MBA IN A DAY - WHAT YOU WOULD LEARN AT TOP-TIER BUSINESS SCHOOLS potx

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MBA In A Day
®
What You Would Learn
at Top-Tier Business Schools
(If You Only Had the Time!)
Steven Stralser, Ph.D.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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More Praise for MBA In A Day
®
“
Steve Stralser is a unique talent. It is unusual to meet people who are both highly
professional as well as generous with their knowledge. Not only is Professor
Stralser’s advice invaluable for business professionals, but those in the arts who
are more focused on their creative endeavors would benefit from reading MBA In
A Day
®
to help strengthen their business skills.”
—Bobi Leonard, CEO, Arcara Enterprises, Inc.
“Steve’s book is a valuable asset to anyone needing to avoid the pitfalls of business, be
they a small business owner, a physician, a lawyer, or just about anyone who deals
with business. Just because you have not had the opportunity to study for a formal
MBA, why be at a disadvantage in the business world? In just a few days of quality
reading time you will level the playing field. Let your own brainpower do the rest.”
—George Reiss, MD, Clinical Instructor, Mayo Clinic;
Eye Physician, Phoenix Coyotes Professional Hockey Club
“Professor Stralser’s MBA In A Day
®
contains insights that are incredibly valuable

for any entrepreneur obsessed with success. They provide quick access to sound
practical thinking on the real-world business issues most likely to confront the
busy start-up entrepreneur.”
—Michael Hool, Partner, Rogers & Theobald, LLC;
Chairman, Arizona Venture Capital Conference
“Steve has an uncanny ability to distill business concepts to their true fundamen-
tals without confusing or losing the audience. He also provides user-friendly tem-
plates that can help readers begin to improve their knowledge and performance
immediately.”
—Ed Robinson, Capacity Building Solutions Inc.;
TEC Chair, Group 663
“I have personally seen MBA In A Day
®
in action. Our company has organized sev-
eral live seminars for physicians based on the MBA In A Day
®
content. The infor-
mation was highly relevant, easily understandable, and highly valued by the
participants. Based on this, I believe anyone who reads this book will take away
something practical and actionable that will improve their approach to the busi-
ness side of their professional careers.”
—Sidney Auerbach, RPh, President,
Worldwide Healthcare Communications
“If you want the knowledge to build your business, whatever your industry, you
must understand business. MBA In A Day
®
is an essential guide to everyday practi-
cal decision making.”
—Croom Lawrence, MBA, Senior Marketing Manager,
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

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“Professor Stralser has been teaching MBA principles for years in top-tier business
schools. His MBA In A Day
®
treatment of these same principles is your ‘gradua-
tion’ into the world of business!”
—R. Glenn Williamson, Partner, Nest Ventures LLC,
providers of early stage financing and equity
“You could read this book in a day, but the nonbusiness professional can go back
and refer to it every day!”
—Barry Moltz, Author, You Need to Be a Little Crazy:
The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business
“Easy to read, highly practical, and comprehensive in nature. I highly recommend
this book to both experienced and new business owners alike.”
—Scott Gabehart, MIM, CBA, Business Valuation Consultant
“Professor Stralser has the ability to impart entrepreneurial attitudes and processes.
His teachings give one a solid guide to incorporating business techniques into pro-
fessional practice. For those who have no business experience, he explains things
in understandable terms and for those who understand business, he reinforces
what they have been doing all along.”
—Martin Blume, DO, MBA, Parkway Medical, PLC
“Dr. Stralser has provided physicians with a focused, structured, and comprehen-
sive resource for the business side of their practices—an area they have typically
managed by trial and error. His book is a valuable tool to help them maintain and
grow their bottom line.”
—Rick Nevins, MD, FAAFP, President,
Nevins & Associates Consulting
“Having recently benefited by being a ‘student’ in an MBA In A Day
®
seminar, I am

