Pocket MBA Certificate

The Aspen University MBA prepares students to take a leadership role in business as senior managers in large corporate environments. For the entrepreneur, the Aspen University MBA provides the necessary business acumen for successful business operations.

In this course, students will gain access to key business concepts and develop an actionable business plan designed to grow, adapt, and reposition their current business to take advantage of emerging markets, products, and 21st century business concepts.  The course is build around core MBA topics of Marketing, Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Legal, Technology, and Supply Chain Management using graduate level textbooks and curriculum.

Students will combine academic material and concepts with real world knowledge to develop an actionable plan specific to their business. Upon completion of the course, students will be prepared to implement the plan, meaning their businesses will benefit immediately. This course helps make business strategy more than actionable; students will emerge from the course with a strategy that is targeted and honed, combining their current knowledge of business and markets with leading academic curriculum delivered from seasoned faculty.

Overall Course Goals

Some companies cannot change in response to market disruptions. Those companies die. Other companies do respond, but only after the fact. They survive, but they see their profits squeezed and their growth flatten. Then, there are the long-term winners: companies that create their own market disruptions and thrive on the change. In this course students will discover how to reposition their organizations away from the "flats and swamps" of traditional "Defend and Extend Management" and back into the "rapids" of accelerated growth. This course offers a start-to-finish process for SMB firms to reap the benefits of a process designed for rapid, healthy growth based on industry best practices.

In this course, you will gain access to key business concepts and develop an actionable business plan designed to grow, adapt, and reposition your current business to take advantage of emerging markets, products, and 21st century business concepts.

You will develop an actionable plan specific to your business based upon leading theoretical and practical concepts. Upon completion of the course you will be prepared to implement your plan, meaning that your business will benefit immediately. Your strategy will be more than actionable; it will be targeted and honed using your knowledge of your business and markets, along with consultation with leading academic faculty based upon contemporary information and advanced best practices.

Course learning objectives include:

- A deep understanding of the SMB consulting picture and market segment specific operating best practices

- How to effectively leverage entrepreneurship as a powerful driving economic force

- How to analyze your markets and products to strategically position your business to gain and sustain a competitive advantage

- The best way to leverage the different elements of your supply chain, both internally as a source, and where you fit into your customers supply chain

- Sound strategies for staffing and leading your company

- A developed concept and understanding the IT value proposition and how to position your offerings to deliver on this proposition for your customers

- Several key concepts that link your customers IT strategy to business value, a key in sitting at the table with them as a trusted business partner

- Key metrics and measurements that link IT metrics to business metrics

- How to manage the perceptions of IT to grow your value with your existing customers and position your offerings to be valuable for new customers

- Identified market segments and targets that you will use to grow your business

- An introduction to the concepts of financial management and the time value of money

- An understanding of typical US capital structures to help you better manage your own business, and quickly identify different structures in your customer base for a stronger positioning of your products and services

- How to reduce your operating risks by ensuring you are compliant with wage and hour regulations, occupational safety, workers compensation, and employee benefits

Module by module learning objectives:

Module 1: SMB Consulting Best Practices

This module covers an introduction to the market, career paths, logistical considerations, barriers to market entry, and concludes with the foundational best practice guidelines for firms in this industry.

• Reasons to be an SMB consultant
• Financial rewards of SMB Consulting
• Professional rewards of SMB consulting
• An average work week of an SMB consultant
• Success and failure factors affecting SMB consulting
• Define an SMB consulting business plan
• Considerations for organizing an SMB consulting practice
• Promotion, marketing, and management topics
• Final decisions to consider when becoming an SMB consultant
• SMB consulting fundamentals
  
  

Module 2: Effective Small Business Management 1

This module introduces the concepts of entrepreneurship as a driving economic force in the world economy, introduces the concepts of strategic management, market competition, competitive advantage, and concludes with a student assessment of their own individual markets and market position.

