Customer Reviews

The Ten-Day MBA: A Step-By-step Guide To Mastering The Skills Taught In America's Top Business Schools

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There is a major development now underway in the publishing world (eg "Chicken Soup for Dummies Who Want to Make Billions in E-Commerce") which explains my apprehension as I began to read Steven Silbiger's book. In fact, it is an excellent piece of work. He organizes most of the material within ten "daily" segments. For those unwilling and/or unable to earn an MBA degree but who wish to strengthen their business knowledge and skills, I highly recommend this book. From my perspective, it provides at least three major benefits:

First, the quality of writing is quite high: Silbiger does NOT "talk down" to his reader. Dim-wits and knuckle-draggers will derive little (if any) benefit from this book.

Second, as thoroughly as time and space allow, the material is presented (exactly as promised) as a "step-by-step guide to mastering the skills taught in America's top business schools."

Third, however long it takes to absorb and digest the information provided (ten days, ten weeks, or ten months), the reader will gain a sound working knowledge of subjects which include marketing, ethics, accounting, organizational behavior, quantitative analysis, finance, operations, economics, and strategy. Silbiger also includes several "MBA Mini-Courses" and then brief discussions of research, public speaking, negotiating, international business, and business law. In his Introduction, Silbiger observes: "My goal is make you familiar with the significant MBA tools and theories currently being taught at the leading business schools and to help you understand and develop the MBA mind-set." He achieves his goal. Can this book take the place of an MBA degree? Of course not. Can this book increase substantially a reader's business knowledge and skills? You bet. It has already done so for more than 200,000 readers and it will continue to do so for many others in years to come.

If you decide to purchase this book, take very seriously the learning opportunities it offers. (Why else buy it?) Proceed with rigor and focus. Highlight key points and take notes along the way, then review them at the conclusion of each "Day." Stick to the study schedule you deem most appropriate for you. Maintain a journal in which you record your reactions and reflections as you learn. Perhaps one day Silbiger will write a "Fieldbook" to accompany this one. Meanwhile, let a journal become your own "Fieldbook." Record in it your experiences when applying what you have learned. In doing so, you may well create for yourself a decisive advantage when competing with those who so proudly possess an MBA degree from one of "America's top business schools."

Highly recommended. Gives the reader a good working knowledge of management concepts, tools, and formulas. This should be mandatory reading for any new employee, regardless of industry or expertise. Some highlights:

1) Break even unit volume (how much to produce to break even) = fixed costs / selling price of product - variable costs

2) A balance sheet is a snapshot of the company's holdings at any time. Assets = Liabilities+ Owner's equity. If the records do not balance, then there is a mistake.

3) Overview of quantitative analysis: how to calculate EMV (expected monetary value), cash flow modeling, net present value, IRR (internal rate of return), and probability distributions.

4) A major drawback of the corporation is double taxation: taxation as an entity, and also taxation on dividends.

5) CAPM (capital asset pricing model) determines the rate of return necessary to compensate for that inherent risk of a particular investment. (e.g. is that stock worth buying)

6) Even if you do not work in operations, it will help you to understand the meaning of key acronyms: MRP (master resource plan), BOM (bill of materials), SPC (statistical process control), CPM (critical path methodology), EOQ (economic order quantity)

7) Good history of economic thought: Keynes (positive effect of government fiscal spending), Friedman (government should only focus on money supply), Smith (invisible hand), Schumpeter (creative destruction), Laffer (supply side)

8) "Strategy is the most exciing course in the MBA curriculum because it gives you the chance to put all your new skills to work. Strategy classes place students in the chairman of the board's chair, and MBAs love that feeling." (pg 297)

9) The author recommend these two books as compulsory business reading: Michael Porter's [Competitive Strategy] and [Competitive Advantage].

