Idaho State University Team Wins International Title at Business Simulation Competition

 This brings Idaho State University’s ICBSC trophy count to 19 trophies in nine years of competing. 

“The team was incredibly smart and worked well together,” said ICBSC Advisor and Idaho Central Credit Union (ICCU) Endowed Professor of Management Dr. Alex Bolinger. “The results of this and previous years show our students can consistently compete with anyone in the country and around the world.”

ICBSC is a rigorous competition challenging top-level students from around the world to complete 12 quarters (three years) of simulated business decisions expedited over the course of a semester, in addition to submitting a formal business plan and annual report. Students then travel to Anaheim, California for an intense 72-hour competition against their peers, followed by a formal presentation to executive-level judges from companies throughout the western United States. 

“Competing in ICBSC has been a top highlight of my university experience, and I am very grateful to have been able to participate and represent Idaho State University and the College of Business,” said Master of Accountancy (MAcc) student Lexie Thurgood, who was the Chief Operations Officer on the team. “This competition really is as close as a student can get to understanding what running business entails without any real-life risk attached. It was exciting to use the strategies and theories we had discussed within our courses in a business simulation of this scale and see them pan out in such a positive way.”

“The team and I would like to thank the College of Business faculty and staff that offered advice and continued encouragement throughout this process,” said Bolinger. “We would also like to extend a special thanks to Brenda Worrell and the entire executive team at ICCU for their commitment to this program. Without their generous support, this incredible learning opportunity for our students would not be possible.”

Members of this year’s team included Master of Business Administration (MBA) student Josh Luker (Chief Executive Officer), MAcc student Rob Barnes (Chief Financial Officer), MAcc student Lara Maccabee (Chief Marketing Officer), MAcc student Lexie Thurgood (Chief Operations Officer) and MAcc student Isabel Juarez (Chief Analytics Officer).