• Define the role of the entrepreneur in the U.S. economy
• Describe the entrepreneurial profile
• Explain how entrepreneurs spot business opportunities
• Describe the benefits of owning a small business
• Describe the potential drawbacks of owning a small business
• Explain the forces that are driving the growth in entrepreneurship
• Discuss the role of diversity in small business and entrepreneurship
• Describe the contributions small businesses make to the U. S. economy
• Put business failure into the proper perspective
• Explain how small business owners can avoid the major pitfalls of running a business
• Understand the importance of strategic management to a small business
• Explain why and how a small business must create a competitive advantage in the market
• Develop a strategic plan for a business using the ten steps in the strategic planning process
• Discuss the characteristics of three basic strategies: low-cost, differentiation, and focus
• Understand the importance of controls such as the balanced scorecard in the planning process
  
  

Module 3: Effective Small Business Management 2

This module builds on the previous module, introducing the concept of the supply chain both as supporting infrastructure for the students company, and also concepts to help the student understand where their products and services fit into their customers supply chain. The module then covers the human capital elements of the supply chain.

• Understand the components of a purchasing plan.
• Explain the principles of total quality management (TQM) and Six Sigma and their impact on quality.
• Conduct economic order quantity (EOQ) analysis to determine the proper level of inventory.
• Differentiate among the three types of purchase discounts vendors offer.
• Calculate a company’s reorder point.
• Develop a vendor rating scale.
• Describe the legal implications of the purchasing function.
• Explain the challenges involved in the entrepreneur’s role as leader and what it takes to be a successful leader.
• Describe the importance of hiring the right employees and how to avoid making hiring mistakes.
• Explain how to build the kind of company culture and structure to support the entrepreneur’s mission and goals and to motivate employees to achieve them.
• Understand the potential barriers to effective communication and describe how to overcome them.
• Discuss the ways in which entrepreneurs can motivate their employees to achieve higher levels of performance.
  
  

Module 4: IT Strategy in Action 1

This module introduces information technology (IT) as a value proposition with a focus on actionably developing and delivering the IT Value Proposition. Once established, the concepts of positioning and developing IT strategy for business value are covered.

• Identify what IT Value is
• Identify where IT Value is 
• Identify who defines IT Value
• Identify when is IT Value realized
• Apply industry best practices for understanding IT Value
• Apply the three components of the IT Value proposition
• Analyze the five principles for delivering IT Value
• Define Business and IT Strategies
• Apply the four critical business & IT strategy success factors
• Define the dimensions of IT Strategy
• Address barriers to effective IT Strategy Development
  
  

Module 5: IT Strategy in Action 2

This module builds on the prior module, linking IT to business metrics and managing the perceptions of IT.  Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:

• Define IT Metric Goals
• Analyze IT Measurement Approaches
• Create a Balanced Scorecard that includes strong IT measurements
• Apply principles of business strategy to metric measured around IT
• Define the factors that affect business perceptions of IT
• Define the hierarchy of business IT needs
• Create a business-IT view
• Apply principles and strategies designed to positively affect the view of IT
  
  

Module 6: Marketing Management 1

This module introduces the concept of consumer and business markets, and focuses on having the student analyzing consumer markets and business markets from the perspective of their current company’s product and services offerings. Upon completion of this module, students will be able to answer the following questions:

• How do consumer characteristics influence buying behavior?
• What major psychological processes influence consumer responses to the marketing program?
• How do consumers make purchasing decisions?
• How do marketers analyze consumer decision making?
• What is the business market, and how does it differ from the consumer market?
• What buying situations do organizational buyers face?
• Who participates in the business-to-business buying process?
  
  

Module 7: Marketing Management 2

This modules builds on the analysis the student did in the prior module concerning their products and services in relation to consumer and business markets, and focuses on identifying Market Segments and Targets in an actionable way. At the completion of this module, the student will be able to answer the following questions:

• What are the different levels of market segmentation?
• How can a company divide a market into segments?
• How should a company choose the most attractive target markets?
• What are the requirements for effective segmentation?
  
