Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406240007
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: BUSINESS EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Sandra Brown Kelly
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In some ways, acquiring a master of business administration degree is a landmark achievement. Played correctly, an MBA can propel you to greater heights professionally.
As J. Wade Gilley, president of Marshall University, said in a column published recently in this newspaper: "Even in today's chaotic work-world, an MBA may not be translating into high-flying jobs with high pay but they do provide opportunity."
Certainly it can mean more money than most workers will ever see. The average base salary, excluding bonuses, for a 1994 graduate of The Darden School at the University of Virginia was $60,700. The average age of students when they entered that class was under 30.
But what if you don't have time or money (generally $20,000-plus) to get the degree? How can you uncover the mysteries of an MBA? Read Steven Silbiger's book: "The Ten-Day MBA."
The book, published by William Morrow, grew out of Silbiger's studies at UVa's Darden School where he graduated in 1990 among the top 10 of his class. He used his class notes, interviews with classmates and MBA students at other universities and wove together a text that is friendly, even fun, to read and tremendously informative.
Silbiger is serious about the value of his graduate degree, but he doesn't go to pieces about it. "When MBAs congregate, we tend to engage in 'MBA babble,''' he writes. "Our use of mystical abbreviations like NPV, SPC and MBO is only a ruse to justify our lofty salaries and quick promotions. Please do not be intimidated. MBA jargon is easy to learn!"
An MBA Abbreviation Lexicon at the back of the book helps.
Silbiger's goal in the book is to help the reader "understand and develop the MBA mind-set." On page 349 of the book is a blank diploma for an MBA from the School of Self-Taught for the reader to complete.
Testimonials on the book jacket sound a lot like sound bites from an infomercial. Also, cartoons break up type, and something called Key Takeaways are included at the end of each chapter. "Takeaways" summarize the main points of the chapter and are cheat sheets for lazy readers. Some chapters also end with an overview.
There are no theatrics in the content. It is written clearly enough to be accessible to a broad audience. The book also includes an extensive bibliography divided by chapters.
By using familiar products for case studies and a sense of humor in selecting names, such as a shoe company owned by a man named Al Bundy (the "Married With Children" loser), Silbiger gently pulls the reader through the technical parts.
The basics of MBA "knowledge" can be divided into nine disciplines, Silbiger points out. They are, and in his order: Marketing, Ethics, Accounting, Organizational Behavior, Quantitative Analysis, Finance, Operations, Economics and Strategy. The Day 10 chapter is devoted to minicourses in research, public speaking, negotiating and international business.
Silbiger noted that marketing is first because it "integrates all functions of a business." It covers topics from product life cycle to pricing, and talks about depth of product line (Ralston's dog food offerings) vs. breadth of product line (Kimberly Clark's paper products).
The author's background includes research on gourmet coffee markets so readers are treated to a look at his 1989 estimates of the prices Maxwell House's gourmet Private Collection coffee could sell for at each point. For example, grower Juan Valdez could sell it for $1 a pound. By the time the coffee went through the broker, the processor and the wholesaler, it would need to sell at $6 a pound to the consumer.
Day 2, or chapter two, is devoted to Ethics, which he notes is a relatively new course for the MBA student. Its purpose, he says, is to make students "aware of the ethical implications of business decisions," not to make them "model corporate citizens."
Accounting, Day 3's topic, is "the language" of business, he notes. An MBA needs to be familiar with accounting rules to be able to communicate with CPAs. But, he noted, MBAs don't do accounting, they interpret the information from accountants.
MBAs also "deploy" assets, "rather than use them," Silbiger wrote.
Before a reader completes this book, he or she will understand the DuPont Chart, which shows how financial ratios are related, and be comfortable with terms like "action levers," a menu of possible actions, and the variety of choices to avoid use of the word layoffs - RIF (reduction in force), demassing or restructuring.
This book even serves as a way to get inside the top boss's mind as well as how to expand your own.
And there's wonderful insider trivia. Example: Lillian Gilbreth, who with husband Frank studied ways to achieve peak factory efficiency, wrote about her attempts at streamlining chores in a large family in "Cheaper by the Dozen."
By Day 9, you're ready for Strategy, which Silbiger views as the most exciting course for MBAs because it gives them a chance to put their new skills to work. Here's where you develop Seven S models by looking at a company's Structure, Systems, Skills, Style, Staff, Superordinate Goals/Shared Values and Strategy.
"When all of a company's S's move in concert, it can be a formidable competitor," Silbiger says.
In this chapter, he also introduces the reader to the fourth century Chinese military strategist, Sun-Tzu, who wrote "The Art of War."
"Quoting Sun-Tzu is sure to make you either sound terribly smart or appear like the ruthless inside trader Gordon Gekko in the movie 'Wall Street.'''
It's gimmicky, yes. Among Silbiger's various career achievements is marketing Nutri/Systems, and he knows how to push a product. He said when I met him last year at a New York seminar on television shopping that he was pleased with the way his book was organized because he thought it was different from the usual business text. He also joked that writing the book was a good way to write off the cost of his MBA.
by CNB