International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition (ICBSC)

Participate in the ICBSC to prepare for the real world. Students apply and are selected by the end of October and compete in the spring.

About the International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition (ICBSC)

The competition is held each year in the spring. Recruiting for next year's class will start in the fall but if you are interested, please get in touch with the 黑料网 Course Advisor, Barbara Barcon at Barbara.Barcon@csulb.edu to discuss. It is open to Evening and online MBAs, as well as Masters in Marketing Analytics and Undergraduate Junior and Seniors. There is an application and selection process to fill the Teams.

The International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition is a challenging, competitive event that serves universities, their students, and the business community. The Competition provides students with an exciting learning experience in which they, in direct competition with other college teams, run a simulated company and have the opportunity to network with business executives and students from around the world. Universities benefit by participating in a program that encourages student engagement, builds school pride, and provides their best students with an experience that can jump-start their careers with a resume-building activity. Our business partners benefit by being able to meet and recruit talented individuals who have had the personal and professional growth experience of the ICBSC.

In this competition, university teams of four to six students take over the management of a simulated manufacturing company competing directly against 4-5 other firms run by competitor teams from other universities. Teams in the competition are divided into 鈥渨orlds鈥 of about four to six companies with undergraduate teams and MBA teams having their own worlds. Each team assumes responsibility for key strategic and operational decisions in marketing, finance, and operations. Team members have the experience of running their own company as they strive to outperform their rivals.

This business competition involves both a remote phase and an intensive phase that, together, extend over a period of about ten weeks. The remote phase begins in January (the first week of Spring classes for 黑料网) at home campuses; the intensive phase will occur in late April, when all teams will finalize their strategies. 

Set up your own Zoom Session to learn about the Competition and see if you are a great fit.  This is for students that want something challenging above and beyond the College of Business education. 

Contact Barbara Barcon, 黑料网 ICBSC advisor/lecturer,  CBA-ICBSC@csulb.edu  we will zoom you into what this Competition is all about.

Marc K. 2026

The entire process of the ICBSC offered an experience like no other class, challenging me at every step. Many phases of the class are terribly difficult, which made the reward at the end all the sweeter. Fortunately, I had a pretty great team to experience this adventure with. We all shared the same drive for excellence and remained fully invested for the duration. For all the successes we had as a team, both big and small, there is much we could improve on if we had a second chance. Similarly, there was plenty of personal growth I experienced along the way. In total, the ICBSC was unique opportunity unlike anything I had experienced in either professional life or in athletics. I would recommend this to any student who wants to challenge their comfort zone and expand their knowledge through real-life trials.

Himanshu L. 2025

Yes, when I first heard of this competition, I had doubts about whether it was worth my time and if it will teach me something crucial and necessary to land a job on my career ladder.  After going through it I now understand how much this competition teaches about your capabilities and understanding of how an actual business is run. After surviving more hiccups during the semester and getting closer with my team and learning more about them, this experience means more than winning it, which highlights that this competition is nothing without a good team that cares and understands each other.

Daniel T. 2025

I recommend this experience to others because it teaches you a lot of skills: technical, interpersonal and professional. We learned how to run a company, given a C-suite position and sometimes more.  We learned how to work together as a team and resolve issues as one as well. Lastly, we got to network with industry professionals who gave us feedback on how to improve our professional journeys. 

Leah E. 2020

When you are a business student, you hear the phrase 鈥渋n the real world鈥 many times over. It is in reference to life after school when everything you have learned will be put to the test. At 黑料网 the real world was brought to the classroom in the form of the International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition (ICBSC). After a selective application process, a group of graduate and undergraduate students from 黑料网 were split into three teams, each competing in a simulated environment of companies from all over the world. As the CEO of 鈥淲hat A Crock鈥 I had the opportunity to learn concepts outside of the textbook that provided a glimpse into what I would face in the workplace as a C-Suite executive..

鈥淭he competition gave me the resources and knowledge that cannot be learned in a classroom. It showed me the importance of having a solid plan and being able to execute it. Most importantly, I can attribute a big part of my success to specific lessons learned during the competition.鈥

鈥淚 learned more in this class/competition than in all my classes over 4 years鈥

鈥淭his is the only class I liked coming to and working on.鈥

Apply online with a written personal Statement. Deadlines and Key Dates. 

Applications are Open in Fall and Close Late October.

 Learn about the Application Process 

Each year students say that the competition has been the most rewarding experience of their college career. Some have said the greatest benefit was the realistic opportunity to apply academic concepts; others said the greatest benefit was being an integral part of a closely-knit, finely honed team. Students listing the competition on their resumes have discovered that it has helped them land a job or a valuable internship. Some have even benefited from interviewing a person that had earlier participated in the competition as a judge or team member. For students, the benefits include:

  1. Hands-on experience of actually "running" a corporation
  2. Bringing together functional academic concepts resulting in an integrated, applied management experience
  3. The taste of battle with, at times, stirring success, or, at times, stunning failure--at least in the perspective of the moment
  4. Feeling the synergy of the team experience
  5. Earn three units of elective credit, if the program allows (always check with your advisor)
  6. "The single most rewarding experience in my entire college career." (quote from a former student participant)
  7. Become part of the 黑料网 winning tradition
  8. Great resume builder!

Acceptance to be on a team is through the application. The best candidates will be those 黑料网 students who have completed their core coursework. It is recommended that Undergraduate students have completed IS 301, MKT 300, MGMT 300, and Acct 201 before applying. Usually juniors and seniors. MBA students must be in the Evening MBA or Online MBA program to receive credit and be eligible for this course. MBA students who have completed one year's worth of coursework are clearly eligible. In some cases, first-year MBA students with undergraduate business degrees, extensive business work experience or a strong desire to learn and compete might be qualified to be on an MBA team.

While no specific GPA is required, students who have earned at least a GPA of 3.0 if an undergraduate and a 3.3 if an MBA, like a challenge, are problem-solvers, and have a flexible schedule that will allow them to meet on weekends or other times with their team members are especially encouraged to apply. The competition is time-consuming. Expect to spend between 4-and 10 hours outside of class each week working with your team. Good writing, analytical, presentation, and computer skills, including the ability to use Excel or other spreadsheets, are skills essential to being successful in the competition.

Contact Barbara Barcon, 黑料网 ICBSC advisor/lecturer, at CBA-ICBSC@csulb.edu

 

ICBSC Past Winners

ICBSC 2025 logos

Annual Winners Articles and Press Releases