I'm a software developer who's always had a mind for business. I've worked for a few start-ups and even started a few myself. My wife has an MBA and I had been thinking of going to school for an MBA when I found this book. My wife read parts of it and confirmed that it is the same material in an MBA program. Now I won't claim this book will teach you everything you'll learn in an MBA school (obviously), but I will claim this is a great book for anyone considering an MBA as well as for anyone who has one and wants to brush up on the material. The author presents the most important information tought in business schools, at a high level although full of real examples. What I liked most was how he gave specific real life examples, sometimes true and sometimes ficticious. For example, one that I remember off the top of my head, he explains how Quaker bought Snapple when it was popular but couldn't win the battle against Coke and Pepsi and ended up selling it at a huge loss. There's tons of real life examples like that. I like the style of the book, because he presents the material at a high level and if you want to go into detail you can pursue the subjects that interest you on your own. I also like his touch of humor, which keeps the book interesting. Overall I cannot recommend this book enough!

In the interest of full disclosure, I hold an MBA and was very skeptical when I acquired this book. To get to my point, this book exceeded my expectations and is an excellent refresher for those who hold an MBA, and a great preview for those about to start an MBA program. The book would also be very beneficial for those individuals interested in possessing an overview of the material covered in MBA programs.


STRENGTHS
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The book is comprehensive. You will receive an overview of the content covered in MBA programs. The major courses of study are all included from Finance to Operations to Strategy.


GREAT STRENGTH
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I wish I had read the chapter on Quantitative Analysis prior to entering my MBA program.


WEAKNESSES
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As I mentioned, the book is comprehensive but a bit superficial and definitely inadequate. To be fair, the author concedes, I believe, at least the second point above. In particular, the title is a bit pretentious, to be forward. That is, no one can really learn (or earn) an MBA in ten days. Nevertheless, in ten days, one can certainly have a well framed concept of the material under study in MBA programs. And, as I said, this book is an excellent and highly recommended refresher for those holding an MBA. I finished the book in two days.


MAJOR WEAKNESS (touches on cources in ethics in MBA curriculum)
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I think the focus on ethics is great in theory but of little --indeed if any-- pratical benefit. I am not sure if taking a course in ethics can make one ethical or even more inclined to be ethical in her/his decision-making. To be forward, ethics should not be a separate course but integrate into the program, perhaps into each course. People should be ethical in all of their behaviors and decisions (business, personal, or otherwise), and an entire course focused on "business ethics" is of, seriously, little value.


MY PERSONAL COMMENTARY ON MBA EDU. (you have been warned!)
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I think of particular importance for MBA students today is attention paid to "international business." I would encourage anyone considering entering an MBA program to consider studying abroad for a quarter (if you can) or attending a seminar with international students and business leaders overseas. The benefits from this will be long-lasting and fulfilling. By no means am I advocating attending an MBA program outside of the USA, although there are truly great programs. I am suggesting taking a course or attending a seminar in an international environment among students, participants from all over the world.


SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
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The book is engaging, easy-to-read, and very beneficial in terms of presenting the language of business and MBA concepts. The book does not waste your time, and the mini-courses at the end are quite inadequate but do present important areas of study. I confidently recommend this book, and please keep in mind this is at least one reader who was initially skeptical but has definitely benefitted from taking the time to read this book.

I have read the Ten Day MBA book and found it a great refresher on many, many of the topics that I covered years ago at Columbia Business School. It was very easy and fun to read, and brought back a lot of valuable information to me. There were also many new topics that I had never covered back in B-School, especially in the strategy chapter. Each topic was clearly presented, had real world examples, and didn't overcomplicate the subject. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn quickly what it takes two or more years to learn at business school.

Even if it's hard to believe one book is capable of teaching what one learns in a two year MBA program, you will be amazed at how much knowledge is packed into this book. Written in a clear and lively style, the Ten-Day MBA offers chapters on essential business courses, thereby creating a solid foundation of knowledge on which to apply in the real world.

My copy of this book is heavily marked from all the annotations and insights I stumbled upon as I read the book. As a person with limited patience for dry, academic material, I greatly appreciate Mr. Silbiger's ability to concisely deliver the fundamental elements of each topic, while dispensing with the fluff.

The Ten-Day MBA consists of (you guessed it) ten chapters as follows:

1) Marketing
2) Ethics
3) Accounting
4) Organizational Behavior
5) Qualitative Analysis
6) Finance
7) Operations
8) Economics
9) Strategy
10) MBA Mini-Courses on Research, Public Speaking, Negotiating, and International Business.

