The Roadside MBA team is partnering with Stanford GSB to offer our first MOOC! After years globe-trotting, book-writing, and trying out new course material on unsuspecting MBA students, we've picked the best ideas from the Roadside MBA canon and packaged them together in a free, online course. During the course, we'll ask you to think about questions like: What scales and what doesn't? What does your cost structure tell you about your future? Where can you add value for your customers so that they will be willing to pay a price that can ensure you stay profitable as you … [Read more...]
Schaefer on HBR.org: “It Depends”
Scott Schaefer's blog post on Roadside MBA ran on the Harvard Business Review web site last week. A small excerpt: What happens when you put three business professors in a rental car and send them out to talk to owners and managers of small- and medium-sized businesses? Would they discover their MBA frameworks to be a bunch of academic mumbo-jumbo with no real applicability? What we found is that there’s no best path to business success. Managers successfully address seemingly similar problems in very different ways and, as our corollary suggests, the trick is to find which solution fits … [Read more...]
Mazzeo and Oyer on Cincinnati Edition
Mike Mazzeo and Paul Oyer were guests on Cincinnati Edition last Wednesday on 91.7 WXVU, and you can listen to their interview here. We buzzed through the greater Cincy area in April 0f 2012, and a couple local businesses --- Berns Garden Center and PMC Solutions --- are featured in the book. Ohio is also the scene of Paul's greatest lodging crime: To Scott's utter dismay, he booked us into a Bed & Breakfast rather than a sterile Holiday Inn Express. Mike and Paul had a great time, and we thank the folks in the Queen City for hosting us! … [Read more...]
Talking Scale with Clyde Lear of Learfield Communications
Our latest piece for Inc.com features Clyde Lear, the founder of Learfield Communications. We talked with Clyde way back in July of 2010 on the very first Roadside MBA trip. And as we've written before, calling Clyde a “character” is akin to calling Yellowstone a park. Our visit with Clyde was one of our all-time-favorites, and we're pleased to tell his story --- and illustrate a brilliant application of economies of scale --- on Inc.com. … [Read more...]
Mazzeo Talks to KC Examiner
Mike Mazzeo recently talked with Eric Jacobson about the Missouri-based businesses featured in Roadside MBA. We visited the Show Me State back in 2010, and had a great time. In addition to meeting lots of interesting small business owners, we hit the Dairy Queen in Saint Joseph and toasted Paul's birthday with dipped cones. … [Read more...]
Schaefer on the Stacking Benjamins Podcast
Scott Schaefer recently joined host Joe Saul-Sehy for the Stacking Benjamins podcast. This was a fun one, and you can listen in here. Thanks for having us on! … [Read more...]
Mazzeo on MSNBC
Mike Mazzeo chats with JJ Ramberg on MSNBC for Business War Chest. Here's a note from the intro: While we’ve been traveling around the country visiting Main Streets throughout this past year, three economists who teach at top business schools around the country have been doing the same thing. They took some time off from their jobs to find out what’s working for main street businesses and what’s not. Catch a few wise words from Mike here! … [Read more...]
Roadside MBA Launches Column on Inc.com
We have interviewed 100+ small businesses in the last few years, but only had space for maybe 45 in our book. What to do with the great stories, insights, and "It Depends" examples from the other 55+? Our friends at Inc.com have been kind enough to bring us on as columnists, and we're pleased to say that our first piece hit the web just this week. Check out our first column here, and look here for our Inc.com home page where you can find all of our posts! … [Read more...]
Schaefer on Business Fuel Podcast
Scott Schaefer joined Ty Kiisel and Patrick Wiscombe for the Business Fuel Podcast on the Lendio.com Blog. You can listen here! … [Read more...]
Mazzeo and Schaefer on CBS This Morning
Mike Mazzeo and Scott Schaefer enjoyed chatting with hosts Anthony Mason and Vinita Nair (Northwestern alum!) on CBS This Morning last Saturday. Big fun in the Big Apple, and you can catch the video here. … [Read more...]