How Can an MBA Help You Run a Small Business?

There have been many successful and unsuccessful small businesses over the years. What differentiates one from the other? To start, a strong education can certainly help an owner get their business running. There are many different types of industries and companies, but all have the same strong core components. When starting a new business you need a strong business plan, product or service, and a staff to help run the day-to-day operations. Once a business gets off the ground they need to make good strategic decisions. If a business is not growing it is dying. Depending on the industry, a 10-15% growth rate year over year is the sign of a fairly healthy company. A Master’s in Business Administration is a very popular degree. It can help you gain employment within a corporation, start your own business, or consult others how to run a more efficient and successful business. In this article we are going to talk about how an MBA can help you run a small business. There are a few key components we are going to touch on that are included in almost every MBA program and talk about how they can help you in your day-to-day business activities.

The first component we are going to talk about is a finance class. A typical MBA finance class will discuss the time value of money, investment strategies and stocks and bonds. These are a little more important for a larger corporation, but if you start making some money you need to know how to invest it wisely.

The second concept is marketing. You could have the best product or service in the world, but if you do not know how to properly market it you will not sell much of it. There are many different ways to market different products. Some of the more popular strategies are direct mail, radio and TV advertising, and internet marketing. All three can be very effective depending on your budget and the product you are selling.

Finally, we are going to discuss the accounting concepts in an MBA program. This may be one of the most important classes in an MBA program. Accounting tells the owner where the money is coming from and where the money is going. As we know, every business is about making money to pay the bills. An MBA will discuss balance sheets, profit and loss statements, and income statements. All three of these documents are essential to a successful business.