Contents of the Portable MBA book This textbook is required for all registrants at the Renaissance Weekend The Portable MBA, Fourth Edition: Robert F. Bruner, Mark R. Eaker, R. Edward Freeman, Robert E. Spekman, Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg, and S. Venkataraman. Chapter One What is business? The New Competition; The Intelligent Enterprise; Understanding Business Ecosystems; The Internet; Implications Chapter Two The Future - The Millennium Problem; Elements of Developing Scenarios; Macrotrends Chapter Three Managing People - A Brief Tour Through Business History; The Role of Individuals and Relationships; Groups and Teams; The Organizational Level; Human Resources Management Systems; Some Practical Principles Chapter Four Business Ethics - What Constitutes an Ethical Issue? The Tools of Moral Reasoning; A Method for Understanding Capitalism in Ethical Terms; Ethical Challenges in Business Chapter Five Economics: Microeconomics; Macroeconomics; Balance of Payments; Productivity and the New Economy Chapter Six Marketing Management: Leveraging Customer Value The Marketing Concept, Marketing Strategy's Role in Corporate Strategy, The Importance of Customer Selection, Marketing Activity Pervading the Organization, Managing Customer Relationships and the Internet; Customer Value Creation and the Role of Employees Chapter Seven Operations Management: Implementing and Enabling Strategy: What is an Operations Manager? Measures of Process Improvement: What is Improvement? Achieving Process Improvement: Principles of Operations Management; Operations Strategy is the Selecting and Building of Capabilities Chapter Eight Entrepreneurship: Creating Something New and Enduring with Very Limited Resources - What is an Entrepreneurial Opportunity and Where Does it Come From? Individuals and Macroforces and Trends: The Nexus of Opportunity and the Individual; Problems in Pursuing an Opportunity with Limited Resources Chapter Nine Accounting - Double-Entry Bookkeeping Captures the Systemic Nature of the Firm; The Truth About Accounting: It Precisely Gives and Approximate View; How to Read an Annual Report; Assessing the Financial Health of a Firm; Assessing Performance against a Plan: Managerial Accounting Chapter Ten Finance - Principle 1. Think like an Investor; Principle 2. Invest When the Intrinsic Value of an Asset Equals or Exceeds the Outlay; Principle 3. Sell Securities (Raise Funds) When the Cash Received Equals or Exceeds the Value of Securities Sold; Principle 4. Ignore Options at Your Own Peril: They are Pervasive, Tricky to Value, and Can Strongly Influence a Decision Chapter Eleven Strategy - What is Strategy? Industry Analysis; Positioning; Competitor Analysis; Current Strategy Assesment; Options Generation; Development of Capabilities; Choose or Improve Strategy; Commitment or Flexibility Chapter Twelve  Leading from the Middle: A New Leadership Paradigm: Fundamental Shifts; Partial Solutions; Reinventing the Practice of Management Chapter Thirteen Strategic Alliances - What is a Strategy Alliance? The Rationale for Alliances; Core Dimensions of Alliances; A Life Cycle Approach to Strategic Alliances; The Alliance Manager; Interimistic Alliances; Alliance Performance and Balanced Scorecards Chapter Fourteen International Business - Motives for International Investment; Sources of Divergence; Political and Operating Risk; Foreign Exchange Rates; Organizing the Multinational Firm