Roadside MBA Trip #1 began in Memphis, Tennessee and ended in Omaha, Nebraska. Our trip began, as any Great American Journey should, by spending a … [More]
Road Trip Archives
Trip #2: Denver to Oklahoma City
Despite, you know, being economists, the three of us do have our limits on how much economics we can take over a short … [More]
Trip #3: Charlotte to Atlanta
Roadside MBA Trip #3 took place in May 2011. We flew into Charlotte and out of Atlanta, and in between visited Hickory, NC, Johnson City, TN, … [More]
Trip #4: Missoula to Portland
Road Trip #4 took place in August 2011, and went from Missoula, Montana to Portland, Oregon. Along the way, we visited a composting business in … [More]
Trip #5: Chicago to Cincinnati
Road Trip #5 took place in April 2012, and went from Chicago to Cincinnati. Highlights included an outdoor advertising firm in Bloomington, Illinois, … [More]
Trip #6: Atlanta to New Orleans
Dothan, Alabama might be our favorite city. There, we found two amazingly interesting businesses, as well as the Peanut Capital of the World... or, at … [More]
Latest Blog Posts
Jeff City: We Heart Local Chambers
It was in Jefferson City — the Show-Me state capital — that we learned to appreciate a good Chamber of Commerce. It was our first trip, and we didn’t really know what we were doing. On a whim, I called the Jefferson City Chamber. “Hello, my name is Scott Schaefer. I’m a business professor at […]
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs would appear to be just a nice, quiet suburb of Omaha, Nebraska, which sits on the other side of the Mississippi River. But Council Bluffs has a lot of charm and excitement of its own. Some people come for the casinos that sit along the river. Gambling has slowly become a larger part […]
Vegas, Baby
Oh my gosh. Road Trip #7 is coming…. Details soon!
Small Business In South Africa
Along with some of my colleagues at the Stanford Business School, I spent last week traveling to South Africa to meet with local businesspeople and politicians. While not exactly the crazy Spring Break involving beer and bikinis that some people crave, it was an extremely interesting week. When Mike, Scott, and I go around the […]
Saint Joseph, Missouri
Saint Joseph, Missouri sits on the Missouri River about 50 miles north of Kansas City. The town was once the eastern terminus of the Pony Express, and was also the “jumping off point” for the Oregon Trail. The town played an important role in the settlement of the American West. And the local residents haven’t […]
Mountains, Nut Graphs, and Leitmotif
Instead of giving you any insight into how a small business can operate effectively, today we give you a look inside the process of creating a book about small business. The Roadside MBA team (Mike, Scott, Paul, and Paul’s retriever Josie) is currently sequestered in a scenic cabin near Lake Tahoe. Over the last few […]