looking forward to being able to offer this book to our 2,000+ physician members.
MBA In A Day
®
will provide our physician members with a quick reference to deal
with the practical, business side of medicine they have not yet experienced.”
—Beverly Hurt, Executive Vice President,
Indianapolis Medical Society
“This book is an absolute must-read for anyone who finds that knowledge of busi-
ness principles and concepts would be helpful, available here in a concise, clear
manner that immediately elevates your expertise in this area.”
—Gerald Jacobs, Attorney
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“This book is a must for any type of entrepreneur who has become successful to a
certain point using ‘street skills’ and deep knowledge of an industry combined with a
unique idea. The MBA fundamentals made real by Professor Stralser in his new book
will provide a handy tool kit that will enlighten and empower the reader to take his
or her organization successfully beyond the start-up phase into sustainable growth.”
—Stephen Lindstrom, Co-founder, Behcon, Inc.,
medical practice owners and managers; Adjunct Instructor,
McGuire Entrepreneurship Program, University of Arizona
“MBA In A Day
®
contains insightful and applicable information to anyone inter-
ested in running a business, or already doing so. As the president of a young,
growing company, I found that the fundamental concepts addressed in the book
not only complemented my practical experience, but also provided a helpful, sup-
plementary education in important business principles.”
—Alison Chozen, Entrepreneur and President,
Sterling Truffle Bar; Co-founder, Mosaic Event Management
“As an advanced-practice nurse, I highly recommend Dr. Stralser’s book as an es-

sential road map on how to navigate today’s complex health-care terrain. As more
nurses are looking beyond hospitals and exploring entrepreneurship, they will
find the fundamentals of business explained here. A must-read.”
—Carol E. Heiser, RN, MA, ND (Clinical Nursing Doctorate),
Clinical Education Specialist, Immersion Medical, Inc.
“MBA In A Day
®
has proven to be as essential in my daily practice as my stethoscope. I
wish I had had Professor Stralser’s book when I started my medical practice.”
—Robert S. Knight, MD, FAAFP, Medical Director,
Plumtree Family Health Center, LLC
“Professor Stralser’s book is an easy-to-understand guide about business for busy
professionals whose intense professional training missed important topics like
marketing, accounting, finance, and management.”
—Quinn Williams, Chair, Emerging Business and Venture
Capital Group, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
“In advising clients, I often get the sense that they do not have a good grasp of
how to manage their businesses or employees. Professor Stralser’s book is a
straightforward and invaluable primer that will assist readers in the development
and management of their businesses.”
—Charles S. Mishkind, Miller, Canfield,
Paddock and Stone, PLC
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“Dr. Stralser’s book, MBA In A Day
®
, provides a practical guide to understanding
basic business concepts. This valuable resource offers hands-on training for the
development of the skills needed to manage a small business or practice, such as
marketing and promotion, financial management, leadership skills, and informa-
tion technology, to name a few. A surefire way to build your business!”

—Christine Mauro, Vice President,
EURO RSCG Advertising & Public Relations
“We spend years and years to train in our profession, yet often miss important
concepts we need to succeed. Professor Stralser’s MBA In A Day
®
is a must for any
professional, entrepreneur, or business owner who wants to succeed in an in-
creasingly complex world!”
—Steven F. Isenberg, MD
“What was once taught only in MBA courses is now found in Dr. Stralser’s book,
which gives small business owners and entrepreneurs the tools and strategies to
take their businesses to the next level.”
—Kristin A. Donaldson, Vice President of Small Business,
Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce
“Professor Stralser has been teaching MBA principles for years in top-tier business
schools. His MBA In A Day
®
is practical and succinct, yet broad in scope and well
referenced—highly recommended.”
—John Hensing, MD, Senior Vice President,
Care Management and Quality, Banner Health
“Though I have developed significant, valuable expertise in the counseling profes-
sion after 20 years as the executive director of a nonprofit treatment center, the
greatest challenge I have faced is from the lack of basic business skills not taught
in our graduate programs. Everyone who has excelled from direct practice to man-
agement positions should do themselves an enormous favor and purchase this
easy-to-read guide to effective management of any business! It is without a doubt
my new, frequently used management resource manual.”
—Stephanie Orr, Executive Director, CASA
“As a practicing attorney, I moved into a management position in a midsized law

firm. I could have used MBA In A Day
®
as it would have been incredibly valuable
in understanding and applying basic concepts to aid me in making our law prac-
tice more successful.”
—Mort Scult, Partner, Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP
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MBA In A Day
®
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MBA In A Day
®
What You Would Learn
at Top-Tier Business Schools
(If You Only Had the Time!)
Steven Stralser, Ph.D.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright © 2004 by Steven Stralser. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Stralser, Steven, 1945–
MBA in a day
®
: what you would learn at top-tier business schools (if you
only had the time!) / Steven Stralser.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-471-68054-0 (cloth)
1. Business education. 2. Industrial management—Study and teaching
(Graduate) 3. Master of business administration degree. I. Title.
HF1111.S77 2004
658—dc22 2004007668