  

Module 8: Financial Management 1

This module introduces the concepts of financial management and provides an overview of the goals of finance, investments, and the concept of the firm as compared to the individual. At the completion of this module, the student will be able to demonstrate a sound understanding of the following:

• The Goal of Finance: Relative Valuation
• Investments, Projects, and Firms
• Firms Versus Individuals

Module 9: Financial Management 2

This module covers capital structures and identifies the common types of capital structures in domestic firms. At the end of this module, the student will be able to:

Measure Leverage

Identify Empirical Capital Structure Patterns

Measure Mechanisms Versus Causes

Identify what are the Underlying Rationales for Capital Structure Changes?

Gain Market Information from Survey Evidence from CFOs

Module 10: Employment Law 1

This module touches on contemporary legal topic of interest to small business owners. It covers wage & hours regulations, occupational safety, and working condition health issues. The employment law modules are a divergence from the standard format, focusing on case study and application of learning to identify risks or opportunities within the students working environment. The student will review the following case studies to understand the fact, issues, court decision, reasoning, and ultimately the implications of the decision to their own working environment:

Wage & Hour Regulations:

Ansoumana v. Gristede’s 255 F.Supp. 2d 184 (S.D. NY 2003)

Andrews v. Town of Skiatook, Oklahoma 123 F.3d 1327 (10th Cir. 1997)

Chao, Sec. Of Labor v. Vidtape 196 F. Supp. 2d 281 (E.D. NY 2002)

Cheatham v. Allstate insurance Co. 465 F.3d 578 (5th Cir.)

Occupational Safety & Health Issues:

Steel Joist Institute v. OSHA 87 F.3D 1165 (D.C. CIR. 2002)

Taylor, Administratrix of Estate of Belford v. Comsat Corp. 2006 U.S. Dist. Lexis 81949 (S.D. WVA)

Tufariello v. Long Island Railroad Company 458 F.3d 80 (2nd Cir. 2006)

Eastern Bridge v. Chao, Sec. Of Labor 320 F.3d 84 (1st Cir. 2003)

Module 11: Employment Law 2

This module continues the investigation of contemporary legal topic of interest to small business owners. It covers workers compensation and employee benefits. The employment law modules are a divergence from the standard format, focusing on case study and application of learning to identify risks or opportunities within the students working environment. The student will review the following case studies to understand the fact, issues, court decision, reasoning, and ultimately the implications of the decision to their own working environment:

Workers Compensation:

Melvin v. Car-Freshener Corporation 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 17377 (8th Cir.)

Sierra v. Assoc. Marine Institutes 850 So.2d 582 (Fla. 2003)

Wal-Mart v. The Industrial Comm. 761 N.E.2d 768 (Ill. 2001)

Moon v. Harrison Piping Supply 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 24365 (6th Cir.)

Highlands City School v. Savage 609 So. 2d. 133 (Fla. App. 1 Dist. 1992)

Employee Benefits:

VIZCAINO V. MICROSOFT 120 F.3d 1006 (9th Cir. 1997)

Miller v. Xerox Corp. Retirement Income Guarantee Plan 464 F.3d 871 (9th Cir. 2006)

Anstett v. Eagle-Picher 203 F.3d 501 (7th Cir.)

Varity Corp. v. Howe 516 U.S 489 (1996)

Module 12: SMB Consulting Best Practices 2

This is the final content oriented module of the course. Here students will put to use all the information they have reviewed in prior modules, within the context of their market consulting best practices. The student will review several facets with the ultimate goal of preparation for finalization of their comprehensive plan, to include:

SMB consulting seeds

SMB business development life cycle

SMB consulting transition plans

Good client selection

The five Ps of SMB consulting

Services to offer

"P-distribution" issues

How to package yourself and price your services

How to promote your SMB consulting practice

Perfecting your sales tactics

Using Microsoft bCentral as a sales tool

Advertising

Alternative sales models

Good business development habits

How to write a technology proposal

Skill to create client trust relationships

Negotiating

Sharpening your communication skills

Effective project management

Tips for managing organization workflow

Managing staff

Organization skills

Financial and management accounting

Accounting software

How to boost SMB consulting return on investment

The "one-hour" rule

"Go to Market" methodology

SMB methodology tips

Selecting your niche

Mentoring power users

Advisory and business consulting

Defining Small Business Server

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