Starting a Business: Assessing the Market — Research and Opportunities

In this lesson, students think about market research and market opportunities when starting a business. The class begins with a discussion of the factors that a business might want to consider about a population or region when thinking about starting a business. Students read two articles (one Knowledge@Wharton and one Knowledge@Wharton High School) that discuss market opportunities and market research. As the main activity, the teacher should choose between two options (or do both, if time allows). In the first, students examine population statistic and census demographic information on different communities and locations to assess what type of business(es) would be successful given the demographics. In the second option, students conduct market research in their own classroom to assess the market opportunity for a given product or business.