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Mastering Business Essentials: Introduction

Emory University via Coursera

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Overview

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Master the business essentials in a simple, direct, and fun way. Get rid of the imposter syndrome; mastering the business essentials only requires focus and curiosity.

Syllabus

What is MBE (Mastering Business Essentials)?

When I was younger, I thought "business" was all about money and greedy companies. Now, I realize business is fascinating, empowering, and fun. Business = doing great work for customers and getting paid for the work. The world's biggest and most complex problems will be solved when government & business & community & individuals work together. There is not a single "skeleton key" answer, but learning the top 150+ MBE frameworks will help.

Profits are oxygen; it keeps the business alive

One of the simplest ways to think about profits is something called the value stack. Graphically, it looks like 3 Legos stacked on top of each other. The value stack looks simple, but it is crazy useful. It helps to visualize marketing, strategy, and pricing. You will see if used often in this specialization.

Supply chain is heavy = factories, warehouses, trains, ships, trucks

In the digital world we live in, it's easy to forget that products take a long journey to get to us. Whenever you see a truck, train, plane, delivery van, retail store, or package = that's the supply chain. "Process flows" are a simple tool to chronologically visualize how the products get designed, manufactured, and distributed. For example, a comfortable pair of blue jeans might travel 10,000 km as it gets transformed from raw materials (cotton) into the final product.

What is our business? What should we outsource?

All businesses need to decide "what do we want to be when we grow up?" There are advantages to being vertically integrated (doing a lot of the activities yourself) and also times when it's smarter to outsource non-core things to others.

In business, the answer is often, "it depends"

The goal of MBE (Mastering Business Essentials) is to make you a better (and more confident) decision maker. This will include the top 150+ business frameworks to think about strategy, marketing, finance, and operational problems. Hoping these tools, skills, and practice will help with your career success.