Business Insight for MBAs and Managers

Quotations

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Most Recent Business Quotations

In the old days the boss might have said, “Stop talking and get to work!” Today, the boss might say, “Start talking and get to work.” You need to communicate and collaborate with colleagues, consultants, customers, suppliers, and thought leaders to keep learning and get things done.
— Paul B. Thornton

Author: Paul B. Thornton | Subjects: Communication, Management, Organizational Behavior

A big thrust of managerial accounting is to determine the costs of production, which are broken into subcategories, such as variable, fixed, overheads, direct, or indirect costs. Managerial accounting then determines the optimal mix of resources to lower production costs. Those concepts become less and less applicable as digital companies operate largely on a fixed cost structure with very few variable costs. A future challenge … [ Read more ]
— Vijay Govindarajan, Anup Srivastava

Authors: Anup Srivastava, Vijay Govindarajan | Source: "Harvard Business Review" | Subject: Accounting

Corporate finance defines the boundary of a company based on physical assets: land, buildings, warehouses, factories, machines, inventory, and patents. Based on expected risks and returns, it then determines the optimal way of financing from those assets, using a mix of debt and equity. Planning is based on measures such as return on assets, payback period, and internal rate of return.

A new framework is required … [ Read more ]
— Vijay Govindarajan, Anup Srivastava

Authors: Anup Srivastava, Vijay Govindarajan | Source: "Harvard Business Review" | Subject: Finance

In my company, there is a rule that all new managers need to know: that it’s not a given that their people [under them] will be paid less than they are. That’s part of becoming a manager—that you really have to enjoy enabling people. I want people who are good managers to be managers. I don’t want people to become managers just because they feel … [ Read more ]
— Selina Lo

Author: Selina Lo | Source: "strategy+business" | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Management

Traditional budgeting is like trying to square a circle, because the process tries to meet three ultimately incompatible objectives. First, budgeting sets targets to motivate and promote performance. These targets require directional and stretch goals. Second, budgeting provides forecasts of what lies ahead, but the forecasts only work if they are realistic, unbiased predictions. Production, for example, has to know what the expected sales are, … [ Read more ]
— Sebastian Stange, Bjarte Bogsnes, Hardik Sheth

Authors: Bjarte Bogsnes, Hardik Sheth, Sebastian Stange | Source: "Boston Consulting Group (BCG)" | Subject: Finance

Most Popular Business Quotations

In principle, patents open up innovations in two ways. First, they confer only temporary rights; once patents expire or are abandoned, the intellectual property they are designed to protect passes into the public domain. Second, they require the details of the invention to be disclosed so they can be replicated. This permits follow-on innovation, which is essential for industrial progress. More recently, as the patent system … [ Read more ]
— The Economist

As for the genius of innovation, clearly the one percent spark of inspiration is nurtured by a positive culture. But the 99 percent perspiration ingredient comes from employees who love what they do, as well as where they do it, and who invest in that Holy Grail of productivity called “discretionary … [ Read more ]
— Stephanie Quappe, David Samso Aparici, Jon Warshawsky

Money never comes first in self-expression of any kind.
— William J. Reilly

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no … [ Read more ]
— Theodore Roosevelt

The uncomfortable fact for many green marketers--and targets of that marketing--is that genuinely going green would mean giving up most of the products and services that clutter our consumer culture. It would mean simplifying, valuing time and people over stuff. How can most products avoid the sin of the hidden trade-off? With a simple label: "You don't really need this."
— David Roberts

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Accounting   [16 posts]
Best Practices   [38 posts]
Career   [146 posts]   → Networking [2 posts]   → Work [46 posts]
Change Management   [138 posts]
Competitive Intelligence   [10 posts]
Consulting / Analytical Tools   [4 posts]
Corporate Governance   [95 posts]   → Succession Planning [4 posts]
Customer Related   [167 posts]
Economics   [269 posts]   → Capitalism [59 posts]
Education   [35 posts]
Entrepreneurship   [162 posts]   → Venture Capital [29 posts]
Finance   [112 posts]   → Investing [9 posts]   → Market/Investment [5 posts]   → Money [9 posts]   → Taxation [1 posts]
General   [5 posts]
History   [19 posts]
Human Resources   [469 posts]   → Coaching [8 posts]   → Compensation [30 posts]   → Diversity [19 posts]   → Motivation [76 posts]   → Training & Development [52 posts]   → Hiring [14 posts]
Innovation   [290 posts]   → Creativity [65 posts]
International   [52 posts]   → Trade [2 posts]
IT / Technology / E-Business   [66 posts]
Leadership   [493 posts]
Legal   [23 posts]   → Intellectual Property [10 posts]
Management   [1395 posts]   → Business Plans [12 posts]   → Business Rules [43 posts]   → Delegation [5 posts]   → Execution [23 posts]   → Goals [20 posts]   → Growth [7 posts]   → Knowledge Management [7 posts]   → Measurement [43 posts]   → Mission [24 posts]   → Process [16 posts]   → Project Management [6 posts]   → Success / Failure [162 posts]   → Trends / Analysis [52 posts]   → Values [24 posts]   → Vision [37 posts]
Marketing / Sales   [272 posts]   → Advertising [9 posts]   → Brand [21 posts]   → Business Development [2 posts]   → Market Research [21 posts]   → Pricing [4 posts]
MBA Related   [38 posts]
Mergers & Acquisitions   [25 posts]
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Negotiation   [18 posts]
Nonprofit   [4 posts]
Operations   [39 posts]   → Outsourcing / BPO [14 posts]   → Quality [5 posts]
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People   [7 posts]
Personal Development   [508 posts]   → Ability [23 posts]   → Achievement [85 posts]   → Attitude [21 posts]   → Challenge [11 posts]   → Character [20 posts]   → Commitment [13 posts]   → Competence [12 posts]   → Experience [25 posts]   → Expertise [12 posts]   → Judgement [7 posts]   → Learning [71 posts]
Productivity / Work Tips   [27 posts]
Public Relations   [14 posts]   → Crisis Management [6 posts]
Quote   [641 posts]   → Action [23 posts]   → Adversity [11 posts]   → Ambition [10 posts]   → Attention [20 posts]   → Confidence [8 posts]   → Design [8 posts]   → Fear / Doubt [8 posts]   → Future [35 posts]   → Government [17 posts]   → Information [47 posts]   → Integrity [16 posts]   → Intelligence [12 posts]   → Knowledge [110 posts]   → Life [50 posts]   → Luck [16 posts]   → Mistakes [7 posts]   → Observations [10 posts]   → Opportunity [26 posts]   → Perception [15 posts]   → Persuasion [27 posts]   → Philosophy [8 posts]   → Potential [7 posts]   → Preparation [9 posts]   → Privacy [1 posts]   → Problems / Solutions [39 posts]   → Progress [10 posts]   → Reputation [6 posts]   → Skills [18 posts]   → Teaching [7 posts]   → Thought [96 posts]   → Time Management [16 posts]   → Wisdom [58 posts]
Risk Management   [65 posts]
Social Responsibility (ESG)   [89 posts]
Statistics   [12 posts]
Strategy   [340 posts]   → Business Model [2 posts]   → Competition [55 posts]   → Planning [21 posts]

Browse Business Quotations by Industry

Automotive   [1 post]
Consulting   [2 posts]
Education / Training   [4 posts]
Investing   [2 posts]
Retail   [1 post]