Roadside MBA

April 21, 2014
Enjoying some downtime after a conference, Mazzeo, Oyer, and Schaefer (professors at the business schools of Northwestern, Stanford, and the University of Utah, respectively) walked into a small shoe store and ended up discussing management techniques and business strategies with the manager and sales team. The three realized that small business strategy is just as robust and complex as that of huge corporations. Determined that Wall Street should learn from Main Street, the authors visited small business across the U.S., including a orthodontist’s office in Arkansas; a women’s fitness center in Kentucky; and a machine shop and small law firm in Iowa. From this experience, they brought back lessons on scaling a business, negotiation, hiring, and delegation, among other topics. The friendly tone keeps the reader’s attention through easy-to-remember business wisdom: “Mazzeo’s Law: The answer to every strategic question is ‘It depends.’ Corollary 1: The trick is knowing what it depends on. Corollary 2: If the answer to a question isn’t ‘It depends,’ then it’s not a strategic question.” This bird’s-eye-view business title is gimmicky, but fun. Agent: Zoë Pagnamenta, Zoë Pagnamenta Agency.

July 1, 2014

Books in the "economics lite" category--combining storytelling with largely jargon-free illustrations of economics principles (e.g., Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's Freakonomics)--continue to appeal to readers. This title, in which case studies examine small business strategic decisions according to the framework for analyzing operations of industry giants, fits that mold. Mazzeo (management and strategy, Northwestern Univ.), Paul Oyer (Fred H. Merrill Professor of Economics, Stanford Univ. Graduate Sch. of Business), and Scott Schaefer (Kendall D. Garff Chair in Business Administration, finance, Univ. of Utah's David Eccles Sch. of Business), cover businesses in areas as disparate as fire hose manufacturing, dog care, and orthodontia. Stressing the necessity of continuous realignment with the competitive environment and of understanding why a strategy works, the authors offer guidelines for product/service pricing, scaling the volume of business, hiring, setting employee incentives, managing product differentiation and branding, negotiating, and other key operational decisions. Less badinage and more hard facts would have improved the book, however. VERDICT This blend of travelog and strategy is recommended for readers of popular small business management literature who aren't looking for a rigorous management title.--Elizabeth Wood, Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
Three business school professors and practicing economists decide that wisdom just might be found in the experiences and actions of small business owners. They embark on a series of road trips, during which they argue and agree, bicker and banter, through most of the 48 contiguous states. At least one week every summer, avoiding big cities and visiting such smaller places as Slidell, Louisiana, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, they endeavor to uncover the mysteries of success from 45 different companies. They begin with a philosophy called Mazzeo's Law the answer to every strategic question is it depends' and then group the responses they garnered into nine categories, ranging from how to scale a business to tricks for battling the big boys. Each chapter starts with anecdotes about the specific trip (hotel arrangements, restaurant negotiations, other travel issues), then zeroes in on the businesses themselves. In the Memphis headquarters of Braces by Burris, we learn how to expand one orthodontic practice to other cities by centralizing common activities and consequently lowering costs. College Frog of Pensacola, Florida, demonstrates how to network for accounting talent without using Facebook. By focusing on what the big boys (meaning Amazon) don't do as well, Sundance Books & Music in Reno, Nevada, thrives. A good wealth of business-savvy tips.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)