For Aspiring Entrepreneurs, the Ten-Day MBA should provide you with more than enough knowledge to compete effectively. Used as a reference tool, this book will help you combine your passion and real-world experience to transform ideas into reality.

[...]
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Michael Davis - Editor, Byvation

An MBA degree clearly has financial value, but I've always been curious as to its educational content. Silberger provides a broad overview of the MBA curriculum, with a focus on explaining its lexicon. After a careful reading, I do think I could hold my own in MBA cocktail chatter. But I don't feel especially enlightened.

Seven of the chapters in this book - marketing, organizational behavior, ethics, operations, finance, and strategy - are mostly codified common sense; I think few of its formalized problem-solving approaches it recommends would significantly improve the quality of my work as a consultant. However, I do expect my newfound knowledge of MBA-speak to help to streamline my business communications, and it may help me to avoid reinventing the wheel.

The remainder of the book covers technical topics: accounting, quantitative analysis, and economics. In these areas, the many formulas and definitions overwhelm the attempt to convey a true working knowledge. This is a fault not of the author's writing style, but the book's brevity - there is too little room for Silbiger to derive the formulas, or to use anything more than trivial plug-in-the-number examples.

For a book of this length, this is appropriate content; I'd rather learn to recognize all the keywords and use other books for further research than have an in-depth explanation of just a few topics and omit others completely. But I had hoped for more aha! moments, and the MBA mystique still eludes me.

The author of the book "The 10-Day MBA", Steven Silbiger, has a deep and wide understanding of the major subjects taught in a traditional MBA programme. This is reflected in his ability to simplify the subject whilst capturing its essence in a simple, easy to follow and understandable style.

The Ten Day MBA book focuses on the nine core disciplines of a basic MBA course namely Marketing, Ethics, Accounting, Organisation Behaviour, Quantitative Analysis, Finance, Operations, Economics and Strategy. The book enables a manager with a basic degree in a specialized area such as engineering to have an overall understanding of the business as a whole. The book enables the synthesis of knowledge required for a manager to carry out his/her duties effectively.

I did an MBA course in 1989-1992 (part time basis). A lot has changed since then. In addition, I had forgotten a lot of the subjects and ideas I studied then.

The 10 Day MBA was an excellent revision guide for me. It briefly summarises the major areas that I covered during the time I did my MBA. The critical importance of marketing is stressed as it integrates all the functions of a business. An organisation can help its employees deal with ethical problems by coming up with a code of ethics. Accounting is the means by which all organisations communicate their results to the various stakeholders. Knowledge of Organisation Behaviour enables managers to deal with human challenges at work. Quantitative analysis provides managers the analytical tools to evaluate projects. Topics covered in Finance enable one or a business to carry out investment appraisal. In studying Operations, I learnt of the various methods to improve the production of goods and services. The study of Economics enabled me to understand the fundamentals of microeconomics and macroeconomics. I also learnt how strategic plans are formulated with a view to their effective implementation.

I have read the "Ten Day MBA" and found it a great refresher on many, many of the topics that I covered years ago at the Now-How Foundation Business Course. It was very easy and fun to read, and brought back a lot of valuable information to me. There were also many new topics that I had never covered back in Business Course. All the important areas are covered here: marketing, accounting, organizational behaviour, quantitative analysis, finance, operations, economics, strategy, research, public speaking, negotiating, international business, business law. The book covers a whole MBA course. Each topic was clearly presented, had real world examples, and didn't overcomplicate the subject. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn quickly what it takes two or more years to learn at business school. I can recommend that book to everyone, who has a business or economics background.

The 80/20 rule applies here. This book covers 80% of what one needs to know in business world in 20% area of space. The 20% is well organized, systematic, concise and extremely informative. All the important areas are covered here:marketing, accounting, organizational behaviour, quantitative analysis, finance, operations, economics, strategy, research, public speaking, negotiating, international business, business law. Although this book is packed with information, it is easy to read. Most importantly, the information is easy to retrieve and can be quickly reviewed. This book should be a valuable addition to your library.