Printed in the United States of America.
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To my father, Harold, a hero in many ways
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Preface xv
Acknowledgments xix
About the Author xxi
SECTION I:
PEOPLE, MANAGEMENT, AND POLICY
Chapter 1
Human Resources 3
Chapter 2
Organizational Behavior 18
Chapter 3
Leadership and Team Building 38
Chapter 4
Ethics 57
Chapter 5
Negotiation 71
xi
Contents
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SECTION II:
MONEY: ECONOMICS, FINANCE, AND ACCOUNTING
Chapter 6
Accounting and Finance 97
Chapter 7

International, National, and Local Economics 124
SECTION III:
MARKETS AND STRATEGY
Chapter 8
Marketing, Strategy, and Competitive Analysis 145
Chapter 9
Advertising and Promotion 170
Chapter 10
Communications and Presentations 187
SECTION IV:
SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES
Chapter 11
Project Management 211
Chapter 12
Management Information Systems 228
CONTENTS
xii
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Chapter 13
E-Commerce and Uses of the World Wide Web 247
Chapter 14
Quality Management Systems 264
Index 289
Contents
xiii
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O
f course you can’t get an MBA degree in a day—ask anyone
who has put in the months and years needed to accomplish

this challenging and rewarding achievement—but this book
is where you will find, in basic, easy-to-understand language, MBA
concepts and principles that are presented in the gold standard of
business education throughout the world—the master of business
administration.
The story behind this book comes from my years teaching in a
full-time MBA program where I began to notice something I found
very interesting. Every semester, in addition to the traditional MBA
students who had taken time off from their corporate life to enroll in
the MBA program, I would find one or two students who were clearly
“outliers” to these mainstream corporate types—for example, a physi-
cian, an attorney, an executive director from a nonprofit organization,
or a small business owner or entrepreneur.
It did not take long to realize this trend was an indicator of an un-
derlying interest, and need, for these well-educated professionals—
well trained in the education of their profession—to learn about the
“business side” of their professional lives.
These non-business-trained professionals wanted to fill a gap and
learn business principles and concepts needed in their professional
practices but not taught in medical schools or other professional
schools such as law, engineering, architecture, veterinary, or other
highly specialized training programs.
I also realized that for every physician, attorney, architect, or en-
trepreneur who can take the time to enroll in an MBA program, there
are many more who are pressed for time and focused on the day-to-day
challenges of running a successful practice, operating a small business,
or launching a new venture but who would benefit from learning the
essential principles and concepts found in the coursework of an MBA
Preface
xv

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program. It is for these successful—albeit time-sensitive—profession-
als that this book is written.
In this book, you will learn the fundamental concepts and prin-
ciples that full-time MBA students learn and that also have applica-
bility to professional services providers, small business owners, and
entrepreneurs as well as corporations and industry. These principles
and concepts are not industry or profession specific—they are clas-
sic, strategic, and essential in performing in today’s complex eco-
nomic environment.
The book begins with Section I: People, Management, and Policy,
which focuses on the human side of business. Chapter 1, “Human Re-
sources,” explores how human assets are critical to success and com-
petitive advantage. Chapter 2, “Organizational Behavior,” explores the
dynamics of how people work together in an organizational setting.
Chapter 3, “Leadership and Team Building,” explores the differences
between managing and leading and presents concepts behind the effec-
tive use of teams as a means to achieve organizational goals. Chapter 4,
“Ethics,” focuses on the complexities and issues that managers face in
doing the right thing in an increasingly ambiguous and uncertain orga-
nizational environment. Chapter 5, “Negotiation,” presents essential
processes for navigating through the dynamics of conflict and agree-
ment, providing a useful understanding of how this subject is critical
to managers who must negotiate to some degree, on several levels,
every day.
Section II: Money: Economics, Finance, and Accounting, focuses
on the concepts and principles we associate with the financial side of
an organization and its economic context. Chapter 6, “Accounting and
Finance,” explores the way we keep score in business, providing the
essentials of accounting systems and financial statements. Chapter 7,

