‘Do business’ is a very common suggestion in our town for people with some cash and time on their hands. Whether they are youngsters in their twenties or middle-agers in their forties, whether they have an education or they are the instinctive and confident in what they do type – doing business is a profitable option while also being reputable. But since most of us here do not have the required education for doing business, it’s all about listening to one’s gut and learning over time.
Doing business here could mean from opening a general store of everyday goods to opening car showroom or a real estate shop. It’s all about making more money out of the money you have. And that is the ultimate aim, after all, for everyone: to make money that will fuel your life and family, either a future or an existing one.
The appeal, however, for pursuing a business degree where I live are not always for opening businesses. While the rich kids in graduate school, those who aim only at getting their hands on the degree and come to campus on expensive cars and spend most of their time in cafes, using the latest iPhone model, are there to sustain family business later on (ironic how they don’t study at all to learn to become better business persons), for the other half, or three quarters, business degree is the option when you have, or cannot afford, no other options.
Relaxed both in terms of studies and admission requirements, Bachelors in Business Administration or BBA, is the last or obvious choice for students who have to join university but are not yet ready to. Given my satirical tone so far, you might think I am shading on the business undergrads, but alas, I am one of them.
Belonging to the ‘three quarters’ group of students, I joined BBA because it was less demanding than CA (chartered accounting) and highly welcoming for my embarrassingly low high school grades. Also, I did not know what else I wanted to pursue; therefore I didn’t fight harder either. Or, I did not trust myself to pursue what I might have begun to want: literature. But who does a degree in literature feed these days? Cliché, yes, but also true in some ways. Literature, though against some of my beliefs, might be a hobby for me, a thing of passion, but never an earning option.
But this review, of course: a serial book with new editions every few years, ’80 minutes MBA’ aims to teach business aspirants, students mostly, what business school teaches in Masters in Business Administration – but only in eight minutes. Covering the topics of: sustainability (new to this edition), leadership, culture, cash, and conversation, it takes you through everything that is going on in the business world, and hopes you learn something from it.
Given its ridiculous brevity and hastiness, of course this book fails at preparing you for the business world; but as a magazine, which it felt like to me, it might just work. There are up-to-date, progressive, and a few key points that would help business students understand business as a subject. My expectations going into this book were a revision of my bachelor studies and groundwork for soon starting master studies in business; this book lacked in fulfilling both.
Should you read it, and you should, as a book when you have some time on your hand and you want to understand or learn business from the top, this might just fit your requirement. Just don’t go in with serious expectations.
Ratings: 3/5 *** July 15, 2021_