Lessons for Entrepreneurs…From a Bottle of Coke
Sometimes the best business lessons are found in unexpected places. In a study they published in the Journal of Management Education, Blaine McCormick and Van Gray of Baylor University identified 12 key tips for entrepreneurs, covering topics from marketing to sustainability, inspired by a single bottle of Coke:
Coca-Cola is available in more than 200 countries and territories. As such, it stands as a readily available resource for teaching business lessons in developing countries. This article presents the use of a bottle of Coke to teach 12 basic business lessons. Designed for minimally educated entrepreneurs starting or running microenterprises, each lesson contains a microlecture and several discussion activities to improve the interaction of the group and reinforce the microlectures. The article concludes with advice for users and planned future activities.
Read the article, “Message in a Bottle: Basic Business Lessons for Entrepreneurs Using Only a Soft Drink,” in the Journal of Management Education, and keep up with the latest management education research by signing up for e-alerts from the journal.