“International, National, and Local Economics,” provides a vocabulary
of economic fundamentals to understand how nations, corporations,
and individuals behave in markets to efficiently apply and allocate
scarce resources and make their way through global economic systems.
Section III: Markets and Strategy explores the way organizations
read, adapt, and communicate with their customers, competitors, and
constituencies. In Chapter 8, “Marketing, Strategy, and Competitive
Analysis,” we review how organizations analyze their industry and their
competition and then develop the way they communicate with their
PREFACE
xvi
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target customers. Chapter 9, “Advertising and Promotion,” looks at the
specifics of companies’ communication with customers and clients.
Chapter 10, “Communications and Presentations,” presents principles
and concepts about an increasingly important part of managing a busi-
ness today—how to present our ideas and communicate effectively.
Section IV: Systems and Processes explores the key areas for orga-
nizations to implement their strategies and maintain competitiveness
and sustainability. Chapter 11, “Project Management,” explains how
managers can tackle specific projects from start to finish and efficiently
manage them. In Chapter 12, “Management Information Systems,” we
explore the increasingly important essentials of today’s cyber-environ-
ment and how technology can be harnessed to achieve organizational
excellence. Chapter 13, “E-Commerce and Uses of the World Wide
Web,” explores the use of the Web both as a means to communicate with
customers, clients, and constituencies and also as a tool for organiza-
tional efficiency and productivity. And finally, in a world where quality is
the key driver to market success and sustainability, Chapter 14, “Quality
Management Systems,” explores the concepts and principles of develop-

ing a culture and organizational purpose focused on quality.
Preface
xvii
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T
his book would not have been possible without the collabora-
tion and participation by a great team of researchers, writers,
and contributors, composed of recent MBA graduates from
Thunderbird: The Garvin School of International Management, many
of whom I had the privilege of teaching and mentoring at this excep-
tional school that produces exceptional managers and leaders of global
business and enterprise.
Lenora E. Peppers, MBA-IM, the team leader, is managing direc-
tor of Kick-Start Marketing in Phoenix, Arizona. Arthur Holcombe,
MBA, is associate director of the Corporate Executive Board, Washing-
ton, D.C. Ronald J. Greene, MBA, is a business analyst living in
Phoenix, Arizona. Jaxon Ravens, MBA, is a political consultant in Seat-
tle, Washington. Suchi Patel, MBA, is a strategy consultant in Phoenix,
Arizona. Allison Kaiser, MBA, is a marketing strategist for Kick-Start
Marketing in the Bay Area, in Northern California. Rachel Neft, MBA-
IM, is a marketing strategist in Phoenix, Arizona.
I also want to acknowledge the collective great work of my
partners in bringing MBA In A Day
®
to publication. To Rick Frish-
man at Planned Television Arts special thanks for sharing his knowl-
edge of the publishing business, for mentoring me during the
process, and for introducing Jane Dystel and Michael Bourret, who
well applied his expertise in advancing MBA In A Day

®
into the mar-
ket. Matthew Holt, Senior Editor, and Tamara Hummel, Michelle
Becker, and Mike Onorato, all at John Wiley & Sons, are a top-notch
team of publishing professionals to whom I am grateful for their be-
lief in the book and their collective support and energy in making its
publication possible.
Finally, I wish to express my thanks and appreciation to some
important women in my life: to my new bride, Rosemary, my love and
appreciation for signing up for an adventure and for being a great
Acknowledgments
xix
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partner as that adventure in life together has been unfolding; to my
mother, Janice, whose memory includes teaching me how words and
writing are so important; to Deanne, for her love and support; to my
sister Carol for always being there with encouragement and love; and
to my daughters Amy and Marcy—you have made me so proud of
your own achievements both as moms and wives, and as successful
professional women!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xx
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S
teven Stralser received his Ph.D. from the University of Michi-
gan, where he taught marketing and marketing strategy. He
holds a BS in marketing from the University of Arizona and an
MBA from Arizona State University.
He is currently Clinical Professor and Managing Director of the
Global Entrepreneurship Center at Thunderbird: The Garvin School of

International Management.
During fall 1999, he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar, teaching mar-
keting management in the MBA program at the Budapest University of
Economic Sciences and Entrepreneurship at the University of Miskolc.
His interests outside academe and the professional world include
playing left defenseman for his men’s adult ice hockey team, driving
and just being around vintage sports and touring cars, sharing adven-
tures with his new bride, Rosemary, and enjoying their growing clan
of grandchildren.
About the Author
xxi
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