everything you get a B school can be attained by suscribing to the Economist.

I was shocked.

So here we go.

The top five ways to get your portable MBA:

1. Buy the complete Portable MBA Series. There are many more, but you only need these 8:

- the portable MBA (start with this one)

-" " finance/accounting.

-" " entrepreneurship

-" " marketing

- " " management

- " " strategy

- " " investments

- " " economics

You probably think I'm joking.

I'm not.

The wealth of information here will blow you away.

Be a smart and consider it all as an investment.

Anyways, top b schools cover all the topics listed above.

2. Suscribe to the Economist.

I suscribe to dozens of business periodicals, but the Economist is global in scope.

Remember that word - global.

You'll hear it a lot in Business school should you decide to go.

3. Read Thomas Friedman's new book: THE WORLD IS FLAT. I read over 300 business books a year (on average one a week) and this is so far the best book I've read in 2005.

Get this: Business Week polled some of the top B school professors in the nation and they all said they were planning on reading this over the summer.

I'll let you decide.

4. Be thankful you have the internet at your disposal.

Our parents did not have such a luxury as Google, Investopedia, or Wikipedia.

Read everthing related to business, finance, econ, marketing, technology, media, wall street, stock markets, venture capitalism, & the internet.

That means blogs, too...

5. Get cable and watch either CNNfn, CNBC, or Bloomberg as much as you can.

Even if you're busy, leave it on and let that juice seep into the subconscious.

Use discipline + never change the channel to watch what the rest of America watches.

So there you go.

The book is outstanding and different from the pack of MBA texts, because the authors do not limit themselves to repeat classic concepts. On the contrary, they bring up challenging concepts in accordance with the dynamic of today's globalized business environment.

This book gives the reader a comprehensive overview of the most modern and up-to-date concepts of business management. I've never taken any management courses in college (in fact I'm a high school dropout)but, this book helped me to be able to communicate with top management and speak the language of business. I recommend it highly.

Rather dull but informative guide which shares the basics that one learns in an MBA classroom. Not lively in any way, and with a dearth of graphics, so you'll find it hard to concentrate at times. This edition is a bit dated (around turn of the century) so the references aren't fresh, though still somewhat relevant. A better guide is the "10-Day MBA", which I recommend picking up before this volume.

Background Information

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I was in an endeavor to "refresh" my library of knowledge I acquired subsequent to completing my MBA program. After reading a number of these so-called Portable MBA or MBA in a Box books, I am quite firmly convinced that you cannot learn MBA material outside of an MBA program. At best, these books can provide a refresher or an almost adequate preview of the content covered in MBA programs. More specifically, THE PORTABLE MBA was not the most disappointing book on the subject of MBA maetrial, but nevertheless not very useful as a refersher or a preview for prospective MBA students.

Summary

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I am going to be brief in discussing this book. I cannot encourage you to read this, particularly if you're interested in an MBA review or preview. I actually tutored Macroeconomics, and I found the section on that subject in this book to be very inadequate and disappointing. To be perhaps fair, I am glad that Keynesian economics was touched on in contrast to supply-side economics. Nevertheless, I do not think a reader of this book can fully appreciate the difference between being a demand-side and supply-side economist. I do not believe that Milton Friedman was even touched upon in this context, however.

Conclusion

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As I stated, I would discourage anyone from going out of her/his to acquire a copy of this book. However, leading from the middle, the challenges of international business, and the complexity of strategic alliances are covered adequately.

Thank you,

Clovis

I love the entire collection of MBA books; they are easy to read and full of detailed information that would cost thousands to learn in school.

What a pleasant and useful read! The Portable MBA goes to the heart of management issues facing the fast-rising manager in search of well thought out responses. From marketing and finance to macro economics, this book provides articulate concepts, cogent lessons, and pragmatic "how to's" for managers today. Written by faculty from an elite MBA program (The Darden School), this book provides the best of classroom insights. Looking for a short but powerful guide to management in the fast changing world we face? Then read this book!

During the tech boom in 2000 I snared a job with a Fortune 500 technology company. I was bright but as a history major my business knowledge was limited to what I had in econ 101 and CNN MoneyWatch. Needless to say I needed some help. Boom this book was recommended and I went from lost to in command in a matter of months. Written by the professors at UVA's highly regarded Darden School of Business this book covers all aspects of an MBA from Marketing to finance and then some. For all you who want to be a VP someday I hardily endorse this book.