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| Introduction and Overview | |
| Purpose of The Essential MBA | |
| How to use this book | |
| What is 'a critical approach'? | |
| Critical perspectives in management | |
| Power | |
| Gender and diversity | |
| The nature of managerial knowledge | |
| Management education | |
| Outline of the book | |
| Summary | |
| Further reading | |
| References | |
| Organizational Behaviour | |
| Introduction | |
| The domain of OB | |
| Work organizations and OB: a condensed history | |
| Critical approaches to OB | |
| Organizations and their environments: national culture and organizational structure | |
| National culture | |
| Organizational structure | |
| Critiquing work on organizational structure | |
| Organizational processes: managing and being managed | |
| Management and leadership | |
| Organizational culture and managing change | |
| Decision making and power | |
| Emotions and humour | |
| Groups and teams in organizations | |
| Group formation and group dynamics | |
| Work groups and organizational performance: Japanization, knowledge management and learning | |
| The individual in the organization | |
| Motivation at work | |
| Perception | |
| Personality | |
| Summary | |
| Questions for reflection | |
| Further reading | |
| References | |
| Human Resource Management | |
| The importance of human resource management | |
| What is HRM? | |
| The development of HRM in the UK | |
| Personnel management and HRM | |
| HRM and organizational performance | |
| The best-practice approach | |
| The best-fit approach | |
| The employment relationship | |
| Perspectives on the employment relationship | |
| Understanding the employment relationship | |
| Critical perspectives on HRM | |
| Summary | |
| Questions for reflection | |
| Further reading | |
| References | |
| Marketing | |
| Marketing concept | |
| Marketing philosophy | |
| Customer needs | |
| Marketing as exchange | |
| Exchange and the consumer | |
| Segmentation, targeting and positioning | |
| Positioning | |
| The marketing mix | |
| Product | |
| Price | |
| Promotion | |
| Place | |
| Relationship marketing | |
| Summary | |
| Questions for reflection | |
| Further reading | |
| References | |
| Accounting and Finance | |
| Financial accounting | |
| Measurement of wealth 109Evaluation of performance | |
| Management accounting | |
| Product costing | |
| Cost-volume-profit-analysis and break-even analysis | |
| Financial planning and control | |
| Financial management | |
| Time-based valuation - present value theory | |
| Gearing (or leverage) management | |
| Risk assessment | |
| Management of working capital | |
| Summary | |
| Questions for reflection | |
| Further reading | |
| Notes | |
| References | |
| Economics | |
| The scope and purpose of the chapter | |
| The individual | |
| Scarcity and choice | |
| Rationality | |
| Utility: the individual as consumer | |
| Utility: the individual as supplier | |
| Demand | |
| The organization | |
| Revenue | |
| The production function | |
| Costs | |
| Pareto efficiency | |
| Markets and strategies | |
| The profit-maximizing firm | |
| Perfect competition | |
| Monopoly | |
| Oligopoly | |
| Game theory | |
| Networks | |
| Missing markets | |
| The organization's external environment | |
| Economic growth | |
| Macroeconomic policies | |
| Summary | |
| Questions for reflection | |
| Further reading | |
| Notes | |
| References | |
| Operations Management | |
| The importance of managing operations | |
| What is operations management? | |
| a historical development of operations management | |
| Difference between products and services | |
| Intangibility of services | |
| Customer involvement | |
| Timing of production and consumption | |
| The development of operations strategy | |
| Operations strategy perspectives | |
| Performance objectives | |
| Quality | |
| Flexibility | |
| Speed | |
| Cost | |
| Product and service development | |
| Idea generation | |
| Initial screening | |
| Development | |
| Product testing and further development | |
| Ramp up to full production and product launch | |
| New product development process criticisms 200Process design 201Types of processes | |
| Process layout and flow | |
| Planning and control | |
| Capacity management | |
| Example of queuing models | |
| Inventory management | |
| Determination of order quantity | |
| Push systems | |
| Pull systems | |
| Choosing between the two systems | |
| Push and pull systems in services | |
| Quality management and improvement | |
| Quality as excellence | |
| Quality as fit for purpose | |
| Quality as an error free process | |
| Quality determined by perceptions and expectations | |
| Quality management systems | |
| Supply chain management | |
| The dynamics of a supply chain | |
| Sourcing | |
| Supply chain management criticisms | |
| a critical perspective on operations | |
| Summary | |
| Questions for reflection | |
| Further reading | |
| References | |
| Corporate Social Responsibility | |
| Defining CS | |
| The history and development of CSR | |
| The state of CSR teaching and academic research | |
| The arguments for CSR | |
| The business case for CSR | |
| Moral and pragmatic arguments | |
| The arguments against CSR | |
| Business ethics | |
| Managing CSR | |
| Identifying and engaging with stakeholder groups | |
| Codes of ethical conduct | |
| Employee induction and training | |
| Social accounting | |
| Environmental issues | |
| The future of CSR | |
| Questions for reflection | |
| Further reading | |
| Notes | |
| References | |
| Strategy | |
| What is strategy? | |
| Traditional views | |
| Analyzing the competitive (external) environment | |
| Analyzing internal resources and capabilities | |
| Strategic choices | |
| Realizing strategic choices | |
| Managing strategic change | |
| Critiques of traditional approaches and some alternative perspectives | |
| Critiques | |
| Alternative perspectives | |
| Summary | |
| Questions for reflection | |
| Further reading | |
| References | |
| Research Approaches | |
| What is a dissertation? | |
| The purpose of a dissertation | |
| What it is not | |
| How is it likely to be assessed? | |
| How to fail | |
| Elements of a dissertation | |
| Choosing a topic | |
| Significance | |
| Is the research feasible? | |
| Is it manageable in the time available? | |
| Symmetry | |
| Research aims and objectives | |
| The literature chapter | |
| Literature search | |
| Keeping records | |
| Critical analysis and synthesis | |
| Conceptual frameworks, theory and constructs | |
| Designing and carrying out the research: methodologies and methods | |
| Methodological approaches | |
| Traditional and more critical research paradigms | |
| Methods | |
| Validity, reliability and generalization | |
| Ethical issues | |
| Findings, recommendations and conclusions | |
| Writing up | |
| Questions for reflection | |
| Further reading | |
| References | |
| Study Skills | |
| Learning independently: being reflective and reflexive | |
| Getting started | |
| Information searching | |
| Sources | |
| Searching | |
| Reading and taking notes | |
| Taking notes | |
| Referencing | |
| Writing skills | |
| The report | |
| The essay | |
| Tips to enhance your writing skills | |
| Getting and using feedback | |
| Taking examinations | |
| Preparation and revision | |
| During the examination | |
| After the examination | |
| Time management | |
| Making presentations | |
| What is the brief? | |
| Who is the audience? | |
| How long have you got? | |
| Planning the presentation | |
| Rehearsing | |
| Performing the presentation | |
| Working in groups | |
| Virtual learning environments (VLEs) | |
| Summary | |
| Questions for reflection | |
| Further reading | |
| Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved. |
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The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.
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