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What They Really Teach You at the Harvard BusinessSchool
Barcelona. 21 cm. 327 p. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial. Traducido por Diorki. Economía y empresa. Traducción What they really teach you at the Harvard Business School. Harvard University. Graduate School of Business Administration. Kelly, Heather Mayfield .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. 8425320070
- GenresBusiness
260 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 19, 2016
I picked this old edition (1980s) from a second hand bookshop, just to have a brief overview of management subjects taught in a B-School. Both the authors are HBS graduates and .The book starts with an introduction to the Harvard Business School and its First Year Curriculum (it doesn't touches the 2nd year as it is all about electives) and the typical types of students that one can find at the B-school : Quantitative Analysis Jock, Humanist, Eccentric, Synthesizer, Political and so on. Authors, while explaining a typical business case in the further chapters, keep referring to these typical characters as to how they are supposed to react and respond to the business case (that is being discussed) and the challenges that it throws.
The book is divided into chapters according to the different subjects of 1st year- Business Policy, Marketing, Finance, Human Resources Management etc. I particularly liked the HRM chapter where the authors have tried their best to highlight the importance of HRM (which is otherwise considered to be a 'soft course') in the business scenario with the help of an interesting case. But the chapters on Finance and Managerial Economics get too technical, thanks to all the jargons the authors have used blithely. While reading these chapters (I had to skip most of their parts), I realized that this book will be much more useful to them who are already acquainted with these terminologies. Also the book is poorly edited and many points are unnecessarily repeated.
2 stars to the authors for their honest attempt to condense the B-School curriculum in a book. Only if they could have written it in a way for a layman to understand.
Follow my blog for other interesting reviews- https://thebooktrack.wordpress.com/
The book is divided into chapters according to the different subjects of 1st year- Business Policy, Marketing, Finance, Human Resources Management etc. I particularly liked the HRM chapter where the authors have tried their best to highlight the importance of HRM (which is otherwise considered to be a 'soft course') in the business scenario with the help of an interesting case. But the chapters on Finance and Managerial Economics get too technical, thanks to all the jargons the authors have used blithely. While reading these chapters (I had to skip most of their parts), I realized that this book will be much more useful to them who are already acquainted with these terminologies. Also the book is poorly edited and many points are unnecessarily repeated.
2 stars to the authors for their honest attempt to condense the B-School curriculum in a book. Only if they could have written it in a way for a layman to understand.
Follow my blog for other interesting reviews- https://thebooktrack.wordpress.com/
November 26, 2023
A new perspective of what it means to become “good at business” (from high-pressure case studies to impossible accounting math and silly exercises to vicious competition). A must-read on systems and planning for knowledge workers, managers, executives, and entrepreneurs. Journalist Philip Delves Broughton got an inside look when he joined the prestigious Harvard MBA program in 2004. Broughton emerged disillusioned by the singular focus on status and money, questioning whether HBS instilled the values needed in today's leaders.
Takeaways:
- In accounting, the professor promised to help them pursue "economic truth", even when it was extremely hard to determine. The mantra to this was assets = liabilities + equity.
- HBS students called this overconfidence syndrome "Beginnihana".
- In business, risk is paramount. Not just the risk of something bad happening, but also the risk of something good not happening. The more advanced MBA students measured everything in opportunity cost – the risk of missing out on something good.
- Broughton learned that risk was almost impossible to assess definitively. Indeed, many business measures turned out to be more of an art than a science.
- BATNA referred to the “Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement” and ZOPA referred to the “Zone of Possible Agreement”.
- For instance, everyone knew that jobs in private equity and hedge funds paid huge salaries. But Broughton also saw that they diminished companies’ social obligation. Their accelerated capitalism could destroy communities.
- Two years after his graduation, the financial crisis devastated the economy. Many of the people who had led banks and governments to ruin were HBS alumni. This begged the question: What had Harvard taught them?
Context Notes:
- The school's website promised to teach students leadership, passion and a “moral compass”.
- Much of the campus facility felt like a hotel resort, and Broughton quickly understood what people meant when they referred to the “HBS bubble”.
- The first year’s curriculum covered finance, marketing, operations, among others. In the second year, students could choose the courses they wanted to focus on.
- While many students came from a managerial, accounting or entrepreneurial background, Broughton hadn't even used Excel before.
- Some students’ behavior also troubled Broughton. He learned that a few of them had bought BMWs prior to entering HBS to reduce their assets and increase the amount of financial aid they received.
- Broughton quickly realized he lacked the consulting and banking experience most companies expected. He found it all the more confusing that each and every company recruiting on campus asked their future employees for unlimited “passion”, “devotion” and “loyalty”. It made them appear like a cult.
Takeaways:
- In accounting, the professor promised to help them pursue "economic truth", even when it was extremely hard to determine. The mantra to this was assets = liabilities + equity.
- HBS students called this overconfidence syndrome "Beginnihana".
- In business, risk is paramount. Not just the risk of something bad happening, but also the risk of something good not happening. The more advanced MBA students measured everything in opportunity cost – the risk of missing out on something good.
- Broughton learned that risk was almost impossible to assess definitively. Indeed, many business measures turned out to be more of an art than a science.
- BATNA referred to the “Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement” and ZOPA referred to the “Zone of Possible Agreement”.
- For instance, everyone knew that jobs in private equity and hedge funds paid huge salaries. But Broughton also saw that they diminished companies’ social obligation. Their accelerated capitalism could destroy communities.
- Two years after his graduation, the financial crisis devastated the economy. Many of the people who had led banks and governments to ruin were HBS alumni. This begged the question: What had Harvard taught them?
Context Notes:
- The school's website promised to teach students leadership, passion and a “moral compass”.
- Much of the campus facility felt like a hotel resort, and Broughton quickly understood what people meant when they referred to the “HBS bubble”.
- The first year’s curriculum covered finance, marketing, operations, among others. In the second year, students could choose the courses they wanted to focus on.
- While many students came from a managerial, accounting or entrepreneurial background, Broughton hadn't even used Excel before.
- Some students’ behavior also troubled Broughton. He learned that a few of them had bought BMWs prior to entering HBS to reduce their assets and increase the amount of financial aid they received.
- Broughton quickly realized he lacked the consulting and banking experience most companies expected. He found it all the more confusing that each and every company recruiting on campus asked their future employees for unlimited “passion”, “devotion” and “loyalty”. It made them appear like a cult.
March 30, 2013
A should-read book on systems and planning for knowledge workers, managers, executives, and entrepreneurs.
September 27, 2021
Finally, got a hold of this book!
I got to read it during my MBA days at the library of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business in Manila, in the late 1980s. It's a good guide on the important basics of the functional areas of business; and the unique descriptions of the class participants (as in real life as well).
Luv the stories too, among others -
1. A student in a line at the cafeteria was asked by a fellow student how she was doing with the assignment, to which she replied, "There's an assignment? We haven't even started our first day!"
2. A grad was already a shoo-in after his job interview; and said that he really want to work with Company X. He lost it, as the interviewer said, "Oh, but this is Company Z."
Kudos to the authors!
I got to read it during my MBA days at the library of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business in Manila, in the late 1980s. It's a good guide on the important basics of the functional areas of business; and the unique descriptions of the class participants (as in real life as well).
Luv the stories too, among others -
1. A student in a line at the cafeteria was asked by a fellow student how she was doing with the assignment, to which she replied, "There's an assignment? We haven't even started our first day!"
2. A grad was already a shoo-in after his job interview; and said that he really want to work with Company X. He lost it, as the interviewer said, "Oh, but this is Company Z."
Kudos to the authors!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews